Dupe Search: Taupe Eyeshadow Comparison Swatches!

Woohoo! Don't you love it when I ransack my stash and do comparison swatches? What's more, these are swatches of taupes, glorious taupes! Now to be fair, these are just some of my taupes, definitely not all of them. It started when I reviewed the new Edward Bess eyeshadow single in Storm, and I thought - don't I already have these colours? So I looked through my stash, and dug out the colours that I thought would be most similar to Storm. So in other words, what you're looking at is just those of my taupe eyeshadows that I thought might have some semblance to Storm.



Here are the shades we're comparing today, in order:

1: NARS Belissima II (darker shade)
2: L'Orea HIP Electrified I (lighter shade)
3: MEMEME Beautifully You Eyeshadow Cafe 7
4: First Light Cosmetics Storm Grey
5: Bourjois Stretch Eyeshadow Brun Nylon 09
6: GOSH Glamorous Eyeshadow Grey Brown 7
7: Edward Bess Storm 07
8: Stila Cloud

Isn't it funny how many taupe eyeshadows that are numbered are given the number 7? And on another note, gosh, it's embarrassing how many taupe eyeshadows I've bought over the years of being a makeup fanatic. Anyway, here are swatches of all of them, in that order, with my thoughts on each of them below. By the way, the eyesahdow labelled L'Oreal Sassy is wrong. The duo is actually Electrified:



NARS Belissima II (darker shade) is the only true matte in the bunch, as the rest all have some sort of shimmer. This is a cool-toned grey-brown with hints of purple. Texture is decent, pigmentation is sheer but buildable.

L'Orea HIP Electrified I (lighter shade) is absolutely rockin'! Don't be fooled by the cheap plastic packaging or the drugstore brand - this is awesome taupe goodness. As you can see, it just stands out among my swatches. Its texture and pigmentation are also excellent, and it has a frosty finish that, depending on your preference, can be a good or a bad thing. I've actually reviewed the Electrified duo before and have even previously compared Electrified to a much more expensive Bobbi Brown Heather Mauve eyeshadow.

MEMEME Beautifully You Eyeshadow Cafe 7 is also another cheapy-but-goody. This is cheap, but good, and I really need to get around to reviewing this sometime. It's a brown-based taupe, and thus would be very wearable for warm-toned girls who find a lot of taupes pull purple or greyish on them. It also has slight shimmer, that for some reason isn't showing up in the photo.

First Light Cosmetics Storm Grey is another underrated gorgeous colour. Like Edward Bess's Storm and MEMEME's Cafe, it's a light brown-based taupe, only that it has more shimmer than either. Pigmentation and texture are also pretty good. An EOTD (Eye of the Day) with Storm Grey is available if you'd like to see more of this pretty little thing.

Bourjois Stretch Eyeshadow Brun Nylon 09 is not as similar to Edward Bess's Storm as I initially thought it would be. For one, it's less brown-beige-y and slightly more purple and grey on. They did look quite similar in the pan, however. Texture is good, and pigmentation is sheer but buildable. I've previously swatched Bourjois Brun Nylon before, and also once did an FOTD with it. My, that FOTD was just a year and a half ago, but I think I actually looked visibly younger then. And my photography skills back then sucked.

GOSH Glamorous Eyeshadow Grey Brown 7 is one of those I keep meaning to review, but never get around to it. No fault of the shadow, though. This one has the texture of baked eyeshadows (it comes in a round, hard dome), and pigmentation is sheer but buildable. It leans more grey than most of the other taupes featured here, and also has some sparkles in the eyeshadow.

Edward Bess Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow Storm 7 is a brown-based taupe. Honestly, compared to the rest of the taupes on my arm, it looks a little blah. But since it leans brown, it's less likely to pull purple or grey on warm-toned girls. Pigmentation was sheer, and not the best, but still buildable. Texture was also decent. I'm not going to say too much about this since I just reviewed it in the last post.

