Real Techniques Nics Picks || Review

 When it comes to makeup brushes, Real Techniques are my go to. I love Mac ones but when I can get just as good...dare I say even better (in some cases) for cheaper then of course I'm going to. I don't really have a massive amount of make-up brushes which is okay... until I lose one that's quite hard to be without e.g. eyeshadow, eyebrows, blush, contour etc. I was quite torn between Sam's picks aswell because that has the buffing brush in it which is my holy grail and if I've forgotten to clean it or misplaced it then it's a disaster. However, I went with Nic's mainly because Sam's was out of stock in the Superdrug I went to and because it has an eyeliner brush which I would use in place of my Mac brow brush which is also prone to playing hide and seek in my room.

 The set contains 5 duo fibre brushes which are meant to be good for picking up less product so fab for blending things out. The two eyeshadow brushes I have been absolutely loving for blending out all the colours that I've been playing with from my Eyes Like Angels palette.. which take a lot of blending because they're so bright. The angled one especially is great for crease work.

 It also comes with a face brush which I wasn't too sure what to use for but lately I've fount that my Real Techniques powder brush picks up too much powder for my skin which is drier in Winter so it doesn't need as much. This is the perfect brush for just dusting a light sprinkling across my T-zone without caking my skin.

 Another brush from the set I was quite excited about was the cheek brush because I use my blush brush at the moment for both contour, blush and highlight because it's amazing. However, since I have this one I've been switching it up and using this one for either of those 3 and the blush brush for the others. It does almost as perfect a job as the blush brush so I was very impressed. It's also the perfect brush for pigmented blushers or those with a heavy hand to prevent the aunt Sally look. Alternatively if you've already accidentally slipped with the blush brush then this is great for blending it out.

  The last brush in the set is the eyeliner brush which I'm more likely to use for my eyebrows because let me tell you it is a Mac 266 dupe! It'll also be really handy for applying black/brown eyeshadow as eyeliner or even with gel liner to get a nice even line.

This set cost me £20 from Superdrug.. it's normally £30 so snap it up. Also it's worth noting if you have a snapfax you'll get 10% off on top of that in Superdrug. I'm not sure if Superdrug do normal student discount.. let me know?

Have you tried any RT duo fibre brushes?

Lots of Love,

♥

Coursework Reward Treats || Big Beauty Haul

Every year, at around this time of year I always end up going on a massive spending spree. I have a really hard, stressful time at university during October/November with coursework and I spend every minute with my head in a law book or hunched over my laptop. So the minute it's handed in I always either head into town to the shops or get online and order myself some 'rewards'. It's literally the only thing that gets me through it although my bank account hates me for it! So I thought I would share with you some of the bits and bobs I picked up.

 My first ever Make-Up Revolution palette, can you believe that I had never tried their products before?! I don't know what took me so long because they are amazing and I will definitely be doing a review on this and purchasing some more in the future. This palette is called Sugar and Spice and it's a blush and contour palette. It has some absolutely gorgeous shades that I can't wait to try.

 Another new brand to me is Too Faced and I've been wanting to try their palettes for the longest time but couldn't decide which one I wanted. In the end I decided the natural eyes palette was the best one for me because I wanted to get one that I would get a lot of use out of. The shades in this are stunning and a full review post with swatches will definitely be coming soon.

 Bit of a boring one but we ran out of cotton buds in our house and I can't live without these so I picked up some more, We usually use the Johnson's ones but Superdrug didn't have any so these will do! I think they were on offer for 2 for £2.00. These are an essential for wiping away any small mascara or eyeliner smudges and I also like them for going around a bold lip outline to tidy it up.

 Another Kate Moss lipstick was obviously an essential and this one is in the shade '30'. It's a gorgeous berry toned purple shade that is just perfect for Autumn/Winter. I've done a full review of this on my blog here.

