Blushing Brushes

Look what arrived in the post this week!!!

Sigma 12 Brush Make Me Blush Kit

Believe it or not I've has these beautiful brushes in my possession for more than 2 days UN-USED just so I could get these pretty pictures blogged for you all while they're still all clean and pretty. As soon as I click publish I will be racing upstairs to try them out.. can't wait!

The best thing about this set (other than that they're PINK!) has to be the little carry case. It's a durable (also pink) leatherette container that doubles as two cute brush holders which makes it ideal for travel! I can't wait to pack these for our vegas trip. I'd planned on buying the travel kit before then but this way I can slot in extra full sized brushes or pencils etc. FAB!

Including UK shipping and the current 10% off code NY2011 this set works out around £75.00. 

That may sound like a lot but if you compare it to the MAC equivalent you're saving a fortune and having bought a couple from MAC myself I don't think the quality is at all inferior.

I already had the face and eyes kit but wanted a full set.. of course that's not to say I don't have my eye on a few additions... You can never have enough brushes, right?

You can visit Sigma's site here

Miss BB

Best Budget Brushes

After my Drugstore Starter Kit video the other day lots of people expressed an interest in a similar post/video about my favourite budget brushes.. well here it is!

The video will be up on my YouTube channel on Monday (I'm trying to schedule so I don't have weeks of dead air time when Milo arrives) so to get that as soon as it's live go SUBSCRIBE!

It was difficult to whittle it down and I rambled on about a lot of brushes in the video but here I will show you the absolute essentials of my collection that i would recommend as a good basic starter kit.

First up are the face brushes..

Sigma Duo Fibre F50 Stippling Brush (£12.99 here)
I now use this soley for powder as it dusts just the right amount over my face and doesn't leave me feeling over-made up and cakey but it is also suitable for applying liquid foundation.

ELF Powder Brush (£3.50 here)
Could be used for liquid or powder foundation, buffs in easily for an airbrushed finish and covers a large surface area.. It would be my number one for liquid foundation if I was to apply with a brush.

Benefit Slant Powder Brush (£4.85 here)
I actually purchased this from eBay a year or so ago.. I have no idea if it's genuine but it's lasted well and doesn't shed. It's the perfect shape to sculpt my cheeks with Blush/Bronzer.

Eyeshadow...

Sigma E40 Blending Brush (£7.95 here)
This is my absolute holy grail brush. If I had to pick only one eye brush it would be this! You can use it to put a wash of shadow across the lid, lightly define your crease and above all... blend blend blend!

Samantha Chapman Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush (part of the starter set £20.99 here)
This is a close second to the E40. It will lay down shadow and blend if you're in a pinch. It's the best  multitasker in the Sam Chapman starter set.

ELF Crease Brush (£1.50 here)
This is possibly my favourite crease brush and one I reach for often. For £1.50 you need this! It's just a great shaped brush that's easy to use.

Eye Definition...

Angled Eyeliner Brush (£3.50 here)
The only liner brush I've ever liked. You can use it wet to line with shadows or with gel or cream formulas. It's fine enough to get a precise line and thick enough to line quickly.

Samantha Chapman Real Techniques Brow Brush (part of the starter set £20.99 here)
This replaced my angled brush from QVS I used to use for my brows. It's short but thick so will hold a good amount of powder if you favour bold brows or quickly fill in lighter ones.

Samantha Chapman Real Techniques Accent Brush (part of the starter set £20.99 here)
Last but not least. I love this. Another great multitasker from the Sam Chapman starter set. I generally use this to define my eyes with a darker shadow or smudge my eyeliner for a smokey look.

There are so many more brushes I have and would recommend but these are my must-have-can't-live-without ones. You could definitely live with a smaller selection at first though. I'd say you need a good powder brush (this could double up as a blush brush if it's not too large), Something like the Sam Chapman Base Shadow Brush (that you can shade, define and blend with) and an brow brush (if shading in your brows is your thing). If you choose wisely you could live with a few hard working brushes.

I hope this post helps some of you looking to bulk out your collection on a budget or those of you just starting out. If you have any great budget brush recommendations please leave me a comment.

Miss BB

Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman - First Look

Outfit Month #7

You may be able to tell... Today was a rainy day. Didn't get much in the way of an oufit shot but from what you can see I'm wearing a top from New Look, Next Maternity trousers and Lee's River Island coat.. I don't have anything waterproof.

I pretty much never blowdry my hair so today was not the best day to do it (argh!) I am wearing MAC tete a tint on my eyes and peaches blush. Really basic as usual for work. I've been looking everywhere for some good drugstore matte shadows to replace my MAC staples so if anyone has a recommendation I'm all ears. On my hunt I did discover Samantha Chapman's Real Techniques brushes are selling in the UK now online at cocktail cosmetics and love-makeup.co.uk so obviously I had to put in an order. I stuck with eye brushes for now but if they're awesome I will be going back for more 'cause they're so affordable! £20.95 for five brushes!!! I will have them on Friday so keep you eyes peeled for my "first look" video.

