More Real Techniques Brushes in Vancouver, B.C. (Canada)!

Hi All!

As a continuation to this post, I was out and about today and stumbled into the London Drugs at Granville and West Georgia.  Low and behold, look what I found!

Yes indeed, the newest set put out by Real Techniques, called `Sam`s Picks`!  This set includes (from left to right): Multi-task brush, Setting brush, Buffing brush, Pointed Foundation brush, Essential Crease brush and the Fine Liner brush.

I actually already have the multi-task brush, the setting brush and the fine liner brush--but I couldn`t resist picking up this set so I could have the Essential Crease brush!  I am planning to give my doubles to my sister and I'm sure she'll be excited!  

I`m always so surprised how small the RT brushes are and the Essential Crease brush is no exception.  I snapped some quick pictures to show you what I mean.

Here are some of my typical domed crease blending brushes.  From left to right: RT Essential Crease brush, RT Duo-Fiber Eye brush, Alima Pure #37 Eye Blending brush, Sigma E40 and Inglot's 6SS.

And here is the RT Essential Crease brush compared just to the Sigma E40.

It's so short and stubby!  Hah.  I did test it out on my eye and it's certainly soft and not prickly.  And I think it'll be great for getting colour just into the deepest part of the crease without the colour getting everywhere else just during the blending process.  I think I will like this brush!  But those Chapman sisters must have really small eyes!  :)

Hooray for new brushes regardless of their size.  Do you have this set yet?  What do you think of the Essential Crease brush?  I would also love to know what your favorite Real Technique brushes are!

Thanks for dropping by!

IMATS Vancouver 2013

Hellloooooo!

Yesterday was a big day for me--it was IMATS here in Vancouver!   Hooray!!  I had only been to one IMATS previously (in 2011) and didn't think I was going to attend it this year...but then when I saw that Bdellium Tools was going to be an exhibitor, I pretty quickly changed my mind and purchased a ticket for Saturday!

I didn't end up taking any pictures of the event itself, but I surely took a picture of the "haul" that I purchased!

The first booth I hit up, of course, was Bdellium Tools.  I took out my list (I purchased a few things for a couple friends and a few things for myself!) and got to filling my little tray.  I purchased solely from their new Pink Bambu line and am realllllly pleased with what I picked up.

Here are the eye brushes I snagged.  I already have a 776--but it is quickly becoming one of my favorite blending brushes, so I grabbed a back-up!

And here are the face brushes.  Now, I hardly put on full face makeup and so my face brushes typically go pretty unused.  I picked these ones up, though, because they are quite different from any other of my face brushes.

While I was walking to the Bdellium booth, I noticed an Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics display!  I was so excited because I didn't know OCC products were going to be available!!  So that was the next place I went.  Sadly the only products available were the lip tars (well...that isn't really a "sad" thing because Lip Tars are AMAZING, but I was hoping to play with some of the new OCC concealers!) and the newest Stained Gloss range was not present.  However, I've been on the hunt for a couple of colours and I got them!  WOOO!  I even got the very last Harlot.  *dances around*

Super NSFW on the left, Harlot on the right.

The OCC lip tars were available from the Blanche MacDonald makeup school booth and they *also* had some Cozzette Brushes.  I've been eyeing Cozzette brushes for a long long time and I was (non-surprisingly) very excited to pick some of them up!  Since bringing these bad girls home with me, I've taken them out of their packaging to see how soft they are...and OH MY GOODNESS.  Ridiculously soft.  I have a feeling these brushes will become some of my favorites in no time flat.

From left to right: D200, D230 (this one is SO NEAT.  I can hardly wait to use it!), S150, S165, S175 and S185 (I love tiny fluffy brushes like this and they aren't very typical).

Now the order of events gets a little hazy.  From here I basically walked around the whole floor (I hadn't until this point) to see what was what.

I stopped at the Red Cherry booth and picked up more false lashes and a CUTE tiny little Duo!

I also stopped at the Royal and Langnickel booth to pick up a dupliate of one of my favorite R & L brushes as well as a new BX-65...which I own, but when I got it...I discovered it was a bit misshapen.  I opened up almost all of them at the booth to make sure the one I ended up with was not misshapen (quite a few of them were so I don't know what's up with that!).

