Review Pro Makeup Brushes

I love makeup brushes, I've had some of my favourites for nigh on decades, but it's always good to take a look at some new ones and see if they help with your application.  Personally, I believe that you should spend what you can afford on your brushes - there are good ones at all price points - and, if you look after your brushes, they'll last for years.

I have brushes in my collection that have cost anything from £1.50 to almost £50 (I like to shop around), and when the opportunity came up  to take a look over a range of brushes designed by Kate Lyon - who makes brushes for both Elizabeth Arden and Green People - I had to say yes.  Especially when I discovered that the brushes have been made with affordability in mind - they range in price from £4 to £13! I was sent the selection of brushes you see above,  No 5, 10, 11, 14 and 15. You can see the entire range here

As you can probably make out, these are very long handled brushes, personally - being the cack-handed muppet that I am - I generally prefer a shorter-handed brush, but I was surprised at how well balanced these feel in use.  They meant I had to stand slightly further away from my mirror than usual, but, as these are professional brushes designed for makeup artists, then that wouldn't actually matter all that much.

I'll have a look at the brushes in number order:

5) Shadow Brush: (goat) wide and flat, it's good for packing on shadow all over the mobile lid, it's great for colour washes, particularly if you're using cheaper, slightly less pigmented eyeshadows.  We all have those shadows that we find impossible to get onto a softer brush, and  as goat hair is slightly firmer (coarser) than the traditional sable, this is a good brush for hard shadows.  But, as goat is coarse, some of you might find this a little scratchier-feeling on the skin than a softer brush.  It's also, surprisingly, good at picking up loose shadows with minimal fall-out. Costs £10.

10) Liner Brush: (sable) I'll be honest, I don't like this style of liner brush, I find them too soft, and far too thin for me to be able to do my signature "packed it on like Amy Winehouse with a slightly steadier hand" looks, but this is still a nice brush if you're slightly less cack-handed than am I. Because I mostly tend to use powder as an eyeliner (both on the waterline and on the lid), I prefer a flatter, slightly firmer and straighter-edged brush. Costs £6.

11) Spoolie: (nylon) I looked at this, and wondered just if I was going to get any use out of it whatsoever, but I was pleasantly surprised! I use this for grooming my eyebrows (constantly forgetting to use it before photographing my FotDs, of course), and occasionally brushing out lumpy, clumpy mascara.  The bristles aren't too tightly packed, which means it's very good for de-clumping and doesn't remove anything you've already applied, which is handy! Cost £5.

14) Blush: (goat) I like this brush a lot.  Again, it's a coarser brush than you might be used to previously, but as already discussed, it's great for less pigmented, or harder powders.  I like the angle it's been cut at, as this  means you can use it for both blush and contouring purposes.  The bristles are wide-spread and fluffy, so you don't get a streaky application, it's probably the brush I've used most out of this collection. Cost £13.

14) Shadow: (sable) I'm used to thicker, wider shadow brushes than this, but I find this brush wonderful for applying, and blending out my more heavily pigmented or dark shades of eyeshadow.  Oftentimes when I've been complimented on my blending technique (it does happen!), it's been after I've used this brush. It's very soft and silky feeling on the skin, and lends itself well to more precise application requiring a lot of blending. You can use it as a wide lipbrush too, or for concealer application, very versatile! Cost £6.50.

So there you have it, I think this is a great range of versatile and useful brushes at a really good price point - you can also buy the entire range (as outlined here) for £90, which is an almost unbelievable bargain for brushes of this quality.  Kate also  produces a range of vegan (no animal hair) brushes, which I think is great for those who find animal hair brushes objectionable.

Take a look at the Pro Makeup Brush website here.

The Fine Print: Brushes were sent direct from the owner of the company, no PRs were harmed, or indeed, involved in the creation of this review.  Links in this post are not affiliate links, they're just there for informational purposes, because I'm nice like that, even if I don't wash brushes before I take pics for reviews.

Clarins Barocco Winter Collection 2010

I saw this collection on British Beauty blogger last month and thought it was Oh So Pretty! I still don't know when it's released (I'm assuming September-time, but if I get any more information, I'll let you know), and I've been pretty desperate to get my hands on it ever since laying eyes on it!  It is so exquisitely packaged, and the black shadows and red lipstick really spoke out to me.  