Have any of you tried her brushes already?

That's it for today but I will leave you with a final photo.. Food for thought..

 

Avon & Cocktail Cosmetics Haul

Nothing I bought from Avon was uber-life changing or anything but the Sigma brushes... wow!!

I got the round top Kabuki and the small angle brush. I am OBSESSED! The Kabuki is absolutely amazing for applying foundation and cream products and the angle brush has literally revolutionised my eyebrow routine. LOVE IT!

You can expect a full review of the brushes and tutorials very soon.

Check out the video for a look at what else I got!

The Cosmetic Company Store

Three words! O! M! G!

It was AWESOME! I was excited to learn that we had a CCO in th UK after hearing so much about them from youtubers across the pond. So SatNav in hand I decided we were going to brave the crazed masses and make our first trip to York Designer Outlet..

It's a pretty huge place so it took a while to navigate..

After all that wandering we stopped for a bite to eat and nobody wanted their picture taking...

We made a trip to Ellas favourite shop..

Where she stocked up on goodies before I got to..

Ahhh!!! There it was, through the craftily placed Armani Outlet to a haven of all things beautiful and beautifying!

I'm sure I looked mad taking photos but I had to give you guys a glimpse!

Before I WENT I searched for photos of this place and found none so if you are arriving here having done the same hopefully you are grateful and my crazy behaviour will have been totally worth it!

It was like a MAC mecca!

Everything was marked down, they had items from past collections that I got a second chance at.. I hope to gind some tartan tale cast offs here in a month or so..

It was basically a Lauder Group store! You'll find prescriptives, clinique, origins, mac, bobbi brown and of course.. Estee Lauder!

The Bobbi Brown stuff tempted me and I think I will return for some but this trip was a MAC mission!

This was my favourite stand!!!

If you click to enlarge hopefully the picture quality is good enough for you to see the pricing..

It was a LONG trip out and Ella wad tuckered..and sleeping like she was afraid she'd fall out of her seat..

And a highlight of the journey home was finding this oddly named radio station!

All in all it was a fab day out and I got some real bargains..

My inner budget beauty still winces at the thought this lot set me back £75 but the makeup junkie in me that rises to the surface everytime I shop says it was all worth it.. And besides it was money from a returned (ill

Fitting but beautiful) christmas gift (thankyou lee) so it was free!!!

you can watch my video about my trip and MAC haul here..

xoxo

Miss BB

MAC Haul

I'll admit when I rocked up at York Designer Outlet today I had pretty high hopes! I'd heard fabulous things about this Cosmetic Company Store and just couldn't wait to see it for myself... I'm very happy to tell you I was not disappointed! It was a-mazing and these were my purchases! 

Made to Order (Lustre)

 

Revealing & Flurry Of Fun (To The Beach) Lip Glass's

 

Flurry of Fun

Revealing 

 MSF in Comfort 

This is really quite beautiful on the skin! It gives a glowy golden bronzed look.. not something I normally go for but I love it I really do! It's almost a festive bronzer with the golden sparkle to it. Definitely a keeper!

On the Face

A better indication on colour on skin

Brushes - 225 & 165

I've wanted 165 for what seems like forever! It's the one brush that always stood out to me as a must have, mainly because I don't have anything like it and haven't seen anything like it in other cheaper collections readily available in the UK. I didn't want to fork out for MAC brushes only to be duplicating ones I already had or knew I could get for a better price elsewhere, I love love love my Sigma blending brush so as I was picking up the 165 I thought I'd have the 225 too as it's a slightly larger a fluffier version of the sigma I love so much but I'd like to have one reserved just for undereye powdering - that sounds a little excessive now I write it lol.

So that was my little MAC haul... I'd say today was a good day :)

I'd like to point out that these were in lieu of a returned Christmas present for all of you that want to slate me for being "budget" and spulrging on higher end cosmetics!!! I will definitely be returning so you will see more of the same from me in future.. I'm sorry!

But for those who enjoy anything I haul or are also MAC fans this will be good news! The more higher end stuff I try the better equipped I am to really say whether the more affordable ranges are really worth your money. I am really looking forward to testing out rhw 225 to see if it's any better than my Sigma equivalent!I will of course keep you posted :)

xoxo

miss bb

ELF haul

Ok so my order finally arrived *excited* ...it was a big one so here it all is and i'll swatch/review etc later!!!

I wasn't expecting the amount of packaging that it came in!

I was most excited about the brushes!!! Just £1.50 for the regular white ones, £3.50 for the studio line black one.. Value much?

Cream eyeliner (comes with a little brush)

Hi-def pro finishing powder

Warm bronzer, the compact is very NARS-esque

2 eyeshadows in pans (to put in my mac palette!) in sage and dusk

All over colour stick in golden peach

Tinted moisturiser in honey

Blending wedges

Natural false lashes

Daily brush cleansing spray

watch my haul video here..

xoxo

Miss BB