 Can you tell I've really been getting into eye shadows at the minute? Here's my second Make-Up Revolution palette which is very daring for me. I was in two minds as to whether to purchase or not because I wasn't sure how much wear I would get out of it but I've been wanting more coloured eye shadows for a while now. I wanted good quality but didn't want to pay ridiculous amounts of money for them because I wasn't sure if I'd wear them much. So this was way too good an opportunity to pass up, 32 good quality eyeshadows for £8, you would be daft to say no. How pretty is it? It also does have some shadows that could be everyday colours in it too so I'm very pleased with this purchase and can't wait to play around with it. A full review with swatches will be up on my blog soon too.

 Another boring essential is just some hair grips because like socks these always seem to be a one hit wonder in my house. Once they're taken out my hair they disappear and that's them gone forever so I always need to pick up more of these. They're really handy for any hairstyle, I find that I can never get a perfect ponytail so more often than not have to stick a few pins in to fix it up.

I also bought some more Real Techniques brushes. I couldn't decide between Nic's picks and Sam's picks but Superdrug just had Nic's in so that made my decision for me. I needed new eyeshadow brushes because now I'm playing with more colours my brushes get dirty quicker and I'm too lazy to constantly clean them. So this one contains the base shadow brush which I already have and it's fab and an angled shadow brush. It also contains an exclusive eyeliner brush which I will use for my eyebrows whenever I lose my MAC brush (which is frequently). The other two are cheek and face brushes which will come in really handy for blending out blusher, bronzer and to apply a light dusting of powder. All these brushes are duo fibre too so I'm interested to try them out!

 Something I really have been wanting to try is Tanya's lashes. Not necessarily because they're Tanya's product but I love eyelashes and her range (mostly) looked really nice. I really wanted Girls Night Out and the individuals but my Superdrug was totally out of them so I picked up Date Night instead. I might do a review on them once I've tried them out if you're interested?

Have you tried any of these products?

Lots of Love,

♥

January Favourites

Hellooo my lovelies,

Since January is now over (hurrrraaay!) I thought I would do my favourites that I have had this month! I've included a couple of non-beauty favourites in this post too but next month I could do a beauty favourites and a non-beauty favourites if that's something that would interest you? Anywaay I'm really happy January is over because we can get rid of those January blues and we're one step closer to Spring and warmer weather, yay!

 The first favourite I've had this month is probably no surprise to you all so I'll get it out the way first and that is my Naked 3 palette! I don't think there was a day in January when I was wearing make-up that I did not have an eyeshadow from this palette on my eyes. It is so versatile and I've been having great fun playing with it throughout the month and I will continue to use it for a very long time! It's definitely my favourite out of all the Naked palettes so far. I particularly love Buzz, Dust, Liar and Mugshot. Honestly, there isn't an eyeshadow in this palette that I don't use! I have done a blog post in great detail on this before which I shall link below for you.

  Another favourite I have had this month is something that I've had for a very long time that I'd shoved to the back of my makeup collection. I'd not shown it a lot of love lately but I've started to really use it again and I used it a lot throughout the month of January! This product is Nars Orgasm blushers (Nars blushers all have very sexualised names e.g. Deepthroat, not sure what was going through their mind when they named them!..) It's a gorgeous pink with gold shimmer through it and it's a well-loved product by many! It is pricy at £23 but it's pretty comparable to a lot of high-end blush prices and it's good quality and lasts a long time.

 Two favourites I have had for my eyelashes this month are Eylure lashes. I love, love, love falsies and I would definitely wear them everyday if they weren't such a fiddle and so time-consuming. I think they really add to a look and are great for everyday use or going out on a night out. It's always really expensive buying Eylure lashes seperately (usually around £5) especially if you struggle to get more than a few uses out of them so I was super pleased when I saw a multi-pack of them in Superdrug. You can get multipacks of lashes on Ebay but I usually find they look horrendous, fake and they're usually really awkward to put on aswell. I got my ones in Naturalites 101 which is one of my favourites that Eylure do. They look really natural and you could easily pull off that they were your own eyelashes if applied well and the best thing about these is they come with glue aswell, 3 tubes to be precise! Although if you bought the 5 lashes seperately you would get 5 glues, I always find that my Eylure glues could be used about 10 times each so that's definitely not a problem. They cost £20 which isn't too bad considering you can probably get 25 uses of them altogether! I've also been loving for my lashes this month, the Rimmel ScandalEyes Flex mascara which is not only cheap but the best drugstore mascara that I have ever tried and believe me I have tried a lot!! I've done an indepth review on this aswell which I will link below.