Stila Cloud is a taupe that pulls purple and grey, and has a frosty finish that makes it look silver, like how the L'Oreal Electrified taupe looks silver due to the frost finish. I actually should feature this sometime, I have had this eyeshadow since I first became a makeup junkie years ago and it's still with me...Brings back all the nostalgic times when Stila eyeshadows came in little paper pots, and when collecting Stila eyeshadows was the "in" thing of the day. Anyway, this one is cooler-toned that some of the other taupes, and is more purply-grey than some of the other more brown-based ones. It also has frosty shimmer, which some may like and some may not.

So here you go, eight of my lighter-coloured taupes! As a taupe junkie, I love all of these shades and I think they are all different enough to own all, although I'm sure not everyone would agree with me. They're almost like my babies! I hope this post was useful for some of you who wanted a comparison between some taupe eyeshadows.

Soft and Feminine Dior Spring Inspired Eye: Get the Look for Cheap

Spring makeup always features a range of soft, feminine and girly looks, and while I'm not exactly a soft, feminine, girly kind of person, I can still appreciate the beauty in such looks. In particular, Dior's Spring 2011 Collection is one of those which has caught my fancy. The eyeshadows are all pinks and greys, which is such a pretty combination of colours. While I was drooling buckets over the pretty pictures, a thought struck me: Surely I already have at least a few pinks and greys in the abundance that is my makeup stash?


(Image from pleasureflush.blogspot.com)

Thus, began my quest to dupe the Dior Spring 2011 eye look. After all, not every girl can afford US$58 eyeshadow quints, right? So, I told myself while pulling my eyes away from those pictures, there had to be a cheaper way to dupe the look, or at least come up with something similar.

Here's a simple outcome using just two colours:



For the pink eyeshadow, I used Stila Fleur all over the lid, and then I applied MAC Knight Divine in the contour area, and applied a smidgen of it on the lashline as a liner.

Stila Fleur is a gorgeous baby pastel pink which I had from waaay back when, when Stila was still headed by Jeanine Lobell. I'm not even sure if they still make this colour. It's a gorgeous shell pink shade, although it is a little on the shimmery side. MAC's Knight Divine is a colour that is a more recent purchase, and currently available as a permanent shade in MAC's collection. It's a blue-based gunmetal grey shade wish silver shimmer. Very cool, almost like knight's armour. Both are fantastic shades, in terms of application and staying power.



So if you're a cheapskate like me, or just have too much makeup and don't want too many similar colours in your collection, duping the look might be a good idea. This is especially so if the look just uses simple basic colours, as in the case of this pink and grey Dior look. Have you ever tried duping a look before? Do you routinely dupe looks, or are you of the opinion that looks are difficult to dupe without the right colours?

Rock and Republic Spank vs Stila Bud Blush: Dupes or Not?

While plumbing the depths of my makeup stash, I noticed that two of my blushes looked eerily familiar. One was a blush I've raved about before, Rock and Republic's Spank, and the other was Stila's Bud blush, which I had and liked at one point in time, but forgot I had over the years. Oops.

Both appear identical in the pan, and to be sure, they are from the same colour family - both are muted, everyday, go-with-everything neutral pinks.



L-R: Rock and Republic Spank, Stila Bud

I was curious to see if they were actually dupes or not, so I swatched them side by side. I think they're pretty close, although they're not absolute dupes. But they are close, though, so very close.



L-R: Stila Bud, Rock and Republic Spank

They're pretty much the same, but Spank is a little bit brighter than Bud, and also perhaps a little bit more cool-toned. But they are both muted neutral light pinks, so the similarity is pretty slight. I guess when you actually wear the colours on your cheeks, they're not going to look too different.

Quality-wise, both were good, although the Rock and Republic was more pigmented than the Stila, and also had a smoother texture. I'm not saying the Stila isn't good though, because it is, but Rock and Republic is better.

