A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I missed the Sigma brush hype a couple of years ago, because I was fixated instead on building a collection of Trish McEvoy brushes.  Nowadays, I’m skinter than a skint thing and I’ve come to the realistic conclusion that I’d be a moron not to reign my makeup budget in a little a lot.  I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and I don’t have any major hobbies that consume my monies so whilst I’m still totally commited to being buried with my makeup collection, I’m more open to the idea of not making myself destitute at the same time.

The Sigma range (some of them) have been renowned for offering great quality at a slightly lower price point and in particular, I was looking for a multi-tasking brush.  Step in the Sigma F84 Angled Top Kabuki Brush with its densely-packed head and stubby handle, I’ve found what I was looking for.

Creams, liquids and powders all work flawlessly with this brush which buffs the product firmly but gently onto the face.  The synthetic fibres withstand daily usage and wash like a dream, even if they do take a little longer than I’d like to dry.

The angled brush head makes light work of facial contours and allows me to work the product into every nook and cranny.  Not that my face has nooks and crannies just yet, but you know what I mean.  I also love the chunky handle which gives me maximum control over direction and pressure.

I’ve recently begun using it to apply my cream blushes, and it works great for that too – allowing me to really blend out the edges to give a polished finish.

The only problem I’ve encountered with the brush is that it basically has too many uses and I’m gonna need more than one.  Which kinda defeats my money-saving attitude somewhat no?

The Sigma f84 is available to buy online in the UK from Cocktail Cosmetics, priced at £14.95

As far as high street brand cosmetic brushes go… I often fall back on my beloved Body Shop brushes so when I saw their foundation Kabuki brush in my local Body Shop, I knew I had to make it mine – especially after my recent positive experience with mineral makeup.  I’m not sure how long this brush has been available but I didn’t see it last time I was in store.

Firstly, I need a little rant to say that the case it comes with is utter crap… seriously, Body Shop – why even bother with a case at all if it’s as rubbish as this one?  You should be embarassed, I know I’m embarassed for you… It barely fits the brush and is like a slippery silicone-y rubbery type floppy thing that offers little to no protection at all in my makeup bag.

Look, I mean… what practical purpose is this supposed to serve in protecting your very beautiful Kabuki brush?

Anyway, onto the brush itself before I give myself a thrombosis…

So soft… I mean so, So, SO soft.  The synthetic bristles are densely packed and allow for a generous collection of product with a single swirl.  The bristles are fairly long and this makes for really easy application in harder to reach areas like along the side of the nose.  Since it’s first use, it’s shed about 4 bristles and that’s it.  Even after a gentle wash, there was no additional shedding or bleeding.  I’m so impressed!

Hello lover!

Currently priced at £14.65 on The Body Shop’s website – I’m really pleased with it (as I’m sure you have established by now!) But I shall definitely be on the hunt for a kabuki sized case to protect it – if anyone has any recommendations, please send them my way!

Here’s another before/after (before on the left) – showing the same application as the other day of Elemental Beauty’s Mineral Foundation in English Rose, however this time, applied after watching a couple of youtube instruction vids and The Body Shop Kabuki!

By George, I think she’s got it!  Although someone needs to pin that poor lass down and give those eyebrows some shape.  And who’s George anyway?

Oh, *psst* – by the way, that Baked Bronzer I got… the one by La Femme with all the pretty gold and white veining… load of pooh, really.  I can’t get the product to show up on me.  It doesn’t bronze, brighten or even highlight.  I was hoping for subtle, but existent would have been nice.  Perhaps a darker shade would be more evident, but my opinion of it is so… *meh*… that I can’t be arsed to order another.

Flitting back to The Body Shop Nature’s Minerals Foundation Brush… (what a mouthful)… I’m giving it a 4.5/5 – it would be higher but that case niggles.  So there.

‘Till next time…

[starreview]

I’m really excited to be reviewing my first foundation today.  Unfortunately this means a before and after shot, so if you have just eaten you may want to come back to this review when your stomach is a little more settled – just a friendly warning!