Two recent favourite that I only got at the end of January are firstly Nars Copacabana illuminator which I have used religiously throughout the end of the month and into February everyday. It's just a gorgeous shimmer which is great for highlighting and it looks especially nice on the cupids bow! The second is YSL touche eclat which is possibly one of the best beauty products I have ever bought and it really is a multi-purpose product that can hide a multitude of sins! I will be doing a full review on both of these products soon!

 

 

My fragrance favourite this month has got to be Victoria Secret body sprays, they're so sensual and smell amazing. They really make me feel good after I've come out a bath or a shower just to spritz all over my body to make me smell nice. I also really like spritzing them in my hair so that I can smell it all day when my hair is down! My ultimate favourite one has to be 'Mango Temptation', I love mango's in every form so it's not really a surprise that it's in my favourites and obviously it's pink so...hehe.

 Two lip products I've been loving this month are Topshop's gloss ink in Sugar Rush and Rimmel's Moisture Renew lipstick in Oxford Street Fuchsia. Sugar Rush is a gorgeous rich pink shade that has a lovely texture and goes with pretty much all make-up looks so it's been a great one for when I don't know which lipstick to wear. Oxford Street Fuchsia is the perfect baby pink and I've loved it especially in the Winter months paired with baby pink cheeks just to look fresh and it's such a lovely moisturising texture that it stops your lips from getting dry too, bonus!

 I've also been loving my Real Techniques Buffing brush this month! I love my Expert Face brush as you all know but this one has taken over in my foundation routine the past month as it just buffs the foundation in so flawlessly with minimal effort. I'm really lazy so anything that requires a lack of effort on my behalf is a winner! I have a in-detail review that I have done on it so I will link that post below for you also.

 My final beauty favourite this month has been Algenist firming and lifting cream from Space NK. Now I know you're all probably thinking your 19 why do you need a firming and lifting cream? and the truth is I probably don't! Buuut Space NK sent me it for my 19th birthday as a present which was really nice of them...although I'm not sure what they're trying to say.This moisturiser is amazing just as a moisturiser though as it's so think and lightweight that it's an amazing one for using in the morning before you apply your foundation. If you wake up in a hurry (e.g. me every morning), you don't really have time to apply moisturiser and wait for it to sink in before you can apply your foundation. With this, you literally don't have to wait, literally by the time you've rubbed it on, squirted your foundation onto your hand and dipped your brush into it, it's already soaked in! So I have been loving that! It's also really good for using on your bum and your boobs ladies, area's that can always do with a firming and a lift unless of course you happen to be Beyonce or Rihanna! However, I did look online to check how much it was because I was really interested in repurchasing... it costs £76 for only 60ml (over a pound a ml)!!!!! Now I like a beauty splurge as much as the next person and this moisturiser is amazing but I could never justify spending that much on a moisturiser as I'm pretty sure you can get other moisturisers with similar properties for a lot cheaper. However if you have a wad of money spare and are looking for a good moisturiser for your morning routine then this could be the one for you!

 My non-beauty favourite this month is Sour Patch sweets! I don't know if you can actually get these anywhere in the world other than America as I had to go to a specialist American sweet shop and pay £1.89 for each small bag. Which is very over-priced for sweets in the UK but these are so worth it, if you live in America you probably think I'm crazy getting excited over these but they're so nice! My favourite flavour is the Blue Raspberry one's and I couldn't not share them with you. I did try to save a sweet to take a picture of one but I couldn't resist eating them all..sorry! They're basically a blue sweet that looks like a raspberry shape and they have a sour coating and then when you bite into them they're sweet inside..yummy!

 Those are my favourites for the month of January, what have you been loving this month? Have you tried any of these products?