And then I *almost* forgot to check out the London Brush Company booth!  By this time I was pretty hungry and not thinking straight!  I picked up two of their vegan brushes and I'm pretty excited about the 2/N "Soft Bent Lip" because I think it's going to do a marvelous job at eyeliner.

As you can believe...by the end of this adventure I was experiencing slight brush fatigue!  Put a vegan in a room with amazing vegan brushes and this is what happens though!!!!!!  :)

Once I wash the brushes and start using them, expect some reviews.  Yep yep!

Thanks for stopping by and please let me know if you have any questions!  Have *you* tried any of these products?  What do you think of them??

Real Techniques Brushes...in Vancouver (B.C.)???

Hello!

Yesterday I happened upon some information via the Real Techniques Facebook page that made it *seem* like the brushes are now sold in a few select stores in Canada!  What what what?!  I know, I know.  I'm as excited as you are!  Word on the FB street (plus some internet searching I did last night) is that they are available at Walmarts (which I will *not* step foot into).  But!  Evidently they are also available at select London Drugs locations!  Hooray!

I just checked out two London Drugs locations (1650 Davie and 1187 Robson).  Neither of these locations had any of the Real Technique brushes.  I am going to check out the Granville and Georgia location this evening and I am thinking that it will be my best shot.  If they're not there, I think I'll also check out the one on Hastings and Abbott (a location I have never visited so I'm not sure how good my chances are).

Basically this blog serves the purpose to chronicle my search!  That way...if any fellow Vancouverites are looking for the brushes...hopefully this post will come in handy!

More on this all...later!

Edit: 8:19pm.  Well darn!  They did not have the brushes at the Granville/Georgia location OR the Hastings/Abbott location!  Clearly I need to get my butt to the ones on Broadway to check those next!

Edit: 9:43pm (May 5, 2013): I *finally* found them!!!  They are available at the London Drugs on Cambie and Broadway!  Woo hoo!  I bought myself the Travel Essentials kit this evening!

New Brushes: Sigma Mrs. Bunny!

Oh yes, I got these babies today!

I have just washed them and will start playing with them soon! Expect a review in the coming weeks!! :)

PS: My 2012 Makeup-related Resolution: NO MORE BUYING BRUSHES! Seriously. With this set I now have 84. 84 brushes is enough for me (for this year)! :)

Edit: For a semi-review, please see my latest tutorial.

Bdellium Tools "Green Bambu" Review

As you all know, I am *always* on the lookout for vegan (synthetic bristled) makeup brushes. I, somewhat recently, became aware of a company called Bdellium Tools and their seemingly awesome looking "Green Bambu" line. The Green Bambu line is described as a series of brushes that are "professional eco-friendly makeup brushes with all sustainable bamboo handles and all vegan soft synthetic bristles with an anodized aluminum ferrule." Bdellium uses bamboo as it is a fairly sustainable resource (did you know that bamboo apparently grows a foot a day?! That's nuts!). The brushes from the Green Bambu series are also not treated with any kind of antibacterial agent and Bdellium boasts that their "synthetic bristles are hypoallergenic and 100% cruelty-free." Sounds like something I should be trying out, right?

There are three different Green Bambu sets available on the market today and I was lucky enough to scoop up ALL three in a pretty fantastic sale on Amazon.com. Hooray for me!

Now on to the photos/review!

The shipping containers for the sets is awesome. The brushes are packed safely inside of these cylindrical (and pretty darn sturdy) plastic containers. These are worth saving (as far as I am concerned) as they'll come in handy for traveling with your brushes. Inside the cylinders, each brush is inside of a plastic sleeve--this products the bristles from getting smooshed during the shipping process.


This is the "5 pc. Smoky Eye Set". It contains (photographed left to right): the #706 Liner/Brow, #716 Smoky Liner, #777 Shadow, #769 Angled Contour and #781 Crease brush.


Next up, the "5 pc. Mineral Set". Again, photographed left to right: #942 Precision Concealer, #778 Large Shadow, #787 Tapered Blending, #942 Slanted Contour and # 959 Powder Blending brush.


And lastly, the "4 pc. Foundation Set". It contains (left to right): #953 Duet Fiber Foundation, #948 Foundation, #957 Precision Kabuki and #955 Finishing brush.


