Real Techniques Core Collection and my brushes of choice

Core Collection | My Brushes of choice | Handy Brushroll

Real Techniques brushes are one of the products I bought last month purely due to the amount of hype constantly surrounding them in the bloggersphere.
So many people love them, so I assumed they must be good and didn't think I could really go wrong.
Having qualified as a make-up artist, I can always justify a new set of brushes, so I went ahead and ordered the Core Collection.

I'll be totally honest; I really wasn't impressed with these at all.
I can see why so many of you do like them, 4 brushes and a roll for £20 is a massive beauty bargain, but I just couldn't get on with them.
My main problem with them wasn't even the quality of the brush hair. That was actually pretty good considering they're so cheap, and I didn't even have any stray hairs come out of them.

The problem for me, was the size of the brushes. They’re absolutely TINY!
I hated the foundation brush size and shape,  I found it far to small to use for a foundation brush, yet too big to use as a concealer brush. I also like my foundation brushes to have a square shape to them, it covers more of my face this way (if that even makes sense). So this was a massive no for me.

The concealer brush I found even worse, pointless for concealing as it is just far too small. Although, I have started using it for accurate application of highlighter underneath my eyebrows.

The other brushes are okay I suppose, the contour brush isnt quite the size or shape I'd like it to be.
The buffing brush is definitely the best of the bunch, but I don't really tend to use buffing brushes very often, so it's a little pointless for me.

So all around disappointment here I'm afraid :( Without meaning to sound like a massive make-up snob, I really do believe that you get what you pay for. I'd rather spend £20 on one good quality brush that I love using.

The only thing I love about this set, as weird as this might sound, is actually the brush roll.
I've been looking for a plain black one that didn't cost a billion pounds for ages now. I looked at the ones in MAC but just couldn't justify it.
This may not be the prettiest of rolls but it's discrete and does the job for protecting the brushes that I do want to carry around in my handbag with me.
So I've just been popping my brushes of choice (a mixture of brushes I got on my course, and a few MAC brushes) in there instead. I even think I would pay the £20 just for the empty brush roll!

Have you tried these real techniques brushes before? What did you think of them?
If you've reviewed them too, feel free to leave your link in the comments!

Youtube#11 Bronzing Tutorial

Hey there!

I hope you've all had a great weekend? 
I've just filmed this quick little bronzing tutorial for you, I hope it helps you out, I know I certainly didn't do my bronzer this way before I became a make-up artist! Shameful. 
Anyway it's one of my favourite, quick tricks (and one of the easiest) to achieve a nice natural sun-kissed look. 
Let me know if you like it :) 

Youtube#3 How I do My Daily Make-up

Hello darlings. So far my day in the office has consisted of nail painting, sweet chilli sauce (I'm obsessed with it, I even had it with my egg sandwich) and reading a new book called The White Tiger. I have major, major pmt today. Don't you just hate being a girl sometimes? I literally feel so down that I could cry for no reason, which is absolute madness because logically, I know that I'm so happy with my life at the moment. Happier than I've been in a really, really long time. Eugh, I can't wait for the hormonal mood to sod off!

Anyway enough of me blabbing on, today I thought I'd share with you my latest youtube video. It's pretty long 'cos I'm showing you how I do my daily make-up routine every morning, but I hope you'll stick around and watch it anyway :)

Topshop Make-up brushes

Hey pals, I hope you've all had a smashing weekend? 
I've had a crazy, wonderful, busy one... Nandos Gignics (where I met Lydia Bright from TOWIE) and Kensington Rooftop gardens, lovely.

Anyway, I've read a few not so great reviews of Topshop make up brushes floating around on blogosphere, so I thought I'd add my two cents.

I haven't used make up brushes for a long time, I had a previous bad experience with a malting Max Factor brush which put me off. I reverted to using my fingertips for the application and blending of everything. I was pretty impressed with this foundation brush though, so that might have all changed for me.  

Little tip for you, I washed both of these brushes before using them. I know they are brand spanking new, but I just find that this helps prevent bristles from shedding with the first use.

The foundation brush was a really great size, unbelievably soft on my face and I found it blended my foundation in really well, leaving no brush strokes. 
I really liked the look of my skin after using this brush, I found that the foundation looked much more natural buffed in with a brush.
Using fingertips alone means that the foundation tends to just sit on top of your skin. So I would really recommend this brush, at £7 you can't really go wrong. 

I didn't have so much success with the powder brush (RRP £10), I found that the bristles where far to scratchy on my face and the actual brush itself felt too big for my face. I also had a few stray bristles, so I'd stay clear of this one unfortunately. 

P.S Lydia and I are basically best friends now. Basically.