Algenist Moisturiser:- http://uk.spacenk.com/firming-and-lifting-cream/MUK200008595.html

Past Posts:-
Naked 3 Palette - http://whatabbyloves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/urban-decay-naked-3-palette-review.html
Real Techniques Brushes-  http://whatabbyloves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/real-techniques-brushes-collection-and.html
Rimmel ScandalEyes Mascara- http://whatabbyloves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/rimmel-scandal-eyes-lycra-flex-mascara.html

Lots of Love, 

A x x x

Real Techniques Brushes Collection and Review

Hellooo my lovelies,

I have built up quite the collection of Real Techniques brushes since they were first released so I thought I'd show you my collection and do a mini review on them! I am a massive fan of Pixiwoo's brushes as I think they are some of the best brushes I have ever come across and at an affordable price (always a bonus!) I apologise in advance for the state of my brushes but I thought it would look better to show you that I actually use them than pristine clean one's aaand they were also due for a clean but I had to take advantage of the daylight whilst it existed! (con's of UK Winter!!) I actually store my make-up brushes in an old Yankee candle jar (no surprise it's a Home Sweet Home jar!). One of the best things about these brushes is that Pixiwoo do many tutorials on  their Youtube channel with these brushes so you can recreate some of the tutorials they do with them!

Yankee Candle Makeup Jar

 I have two sets, the core collection and the starter set which are both about £20 each and i also have four individual brushes. The individual brushes that I own are the Expert Face brush, Blush brush, Stippling Brush and the Powder Brush. I actually get a lot more use out of my four separate brushes than I do out of the set's but the sets are ideal if you're just starting out into make up and aren't entirely sure what you need and what you would get the most use out of. All Real Techniques brushes have synthetic bristles and big handles that are easy to use. I have had my brushes for a long time and I have washed every single one of them, multiple times and not once have they shed so they're definitely a winner!

Core Collection (sorry for the very dirty detailer brush! I had just used it that morning)

 The Core Collection set is targeted for the face and it contains four brushes: the well loved buffing brush, the detailer brush, the contour brush and the foundation brush. Firstly the buffing brush is loved by everyone and I actually used it to apply powder with until I got my Powder brush and it was really good for that. I actually still use it for powder when I'm out and about because the powder brush isn't as compact for travelling around with! It's also great for applying foundation with or personally I use it to apply my BB cream. I prefer my Expert Face brush for heavier, more full foundations but for light coverage foundations the buffing brush is ideal! The pointed foundation brush in this set, I used to use for liquid foundation but I wouldn't really recommend it as it clogs up really easily and it just doesn't give the nicest finish. It's okay for applying concealer but there's better brushes for that too (which i shall get to eventually). Overall it's just not the best brush and it remains unused in my brushes jar (which is why it's actually clean!) The detailer brush comes in handy for using as a lip brush, I usually apply my lipstick straight from the bullet but if I'm doing someone else's make-up then I use it or if I want to achieve a neater look. The last brush in this set is the Contour brush which is for as obvious, contouring your cheeks. It is actually an okay brush for this but I've found another favorite that I think does the job better so this brush mainly remains unused too. All Real Techniques brushes come with a portable brush stand aswell which is great for display or for travelling or even for keeping them tidy and together in a drawer! They are reasonable brushes for the price but personally I think you can get better brushes from Real Techniques and avoid buying this set aswell. However, in saying that I would buy the set alone just for the Buffing brush as it really is that good!

Starter Set

 The Real Techniques starter set (eye brushes), I actually only purchased recently as I have a lot of eye brushes from my Naked palettes but I really wanted the deluxe crease brush and another brow brush (disaster strikes when I lose my MAC 266!) The deluxe crease brush, I actually don't use for eyeshadow, I use it for concealer and it's the best brush I have found for applying concealer, it is the perfect sized brush for under the eye and it leaves a really smooth, high coverage finish so i have much love for this one! The brow brush in this set is good but I only really use it when I've misplaced my 266 because that is the perfect brush for filling in your eyebrows with! The accent brush I also really love as it's fabby for applying highlighter under the brow bone and in the inner corner of your eye. It just creates a more precise look than using your fingers or a wider brush that can't get as precise an angle. The base shadow brush is brilliant for applying a base eyeshadow colour onto your eye and lets face it us girls can never have too many eyeshadow brushes! (all the longer till we have to face washing them again). The final brush contained in this set is the fine Liner Brush which I haven't actually had a use for yet because my eye liner actually comes with it's own liner. This would be great for liquid eyeliners that don't come with an applicator and I also think it would be great for using with gel liners to get a perfectly even application!