In the following pictures, I took them using a tripod--and each photograph has been re-sized at 40%. So this will give you an idea of how the size of each brush compares!

5 pc. Smoky Eyes Brush Set

First up, the #760 Liner/Brow. This is a TEENSY little brush. The point the bristles come to is very fine so I think this would work out awesomely with gel liner!

Next is the #716 Smoky Liner brush. This one is similar to my Sephora brand "Pro Smoky Eye Brush". It's nice and stiff, but also flexible. I should also mention that these brushes are about 2 centimeters shorter than any of my other brushes. The ferrules are the same length as any standard brush, but the handle itself is shorter. I've used 4 of the 5 "Smoky Eyes" brushes and I didn't notice the short handles--so them being shorter doesn't make them "weird" to use or anything!


Then we have the #777 Shadow brush. This one is almost exactly the same as my Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics #008 brush. And let me tell you--I LOVE my OCC #008 brush. I was pleased as punch to get a dupe for it in this set. Especially since the OCC brush costs $20--and I didn't even pay $20 for this WHOLE Smoky Eyes set! I win! The #777 brush is soft and the bristles are nice and uniform.


The #781 Crease brush is a great one. It is very similar to my Alima Pure #36 Pointed Crease brush. I also really love my Alima Pure brush, so I can see myself using the #781 A LOT. It's a good brush when you want a lot of control in the crease. If it were any fluffier, things could get out of hand (and easily!), but this is a nice way to get a colour right into the crease and nowhere else!


The last brush in the "Smoky Eyes" set is the #769 Angled Contour. This one is similar to another OCC brush that I have (#005)--but it's a bit smaller. If you follow my tutorials, you will recognize this style of brush as one that I love to use for doing my brow highlight colour. In an upcoming Madd Style Cosmetics tutorial, I will be using the #769 for that exact purpose--and it works like a charm. The #769 is nice and soft (as are ALL of the Bdellium tools brushes).


This is what the #769 looks like up close.


5 pc. Mineral Brush Set

I have not actually used any of these brushes yet--I'm slowly planning to dip my feet into the land of "face" (besides the eye) makeup!

To begin, the #934 Precision Concealer. It's soft and small! I like that the bristles are fairly long as I think it would help with getting the concealer into those tricky spots like around the eye and nose.


Then, similar to the #777 (but bigger) is the #778 Shadow. These types of brushes are great for really "packing" on the loose eyeshadow pigments on to your lid. This one is soft and the bristles are packed quite densely. It's super!


The #787 Lg. Tapered Blending brush is one of the reasons I got excited about Bdellium tools in the first place! I don't own a brush like it!! It's duo-fiber and NEATO. I haven't actually used it yet, but I'm excited to! It's very soft and I think it'd work out great for blending out the crease colour. Or I've heard it being used as an "eraser" brush--I'm curious to find out more about that!


Then comes the #942 Slanted Contour brush. It's slanted, that's for sure! And it's DENSE and SO SOFT. Gah! These face brushes have really inspired me to get into wearing blush!


Here's a close up of the #942.


Last in this set is the #959 Powder Blending brush. When I first took this one out of its plastic sleeve, I just wanted to constantly play with it. The tip is so nice and rounded. Like the #942--it is VERY dense and very very soft.


Here's what the #959 looks like up close.


4 pc. Foundation Brush Set

The #953 Duet Fiber Foundation is up first. Because I'm new to face makeup--I'm not exactly sure how to use this one. I think it might be good for cream products. It's another duo fiber brush and is so very soft.


The #953 looks like this, close up:

(Doesn't that just look SO SOFT?!)

Then we have the #948 Foundation brush. It's your pretty standard foundation brush! (Except that it's a shorter handle (like all of their other brushes), don't forget!)


The #957 Precision Kabuki brush. It's a flat top brush and soft soft soft.


Closet up, the #957 looks like this:


Lastly, you've got the #955 Finishing brush. It's kind of a "goofy" brush--or at least I find it kind of goofy! I think it's meant to...finish...obviously. So for a setting powder, perhaps? It's not very dense, but it's nice and fluffy. (Which I think is how finishing brushes probably should be, but for some reason I still just think this brush is goofy!)


