Drug Store Brushes - Real Techniques Bold Metals - 1 of 5

Hey everyone! I was thinking the other day, and with a little suggestion from a friend, that it's not so easy to go into the drug store and just pick up some makeup brushes. This is especially true when you don't know which brush does what. So over the next week I will write a review of a few brands that I LOVE from the drug store and include some instruction on how to use each brush.

I have had my fair share of not so amazing drug store brushes. While I still keep them in my collection (mostly to use in other fun ways) I don't use them on a regular basis. I do have my top five faves and they pretty much rock. Here is my number ONE drug store brand.

Real Techniques: Bold Metals Brush Collection

This set is probably the most expensive of the five collections, but I really am so in love with the quality of work you can do with them. These are amazing! I have always loved Real Techniques, but when they came out with these I was ecstatic. They have a total of 7 brushes in the original set and a few extra limited edition sets that have come out. I'm sure there will be more/hoping they will have more coming out. Each of the brushes have white bristles. This helps you realize exactly how much product is on your brush. That makes it easy to know if you are over loading or not so you don't get a muddy look. They are a beautiful mix of silver, rose gold, and gold handled brushes. They are interestingly shaped, they have a squared base which is awesome! They don't roll off the table and that is always a good thing. I hate having to dive after a brush as it rolls off my makeup table. They also taper off to a point at the bottom making them so easy to fit right into your hand. Honestly my favorite brushes EVER! I do however wish they had a bigger fluffy blending brush and a smaller shadow brush, but other than that I love them.

Let's go through the brushes

- 202 Angled Liner Brush: $15.99

This is probably the smallest angled brush I have used to date. It is perfect for brows and getting that perfect defined look. It is also awesome with Gel liners and sharp edges.






- 201 Pointed Crease Brush: $15.99

This brush is great for the crease for more of a cut crease look. It is a bit stiff but works great with a light touch. It is a pretty big brush so be careful with placement. I love this also for my brow bone highlight or even a nice straight nose highlight (yes I like to highlight my tiny nose)





- 203 Tapered Shadow Brush: $15.99

This is my FAVORITE brush. It the MOST fantastic little blending brush. It literally does all the work for you making any color amazingly easy to blend out and get that blown out look. I think I own like 6 of these brushes alone, where as I only have 1-2 of all the other brushes. It has the perfect shaped that fits right into your crease area. This is by far the WINNER of this collection!




- 200 Oval Shadow Brush: $15.99

This brush is so big and fluffy. This is my second favorite in the collection. It does such a good job of packing on lid colors. The fact that it is so fluffy makes it very easy to blend with it as well.







- 300 Tapered Blush Brush: $23.99

This is a sweet little blush brush. I love the tapered effect which helps you blend out blush easily. It also has been my go to highlight brush.







- 100 Arched Powder Brush: $25.99

At first I didn't know if I liked this brush simply because of the shape compared to my other powder brushes. It is not as round as the other brushes it's basically a bigger version of the blush brush just with more movement. I LOVE using this for my bronzer it gives this wonderful sun kissed look with such ease. I need to buy more of this brush.




- 301 Flat Contour Brush: $25.99

This has a very similar look to over contour brushes that have come out recently. It fits perfectly into the contours of your face making that chiseled look so simple to achieve that anyone can do it. Also great for a nose contour if you use the sides of the brush.






- 101 Triangle Foundation Brush: $23.99

This brush is most likely my least favorite of the bunch. I am not a foundation brush type of girl I love a good kabuki brush or beauty blender for my foundation, but if you regularly use a foundation brush this is a good brush. I feel it is a little hard to use but I am not the best judge of that.





There are a few more brushes in the collection and they also have gift collections that have come out, but I haven't bought those yet (key work YET).

My overall thoughts are that if you need a good set of brushes to start off with these would be my FAVORITE. They are definitely beginner friendly.

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ECKObeauty, because beauty repeats itself in action, in words, and in deeds.