Mineral makeup is unexplored territory for me.  I understand the principles behind it, but I have never been fully convinced by it as an everyday cosmetic.  Before even trying mineral foundation I will admit that I had a fairly set opinion of what it would do which was something along the lines of: ‘…it’s a powder – and powder makes me flakey and doesn’t even out my skin tone, just mattifies my nose and sits in my pores mocking me.’

In defence of my closed mindedness, I do own a jar of Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil and that’s pretty much what happens to my skin everytime I use it, so you can perhaps understand my unwillingness to venture further into the mineral makeup market when my experiences with one of the ‘Big Names’ of mineral makeup had so far been disappointing.

However, as the weather is turning warmer, my liquid foundations are leaving me too oily after a few hours wear and my oil-free liquid foundations are still giving me flakey dry patches of skin – so I needed to find a compromise and started googling for some Mineral makeup websites that would send me some samples to try without breaking the bank!

Enter Elemental Beauty, an unassuming little website offering mineral cosmetics.  I was excited by the fact that they are a homegrown UK company happy to accept Paypal (I had a little stash of funds from some recent eBay sales that was burning a hole in my Paypal account) and I’d read a couple of recommendations for their products, so put in an order for 2 samples:

Soft Focus Foundation in shade English Rose

Dewy Finishing Powder

I would have loved to sample a couple of blusher shades aswell as I am still searching for a soft shade that enhances a natural peachy flush (as opposed to something that makes me look like the concept behind the Anna Sui Dolly Girl bottle).  Anyway, I digress – Elemental Beauty unfortunately don’t offer blusher samples – although to be fair, they’re not exactly expensive at £3.99 each – but there’s too many shades to choose from dammit (I’m leaning towards Coral)

I paid my money (£3.20 for 2 samples inc. P&P) and paced the floor waiting for the postie to bring me my goodies.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long and within a few days look what turned up:

How cute is that?  I mean seriously… I was already impressed.  Judging by the images on their website – the full size jars are pretty darn gorgeous aswell!

On closer inspection…

and…

If you can’t read the ingredients, feel free to drop me a comment and I’ll happily type them up on here.

The samples are pretty generous too!  I’ll easily get a weeks worth of daily use out of them, which is fantastic and quite frankly, necessary for judging whether or not to invest in full size versions.  Is there anything worse than sampling a product once (perhaps at a counter), liking it – spending your hard-earned money on it and then never achieving the same look or finish again and having to put it down to a one-off fluke of the lighting.  (Benefit Dandelion, I’m talking to you!)

After letting my moisturiser sink in for a good 5 minutes, I tapped a little foundation out into a spare lid and grabbed my Kabuki brush, remembering the old ‘swirl, tap and buff’ method…

Anyway, I won’t go into any application details – I’m a complete idiot when it comes to applying makeup and just bungle my way through it most mornings… you can judge the results for yourself with my hideous before and after shot.  Please excuse the constipated expressions.  I really don’t know what the puckered lips and the ‘are you looking for a fight?’ look is about in the 2nd photo… and the ears in the first, oh god… the ears…

Anyway, what do you think?  I’m really impressed!  It’s light but really evens out my skintone.  I could possibly have benefited from applying some concealer beforehand, but look at that strawberry nose and the cheek blotches – MUCH better in the after shot!  I love this stuff.  Truly.

I’m not familliar enough with mineral makeup to know if I should have gone over the more blotchy areas more than once, so I didn’t… I literally took about 40 seconds to apply the foundation, probably paying far less attention than I should have done and I’m still delighted with the results.

I’m gonna become a Mummy in about a week’s time so I shall make sure to get my order in for the foundation as this is just too easy for a foolproof application over the summer months.  Still not convinced this won’t be too drying in the winter for my skin… although I shall approach with a more open mind this time and possibly armed with industrial strength moisturiser.

I haven’t tried the dewy finishing powder yet, not quite sure what to do with it yet.  I shall read up and be back with an opinion some time soon!

Elemental Beauty ship worldwide, so head on over to the website – oh, and check out those eyeshadows too!  I’m totally lemming some of those for eyeliners and smokey eyes…

[starreview]