I Got To Try Out Mia Mariu Products!

It's times like these when I'm glad I write a blog instead of filming YouTube videos, because I have no I idea how to pronounce the name of the brand I'm telling you about today :)  About a month ago, I was given the chance to play with some of products of my choice from Mia Mariu, a company I had never heard of until now.  Needless to say, I had no idea what to expect but I've finally had the time to really use them so take the jump to take a peek :)

What I Use Each Sigma Sigmax Brush For Part 2: Precisions

The Precision Brushes of the Sigma Sigmax Line, I think, are the most innovative.  I love the idea of mini-sized kabuki's, meant to mimic the abilities of your own fingers when applying creamy products to the face.  Here's what I use each one for, and if you haven't yet, check out my uses for the Kabuki Sigmax brushes here!

What I Use Each Sigma Sigmax Brush For Part 1: Kabuki's!

I'm sure you've all heard and seen the Sigma Sigmax Kabuki and Precision Brushes in action for quite a while now if you've ever read a beauty blog or watched a guru on YouTube.  They're one of those products that you'd be hard pressed to hear anything negative about.  Personally, I don't have anything to say about these brushes in terms of a review that hasn't already been said before:  they're amazing!  Every single brush in the collection is easily a LOVE!!! for me.

What I did want to do is discuss how I used each one.  Essentially, if you buy the whole kit you're getting 5 brushes for foundation and 5 brushes for concealer.  One may ask, why do you need 10 different brushes for only 2 tasks?  That's a valid question, so I figured I'd lay out my individual uses for each brush.  They do list the uses on the Sigma website, but I don't really go by those and have learned what works best for me through continued use.  Let's get going with the Kabuki's first!

The King Kong of Liner Brushes: Sonia Kashuk Large Angled Liner Brush Review

Have you ever bought something simply because you were so bewildered by it that you had to have it to figure it out?  That's what happened between me and Sonia Kashuk's Large Angled Liner Brush.  I've never seen an eye liner brush so big!  Screw that, I've never seen any eye brush at all this size!  Quite frankly, I was scared of it.  But Sonia's brushes have never let me down so I grabbed it regardless of my reservations to try it.  Check it out!

My Glam (or Should I Say Ipsy?) Bag September 2012

Right before I received my Glam bag for this month, I got email saying MyGlam was changing their name to Ipsy.  I'm not sure why this is, but according to the message you're still getting the same awesome service just with a different name.  And judging by my bag, I'd have to agree....

E.L.F. Haul: Brand-Spankin' New Brushes and Mascaras!

I'm not typically one for haul posts since I intend on reviewing and swatching all my products eventually anyway.  But I did feel my most recent e.l.f. haul did warrant it's own feature since a lot of what I got is pretty new on the website and a lot of you may have not seen these outside the e.l.f. website.  E.L.F. is also celebrating their 8th birthday right now so there should be a good amount of sales to come, so I wanted to get these pictures out as soon as possible for your guys.  I'll be giving more in-depth reviews on these at a later time once I've got a chance to really use them though.  So after the jump, check out some photos of cool new stuff I got.

Sonia Kashuk Brow Brush Review: I Finally Get It!

So many YouTube gurus that I've watched have said that they prefer using a shadow to fill in their brows than a pencil....and I never understood that.  Whenever I would use a shadow with various different angled liner brushes I happened to have on hand, it never came out right.  I've always heard that it gives a softer, more natural look but on me it looked sloppy and not natural in the least.  But now that I have Sonia Kashuk's Brow Brush, I definitely see what everyone was talking about!

The Best and The Rest: May 2012

It's that time again!  Check out my May 2012 favorites (and a couple not-so-faves) after the jump!  And just a note, aside from 2 or 3 of these products, I haven't reviewed most of these yet but you can bet you'll see these popping up in posts very soon so this is also kind of serving as a preview post too. 

Some of my Favorite Brushes for Highlighting!

One thing I've noticed throughout my adventures into makeup is that you're hard pressed to find a brush with the primary purpose of highlighting.  Think about it, there are shadow brushes, blush brushes, foundation brushes, even contour brushes, but how many highlighting brushes can you think of? Off the top of my head, I can only think of 1 or 2.  Of course some brushes have highlighting in their descriptions but it's usually just an afterthought, being shadowed by a larger use like blush or foundation.  In my personal collection I use a number of different brushes for my highlighting needs, none of which were originally intended or bought primarily for highlighting, but get the job done superbly!