The #955 looks like this, closer up:


Here they all are--lined up in a pretty row:


All in all, I am very impressed with these brushes. I'm especially impressed that I got them all for under $40!!!! I'd suggest keeping an eye out for them to go on sale through Amazon.com. Because, really, you just cannot beat that price. The fact that the brushes are so nice just sweetens the whole deal!

Look out for future tutorials where I will get these babies good and dirty. :)

Have you tried Bdellium brushes? What did you think? Do you have any tips for how I can use the face brushes? I'd *love* to hear your feedback on that one!

P.S.: The other (and last!) great thing is there are lots more individually sold "Green Bambu" brushes. I certainly have 1 (or 5?!) on my wishlist!

Royal & Langnickel "Silk Green Line" Review

July 23-24 in Vancouver (B.C.) was an exciting time--it was my very first IMATS (International Makeup Artist Trade Show) experience!! The first thing that caught my eye as I entered into the show was the Royal & Langnickel booth's synthetic "Silk Green Line" brush set. It was ticketed as having a regular price of $119 (if I remember correctly) and I snagged it for only $50! WOO!

The Royal & Langnickel site (www.royalbrushes.com) describe the set like this: "SILK GreenLine™ was developed for our customers seeking eco-friendly brushes without sacrificing the luxurious feel and precision of natural professional brushes. These high-end brushes boast a special blend of synthetic filaments, along with 100% bamboo handles and chrome plated nickel ferrules. Packaged in a sustainable cork case, the GreenLine™ is unrivaled in quality and price."

I was in love with everything about the set as soon a I saw it!

Here are some photos I took after finally opening it up this past weekend.

This is what the set looked like from the outside. Isn't the cork case neato?

When I opened up the case, each brush was wrapped in a nice plastic sleeve. The only brush that got kind of smooshed from this was the large powder brush, but I'm sure it will regain its perfect shape after having a few days out of that silly sleeve!

Without the plastic sleeves, the brushes were like this. All nice and fresh!

The left side of the brush set contains these six brushes (from left to right): GL-4 "Smudger", GL-3 "Eye Shadow", GL-5 "Liner", GL-1 "Powder", GL-2 "Blush", and GL-12 "Lip". These brushes are wonderfully soft. The Powder brush and blush brush, especially, are sooooooo soft. I do find myself wishing that the "Smudger" brush was a fluffy blending brush, but it will still be useful for deep crease work and for smudging (of course). The "Liner" brush I find quite thick for a liner brush, but I'm sure I'll be able to think of a way to use it.

The right side of the set contains these brushes (left to right): GL-8 "Eyeliner/Brow", GL-6 "Eye Fluff", GL-7 "Foundation", GL-11 "Concealer", GL-10 "Brow/Lash", and GL-9 "Flat Liner". I loooooooove how fine and small the "Eyeliner/Brow" brush is! It's awesomeness. And the "Eye Fluff" brush's name is enough to make me giggle. I will probably use the "Concealer" brush as a paddle-style eye shadow brush (since I have a tendency to like using that kind of brush to really pack on mineral pigments). Not pictured is the spoolie that is on the bottom of the "Brow/Lash" brush--it's a typical spoolie. I do like that the comb on the GL-10 is metal. It's nice and sturdy. I was also rather excited to get a flat liner brush, as I don't have one in my collection--and this one is nice--I wish its tip was a bit finer, but I'm sure it'll be okay!

Although I have not used these brushes yet, I am very pleased with the way they are made and feel. I love that their handles are bamboo and the brushes themselves feel really sturdy--the ferrules don't budge at all. Once I test these bad-boys out with makeup, I'll be sure to link back to this blog.

If you have these brushes (or any from Royal and Langnickel), how do you like them? :)

Edit (08/11/2011): I have tried these brushes out a couple of times now and I am really really happy with how they've been performing! No shedding, they're SUPER soft. Gah! I'm so glad that I bought them when I had the chance. The GL-4 Smudger brush works well to put colour in the duct area and to blend it up towards the inner crease. The strange GL-5 "Liner" brush worked really well today for me to put a pressed shadow along my lower lash line. The GL-6 Eye Fluff brush has been great at putting colour into the crease or blending a lid colour out into the crease area. I am a happy vegan brush consumer, yes I am!