So which should you get, if you can only get one? Well, given that both colours are relatively close, I'm going to frame this as a quality vs price thing. Rock and Republic has the better quality, but Stila has the cheaper price. Both are good though, so at the end of the day, your choice could end up being decided by your budget.

Gel Eyeliner Swatches and Review! Bobbi Brown, MAC, Stila, Etude House

Today's swatches are also featuring my stash! Yay! Some time ago I did a post on my stash pics (which you can read about here), and it had a measly number of gel eyeliners. Well, since then, I've acquired a couple more, and now I can show them all off!

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a bright colours person when it comes to eyeliner (or for that matter, makeup in general), but I swear, although they're almost all neutrals, they're all different!

Most of these that I've shown here are pretty awesome - as everyone knows, Bobbi Brown is pretty much the queen of gel eyeliners, and MAC is her little more tempremental daughter, and Stila is the court jester who spouts out golden gems in between bit of rubbish. That's my opinion of it, anyway. But I do love them so, and all of these are pretty good, although some are better than others, and I'll go into more detail when I discuss each individual colour. In general though, the Bobbi Brown ones have the best texture, consistency and pigmentation, although the rest are pretty good too. That being said, there's a difference between the different types of Bobbi Brown gel liners too - some are better than others, and rumour has it that the "newer ones" in the clear glass jar aren't as nice as the "older" ones in the frosted glas jar, although whether the eyeliners were reformulated or merely repackaged is still a mystery. Still, there aren't any duds in this stash, because, you know, its MY stash. Duh. :P

Also, most of you would probably already know this, but it's always a great idea to store your gel eyeliners upside down. This allows you to not only see the labels on the bottom of the pots (and thus save yourself the trouble of looking through your stash to find that one pot), but it also prevent the gel eyeliners from drying up so fast. I'm not sure how exactly, but it does seem to work for me.

Anyway, here are swatches to start off:



L - R: MAC Ostentatious, Bobbi Brown Black Mauve, Etude House Orgel Light Gel Eyeliner 04, Bobbi Brown Violet, Bobbi Brown Indigo, Stila Jade Smudgepot

MAC Ostentatious is a neutral taupey brown that's not too cool-toned for warm-toned people. I actually expected this to be more grey, but it's more brown than anything else. It's not a brassy, bronzed, orangey brown though, it's a greyed out brown, the kind that I love. This one is really very work safe, and it doesn't have a hint of shimmer at all. I didn't like this as much as I should have - the pigmentation is not as good as the Bobbi Browns or the Stila, so with this particular colour you do have to go over the line a couple of times. It does last for awhile, but it does tend to get a little smudgy towards the end of the day - just a bit.

Bobbi Brown Black Mauve is a purply-grey-brown, another one of those colours that I could have a million of and still love. It has just a hint of shimmer that disappears once on your skin. I was disappointed by the case of the disappearing shimmer though, it was the shimmer that really got me excited. This one looks less interesting on skin than in the pot, unfortunately. The texture is also great, but the one I have is the "newer" repackaged gel eyeliners, in the clear glass jars rather than in the frosted glass jars, and it doesn't seem as nice as the other Bobbi Browns I have. It does have good staying power though - I've no problems with this.

Etude House Orgel Light Gel Eyeliner 04 (what is it with Asian brands giving their products ridiculously long names!?) is a beautiful, captivating colour - the kind you look at and just HAVE to have. It's a cross between a purple and a grey, with a really cool pink flash/duochrome to it. I LOVE THIS. It's neutral but interesting, and it's really glowly. Unfortunately, the texture of this is the driest out of all the gel eyeliners I have, and I attribute this to the terrible lousy packaging of Etude House. When I first got thi gel eyeliner, it was a little harder than my Bobbi Browns and MAC, but after a couple of uses it just slowly hardened. Now whenever I use it I have to dig my brush into it. Although the packaging doesn't keep the gel eyeliners moist, it does look really cute. I've included a few photos further down in this post, just so, you know, we can ooh and aah over the innate ability of Asian brands to be kawaii :P LOL OK I'm kidding, but the packaging is really very pretty, which is always a plus. Also the pigmentation on this is a little bit skippy, so you do have to go over your work again to really build up the colour. The good thing about it though, is that it stays forever on your skin. This colour is the most unique neutral I've ever seen in awhile, so I feel sad that it just had to be ruined by quality problems. I think it was also possibly limited edition, although I'm not certain.

