MAKE UP BRUSH review: my odd bits and ends make up brushes: my high endbrushes

Hi everyone,

As promised here is the second part of my odd bits and ends make up brushes. This is my review of the some of the high end brushes that I have collected through the years. It's not much since these are quite pricey usually the price range of $15 to $25 depending on what brand.


from left to right
Liner brush, Concealer brush, Angled eye shadow brush, Flat eyeshadow brush, Face brush and Kabuki brush



i.d. Bare escentuals
I own the flawless face brush for their mineral make up, kabuki make up brush,the flat eyeshadow brush, the angled eyeshadow brush and their eyeliner brush.
This line of brushes were designed to be used with the loose mineral mineral make-up.
The flawless face brush, buffs on mineral make up like a dream. The bristles are a little stiff on this brush but it does the job well.
The eyeshadow brush is the perfect size and stiffness to apply loose mineral make up and regular eye shadows.
The kabuki brush is great to buffing in mineral make up for a full coverage effect or blend your face make up.
The angled eye shadow brush is great to applying color or making that crisp outer V.
My favorite is very thin and pointy eyeliner brush. It allows me to create the thinnest line with a lot of control. I love to use this with my cream eyeliners.

UD brush & Sephora brush

Sephora
I own their cream eyeshadow brush, this brush shape reminds me of the Mac 217. It's great for creating that smokey eye, laying down cream foundation and blending at the crease .

Urban Decay
I own the synthetic eye shadow brush it came with my naked palate, it is not a very good brush. It doesn't pick up color like a natural bristle brush. I might use it to apply concealer.

I hope that it some what helps, I'm not a make-up artist by trade and I try to purchase brushes that I know I can use. There are few things that I am willing to make an exception and will make an investment. Like the liner brush from bare escentuals. I don't have a lot of eye lid space thanks to my asian eyes, it's not exactly a mono lid. With that the brush is super thin that I can use it, I love it so much that I bought a second brush.
If you have any questions feel free to ask them and I will try and answer them as best I could.

My odd bits and ends make up brushes Drugstore brushes

Hi everyone

I hope your all having a nice day, staying cool in this crazy weather we are having. So today I will be reviewing my odd bits and ends make up brushes. Like everyone else I have purchased many make up brushes from different brands, I have drugstore brushes and high end make up brushes. Looking for that one holy grail of a make up brush or brush set. That will contain everything that I need and want. For the sake of making this review short I will review my drugstore brushes today and will review my high end brushes on another separate review.
This brushes have been in my collection for a few months to a few years now and some might be discontinued.

Sonia Kashuk brushes, white handled is a large crease brush
the silver handled left to right: eye shadow brush, blush brush and eyebrow brush

Sonia Kashuk brush set with silver handle, Target
I own a set of Sonia Kashuk brushes that I bought online. I must say that since I have bought this set the item I use is blush brush everything else is collecting dust somewhere. The face brushes were okay but the eye brushes were the same shape that just varied in size. I find that eye shadow brushes were too soft and I just did not like using them. (discontinued)
Sonia Kashuk white handle brushes, Target
So far I have only bought one brush from this line. I bought the round crease brush and I love it. I use it to soften my lid color and apply my crease color. It is just the right size for my eye and not too tapered and not too dense

ELF brushes
left to right
Flat eyeshadow brush, concealer brush, angled blush brush, studio line contour brush

Elf Brushes, Target
I own a combination of the $ 1 and studio line brushes
I own the flat brush, contour brush, angled blush brush and tiny concealer brush.
The flat eyeshadow brush it's very tapered and picks up color and lays color easily.
The contour brush from the studio line was too dense and stiff.
The blush brush was very sparse and it's hard to apply blush and blend the blush.
The concealer brush I use to apply my lip color.