Madd Style Cosmetics: The brushes I love and the ones I wish I didn't own!

I have a love/hate relationship with brushes. I LOVE to find new brushes and I love the ones that I use all of the time. I HATE that I *always* seem to find MORE brushes that I'm convinced that I need to try--even though I'm fairly certain that I don't actually need any more brushes (or at least not that many more). I also hate that I have some brushes that I'm fairly sure I will never use--wasting money makes me sad (as I'm sure it makes you sad too!). So, for this month's "tips" blog, I wanted to share with you all my brush successes and failures!

(Click on any picture to see a larger version!)

The brushes that I have that I use all of the time are specifically the ones that work well with my plethora of Madd Style Cosmetics pigments. All of the brushes I will be highlighting are also vegan brushes--as I only use vegan brushes (because...you know, I'm vegan and all. :)). If you know of any awesome synthetic bristled brushes that you think I'm missing from my collection, please let me know! At the end of the blog I'll post some links to some pages that I am stalking in preparation for a brush buying frenzy--but otherwise, I'd love to hear your suggestions!

To start out.

Back in the 8th grade (a long long time ago)--my Mom took me to The Body Shop for a make-over. I am fairly certain that I have had three of these four brushes since then! The first (Slanted Brush), third (Eyeshadow Brush) and fourth (Eyeshadow Blender) brush are all ones that I've had for a lonnnnng time. The second brush (Mineral Brush) is one that I recently acquired because I realized that it was one that I didn't have, and I liked my other three so much that I figured I'd pick it up!


When I started really getting into mineral makeup in this last year, I started going to Sephora to check out their brushes. I now have all three of their double-ended brushes (they now have some crazy pink one, but it's a face brush and I have no use for that!) and I like all three, but mostly I only use one of the ends of each! Actually--that's not really true. I suppose that I use both ends of the purple and orange ones. But I never use the thin side of the yellow one.


Once I realized how fun brushes were, I figured I should buy a set to get everything that I would need! I bought this set from Orglamix--I believe that it is like a generic ecotools set (the handles of the brushes aren't labeled as ecotools). I wish I hadn't purchased this set!! I don't use the face brushes (because I never wear blush or foundation or any of that "face" stuff). The tapered blending brush is MUCH too stiff. The eyeshadow brush is okay, in a pinch. The angled liner brush I could use, but I wouldn't for liner because it's too thick at the end. The only brush I use ALL of the time from this set is the pencil brush. In hindsight, I should have just found a pencil brush on its own and purchased that!


At Christmas time, Alima had a sale one an a four piece "eye" set. I love love love these brushes. They are SOOOOOOO soooooooft. The brushes below are the #36 Pointed Crease Brush, #33 Angled Liner/Brow Brush, #37 Eye Blending Brush and #39 Large Shadow Brush. I use all of these, except for #33, pretty much all of the time. I highly recommend these brushes!


For eyeliner brushes, I ventured out to art supply stores. The great things about these is that they work great and are waaaaaaaaay cheaper than brushes you'll buy at makeup/department stores.


Then, one day I was in a drug store and almost lost my mind when I stumbled upon the mini Ecotools set! I didn't realize we sold them in Canada--but now that I have these ones, I see Ecotool brushes in A LOT more places! I use all of these brushes pretty frequently--the only one I rarely use is the largest one on the far left.


My most recent brush purchase was for these Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics ones. I had been lusting after these ones for a while and recently found out about a 40% off sale and was able to jump on it!! The ones that I picked up: #006 Short Shader Brush, #005 Angled Blending Brush, and #008 Small Shader Brush. Like the Alima brushes, these are extremely soft. Sooo sooo soft. The 006 is MUCH bigger than I thought it was going to be. And the 005 is much more "blunt"--the angle is completely flat and round--not fluffy and tapered, like I thought the picture on the site looked. The 008 is the one I have been using the most and I like it very very much!


I also have some random assorted brushes. From left to right: ELF mineral blending brush, Sonia Kashuk domed crease brush, Sephora angled eyeliner brush, generic small eyeshadow brush (which I use to apply my NYX base, sometimes), Ecotools large eyeshadow brush and...I guess the last one is for brows and things? (Can you tell I never use it?!!)