Bobbi Brown Violet is very very pretty, it's a muted deep purple violet with shimmer, and it doesn't lose any of it's oomph even when it's on your skin. And it' incredibly pigmented, and glides on like butter. It also stays on for a really long time without smudging. The one I have is in the older packaging though, and I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

Bobbi Brown Indigo is blue, but it's not a screaming neon blue. It's a beautiful matte deep blue, more navy than indigo actually, since indigo implies that there is some purple to the colour, but this one has no purple at all. I'd have called it Navy instead, but I'm not Bobbi. Anyway, This one is also awesomely pigmented - you really only need to touch your brush to the surface - and also very smooth, and also really long lasting.

Last, but not least, Stila Jade Smudgepot. Now the Smudgepots are a bit of a hit-and-miss affair - some are really awesome, and some not so much. Fortunately, Jade is one of their better colours - very creamy, very pigmented, and really long lasting. I really like this a lot. It's also got gold shimmer in it which really amps up the colour. Beautiful. They call it Jade, but Jade to me conjures up images of minty green colours, no thanks to the ongoing Chanel Jade craze. Still, true Jade is indeed not really mint green but a bit deeper than that. I'd say this one is sort of a jade green with some emerald in it, because it really has that vibrancy of colour.

Anyway, that was a really lengthly review, wasn't it? But I'm not done yet! I said I would show you the cute Etude House packaging right?





Is that cute or what?! Cute pink plastic top (and they even put shimmer in the pink plastic! Talk about attention to detail!) with nice girly swirls and design...Unfortunately the pretty packaging doesn't do much to prevent drying up of the eyeliners - and I stored them upside down too! I'm so disappointed.

Anyway, here's an EOTD I did awhile back with the Etude House eyeliner. Unfortunately the lighting wasn't very good, and the pink flash seems to have disappeared, but here you go:



Wow, my eyes are really small and hooded, aren't they :X

And, that concludes this real looong post for today, finally! :)

Iman Wicked and Stila Diamond Lil: Are they Dupes?

If you've been a beauty lover for as long as I have, you'll probably have an opinion on dupes - you know, two eyeshadows that are supposed to be exactly alike, or two nail polishes that are exactly alike. Some people love them, because they allow them to get unique colours at cheaper prices, but some others don't buy into the concept, maintaining that true dupes are hard to find, and skintone dependant. As for me, I'm somewhere in between - but as a makeup lover, hoarder, and compusive addict, I can tell you that it's increasingly harder for companies to produce something truly unique. Often a 100% exact dupe is hard to come by, of course, but you get pretty close colours most of the time, and for much cheaper.

Case in point is today's comparison swatch post: Stila, who has acheived fame for their cult eyeshadows, and the much humbler Iman, which is only found in drugstores in the USA. Stila's Diamond Lil, the much acclaimed (and according to some, superior) dupe to MAC's discontinued Smoke and Diamonds, with a softer texture, is pitted against Iman's Luxury Eye Definint Powder in Wicked.

There are differences between the two from the outset. For one, the Iman is a loose eyeshadow, while the Stila is pressed. (I know that alone is going to help some of you ladies out there make your decision already!) And for another, the Iman is a lot cheaper.

But of course, dupes are all about colour and quality. So colour-wise, how did they fare?

Here are swatches:



L - R: Iman Wicked, Stila Diamond Lil

And because I'm all about gratituous photo-taking, here's another shot.