Gerard Cosmetics - Hydra Matte Liquid Lipsticks

They're here! I know that I posted a few days ago (um... a week or so) that I got some liquid lipsticks. Gerard Cosmetics was having a 40% off sale for their 40yr anniversary. So... I bought six of them. The line is called Hydra Matte Liquid Lipsticks. There are 9 shades in total Ivasion, Aphrodite, Seerenity, Iced Mocha, Immortal, Ruby Slipper, Cher, Gravity, and Ecstacy. The packaging is really cute with a fogged-glass bottle and gold lid. I love the fogged glass look, it lets me see the color and it's slightly defused.

Below is my review and thoughts on each of the six that I bought.


  Ivasion -

This is a purple, mauve, gray, almost dusty plum look. I love this color like crazy! I was worried when I first opened the bottle because it was a very grayish/brown look, but once I put it on my lips I was in HEAVEN. It went on very smoothly and was easy to over-line (if you are into that, which I am) and still looked like your lips. I wore this one all day and only had to touch up after lunch. It did not transfer to my hand with the kiss test so that is awesome! HIGHLY recommend this liquid lipstick line.

 

Aphrodite -

This is an almost creamy orange soda color. It might look different on other skin tones, but it was very orange cream soda. I like it but as far as for my I am not a like orange kinda gal. It lasted just as long as Invasion. It applied a little more liquidy and was a little hard to get the lines nice and crisp, but dried equally as fast. Would look awesome on warmer skin tones ore someone even paler than me (if there is anyone that white ;) )


Serenity -

This a very BEAUTIFUL mauve pink color. Honestly I have been drawn to this type of color since I first bought a lip gloss at 14. Let's just say I will be wearing this one VERY often. It dried down so good and wasn't sticky at all. I seriously was dying for this color. I think I checked myself out like 10 times before I was willing to wipe it off. Definitely a keeper.


Iced Mocha -

This one won't be everyone's cup of tea, but its GORGEOUS!!! When I was looking at this one on Instagram and their website it looked almost purple to me but when I received it and tried it on it wasn't at all. Just know that in some pictures and on some skin types it comes off different, which is like your own personal color. It is a cool brown color. Very flattering and looks stunning! I really enjoyed this one. I probably wont wear it super often as there is always a time and a place for certain lip colors. (I am NEVER gonna follow that rule haha wear it when you want) This I would say would look best with a simple eye look because it is quite a stand out color.


Immortal -

This is a beautiful true red. It made my teeth look so white. I remember while I was putting it on just talking to myself saying, "Oh man this is awesome. DANG i am gonna be wearing this EVERYDAY!!" My babies (dogs) thought it looked fantastic too, as they generously wagged their tails at my exclamations. (I'm sure they thought I was talking to them) But it really did look so good. I fell in love the second I pulled the wand out of the bottle. Ruby Slipper -

This is a very beautiful maroon red with a little bit of sparkle in it. It was by far the hardest to apply simply because it is such a deep color. I had to apply a few layers to get an even coat. Remember this is gonna be common in deeper tones lipsticks. I loved it still. It was so vampy and sexy. I wore this the rest of the night and when I finally had to take it off it took a little effort it is very long lasting. Over all this line is awesome and I can't wait to get the other colors. They are super long lasting and transfer proof and trust me I at, drank, chewed gum, smiled, laughed, and all sorts of crazy things and they lasted amazingly.

ECKObeauty, because beauty repeats itsself in your actions, your words, and your deeds.


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Urban Decay Gwen Stefani blush palette - Review and Swatches

I recently got the Urban Decay-gwenstephani blusher pallet. Blusher is probably the hardest thing for me to keep up with as sometime I don't feel I like to switch it up much. This pallet has definitely been an amazing purchase. It has 6 amazingly pigmented colors OC, Hush, Lo-Fi, Angel, Easy, and Cherry. The range is great as you have more pinky tones, peachy tones, and even more bronzy tones.

I have loved using Angel in some more smoky eye looks and the simmer that is has has been perfect as both a highlight and blush. The palette costs $45.00 USD and comes with the 6 colors mentioned before. That makes each blush $7.50 which is quite affordable for the quality you are getting.

Below are a few swatches of the colors and looks that I used these wonderful blushes in.

Thanks for reading.

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