Target line left to right
Crease brush, eye shadow brush, smudge brush and foundation brush

Studio tools, Target
I own the flat eye shadow brush, smudger brushes, crease brush and foundation brush.
The flat eyeshadow brush is too fluffy and creates a lot of fall out.
The crease brush is fluffy but holds it shape and not very tapered good for applying crease color and blending.
I love their smudger brush it gives you a nice smudge line underneath your eyes or to off eyeliners with eyeshadow.
I also love the flat foundation brush, it's very soft on the skin and lays down liquid foundation nicely or blend liquid or cream highlighter and blushes.

essence of beauty crease brush duo

ESSENSE brushes, CVS

My favorite set that I haven't found a replacement for. The smudger brush is just the right size for me and the same for the crease brush. The crease brush is small enough to get you a nice outer V shaped.The brushes is nice and soft.

Hobo crease brush, CVS dual ended crease and smudger brush

Hobo, CVS or Walgreen's
This is a new brand of make up brushes at CVS and Walgreen's, I only bought the fluffy crease brush because that's the only one I don't own. It is on the pricey side or at least that's what I thought. On the box is says $18 for the brush but you qualify for coupon so in the end it came out to $10.
It a good brush I like that it's very fluffy but it's not too big and fluffy I like using to apply color on my crease. It places color and blends the color very nicely.
Dual ended crease brush, CVS
I use to love the dual ended crease and smudger brush. I liked that it's very tapered to a point. I use to use this to apply color to my crease it's so tapered that blending is so easy.

That's it for my drugstore make up brushes, some of this brushes have been in my collection for years. I don't exactly remember how much I paid for each brush. I can say for sure that I paid between $5 and $10 for each of them. They have lasted me years and have worn quite nicely. I take care of them, make sure to keep them clean and store then well. I am constantly look for make up brushes and trying new brands them out. I have a few set of make up brushes that I will review for you on up coming blogs.  Next will be my high end make up brushes.

Face Product Reveiw:T.N. DICKENSON'S WITCH HAZEL

Hi everyone,
I hope your having a good week, today I will be reviewing the T.N. Dickson's witch hazel. What this is a form of astringent that is all natural.

Product claims:
Our pharmaceutical formulation of witch hazel gently cleans and refreshes skin without removing essential moisture. This exclusive multi-use formula temporarily relieves skin irritations due to minor cuts, scrapes and insect bites. Also useful to calm, cool and cleanse your face and body. Keep a bottle in your bathroom medicine cabinet, and one in your First Aid kit
100% natural astringent for face and body ,Won’t dry like alcohol, Contains no artificial fragrances or dyes,Dermatologist tested and recommended.

Product experience:
This product comes in a huge clear bottle, oz ml. I think I got it at Walgreens for 6 or 7 USD. The witch hazel is just a clear liquid, looks almost like water but has a lot more.
I use this mainly in the morning, I just take a cotton ball or pad. Soak it with the witch hazel and just lightly rub it on my face and neck as part of my morning skin cleansing ritual. I sometimes use this in the evening as a cleanser and toner around my neck in preparation for my nightly treatment.

Pros:
Has a light refreshing feeling
I use this as a toner in the morning and at night
Doesn't dry my skin
Price
Available at drugstores

Cons:
This has some alcohol in the product

This product is really good, all natural and doesn't leave me dry like some toners. There is alcohol added but it doesn't bother me so much. I like that this cleanses and tones and preps my skin for my treatments.

it's time for a haul Fall 2012

Hi Everyone,

I hope your having a wonderful week, I know the weather it slowly getting cooler and cooler. Summer is about to end and Fall will be upon us, with the change of weather comes a change in style and a host of new lines coming out in season of Fall.

It's the perfect time to do a haul and show case what is new and has caught my eye while in the store or online. I haven't done any shopping after I came back from the Philippines. I have brought quite a variety of skin care products but at the same time I lost a few staples in my kit. I needed a few things and decided to do a haul

From Imomoko.com
Cure aqua gel
my sexy look book pore system

From Rite Aid

Cover girl eyeshadow trio
Simple under eye roller
Maybeline lasting drama cream eyeliner
Lo'real cream eyeliner
Revlon Lipstick in Soft nude

From prettyandcute.com
D.U.P. Eyelash glue
Koji Eyelash curler
3 pc BB cream samples (Lioele beyond the solution, lioele triple the solution and holika holika water march BB cream)
Holika holika Pig-nose clear blackhead 3 piece kit
Etude house : skin (mal:gem) in smoother

Hautelook.com

Supergoop broad spectrum sunscreem

Supergoop Save face serum

I will review a few of this things eventually right now I'm trying a lot of the pore cleansing strips.