L - R: Iman Wicked, Stila Diamond Lil

So they're not 100% dupes, and if you are a true taupe lover (like yours truly), then you will NEED and absolutely MUST have both. But for the rest of us on a budget or who are just 'meh' about taupes, how do you choose between the two? Well, the Iman's Wicked is definitely less green than Stila's Diamond Lil, and as the photos show, it's a lot more brown. So a big factor colour-wise would be how brown or green your want your taupes to lean. It is in my experience that colours like these tend to pull greenish on warm-toned ladies, so if you're warm-toned, and you don't want too much of a green tinge to your taupe, go for the Iman. If you're cool-toned, you can essentially take your pick of the two since they're both pretty neutral anyway, but if you're so cool-toned that most browns look orangey on you, it might be better to head for the Stila. The Stila's also more frosty than the Iman, so for people who don't like frosty eyeshadows, the Iman might be a better bet.

Quality-wise, though, how did the two compare? I really like the Stila for its awesome blendability, and it has it's place of honour in my special Stila 6-pan palette reserved for my favourite Stilas (which also include Cloud and Rain...Ahhhh), and it does stay on all day, with minimal creasing. The Iman is a little trickier to use as it's in loose powder form, and goodness knows how clumsy I am, but it has pretty good pigmentation - I was impressed - and good lasting power too.

And one last thing to note, which is sheerness vs opacity. The Stila is sheerer than the Iman, sort of, kind of, in a way. Well, it isn't sheer per se, but it's more buildable. Because of how most Stila shadows are formulated, in my experience they tend to start off sheer but are very beautifully buidable to full opacity, kind of like Chantecaille. And Diamond Lil does the same thing. It's a little sheer at the very first brushstroke, but it definitely builds up well (as you can see from my swatches). The Iman gives off more pigment at first stroke. Of course, pigmentation is also a very personal preference, so if you prefer sheerer eyeshadows, go for the Stila. If you want greater opacity, the Iman might be better. The difference in opacity isn't very great though - I'm kind of splitting hairs for the sake of this comparison post. As I always do when it comes to great taupes. I swear that my 2342353 taupes are all different from each other. Really!

And that's it for today! I hope you guys have liked this comparison!

FOTD Fail: Attempt at the Christina Aguilera Golden Globes Look

I hate celebrities. Remember when I blogged about how NARS and Christina Aguilera were ganging up against me here? Well, someone told me that she wished there was a tutorial on this look. And that sparked off an idea. I may not have the makeup skills of NARS, and I may not have the gorgeousness of Christina, but what the hey, who's to say I can't attempt to dupe her look?

And so I did. And the result was a moderate FOTD success, but an major dupe-the-look fail. And this, of course, is why I hate celebrities, because they'll always look better than us minions who don't have money, time, personal trainers, diet planners, and (in my case, at least) a willingness to sweat. And they sell tons of products promising that you'll look like them, but of course there's no way I'm going to look like them, even if I try.

Nevertheless, I'm sure you're curious to know how the results turned out.

The key to this look is the eye. I know NARS India Song and one half of Cordura was used, but India Song, although a practical duo, isn't very unique - it's actually comprised of a very dupable creamy beige, and a dark brown that has golden sparkles (however I've read reviews that when you actually wear the brown, the sparkles don't show up on your skin, so you're left with just a blah brown). Easy enough to dupe. And the side of Cordura used for her lower lash line was just a bronzey brown. So, I thought, this can't be too hard. I have billions of beiges and billions of browns, I can find something similar. And her eye makeup isn't actually very dark. It looks more like a brown with a hint of taupe, more than a dark brown. And goodness knows I have plenty of taupes and browns.

And the cheeks were also similarly dupable. I know the description uses at least 3 products, the blush being Mata Hari, but Mata Hari is a bright lilac-purply-pink, and looks nothing like what it looks like on Christina, due to the layering of blush with bronzer and highlighter. The end result just looks like a nude blush. Easy enough to dupe, too.

