My Top 5 | Brushes You Need to Own

Hey everyone,

I've already done a few posts of my Top 3/Top 5  favourite products (Blushes - here, Highlighters - here, Mascaras - here). I thought today I'd show you my favourite brushes which I use daily. I'm not so much concerned with the brand (for reference all of those pictured are Sigma apart from the blurring brush which is from Urban Decay) but the type of brush and why I think they can make a big difference to your makeup routine. I've also given a few options of where to buy these types of brushes, but there are tons of brands that stock all of these types of brushes.I haven't tried all of these by any means, I simply chose a range of brushes available on the market.

1. Tapered Blending
There's many different names for this, but this is your basic eyeshadow blending brush. If you don't have one of these in your eyeshadow routine, this single handedly can make a huge difference to your eyeshadow application. You will be able to blend the eyeshadows together so it looks more natural, blending the crease shadow into the lid eyeshadow. You can also use it to blend out any harsh lines you may have created by the edge of your eyes so the makeup seems more seamless.You can also use it for other things, because of it's small size you can use it to powder smaller areas, or to highlight things such as the bridge of your nose. I've also heard it being used for blending out your concealer too.

Options:

1. MAC 217 Blending Brush - £18 //  2. Sigma E40 Tapered Blending - £10.95 //3.  ELF Blending Eye Brush - £1.50 // 4. Lily LoLo Eye Blending Brush - £5.99  //  5. Yves Saint Laurent Eye Blending Brush - £31 

2. Angled Contour
I love this brush. The angle on it means that its perfect for contouring the cheeks. It makes it easy to get into the cheek bones and around the edges of the face. It is also perfect for precise blush application as you can easily apply it onto the cheeks and sweep it up to the cheek bones. I find this brush much easier to use than normal blush/bronzer brushes as I find them far more precise and better at distributing product. You can also use these to apply highlight to the top of the cheekbones too.

Options:

1. MAC 168 Large Angled Contour Brush - £27  // 2. Sigma F40 Large Angled Contour Brush - £13.95 // 3. ELF Blushing, Bronzing and Blending Brush - £1.50 // 4. Bare Minerals Angled Blush Brush - £13.50  // 5. Bdellium Pink Bambu Angled Face Brush - £14.50

 

 3. Duo-Fibre/Stippling
 I remember when I first saw these brushes in actions I was amazed. I was so used to only using a flat foundation brush to apply my makeup and this blew everything I thought I knew out of the water. The idea of these brushe are that the bottom part is made from natural hair while the top is made from synthetic hair. You use these brushes in a stippling motion. You can use these brushes to stipple your foundation onto your face providing a different application. I also find this works very well for stippling blush onto your face. It's great for use with very pigmented blushes as it gives a lighter handed application. As the top of the brush is synthetic, these can be used with cream products too.

Options:

1. MAC 187 Duo-Fibe Brush - £33.50 // 2. Sigma F50 Duo-Fibre Stippling Brush - £16.95 // 3. ELF Studio Stipple Brush - £3.75 // 4. Real Techniques Stippling Brush - £11.99 // 5. Coastal Scents Duo Fibre Stippling Brush - £7.95

4. Optical Blurring / Buffing Brush

Now this is my favourite brush. There's lots of names for it, the most famous probably being the buffing brush. It's basically a very dense round brush which is great for both applying foundation and for blending it into the skin. I love this brush, I love it for when I want to do fuller coverage foundation as it's great for blending. I also love it for blending my bronzer and blush into my foundation so that it looks more subtle and less harsh. It's a very versatile brush that is a must-have in any collection.

Options:

1. Urban Decay Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush - £19.50 // 2. New CID Cosmetics Foundation Buffing Brush - £23.49 // 3. Real Techniques Expert Face Brush - £9.99 (or the Buffing Brush in the Core Collection) // 4. Bdellium Tools Bambu Face Blending Brush - £7.95 // 5. Laura Mercier Blending Brush - £31

5. Pencil Brush

Okay so this last brush is possible the least 'makeup life changing' brush out of the ones mentioned, but I love this brush for all of its different uses. My main use of this brush is to apply eyeshadow to either the inner corner of the eyes or just under the eyes for a smudgy effect. The precise tip allows you to have precise application of the eyeshadow to smaller areas. However, this brush can also be used for highlighting, I like it for highlighting the browbone and cupid's bow as it allows for more precise application than most highlighter brushes. It's also great for concealing too as it is much more precise than most concealer brushes.

Options:

1. MAC 219 Pencil Brush - £20 // 2. Sigma E30 Pencil Brush - £8.99 // 3. Bdellium Tools Bambu Pencil Brush - £7.50 // 4. Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil Blending Brush - £10 // 5. Dolce & Gabbana The Brush Pencil Brush - £24.28

So that's it for my must have brushes! I hope this post was helpful to you, let me know what your must have brushes are in the comments down below!