SKIN CARE product review: Pore strips

Hi Everyone,

I hope your all doing well. Today I'm going review and compare pore strips for you. For some of you who doesn't know what pore strips are. These things are a thin piece of fibrous paper, it has some sort of substance inside. When it comes in contact with your damp skin and dries it pulls out the sebum that's been piling in your pores.

I have tried several different brands through out the years. I'm also looking and trying different brands. The the science of beauty is getting better each year. Today I will be reviewing pore strips only, there is a mask form but I will review that for another day.

As with all pore strip I use this mostly once or twice a week. No more than twice a week it will irritate your skin and will be waisting products.
To use after cleansing your face and while it's still wet you just apply the strip on to your nose. Just smooth everything over with your finger making sure their is good contact with the strip and you skin. Just let it dry and Gently peel the strip starting from the sides towards your nose.

Here are the brands that I have tried through out the years. One is new but I've used this brand for a few months I alternate between brands I hope this is helpful for you guys out there whose interested in trying out different brands.

Biore ultra deep pore cleansing strip.

Box for the Biore combo pack of forehead and nose strip

My experience:
This is one of the drugstore brands, It's easy to use and has illustrations. This comes in a variety of products, there is one for deep cleansing that has tea tree oil, a forehead and chin strips etc. This is widely available at CVS, Rite aide, Target, Walmart. Pretty much any place that carries the Biore product line. I would say this product does a decent job of cleaning my pores. Especially the ones on my nose and the sides of my nose. It comes with 14 ct face and nose strip for $9.99 and an 8 count for $7.99. It's not the best even though it's cheap and they have reformulated the product.

Skin food pore strips

Skin food packaging

Skin food forehead and jaw foil

Forehead and chin pore strips, I like that these are triangular in
shape so they're interchangeable

Skin food Nose pore strips looks just like Biore

Experience:
This product over all is the best compared to biore, this closely resembles the pore strips I used to prefer. It does a better job of cleaning out my pore and I feel like my pores stay clean a lot longer because the egg whites tighten my pores. This is a Korean brand and is not widely available as the other two. I purchased mine at a skin food store in one of the malls here in So Cal. I found this brand online at sasa.com, imomoki.com and yesstyle.com. This comes with 12 ct mixed forehead and nose strips for USD $12.00
The pore strip looks almost like the biore but the paper is thinner it's much easier to peel off and apply to your face. I find the edges doesn't adhere to your skin but that doesn't bother me and does not affect the over all performance of the product.

Boscia pore strip

the box



Comes individual sachets

Boscia Nose strip





This one of the high end products I decided to try. Bosca has a whole range of cleansing product. For the face focusing in cleaning out pores. This is better than biore as good as the skin food. This is one of the hardest to use. The pore strip is very thin black paper so when you peel it off the film. The product stretches making the pore strip harder to place on your nose.
This is available at sephora, I think Macy's and Nordstroms. I wouldn't recommend this brand because it's too expensive and you only get 6 nose strips for $14.

Some tips

Here is a tip to make pore strips work even better. Cleanse your face normally, after that use a deep pore cleansing mask I like to you my ghassol purifying paste.It has natural ghassol clay that draws out the impurities. Let the mask sit for the recommended time then wash it off and then use the pore strips. Make sure that there is a good contact between your skin and pore strip, you need to smooth it with your fingers do so.

It makes a world of difference how these things work. You will find a lot more dirt, sebum stuck on your pore strip. You will notice a lot of difference on how your pores look.

I hope that helps, if you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment