Elf Brushes

**PICTURE HEAVY**

I decided to take full advantage of one of Elf's last 50% off sales and ended up purchasing 8 of their brushes. I have been trying them out for a while and here are my thoughts on each one. As the sale is not going on anymore I have listed all brushes at their full price.

Elf Studio Angled Foundation Brush £3.50, eyeslipsface.co.uk

This is probably the smallest foundation brush I own and it's slanted bristles make it perfect for blending in harder to reach areas, such as around the nose. Due to its size I don't think this brush is very suited to applying foundation to the whole face as it's just that little bit too small, instead I like to use this to apply liquid highlighter, such as Benefit's High Beam, to the top of my cheekbones.

What's in My Holiday Bag? Part 2

When I'm on holiday I rarely wear make up during the day, so make up application is reserved mainly for night time. I hate to take expensive make up products on holiday as I worry about losing them or damaging them in transition, with so many quality drugstore products out there it's easy to build a great holiday make up collection. The products I am taking are (Clockwise from top):

Lypsyl tinted Cherry Blossom Lip Balm 4g £1.49, Boots: A very cheap product, I like the fact it is ever so slightly tinted, smells lovely and contains an SPF 15. To give you all the blurb it also contains Vitamin E, Aloe Vera and helps protect against UVA and UVB rays. On application it feels moisturising on my lips and even tastes nice, however you need to warm the product up slightly in your hand before applying otherwise it is very hard and waxy.

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent £3.99, Superdrug: This is my everyday powder which I use to combat shine, you can tell how well loved it is from how little is left in the pan. I don't like to wear powdery products in warm countries as they don't look good on the skin, however I am taking this as I hate the look of a shiny t-zone!

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair £4.19, Boots: My favourite concealer, see my post on it here.

Revlon PhotoReady Foundation in Vanilla 30ml £12.99, Boots: My favourite light foundation, which is perfect for summer evenings. I like to mix a touch of this with moisturiser to make a DIY tinted moisturiser.

Benefit Gilded Tangerine Gold Highlighter Pencil £14.00, Benefit: A gorgeous gold creamy highlighter which I like to smudge under my eyes, I love gold eyes on holiday so this pencil is perfect.

Benefit High Beam, Sample Size Free with Glamour Magazine: A great highlighter for cheekbones, brow bones and the cupids bow.

No 7 Gel Liner in Black 4g £10.00, Boots: - This was part of No7 Spring 2011 collection, see my full review here. It's a great multifunctional liner which can be used on the eyelids and on the waterline, best of all it's waterproof so will hopefully stay put in humid conditions!

Bourjois Bronzing Powder Shade 51 16.5g £6.99, Superdrug: The much loved Bourjois Bronzing Powder in the lightest shade, see my review here. I'm hoping this will go someway to making me look tanned on holiday....wishful thinking!

Gosh Jumbo Lip Gloss Pencil 02 Flamenco Coral 2.8g Discontinued:  Sadly this lip gloss has been discontinued which is a shame as it's fab and I wish I'd bought more colours! This colour is a beautiful glossy coral and will be great to wear in the evenings.

Gosh Jumbo Lip Pencil 02 Flamenco Coral Swatch

Beauty UK Earth Child Palette £3.99, Superdrug: I have previously discussed the Earth Child Palette on my blog, see here for swatches. I am mainly taking this palette for the black eyeshadow however the other range of colours particularly the browns and greens will be lovely to use too. This palette is cheap enough to repurchase if it does get damaged.

MUA Heaven and Earth Palette £4, Superdrug: A very recent purchase, a full review of this palette will be coming soon! I couldn't resist taking this with me as the neutral colours are beautiful and it saves me lugging my Naked Palette half way around the word!

Max Factor Masterpiece Mascara in Black £8.99, Boots: My favourite mascara of all time! See here for more details. This is not the waterproof version so this will only be used during the evenings, I don't want to be sporting panda eyes by the pool.

Collection 2000 Clear Lash and Brow Mascara £2.99, Boots:  I purchased this instead of a black waterproof mascara, I'm hoping it will give my lashes some definition during the day with no worry of smudges and keep my brows groomed at night. I last bought this product 10 years ago so it will be nice to revisit it, plus clear mascara is a very handy thing to have in your make up collection.

Stay tuned for the third and final part of this series :)

e.l.f. Make Up Brushes

Elf is a much discussed, very affordable cosmetic brand whose products I had, until recently, only admired from afar. However, during one of their recent free delivery offers (you have to hand it to elf...they are very generous at dishing out the free delivery offers and discount codes) I decided to finally take the plunge and place an order. I ended up purchasing four brushes from the elf range, three from the studio line priced at £3.50 each and one regular brush priced at £1.50. In total my order came to £12 and postage was free. Now, £12 for four brushes is what I can only describe as an absolute bargain, seriously where else would you get four brushes for that price?! 

Studio Line Complexion Brush £3.50

My first purchase was the Complexion Brush from the studio line, I have to say I love the look of the studio line brushes, the black colour is very sleek and makes them look more expensive than they are. This brush is what I would describe as a large blusher brush, the synthetic Taklon bristles are soft which makes the brush lovely to use on the face, they are also densely packed making it easy to collect and distribute product onto the skin.  I have not experienced any shedding from this brush, which I find amazing considering that some of my other (pricier) blusher brushes shed like crazy.....so irritating to have to pick black hairs off your face! Whilst this brush has been designed for applying powder, it's pretty multifunctional and I also use it to apply blusher and highlighter, it gives a lovely even layer of colour.

Studio Line Powder Brush £3.50

The second brush I bought is the Powder brush from the Studio Line, like the Complexion Brush it is priced at a very reasonable £3.50. I wanted to purchase this brush as I don't think I have read a bad review of it anywhere! I don't own anything similar to the powder brush so a flat topped brush was a welcome addition to my collection. Once again the bristles are densely packed and SO soft....seriously cannot stress enough how lovely and soft these brushes are! This brush is great for buffing products into the skin, I mainly use it to dust on my setting powder but I also use it to apply bronzer or buff out the colour when I have been a bit heavy handed with the blusher. This brush can also be used with liquid foundation, with a stippling action being most effective, I would really recommend this brush seeing as it is so multi functional!

Studio Line Eyeshadow 'C' Brush £3.50

The Eyeshadow 'C' brush is my final purchase from the studio line. I have quite a few eyeshadow brushes but like the fact that this one is designed to be used on the crease. I don't think i've quite got the hang of using this brush yet as the densly packed bristles pick up a lot of product and I end up applying too much eyeshadow leaving my crease looking pretty messy....I think this brush requires a lighter touch and less product or maybe I'm just not blending enough?! I have taken to using this brush to apply shadow to my lid and also below my lower lash line as I am currently loving the smudgy bronzed!

Concealer Brush £1.50

This concealer brush priced at £1.50 was my last purchase, I had been on the hunt for a concealer brush with a small head for a long time, so when I spotted this one I snapped it up right away. The brush head is tiny which makes it perfect for individually targeting spots and imperfections, the other concealer brushes I own are a lot bigger and unable to give the same finish as a smaller brush. I have started using this brush everyday and it has become my favourite concealer brush. This brush is so small and precise that I think it could also be used for applying gel eye liner, filling in eyebrows and applying highlighter to the inner corner of the eye.

I am really impressed with my elf purchases and am in no doubt that I will be going back for more in the future, not only is the pricing unbelievable good, the quality is comparable with other brushes including those from pricier brands. I also cannot fault the order or (v. efficient!) delivery process, I can now see why so many people rave about the brand!