And of course the lips were easy. Nude pink lips? Check.

So with that in mind, I assembled my dupey look colours, and began work on the eye. Of course I had to modify placement of some colours (like crease colour) to adapt the look to my tiny, hooded near-monolided little Asian eye. It turned out like this (ignore the brows, by the way):





Eye:
Milani Snow Frost for the highlight, Bourjois Brun Nylon for the Lid, NYX Iced Mocha for the crease (just a little) and outer V, and Urban Decay Bourbon 24/7 liner for the lower lash line. And Bobbi Brown No Smudge Mascara for the lashes (I know, I know, it's drying up and I need a new tube.)

So I didn't really look like Christina. Oh well, nevermind. Maybe with the blush and the lippie?



Cheeks: Stila Peony Convertible Colour
Lips: Jane BePure Mineral Lipbalm in Amber (I thought it was nude enough, but of course my lip colour was trying to stay in the spotlight that day. I should've used a more nude nude.)

OK, fine, Christina, you win. And that's why I hate celebrities. Obviously I look nothing like her, and will probably look nothing like her even if I bought everything she used. LOL. But that's my adaptation of the look for a simple girl.

And did I say, a really nerdy simple girl? (For the record, I really love my specs. I don't know why. I've never felt a desire to get contacts.)



But anyway, that's my FOTD Fail for the day. Although it didn't quite live up to it's lofty dupe-the-look goal, I don't mind it, actually. It's probably as close as I'll ever get to looking anything like a celebrity, considering that I have to get up at 7.30am and slap on my face in half-darkness while still in snooze mode.

Face Brushes Review and Comparison 3: Flirt Feather Dust-her, Stila #8, Stila #21

Today is the last installment of my comparison and review of face brushes (Part 1 is HERE, and Part 2 is HERE). But you know what? Today I just spent a whole day swatching stuff, so I'm SO EXCITED about what I'm going to bring you! :) You'll love it, trust me ;) Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be posting swatches of ALL the Sleek iDivine palettes, one a day! :) So you're going to love it :)




Anyway on the topic of face brushes. Today we're reviewing the Flirt! Feather Dust-Her, the Stila #8, and the Stila #21, all of which are brushes which make my heart melt with delight everytime I see them.

First of all. The Flirt! brush is really nice, and it has bristles that are floppier and sparser than the 188. Unfortunately, this sparseness and floppiness means that it picks up...almost nothing. At least, that is if you're using it for powder. However, when used it for cream blushes, it gives the perfect application! I like how the soft bristles work well with all types of cream blushes, from the harder Bobbi Brown ones to the soft-as-mush Becca ones, but this one works with all of them. I think in this case the floppiness of the bristles works to its advantage - you don't get dots of cream blush on your face as might happen if the bristles of a skunk brush are too unwieldy, you just get a nice blended look. This is my HG brush for all cream blushes, although it's totally useless for powder.

Next, we have the Stila #8. This is just an ordinary powder brush, and it's definitely too big to be used for blush or highlighter or anything else - unless you happen to want to put it all over your face. But it does the job very well. There's something about this brush that totally kicks the ass of all my other powder brushes, including the MAC 134. For one, the bristles are not too dense, and not too sparse. And another thing is that the bristles are very soft. And another thing is that the dome shape is just right. This brush is a flat paddle powder brush, and I like how the dome shape works with that. Altogether, this is a very well constructed brush, especially for loose powder. Nothing compares to this baby. It's perfect, but it's also discontinued...*Shakes fist*

Lastly, we have the Stila #21. Unlike it's sister, it's actually still in production - so if you use pressed powder or blush, get this now! I love how I can use this for any and everything - except eyeshadow, LOL. For pressed powder or loose powder, I use the entire circular face of this brush, and for less pigmented blushes, I also 'stamp' on the brush using its circular face. For more pigmented blush, however, as well as for highlighters, I use the edge of the brush, and gently blend it in. Viola! Face done! I could use this for powder, then blush, then highlighter, and throw on some lippie and be out of the door, so this is really a great multi-tasker. It's really one of the best brushes there is!

