Real Techniques brushes - late to the party!

Despite all the raving reviews about how amazing Real Techniques brushes were, I never actually purchased any to see for myself. Well, except one silicone eyeliner brush, which I really liked, but never got anymore.

I was mooching around TK Maxx (which is becoming a favourite for beauty related items, you can get some absolute bargains in there!) a couple of days ago and came across the Real Techniques Travel Essentials Brush Set for £6 off and so I had to buy it to see for myself. I was certainly not disappointed!!

Within this set is l-r: the Essential Foundation brush, Domed Shadow brush and Multi Task brush. They are all of extremely good quality and although I haven't used the shadow brush very often as I don't really wear eyeshadow on a day to day basis, I have used the other 2 pretty much every day. They are just brilliant, far better than my old brushes, which were a bit rubbish to be honest.

I use the foundation brush to apply my liquid foundation and it applies it like an absolute dream. With my old foundation brush I would have to go over my whole face with a sponge after as it would leave brush streaks but this doesn't require you to do this at all. I think it's because the old brush was crappy, plastic-y synthetic bristles were as this feels much higher quality. Loved it instantly!

I use the multi-task brush for applying my setting powder over my liquid foundation. It is so soft on the skin and picks up a good amount of product and buffs beautifully.

I can't fault any of these brushes, they really are great. They even come in this case which can be set as a display case (above photo) or even folded as a protective travel case, perfect!:

Getting this set has really warmed me to using Real Technique brushes and I do have my eye on many more! It's my birthday next week though so I have to force myself to walk away from them in the shops just in case the little birthday fairies bring them for me... All fingers and toes are now crossed!

Have you tried any RT brushes? What were your opinions on the brand? Or maybe you can suggest some other good ones for me to try? All comments are very much welcomed :)

Real Techniques Travel Essentials brush set is £20.99 in Superdrug here - but as I said, keep an eye out in TK Maxx for some great bargains! I got mine for £14.99

My Pay Day WIshlist

Pay Day may still be just over a week away, but I am a girl who likes to be prepared! Therefore I have begun to put together my wishlist of what to splurge my money on. It consists of a mix of high end and high street items but all I have been lusting after for a while. Here are just a few, unfortunately the list has grown out of control so I'm unable to share them all!

Firstly, it's an item from MAC

I love MAC lipsticks, they are always of a brilliant quality and are so durable. I don't own many as they are slightly out of my price range to buy often, but as a little treat to myself they are very nice. I have had my eye on shade New York Apple for ages now and so I think I am going to have to treat myself to it. Looking on their website today they are showing as currently being out of stock, I hope this isn't for long!

Makeup Revolution

Literally every eye palette from this new brand! I have read such great reviews on this brand, with all eyeshadows having great pigmentation and longevity and I just love all the eye palettes that I have seen from them. Even better, they are super affordable!! The eye palettes like the ones shown above are only £4 each, £4!!! That's an amazing price! This whole brand is worth looking at though when it comes to good quality makeup for an incredibly low price as their lipsticks start from only £1. This brand is currently only available from Superdrug online but they are definitely worth having a look at.

Real Techniques

All my brushes are starting to get a bit old now so I am looking to get some new, good quality ones. I keep reading such amazing reviews about Real Techniques recently and so I really want to have some of my own. Pictured is the core collection and I think this would be great as a starting point for a new brush set. It includes a detailer brush for applying concealer, a pointed foundation brush for liquid foundation, a buffing brush for powder or mineral foundation and a contour brush. This is available for £20.99 from FeelUnique and there is no doubt that I will be owning this in the very near future!

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet

I have read review after review about these new lip colours from Bourjois and I am yet to read any that paint them in a bad light. They look so incredible on the lip and dry to a perfect matte finish, which is my favourite lip look at the moment. My must-have of the collection is 06 Pink Pong, which is the one shown on the far right of the picture. It is such a bright, vivid pink and I think it will look perfect now the weather is hotting up (finally).

So there's just a few from my current wishlist, hopefully I shall be the proud owner of these in the very near future! Are any of them also in your wishlist? If not, what beauty products are you lusting after right now?

Contouring with Avon

It seems contouring is the new MASSIVE thing at the moment. Everyone's raving about Kim Kardashian's perfectly sculpted make-up look or different contour sets that are available for you to achieve the perfect contour yourself. I had to jump on the bandwagon and give this definition-cheat look a try! (Just as a note aside, I do have hamster cheeks and so there is literally no natural contour to my face!)

I chose to attempt this look with some products that I already had available at home and loved rather than go out and buy a new contour palette when I was yet to even practice this look. So to do this I used my face pearls from Avon, an angled contour brush and a chunky blush brush.

To start off (after applying foundation and setting powder as per usual) I used the angled brush to apply the darker bronze pearls to the hollows of my cheeks sticking to the natural line just under my cheekbones to create shadow. I found this easier to do by pulling a fish pout pose and following the line down almost to your mouth from your ear.

Make sure the lines are even on both sides. I found my biggest trouble was getting the lines at the same place on each side! Once you've got this stage perfect, I then applied the highlighting pearls with the chunky blusher brush. I applied these roughly to the brush and then just applied along the cheekbone and the apple of my cheeks. I found it easier to smile to find where needed to be highlighted and follow the line from the apple of your cheeks along the cheekbone just above where you had applied the shadow, blending slightly together but not too much.

Then TA-DAH! Easy as that and it's done. I think this looks nice as it is but a soft pink blush added to the apple of your cheeks would give it a nice, warm rosy look as well, if you wanted to try something a bit different.

So what do you think? I do like the idea of contour palettes but I definitely don't think they are an absolute necessity if you have some good products that you could use to create the same look already. What do you use to contour?

Avon face pearls are available here currently for £5 (down from £10) for the bronze pearls and here for £9 for the highlighting pearls.