Persistence pays off, and I have managed to get my grubby little fingers hands on a couple of pieces from the collection to show you, namely the aforementioned lipstick and the eyeshadow.  Some swatches and initial thoughts coming right up ...  First off, the shadows:

This is a really unusual choice for Clarins, I think, I normally associate them with neutrals and pastels (possibly mistakenly) for some reason. Three baked shadows in black, blackened gilt, and pure gold, alongside the usual disposable sponge-tipped applicator - am I the only person who, on opening a new palette, immediately throws away the sponges? - in a gold case, it's simply beautiful, and I can imagine a whole heap of smokey and dramatic looks I can create with this.

So, how does it swatch?  Well, the answer is, more sheerly than expected.  Picture below shows the shadows without primer (top), and with (bottom):

As you can see, in the top swatch, it's very sheer, and you get just a hint of the shades from the shadows, and, depending on your point of view, this can either be a good or a bad thing.  Personally, I think that with such dramatic shades, it's not actually a bad thing, as it means you can build up the coverage so you can get the intensity you require.  Over primer though (Trish McEvoy's in this case), the colours intensify very nicely, and you can see the greenish-bronze shades peek through in the middle colour.  I love the way the pure-gold shade goes from slightly gritty on bare skin to gorgeously glowing over primer. There's veru little yellow in it, so it doesn't look brassy on the skin, which is great.  Wear is middling to average without primer, and average to good with primer.

Now for the lipstick:

Again, beautifully packaged with the signature baroque swirls of this collection's packaging, the lipstick appears, in the bullet, to be a rather brownish, wine-y sort of colour, but on the skin it appears a lot brighter than expected, and a touch cooler than you might think from the colour in the tube.  I love it.

Apologies for the horrifically out of focus lip shot!  It's a lovely moisturising formula that lasts really well - no ring of doom! - I really like the shade too, it's a perfect Christmassy red, with just enough brown in it to not make me look a little clownish.  It's one of the new Rouge Prodige formulas, and I've had no problems with it, it has a slightly floral scent (in the traditional Clarins style), but I don't find it too overpowering.

I know it's a bit mad to be showing you a winter collection in the middle of August, but I'm just so excited about being on the cusp of red lipstick weather again!

Mr Lippie Reviews: Soap and Glory

He's been at it again, using products then making stuff up about them.  Please check out MrLippie's latest review of Soap & Glory for men at Ape to Gentleman

My favourite bit?: "...Don’t blame me. I just get chained to a keyboard until my random button-pressing makes some kind of sense...."

Perfume Review - Acqua Di Gioia by Giorgio Armani

Said to resemble a mojito, with notes of mint, water jasmine, brown sugar, and primo fiore lemon, this is the latest release from Giorgio Armani perfumes.  It's meant to also have some aquatic notes, and smell very "wet" as a result.

I've seen it described as a "floral aquatic", and many of the reviews I've read describe all the notes as read in the press releases.

I think maybe my nose is broken, because I smell melon (chanterais, maybe, a little honeydew, but definitely no watermelon), I don't get any of the mint, or the lemon, or the jasmine (no flowers at all, in fact), but after a while on the skin, I can smell the sugar.  In fact, after it's rather crisp'n'fruity opening, it's really, really, really sweet on my skin, to the point where I can't stand it any more.  It's a shame really, as on paper this scent sounds like it's really my kind of thing, I adore mint in perfumes - go crazy for it, in fact, as you'll see in a couple of weeks - so I'm terribly upset that this scent, to me, just smells like another generic fruity, woody musk that you can buy by the bucket-load anywhere in the UK.

That said, it'll sell MILLIONS. Armani perfumes are always stupendously popular, and this isn't a bad one, not by a long stretch, it's purely a malfunction of my nose, I think. I do adore the wonderfully tactile bottle though, it's a delight in the hand.

The Fine Print: Samples were acquired for review purposes.  If they weren't, I'd be reviewing something else, so there.

Tiny Edward Bess Collection

 I own three Edward Bess products, a compact rouge (Island Rose), lipstick (Secret Desire), and eyeshadow (Intimate).  Edward's line recently made it to the UK, and after a while lusting over it on my US friend's blogs, I was delighted to get my sticky fingers on some of the products!