So that concludes it for today! Starting tomorrow over the next 4 days, I will be posting SWATCHES OF THE SLEEK I-DIVINE PALETTES! So look out for it! :)

Face Brushes Review and Comparison 2: MAC 188, Stila #24 and Body Shop Blush Brush

OK, so we had a nice diversion with Bourjois Brun Nylon. Now back to brushes: here's Part 2 of my face brushes review!

So in this previous post, I talked about the MAC 187 and 189, and how they were nice, but not really must-haves for me. Today, I will review and compare The Body Shop's synthetic blush brush, and the Stila #24. Just like how last post's brushes were all for face and foundation, today's brushes are all blush brushes!

The Body Shop has a really nice and soft range of synthetic brushes, comparable to the Too Faced ones in feel and quality, and I really like them for the face. I don't like them so much for eyes because sythetic brushes by their nature tend to pick up less pigment than natural hair brushes - this isn't so annoying when applying face powder or blush, when you want a sheerer application, but can be a pain if you're trying to put on eye colour, and you want the colour to show up. Thus, I tend to buy synthetic brushes for face use only. That said, I really like The Body Shop's version, for what it's worth. It has a nice dome shape, which fits into your cheek nicely, and it's nice to hold and use. I use this pretty often, especially for my more pigmented blushes, because like I said, the synthetic bristles pick up less pigment than, say the Stila #24, which is all natural hair. Although of course, if I reallly want a very sheer wash, I'd use my MAC #188 for that, because of its smaller size and it's sparse bristles. The only minor gripe I have with this is that the distribution of powder that it puts on your face isn't totally even. For some reason (I think it's because the dome shape ends abruptly at the sides - does that make sense? I can't think of a better way of putting it), it tends to put a greater amount of color in some areas than in others. It's not a big deal, because I just blend it out and it works well, but it's something I thought I'd just note. Like I said, it's a minor gripe.

The MAC 188 is of course, the little sister of the MAC 187, except, much better due to its smaller size. Here, like I mentioned above, it works reallly well for the most pigmented of blushes, like for example, your NARS Exhibit A. It also works fantastically for highlighters, especially for MSFs, because the sparse bristles work to prevent glitter overload. Very useful indeed. I like this one, and there's not much else to be said for this.

Last of all, the Stila #24 is a must-have for anyone who loves blush, but has a stash of mostly moderate-to-lightly pigmented blushes. Like the MAC 188, the Stila #24 is made out of natural hair, but the bristles are denser on both ends (duh!), and the larger end has a dome shape. If you look at the picture above you'll see that the larger domed end is actually just the right shape for blush - meaning that the brush itself isn't big, and the other end (which resembles a mini Stila #21), is really, really tiny. A lot of people ask me if the Stila #24 can be used for the entire face, like for face powder application, because they have been woefully misled by pictures on the Stila website, which somehow always seem to make the Stila #24 look a lot bigger than it is. You defintely won't be able to use this to powder your face, unless you're a pixie or something....Although it COULD double up as a powder blush if you want to squeeze one into your makeup bag, since its bristles are just the right type and density. It just would take a lot longer than using an actual powder brush, such as the Stila #8. Despite its smallness, I really like this brush! I love the rounded, domed end for powder blushes that aren't too pigmented, as it picks up just the right amount, deposits it evenly, and is just the right size for fitting on my cheek! And as for the other mini end? Wellllll....I'm not really sure what to do with it, and to be frankly honest, I rarely, if ever, use that tiny end. I do guess it would probably be good for powder highlighters, for spot highlighting. Otherwise, I can't think of a use for this - suggestions anyone? I do think the tiny end makes this brush a pity, since it is so expensive. I do love the bigger end, but I kind of think for USD$50, it isn't really worth the cost if you're not going to use the smaller end at all. The fact that I have it in my stash shows that I'm a sucker, I guess..

