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

bareMinerals: Get Started eyes cheeks and lips (review and swatches)

Hi everyone, I know it's been a while since I last blogged but I'm back now and ready to blog! Hehe anyway I recently bought this kit from bareMinerals at Debenhams for £42. Whilst being a little pricey these loose pigments last ages as you only need a tiny amount to get a great amount of colour. The kit comes with 3 brushes; a blush brush, a double ended crease and flat eye shadow brush and an eyeliner brush. The only thing I hate about this set is the double ended brush, I hate double ended brushes as I like to stand to stand my brushes up in a pot, but I can't with a double ended brush as it may ruin the bristles and bend them. 

The complete "8 piece Custom Colour Collection".

Fair to Light complexion.

This is the blush brush, they call it the tapered blush brush
but I don't think it's very tapered, however I still love it!

       This is the crease side of the double ended brush

           its a very fluffy crease brush with long bristles,

              used to contour the socket or crease of the eye.

This is a large flat shading brush, used to pat shadow

                                onto to the eyelid.

This is an eyeliner brush it looks quite thick, but it can createa thick or thin line depending on what you want to create.

 My camera does not show up the shimmer in the blush or liner.

Mini Buxom lips lipgloss ~ in Dolly 2ml.

Also, this smells like a caramel pudding but somehow tastes of mint..

 Liner eye shadow ~ Nurture 0.28g

Eye shadow ~ Smoke 0.28g

Glimpse ~ Winter White 0.28g

Blush ~ Kiss 0.57g
The Colours

Dolly lip gloss, is  a plumping gloss that is dusty mauve rose like colour with tiny flecks of golden glitter.

Nurture is liner that can be used wet or dry. When used wet, it becomes a really intense dark line, however when used dry it gives a sheer smokey look. Its a plum brown with a reddish shimmer. Can also be used as a shadow.

Smoke eye shadow is a matte grey, slate colour that's perfect for blending colour out or used as a crease colour.

Winter White glimpse eye shadow is a great brightening base colour that is a light, white colour with golden shimmer.

Kiss blush is a very shimmery pretty pinkish rose with a lot of silver shimmer.