My Top 5 | Blushes

I'm a blush girl, I love how a different blush can completely change up your look. It can be subtle and compliment your makeup or it can be bold and give the makeup a new dimension. I decided to share with you my favourite five blushes that I wear a lot. Apart from one limited edition blush, all the others are still available. Four of them are matte and one is shimmer.

1. Sleek Squash
Sleek Squash is the bright pink blush in the Sleek Blush by 3 Palette in Pumpkin which I reviewed here. It's a bright pink matte powder blush. As you can see by the swatch, this is the brightest blush and it is possibly the brightest powder blush I own. I love wearing this in summer as it gives a lovely pop of colour on the cheeks. You can layer this for an intense look, or only use a bit and blend it into the skin for a more subtle look. I love that I can achieve two different looks with this blush depending on how I apply it.  This is slightly harder to work with than the other blushes (which are all high end) but the pigmentation is one of the best, and it lasts for ages too.

2. Illamasqua Katie
I already reviewed this blush here, I love this blush and would say it is possibly the favourite blush I own. I can already feel a bit dent in it, and am worried I will run out soon :(. It's a pale pink which really compliments my pale skin and adds a very subtle glow to my cheeks. I'd say it has the best formula of the bunch, it is incredible soft and very easy to apply and blend into the cheeks. It isn't powdery at all and lasts all day.

3. Nars Oasis
I've already reviewed this blush in more detail here. This is the only shimmer blush pictured. I actually prefer how shimmery blushes look, but as I often wear shimmery eyeshadows, it would be a bit overkill to wear shimmer on the cheeks. This is the darkest blush out of the five, it is described as a 'sparkling pink champagne'. It leans more brown than pink on my skin as I'm fair. This is less subtle on my skin as it is quite a bit darker, but it blends it well and I love wearing this on a night out. As with all Nars blushes, the pigmentation is great and the wear time is superb.

4. MAC Immortal Flower
This is the only limited edition blush of the collection. I didn't want to include it as it was limited edition, but as I wear this one so much, I figured it'd be silly not to include it. This is a peachy-orangey shade. It is a pale shade, and if you have tanned skin you won't be able to wear this. In fact, without lots of layering I would only recommend this to people with light-light medium skin. I love the way this blush compliments my bronzer and gives me more colour in summer. The formula is really nice and easy to blend into the skin.

5. Stila Convertible Colour in Gerbera
I already reviewed this here. Although I have dry skin, I tend to prefer powder blushes than cream blushes as I find they last longer. However, this blush is the exception. It stays on my skin for ages and blends into it seamlessly. As it's a cream formula it's not powdery or cakey at all. It is also very easy to apply and you can apply with your fingers or a brush. I love the colour of this, it's noticeable without being too in-your-face.

Those are my top five blushes in my collection that I wear regularly. Are any of these your favourite blushes too? What your top 5 blushes? Let me know in the comments!

Twitter | Pinterest | RSS | BlogLovin' | Google + | SheSaidBeauty

Top 3 | Highlighters Feat. Benefit, MAC & Sleek

1. Benefit Watt's Up! - £24.50

2. MAC Mineralise Skinfinish in Lightscapade - £22

3. 3. Sleek Face Contouring Kit in 'Light' - £6.49

I love highlighters. I love how they can make you look like you just have that 'inner glow' and how they make you look fresh and radiant. I have three favourite highlighters each best for different purposes. I thought I'd share them with you to see if you can discover some new favourites. It was incredibly hard to swatch these, especially the MAC one as it's quite similar to my skintone. Hopefully you can see them well enough.

1. Benefit Watt's Up! - £24.50
I have already got a more in depth review of this here. I love this highlighter, especially in the summer. The champagne colour helps add a golden glow to the cheeks and looks great paired with bronzer. It has the best colour pay off of any highlighter I've used and the shimmer is gorgeous. It is more noticeable on the skin than some highlighters, but that's why I like it so much. It's a cream to powder formula, so easy to blend into the skin for a flawless application.

2. MAC Mineralise Skinfinish in 'Lightscapade' -£22
I don't think there's much that needs to be said about this one. Mac's Mineralise Skinfinishes are very well known. I only own one of them, in Lightscapade, which is described as a 'soft candelight beige'. On me it's quite similar to my skin colour so really blends into my skin and makes the highlight look more natural. You can use as little or as much as you want in order to get the look you want. It's a powder highlighter and easy to apply to the face with a powder brush. The powder is finely milled so won't make your face look cakey and won't highlight pores. The MSFs are available in a range of shades, with new limited editions ones constantly being released.