Woohoo! New Real Techniques Brushes Coming!

Source

If you've been a reader of my blog for a while now you may be familiar with my love for Sam Chapman's Real Techniques brushes, especially the Stippling Brush (review here).  So when I saw 3 new YouTube videos from the Real Techniques channel featuring new brushes my face just lit up!  Check them out after the jump!

Here We Go Again, E.L.F. Being All Creative and Junk...New Glitter Applicator

I've been more vigilant than normal in checking the 'New Items Section' on e.l.f.'s website since they've seemed to be putting out a number of new and interesting items as of late, (I've already reported on their powder cleanser and under eye setting powder).  So tonight I hopped over there and sure enough they've done it again: a Studio Glitter Eyeshadow Applicator.  Now, when I first saw it I rolled my eyes thinking it was just a fancy sponge tip applicator, and we all know how I feel about those.  Upon reading the product description though I saw that it's sporting a head made out of silicone.  Apparently this material grabs glitter very well for "precise and concentrated" application.  I'll tell you one thing, if this thing works I'm buying 10 because if there's one thing I can't stand it's glitter fallout all over every part of my face except my lids.  I love using shimmer and glitter for my eye looks but the fallout drives me so crazy I don't even bother half the time.    Definitely a product I haven't seen before, have you?

'Clueless' Why I Didn't Get the Ecotools Brush Set & Bag Sooner!

I remember the exact moment when I first watched the movie 'Clueless'.  I had to tape it off of HBO and watch it the next morning since it came on after my bedtime.  I loved every minute of that movie and still do to this day.  Can't believe its been close to 20 years since the movie premiered, can you?  The star of the film, Alicia Silverstone hasn't done much lately in the way of films as of late, but she has been making waves in the beauty industry with her collaboration with Ecotools to bring eco-friendly yet fashionable beauty implements to drugstores everywhere.  I've purchased Ecotools products before, but this Brush Set & Bag is my first buy from the Alicia Silverstone line!  Check it out after the jump!

Are Sponge Tip Applicators Really that Bad?

I've gotta say that the most I usually get out of sponge tip applicators is a headache from rolling my eyes so much when I open an eyeshadow palette and wonder why the company bothered to put them in there in the first place.  I mean, I'm just gonna throw them out anyway, and that's the attitude of many others out there.  When I first really got into makeup, everyone I watched on YouTube used brushes so that's what I did too.  Although lately I've realized that I never gave the poor little guys a real chance so being the equal opportunist that I am, I decided to put them to the test.  Find out if I'm gonna add them to my brush collection or if there permanent home will be at the bottom of my trash can after the jump!

Quick TIP: Run out of Brush Cleaner? TRY THIS!

I've been looking for the perfect, most efficient and effective way to wash my brushes for a while now.  I've used actual brush cleaner (which was fine but a bit expensive compared to other options), olive oil (took me a long time to get all the oil out of the brushes, and baby shampoo (I know a lot of people like this method but it never fully cleaned my brushes).  Finally, yesterday while digging around in my stuff I noticed an old bar of Dove Soap I had but never used.  There's a strange phenomenon in my house where we always have bars of soap stocked even though no one in my house actually uses bars of soap (we're liquid soap people).

Anyway I decided to try using this to wash my brushes and I got the best results I've ever seen.  All I did was wet the brush, swipe the brush on the bar a few times to create a lather, and then scrub it on the palm of my hand under the faucet until it was clean.  I was able to give my brushes a real thorough cleaning without having to buy more brush cleaner or baby shampoo.  Since for whatever reason I always have bars of soap around my house I don't foresee having to repurchase anytime soon :)

How do you like to wash your brushes?

Looky, Looky! A Possible MAC 217 Dupe from Sephora!

The MAC 217 is my favorite eye brush of all time.  It blends like no other and makes it a cinch to get that perfect smoky eye.  It's also engineered in a way that seems to be very hard to duplicate as proven by many failed attempts by other companies.  I have three 217-type brushes: the Mac (of course), Coastal Scents, and Sigma.  What sets the MAC 217 apart from others is 2 things:  its fluffy yet stiff-enough bristles that allows the brush to keep it's structure in order to blend/apply precisely, and its tapered head yet flat top that allows you to apply color and blend at the same time.  The Coastal Scents version isn't dense enough to keep it's structure and the Sigma doesn't have as flat a top.  Most other companies don't even try an attempt at the brush at all.  