Now--which ones I love the best and what I use them for!!

My favorite lid brushes. Body Shop Eyeshadow Brush, OCC Small Shader, Alima Pointed Crease Brush (which I use for my crease a lot of the times too!) and the the flat "wide" tiny brush from my mini Ecotools set. The first two are super great at packing on colour. I like the third a lot for blending above the lid towards the crease. And the teeny one is good for inner eye if I'm not wanting that colour on most of my lid.


My favorite crease brushes. The Alima Large Shadow Brush is similar to the orange Sephora brush (the fourth in this picture). It's a little fluffier so it's nice if I'm wanting more of a wash of colour. Next is the Alima Blending Brush (again, I like to use this for a less intense application and it's also great just for blending out the crease) and the Sonia Kashuk domed brush (great for packing on intense colour in the outer lid/crease). And last is the fluffy tapered brush from my mini Ecotools set (similar to the Alima Blender, just teeny tinier!!).

Edit: 9:48pm: Also, it should be mentioned that the fluffy brushes can be made to pick up a lot of product, if I do want them to. I guess that is part of what appeals to me about them--they're very versatile!!


If I'm going for a more "sculpted" outside eye/crease, I like to use these two brushes. The Body Shop Slanted Brush is great because of it's size and I can place it on the outside corner of my eye (at the angle I want) and the colour is magically how I want it to be! The purple brush I use for smaller details on the outer eye, or sometimes for my lower lash line.


I also like to use both of these for my lower lash line. The Sephora Angled one is nice and thin--so I can keep things very close to the lashes. I also use that one to apply gel liner (which I am not too good at yet!). The yellow Sephora one is nice and stiff and it makes it easy to control the colour. I sometimes also use the yellow one for my duct colour.

Edit: 9:46pm: Oh! I also use the yellow brush to carve out a crease if I'm doing a cut-crease look!! I forgot about that!!


Speaking of ducts...these are the two I use for my ducts the most. The first is the tiniest one from my mini Ecotools set. It is nice and soft for that delicate duct area. The second is the ONE brush from that HUGE brush roll (that is otherwise pretty much a HUGE waste) that I actually use.


Then, for my brow highlight. I love to use the fluffy ELF brush the very most. It gives a very sheer coverage, which is great--because I don't usually like my brow bone to be BAM GLAM SPARKLE CITY (you know?!). The middle one is the fluffy angled one from my mini Ecotools set. It's pretty good at the sheer coverage thing too. And lastly, is the Body Shop "Blender" brush. I do not understand how this brush could be used for blending. But the tip of it is very flat (but rounded), so it's good for blending the brow colour down towards the crease.


And for my eyeliner, I love my paint brushes the best! The one on the right is size 000 and the one on the left is just a 00. I bought the 00 one first to experiment with (and because when I first saw the 000s they seemed too flimsy to me) and it was so easy to use that I decided to pick up at 000 to see how that would be different. The 000 one makes such an amazingly thin line. It's wonderful!! I'm planning to do my eyeliner tutorial next month for my "tips" blog--so stay tuned for that!!!


So there you have it. Those are the ones that I use the most. There are a number of ones that I didn't list as my favorites--the two OCC ones (especially) I think will be more used as I get used to them, but I've only had them for about a month!! But as I said in the intro, I always have my eyes peeled for new brushes that I think look awesome! Cozzette brushes, for example, look NEAT. I really want to try the Cylinder Eye Contour and Mini Contour ones! These Nevy ones look ROCKIN'! And recently Inglot's 8OHP/S and 7FS/S have been added to my wish list!

Edit: 9:50pm: I also just remembered that I want two more OCC brushes too! The angled one AND the tapered blending one! Mayhaps I can pick them up when I go to IMATS in July!! Woo!

The moral of the story: brushes are neat. And if you have any synthetic recommendations, let me know!

Otherwise--go put on some makeup, I sure did!

Madd Style Cosmetics: Ripple (2/3rds of lid)>Pixie (1/3 of outer lid) with Glitter and Doom in crease and outer eye. Star Gazer as highlight and in ducts.