3. Sleek Face Contour Kit in 'Light' - £6.49
This is my most recent addition and is definitely the cheapest product shown here. It only costs £6.49 but you also get a good contour shade with that. I really like this higlighter. In the swatch you can see it's similar to the MAC higlighter, but a bit more yellow toned and the shimmer particles are much more noticeable. This is a great highlighter when I want a bit more of an obvious higlighter (it's never over the top though).

Those are my top 3 highlighters at the moment, but I'd like to try more. If you have any recommendations, let me know!

Twitter | Pinterest | RSS | BlogLovin' | Google + | SheSaidBeauty

My Top 5 MAC Lipsticks | Summer

I love bright lipstick. One of the things I love most about summer is the chance to wear those bright pink colours along with the corals and subtle nudes. My favourite brand for lipsticks has always been MAC, I love the huge choice of colour they have, you are sure to find something you like. There are certain lipsticks I go back to time and time again, which I've decided to share with you all.


1. MAC 'To Catch a Sailor'

 One of my favourite lipsticks for summer is this golden-tan colour from the MAC 'Hey Sailor!' collection last summer. I always love the look of tan lipsticks on people, but being so pale, I often find that they don't look right on me. However, this lipstick suits my pale complexion and makes me look a bit more bronzed in the summer months.

It's a frost finish which means there is shimmer on the lips, but this is subtle and does not look over the top. As it is a frost it can be a little more on the dry side so it is recommended to moisturize your lips well before using it, or to add a gloss over the top.

I love the lipstick with a bit of bronzer and loose wavy hair on a sunny day.

2. MAC 'Angel'

 MAC 'Angel' is a well known lipstick shade. It's a light pink shade that is known for being one of Kim K's favourite shades. It's the sort of shade that looks good one everyone, regardless of skin colour/tone.

On me, the shade is lighter than my actual lip colour so appears a light pink. However, on people with lighter lip colours than me, it appears as a more netural pink colour. This colour is really nice for wearing natural and no-makeup makeup as the colour isn't too far away from the average lip colour. I especially like this colour when wearing very dramatic eyes, e.g. smokey eyes.

I love this lipstick for summer as I prefer to wear more natural looking makeup in the summer time and this helps me achieve that. It looks really nice with a light pink lipgloss added over the top too. 

3. MAC 'Girl About Town'

 MAC 'Girl About Town' is the least summery of all of the shades I've picked, but I still like to wear it in summer. It's good for those days in August where even though its summer and the sun should be shining, it's pouring it down with rain. It looks more summery than red and maroons, but still isn't so summery that it looks out of place. I also love to wear on a warm day with a pale pink lipgloss. This lightens the colour a bit and makes it more summmery.

The lipstick is an amplified finish, and is very pigmented as you can see by the swatch. The lasting power on this lipstick is very good as well, it last for ages due to its high pigmentation.

4. MAC 'Naughty Saute'

 Naughty Saute (don't you just love MAC lipstick names?) is a very bright pink. Think in your face bright pink that you can notice from a mile off. Well not quite, but Naughty Saute is almost at that level. It's a very bright light-ish pink. To me, this is such a summer colour the bright pink looks great with pink cheeks and minimal eye makeup.

I often find that the pink is a bit bright to wear on its own so often tone it down with a slightly lighter lipgloss, keeping the very bright pink colour but making it a bit more wearable.Also, it's a blue based pink, which means it won't make your teeth look slightly yellow as I know some bright pink lipsticks have a habit of doing it.

It's a cremesheen formula which is one of my favourite mac lipstick formulas as they are more moisturising, which is good for such a bright lipstick. It glides on and leaves a quite a glossy finish. The wear time on this is also good about 3-4 hours depending on if you are eating/drinking.

5. MAC 'Watch me Simmer'

 This last lipstick is my favourite of the bunch, and I think you can tell by the slightly deformed shape of the lipstick, the one I wear the most.

Watch me Simmer is a bright coral red which looks nice with just about anything. I really love how this looks with all my summer clothes. It also compliments a lot of summer makeup. For example, I've worn this with a very bronzed smokey eye with heavy contouring and its looked great. It's also looked good with more simple eye makeup and just a hint of blusher on my cheeks. It's a very versatile shade.

It's an amplified formula which means it is highly pigmented, this means you will be able to get the shade in the lipstick on your lips. I find it to be a very moisturising lipstick and don't find it dries out my lips at all. This will be the main lipstick I am wearing all summer for sure.


These are my top 5 favourite MAC lipsticks to wear in the summer, let me know what lipsticks you will be rocking in the summer months in the comments below!

Twitter | Pinterest | RSS | BlogLovin' | Google + | SheSaidBeauty