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Wednesday 2 January 2013

Lauren Luke Essential Brush Set (review and pictures)

Hi guys, I'm so pleased to be reviewing this set, I can hardly contain my excitement! I've wanted this brush set for ages, in fact, I've wanted them ever since they were released. So, as you can imagine I was very, very pleased when they were under the tree on Christmas Day. I have been a really big fan of Lauren Luke ever since she started making videos, she was the first YouTube makeup guru I ever watched and that's were my love for makeup began, so I guess I have her to thank!:) Anyway, I delayed ordering these brushes for a long time and instead I asked for them for Christmas, and I must say that I'm SO pleased that I got them! I absolutely love these brushes, and haven't really touched my other brushes since I got them. They are very, very soft, yet not so soft that they don't pick up product. There are a mix of synthetic and natural hair bristles, which I think is great because although I do prefer natural bristles, for some things such as applying cream, liquid or gel formulas it can ruin natural bristles which is why you would need synthetic, for things like foundation, ect. I will list below which brushes are synthetic and which are natural. The kit has 8 essential brushes and you can either buy these in the set or on their own. The brushes retail at £33.75 when buying the full set. Its a little bit cheaper (£3.50, to be precise) to buy the full set of eight rather than buying them separately. I think the whole set is amazing value considering the quality. It would cost you more to buy two Mac 217 blending brushes (£34) rather than this set (£33.75) two brushes or eight hmm, I definitely know which one I'd prefer..




I love the handles!

This is the flat contour brush. I use this for contouring or applying bronzer, but you could use it for blush or highlighter.
This is a rounded foundation brush. You could also use it for  cream blush, cream bronzer or liquid highlighter.


This is such a dense brush!
This is the powder brush, and it's huge! I love this for powder and bronzer.
Its also tapered.
This is such a soft brush and dense!
I use this brush for blending colour through the crease. This brush has slightly
longer bristles than the other blending brush.
I use this one for placing colour in the outer-v and the crease. 
This is the pencil brush, its really small and pointy, so its perfect for  putting  colour on the
lower lash line as well as putting colour in the outer-v.

This is the flat shading brush. This is really good for packing eye shadow directly onto the lid.

I use this angled brush for my brows as its very thin and precise. However you could use it  for eyeliner.

Flat contour brush- Goat Hair, Cpara Hircus (£5.25)
Pointed foundation brush- PBT hair Synthetic (£6.00)
Tapered blending brush- Goat Hair Cpara Hircus (£4.50)
Crease/contour brush- Goat Hair Cpara Hircus (£4.50)
Flat eye shadow brush- Goat Hair Cpara Hircus (£4.00)
Pencil brush-Goat Hair Cpara Hircus (£3.25)
Brow brush-  PBT hairSynthetic (£3.25)
Powder brush- Goat Hair Cpara Hircus (£6.50)

Overall, I love these brushes so much and I'm already thinking of buying more just because I think they're so great. In the future, I really hope Lauren comes out with more brushes, and if she does, I will defiantly not hesitate to buy them this time:) I recommend these to anyone, professional or beginner. I haven't washed them yet, so I will blog again in the future with my impressions after they've been used more and washed.
Click here to buy the brushes.

Thanks for reading!xo

Too Faced: Romantic Eye Kit (review and swatches)

I'm  SO sorry for the lack of blog posts, but I've just been so busy with Christmas and New Years, but I have a whole list of products that I want to review:)

Anyways, on with the review.. I've had this palette for quite sometime and have kept meaning to review it but just kept on forgetting hehe;) Its a really nice palette and its set out the same as the natural eye palette (which I reviewed a while back) except its much slimmer and less bulky, mainly due to the fact that it doesn't have that little pull-out draw. However, it still has 9 shades, 4 of which are shimmer, and the remaining 5 are matte. This retails at £26, and I purchased mine from Boots. 



Same kind of lay out as the Natural eye, except this one is pretty and pink hehe
Un-Veil, First Dance and Ever After all seem to look very similar  but in the
swatches you'll see they look quite different...
Still got the little guide cards



 Soulmates- a shimmery white shade, that when caught in the light appears to be quite pinky.
I Do- a matte grey, with a purple tint.
Un-Veil- a very deep matte chocolate brown.
Kiss the Bride- a sheer matte pink.
Cut the Cake- a frosty lilac shimmer.
First Dance- a deep matte purple.
Bouquet Toss- a very pale, sheer green.
Honeymoon- a very pigmented, shimmery yellow-green.
Ever After- a quite glittery copper brown.

Although I do love this palette, I find that it isn't the most wearable for everyday. I find myself reaching for other (more neutral) palettes, even though this one is so pretty. However, I think I may try to use this more and maybe I'll even try to come up with some new looks using this palette and blog about them, let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading!xo