Left:- Powder Brush, Right:- Expert Face Brush

 An individual brush that I purchased quite recently was the Powder brush which I use for applying my powder with everyday (duh!). It's really nice, does the job and applies just the right amount of powder and I would recommend this to anyone starting out in makeup/looking for a new powder brush. The powder brush retails for £12.99 which is bargainous for a massive powder brush!

My all time favourite brush from Real Techniques has to be the Expert Face Brush. I don't think I've ever had as good an application of foundation with any other brush, it just buffs it into the skin amazingly and leaves you with flawless looking skin! (what more can you ask for!) I tend to use it more for my heavier foundations like Mac Studio Fix and Rimmel's Wake Me Up but it also works well with lighter foundations like Nars Sheer Glow. I would totally recommend anyone to get this who's experienced with makeup or even someone who's just starting out as it does all the hard work for you and really, really works!

Left:- Stippling Brush, Right:- Blush brush

 My joint all time favourite Real Techniques brush that I use everyday without fail is the Blush brush. I actually use this for both my bronzer, my blusher and my highlighter as it is just the PERFECT shape for contouring! I used to have quite a love/hate relationship with blusher before I got this brush, it would either go on too heavy so I looked like Aunt Bessie or it would barely be visable but when it worked I loved it! With this brush I have never had this problem as it repeatedly gets the exact amount of blush I want on my cheeks and on the odd occasion I am a little heavy handed, it's super easy to blend it in with! For bronzer it's made it super easy for me to contour my cheeks and I now always manage to sculpt myself some cheek bones on top of my non-existent ones! Then for highlighter I abolutely love it with my MAC'S soft and gentle mineral skin finish as it just adds a beautiful shimmer onto my cheeks and I could not rave more about this brush! Just get it and it will change your makeup routine!

 The final individual brush I have from Real Techniques is the Stippling brush which I used to use for applying my foundation with before I got the Expert Face brush but I don't use it as much now. I usually use this one to stipple the foundation onto my skin after I've applied it with my Expert Face brush if I've done it in a hurry and it hasn't quite blended to the standard I desire. I also use it when I've applied my foundation without letting my moisturiser sink into my skin before hand (when I've slept in...which is alot!!) and it seems to help it blend better!

A nice thing I would suggest if your looking to buy someone brushes (or even yourself) that's just starting out in makeup, would be to buy individually the Powder brush, Blusher brush and Expert Face brush and use that as the 'Core Collection'. It does work out more expensive this way but personally I think you can acheive a lot more with these brushes and having had the Core Collection, I don't use the majority of the brushes and I have ended up buying both! So if I had known what I know now, I maybe wouldn't have rushed into buying the Core Collection straight away!

Hope this blog post helped some of you, Have any of you tried out Real Techniques? What do you think of them?

Shop the Post:- Core Collection (£21.99) - http://www.boots.com/en/Real-Techniques-Core-Collection-1403_1252038/
Starter Set (£21.99) - http://www.boots.com/en/Real-Techniques-Starter-Set-1406_1252040/
Powder Brush (£12.99)- http://www.boots.com/en/Real-Techniques-Powder-Brush-1401_1252048/
Blush Brush (£9.99) - http://www.boots.com/en/Real-Techniques-Blush-Brush-1407_1252046/
Expert Face Brush (£9;99) - http://www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10052&productId=1277695
Stippling Brush (£11.99) -  http://www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10052&productId=1253416

My review of Real Techniques Sponge Applicator - http://whatabbyloves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/real-techniques-miracle-complexion.html
Pixiwoo Youtube Channel- http://www.youtube.com/user/pixiwoo

Lots of love,

A x x x