So I'm very interested in this new Sephora Brush that looks suspiciously similar.  It's called the Sephora Pro Oval Blending Brush #27 and it's made from natural goat hair, just like the 217.  Sephora Pro Brushes are typically of high quality, so this could be a worthy competitor.  Price-wise there's not much difference with Sephora being $20 and the MAC being $22.50, but I am curious if another company finally got it right, or if companies should just leave the heavy lifting for MAC after all.

Real Techniques Blush Brush Review

First and foremost, these Real Technique face brushes are just so darn cute, aren't they?  They look like pretty little flowers.  Anyways...the second flower in my Real Technique garden is the Blush brush.  A bit of this review is going to be pretty much a repeat of the RT Stippling Brush Review I featured a week ago, as the quality of this line of brushes is across-the-board superb.  But I do have to admit that at first I did not share the same enthusiasm for this brush as I did for the Stippling Brush.  However, that soon changed...find out how after the jump!

Sigma Mrs. Bunny Travel Kit Review, Part 2: Face Brushes and Overall Thoughts

Here's Part 2 of my Sigma Mrs. Bunny Travel Kit Review featuring the 3 face brushes you receive in the kit.  If you haven't read it yet, check out Part 1 featuring the eye brushes.  Read on for the rest of the review and my closing thoughts on the whole kit!

Sigma Mrs. Bunny Travel Kit Review, Part 1: Eye Brushes

In most of the ways that count, I am not in any way a vegan.  I don't know what I would do without burgers and cheesesteaks, eggs and bacon, and God do I LOVE cheese!!!!  On the other hand, I am definitely down with treating animals humanely and with the utmost respect, which is part of the reason that I prefer synthetic brushes.  Another reason is that, when done right, synthetic brushes can be incredibly lush and soft on your skin.  So when Sigma announced their new Bunny Collection of brushes I didn't hesitate to add them to my Christmas Wish List.  I've always wanted to try Sigma and these brushes sounded right up my alley.  All the brushes in this collection are the same as the ones in the original Sigma line, just vegan versions.  In this post I'm going to review the eye brushes, and then in Part 2 I'll review the face brushes and the overall Travel Kit.  Read on for more!

A God Among Men: Real Techniques Stippling Brush Review

No, what you're looking at here is not a pretty dandelion, it's better than that:  it's the best stippling brush ever made!  I purchased the Real Techniques Stippling Brush as part of an ULTA haul a while ago, so I've had plenty of time to play with it and let me tell you, it's amazing.  I've been a huge fan of the Pixiwoo sisters since I began my journey into makeup madness and I credit them with my ability to not make myself look like a fool when I dress my face up.  So there was no hesitation when I found out that Samantha Chapman was coming out with her own brush line, I knew I had to have them all.  I wasn't prepared to find my holy grail of stippling brushes as I'd all but given up on using stippling brushes to apply foundations.  But I can tell you now that this is one brush you DO NOT want to pass up on your next trip to ULTA!  Find out why this brush will change your life after the jump!

Quick TIP: Having Trouble Blending Your Concealer? Try This!

I'm not a fan of traditional concealer brushes.  I feel like they just plop the product on but don't actually blend very well.  They also can feel a little abrasive on my delicate undereye area.  That's why I switched over to using fluffy eye blending brushes to blend in my concealer.  However I found with those that, while they blended beautifully, I'd lose some of the concealer's coverage on account of the brush swiping the product back and forth.  Then of course there's using your good old finger to pat in the concealer, which provides the best coverage and does a pretty sufficient job at blending as well.  My problem with the finger though is, besides being a little unsanitary, it's not as precise as I'd like it to be.  


Enter the answer to all those concerns:  the new brushes surfacing that happen to mimic the shape of the finger. Sigma recently came out with an entire brush collection called the Precision Eyes Kit that is meant to replace your fingertips in your makeup application and I just reviewed an excellent Concealer Kabuki from Ecotools that you can read about here.  The brush I use the most however was not necessarily engineered specifically as a fingertip replicate but the idea is the same none the less.  It's the E.L.F. Angled Contour Brush.  Technically it's an eye brush, and I do use it for the eye as well, but my favorite use for it is undereye concealing.  After applying concealer to the undereye area, I use the flat angled top of the brush to pat in the product where I need coverage, and then I swirl the brush in small, circular motions around the edges of where the concealer is applied to blend it in.  The result is a perfectly blended undetectable application with top notch coverage!


What's your favorite method of concealer application?