Real Techniques Bold Metals 300 Tapered Blush // Beauty

I had been lusting over the beautiful Bold Metals brushes since they were released by Real Techniques a few years ago.  I finally got my hands on 3 of them last year when my boyfriend treated me for our anniversary (after some major hinting...).

One of the 3 he bought for me was the 300 Tapered Blush which has since become a firm favourite.

Real Techniques Starter Set Review

I've been meaning to do this post for ages but with having exams I've not had the chance to try them all out properly!

Going from left to right:

Deluxe Crease Brush

I started off using this for eyeshadow but then I realised that it's the amazing under-eye concealer brush that they (Nic, Sam and Tanya) all use in their videos!  So I now use it for under-eye concealer.  It works really well for most concealers I've used with it - Mac Studio Finish and Bourjois Healthy Mix.  I also use it to dab any imperfections.

I'm not sure how well it would work as an eyeshadow brush to be honest.  I guess it would be okay for a bit of crease blending but it's really quite thick and dense so it definitely wouldn't be the best brush for the job!

Base Shadow Brush 

This brush is the reason I got the whole set to be perfectly honest!  I am in dire need of a synthetic Mac 217 brush and this is quite close to it!  I am going to do a separate post where I compare the two later on.  It's perfect for applying a base shadow (as the name implies!) all over the lid but the tapered end make it great for applying colour and blending in the crease too which is what I mainly use it for.

Accent Brush

I've not used this brush particularly much but I found it best for applying colour onto the lower lashline as it is so tiny and precise.  I think I just forget I have it because it's so small and I don't see it in my brush stand!

Pixel-Point Eyeliner Brush 

Pixel-point? Hmm... I think not!  Out of all the brushes I'd say this is the most disappointing.  It makes such a thick line that I only use it when I just plan on wearing eyeliner as I'd be too scared to use it after applying my eyeshadow nicely in case I drew a massive line along my whole eyelid and ruined it all!

Brow Brush

I use this brush pretty much every day now!  If I am using my ELF Brow Box which I use most days then I apply it with this brush, the bristles are nice and firm.  At first I thought it was too big as the brush I had been using was really quite small (see below) but after a few days I found myself automatically reaching for the RT one instead.  It means you cover a larger area a lot quicker, however my eyebrows are quite big so if you have smallish ones then you'd just need to be more careful with the application as it might be too big for you.

Comparison of RT Brow Brush and generic angled brush I used previously for eyebrows

The Real Techniques Starter Set costs £21.99 from Boots, and £20.99 from Love Make Up. 

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Look What I've Bought!

I was in Boots the yesterday so I thought I would look and see if Models Own had the full Hed Kandi collection available which they did!  It was also 2 for £8 so obviously I had to buy two, duhh!  I didn't really fancy any of the other Hed Kandi ones as I have some similar, so I just bought Ibiza Mix and then Mystic Mauve from their normal range.

I also got the Starter Set from Real Techniques.  I've been saving up my Boots points for ages and I finally had enough to buy this, so pleased that I basically got them for free!  I have the Core Collection and Stippling Brush which I got when they first came out and really liked them, love that they are synthetic!

The main reason for getting this set was that I really want to find a synthetic version of the MAC 217 brush and Sam tweeted me saying that the Base Shadow brush (second on the left) is quite similar so I will need to do a wee comparison and see if it is!

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Day 10. If you were given $100 to spend on makeup, what would you spend it on? List products and their prices.

First things first let's make that £100 not $100!

So I decided for this one to go a bit crazy.  You saw on Day 3 a few things I wish I had and they add up to just over £50, but for this challenge I thought I'd just pick one big thing and see what's left over...

[photo from Love-Makeup no copyright infringement intended]

This is the Something Bright Yaby Palette and it is £74.99 (their pearl palette is £89.99 eek!).  I saw this used by Sam from Pixiwoo - I've mentioned them quite a lot during this 10 day challenge! - and I just thought it was gorgeous!  It is really small actually, smaller than a Mac eyeshadow palette which fits 15, and this one holds 40!  I have no idea if they are cruelty free or not as I just had no intention of buying one because of how expensive they are!  However I am going to try and find out because like Mac palettes you can just buy the palette (available here) and pick the eyeshadows to go in, which are only about £2.75 each.  So at only 9.99 for a 20 piece palette and 10.99 for a 40 piece one I think it would be perfectly reasonable to slowly create a palette!  The only downside I'd say would be that you would need to pick the colours online without seeing them in person so perhaps some research beforehand would be required.

That leaves me with £25.01 and with this I would like to get the Real Techniques Starter Set which is £20.99 available from Boots and Love-Makeup in the UK.

[Image from Love-Makeup no copyright infringement intended]

I mainly would like to get this to try out the eye brushes from her, I have a few of the face ones which I love but as I mentioned in Day 5 I really want a synthetic equivalent of Mac 217 and she said that her Base Shadow brush is similar - the one on the far left I think in the photo.

So I'm now left with £4.02...  Hmm I think I'd just donate that to charity or something haha!

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Day 5. Five Favorite Makeup Brushes

I found this one quite hard because there are a lot of brushes I like!  I decided to go for five brushes which have quite different uses like eyeshadow, blusher etc... you'll see!  They probably look a bit funny in the photo as I had just washed them!

From left to right:

E.L.F. Eyeshadow brush:  This is so good for just applying eyeshadow on the lid and it is only £1.50!  What a bargain!  I've got a couple of these.  I'd like to try their Studio equivalent of this, the c brush.

Mac 217:  Best brush I've used for applying and blending eyeshadow into the crease.  I would really like another one of these but they are made using goat hair and I am only buying synthetic brushes now - also it's by Mac who I've stopped buying from!  However Sam from Pixiwoo tweeted me (I was so excited by this!) saying that her Real Techniques Base Shadow brush is very similar, so I am going to get the set which includes this when I have got enough Boots points!

Real Techniques Buffing brush:  I use this for powder but it can also be used for foundation and I find it good for wiping away any fallout from under my eyes.

Real Techniques Contour brush:  This one is what I've been using for blusher recently.  It is nice and precise!

Real Techniques Stippling brush: Love this one for liquid foundation!  It is also good for blusher too.

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