In a slightly different order (because I'm an idiot), you can see Secret Desire which is a soft, peachy nude, Island Rose, which is a gorgeous cool raspberry colour, and Intimate, a murky, sludgy taupe shade.  These products are on the pricey side, it's undeniable, but the quality is also undeniable.  Shades swatch true to pan, they're gorgeously blendable, and scented delectably with wild fig.

I went for slightly cooler shades than I would ordinarily (the Secret Desire was sample I received at a press event), but I'm totally in love with the compact rouge.  I adore the eyeshadow, it's a lovely "goes with anything" shade,  and it works as either a crease or a lid colour.  I'm a big fan of the sludgey shades, and this is a lovely example of a great, but not boring neutral shadow.

As for the compact rouge, you can see it sheers out for wear on the cheeks, and adds a natural and lovely pop of colour - I've had it in my makeup bag every day since it arrived, I've also used it once or twice on my lips, and it's simply divine:

I'm slightly more ambivalent about Secret Desire - it's not a shade I would have picked out for myself - as it's a little too nude for me, what do you think?

It's a beautiful formulation though, moisturising and opaque almost in one stroke.  I'll definitely be seeking out more shades.

I've read criticism that the range isn't exciting, that it isn't packed with colour, that's it's just full of "dull" neutrals.  I say "pshaw!"  Good neutrals that anyone can wear are one of the hardest things for a cosmetic brand to get right, if you ask me, and this brand - whilst muted - is anything but dull.

Embrace your inner taupe-lover, you'll never regret it ...

Nail of the Day - China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint

Long-time readers of this blog will know of my (possibly irrational) hatred of pastels.  I don't like them, and what's more, they don't like me.

So, it was a surprise to find that I like this shade:

China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, from the Up, Up, and Away collection, which I largely avoided as it was ALL pastels.  Or mainly pastels.  Or even possibly just partially pastels.  I forget.  But anyway.  This is a pastel green.

And I like it.  So there.

It was on the thick side, a little, but this shows two coats with a sticky base from Orly, and an OPI topcoat.

It lasted a day before I took it off, btw.  While I liked it, it was still a pastel too far.  I am now sporting greige.  I like greige.  Greige doesn't give me The Fear.

Lifesavers! Bath products for the shower ...

No, I haven't gone insane, I just haven't had a bath for a month.  I really, really, really want a bath. I love baths, and have been known to spend several hours in there, just floating, reading, relaxing, and chilling, really.  They're where I go when I need a little respite from the daily grind (and they're where I can hide from MrLippie - don't tell him) Occasionally, I even, you know, clean myself in there too.  Showers simply don't compare.  In fact, whilst I'm being honest, I shall admit that I find showers rather unpleasant. Purely a necessary evil, as far as I'm concerned.

So, having spent the last month confined to showers only (and quick showers at that), has been a trial for me.  I love my luxurious bath oils - Ren Rose Otto is still a world beater as far as I'm concerned - and I miss my "me-time".  I've been avoiding shower gels during my bath-prohibition, as I can find them a bit drying and, the thought of itchy skin combined with healing scars after my operation still makes me wince a little bit!

So, I've been delighted to find that Aromatherapy Associates bath oils can be used in the shower too.  At a cost of £26.50 (£2.95 each, more than comparable to a Lush Bath Ballistic, for example) these are completely luxurious to use in the shower as the scent is amazing, and you still get clean.  To use these as shower oils, you simply rub them over your (dry) skin, prior to getting into the shower, and then rinse off as normal with your shower instrument of choice.  There are nine scents in the box, and my own personal favourite is the Deep De-Stress oil, which is meant for aching muscles, but I find the gingery, herby scent most invigorating!

For a shower treat that's a little more traditional in style, I've also been using No7 Shower Oil, which claims to foam gently. Personally, I find it foams barely at all (even on a shower puff), but the scent is nice, it leaves my skin silky soft, and it cleans admirably. Plus, at a cost of £8.75, it's a little more purse-friendly than the Aromatherapy Associates, albeit this means that there are a few synthetics in there, so I suggest you check the label before buying.

Two more weeks till bath-time!  I can't wait.  For serious.

 The Fine Print: Some samples were provided for review purposes, and some were provided as a gift in apology for someone's website accidentally infecting my computer with a trojan virus.  I'm not going to tell you which is which though - none of these links are infected, I've checked.  They're not affilliate links, either.  The Romans used to bathe with oil, you know.