Anyway, that concludes Part 2 of my review and comparisons of face brushes for today. In Part 3, we will deal with the remaining brushes, which are all on my can't-live-without list, and you'll see why! :)

Face Brushes Review and Comparison: Part 1 MAC 187 and 189

So I said in this post that I should do a post on my face brushes. And here you go! Over the next few days/weeks/however long it takes (with interruptions), I'll be doing reviews of my favourite brushes in my stash! Here they are. Not all of them are here, of course, but these are my favourites, my must-haves, and the ones I use the most often. Just a disclaimer: None of these brushes are free samples etc. I bought every single one of these with my own hard-earned money! I'm just reviewing them because...well they're in my stash, and well, a HG powder or blush brush can be the hardest thing to find sometimes, and it doesn't help that brushes tend to cost a lot of money:



L - R: Flirt! Feather Dust-Her, Body Shop blush brush, MAC 188, MAC 187, MAC 189, Stila #21, Stila #8, Stila #24

So here they are, after being washed, mostly dry. I thought it would be a good idea to take all the face brushes together, to give an idea of scale and relative size, so you can get a good idea of how big/small one brush is next to another. Sadly, the Stila #8 has been discontinued, much to my chagrin, because it was one of the best powder brushes I've ever had (and this is after trying the MAC 134 and the Shu Uemura 18R). *Shakes fist* When I contacted Stila Customer Service about it, the jokers at CS told me to go and look at the Stila #31, which is NOT AT ALL like the #8. The #8 is much better in quality than the #31, but then again I have a thing against retractable brushes in general (except my Too Faced Kabuki - wait, why is it not in the picture? Nevermind, it gets it's own review, then I guess).

Anyway, today I will kick off my Face Brushes Series with a review of the MAC 189, and the MAC 187, because I don't have much to say about them. To be honest, they're the least used and the least favourite in the bunch, but that's probably just me.

The MAC 187 brush has reached cult status across makeupdom, and is the HG brush of many a liquid foundation user. Which herein lies why I don't like the MAC 187 as much as other people do - I don't use liquid foundation. I did use it to try to blend out my Kevin Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer, but somehow it didn't quite look 'right' even then. For blush application this is pretty good though - I like how the shape of the 187 fits just right onto my cheek area, not too small, and not too big. However, I tend to prefer the either the 188, the Stila #24, or the Body Shop blush brush, depending on what blushes I'm using (more on that in later reviews). So as a result, my 187 suffers from neglect. I do think this is a good quality brush though, it's just that the fact that I don't wear liquid foundation - coupled with the fact that I tend to use my other blush brushes over it - makes it rarely used.

The MAC 189 brush was first launched together with the MSF Naturals, and was touted as a blush that can be used for BOTH powder and cream. Now of course this flies against the face of all my makeup training and knowledge - traditional makeup theory says that synthetic brushes are best for cream, and natural brushes are best for powder, although of course in recent years the boundary has been blurred with the advent of better synthetic bristles etc etc. Anyway, I was curious to see how this worked for both powder and cream, and I have to say....I'm a bit ambivalent when it comes to poweder. Sure it applied face powder fairly well, but it just felt weird using a paddle synthetic brush to put on powder, if you know what I mean. I felt the finish was acceptable - it wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't le suckage either. I also tried using it for powder blush, but the effect wasn't as great as using an actualy blush brush, as the blending was a bit hard to do with the brush. I tried using this baby for cream blushes too, and once again, I found it a bit hard to blend out the cream blushes, as it tended to leave a hard line where the edges of the bristles were. Maybe I'm spoiled by all the skunk brushes out there, but this was just a meh for me. Not impressed.

So that's it for this brush post. I've no idea what brushes I'll cover for the next brush post, so feel free to comment and leave any suggestions :) I'll cover all of them eventually though :)