Saturday 27 September 2014


When it comes to make up brushes, I always try and look for good quality ones that are also affordable -  a combination that is sometimes quite hard to come across (apart from Real Techniques brushes of course). A lot of the time it seems you have to make a compromise somewhere along the line by either paying a lot of money for a super-fancy brush or making do with a bog-standard, mediocre one to save a few pennies. This is where the Coastal Scents brushes come in. I first discovered these last summer when I was looking to start my brush collection. I hadn't owned any makeup brushes at this point so I was a bit sceptical about buying a complete set for under £20, but I decided to give them a go nonetheless.

Honestly, i'm so glad that I took the risk of buying these brushes because they are AMAZING. The quality is excellent and in my opinion they look and perform just as well as more expensive brushes on the market. The set consists of 12 brushes with both synthetic and natural hair bristles which all fit into the case provided. The case fastens with magnets and each brush has its own little pouch which keeps them separated and makes it easy for you to select which brush you want to use at a glance. The case also means that this set is perfect for travelling; it's roughly the same size as a small/medium sized clutch bag and it's fairly flat - definitely not bulky in the slightest.


My only teeny-tiny issue with these brushes is the amount of bristles I seem to lose from the powder brushes when I wash them, but in all honesty I don't consider this to be much of a problem and it is to be expected with the bristles made from natural hair. Both the synthetic and the natural hair bristles apply makeup effortlessly and are not scratchy in the slightest, which of course is a huge bonus when so many other brushes around this price range seem very artificial and feel rough on the skin.

In order from the picture above, the brushes included in this set are:
  • Lash & Brow Comb
  • Blush Brush (natural hair)
  • Angled Blush Brush (natural hair)
  • Foundation Brush (synthetic)
  • Doe-foot Blending Brush (synthetic)
  • Pointed Blending Brush (natural hair)
  • Medium Shadow Brush (synthetic)
  • Small Concealer Brush (synthetic)
  • Pointed Detailer Brush (synthetic)
  • Rounded Detailer Brush (synthetic)
  • Small Angled Liner Brush (synthetic)
  • Angled Liner Brush (synthetic)
As I mentioned above, this set is currently priced at £19.95 with free p&p and is available  from BeautyStore4U.co.uk: my ultimate go-to site for all things beauty and brush related!

What are your favourite, must-have makeup brushes? 







**Disclaimer: This was not a sponsored post, I just wanted to share my genuine opinion on how fantastic these brushes are :) **

Tuesday 16 September 2014


For those of you who are familiar with my blog, it'll come as no surprise to you that I am quite obsessed with popping into my local Boots and having a little nosey around at all of the makeup and skincare products that they have to offer. Last Sunday was no different - the minute I finished work I just had to go in and suss out the latest offers (and of course have a little rummage around in the clearance section!)

In my mind I had an idea of what I wanted; I was looking for a facial wash to replace my moisturising one from Simple that I've had for literally years. I'd heard great things about the Neutrogena 'Visibly Clear' Facial Wash and read many really positive reviews about it, which persuaded me to go ahead and buy it. But my spending didn't stop there - I decided to get the moisturiser from the 'Visibly Clear' range too as there was on offer on which meant you could get two Neutrogena products for £5, what a bargain!!

As you could probably guess from the names of the products, both the facial wash and the moisturiser smell like grapefruit. The scent is subtle and clean-smelling - definitely not strong or overpowering in the slightest. I like to use the facial wash first thing in the morning to remove any of the moisturiser and spot treatment products that I used on my skin overnight and follow on with the moisturiser. I particularly like that it's oil free as I feel my skin is normal-combination and my T-zone is the one area that gets particularly oily during the day. I've only been using these products for around a week and I feel like my skin is clearing up already - for weeks I've suffered with spots around my nose and chin and have tried so many different products to try and combat them... I even tried products containing natural plant extracts from the Nelson's Pure and Clear range but they had little to no effect on clearing up my skin.

While I am still on the lookout for a super-effective, instant spot-zapping miracle treatment, the Neutrogena products have made my skin look considerably clearer than it was a few weeks ago which i'm verrrrry happy about and so for now, I shall continue using both the face wash and the moisturiser to combat any remaining spots and blemishes until they decide to pack their bags and leave the surface of my face (those little blighters owe me weeks' worth of rent!!)


Tuesday 9 September 2014


Hey guys :)

It has certainly been a while since I last found myself sat behind a laptop screen writing a blog post, but I can assure you I have quite a few (fairly plausible) excuses! 
First of all, I managed to get myself a job... hurrah! I am no longer sporting the 'poor unemployed student without a penny to her name' stereotype, though this unfortunately does not mean that I have all of a sudden become Britain's richest teen earning megabucks *sad face*. 
Secondly, my laptop was becoming verrrry sluggish in its old age, and it was a nightmare trying to upload photos and write blog posts on a machine that took around 10 decades to load anything. After seeing footage of many successful Youtubers and bloggers tip-tapping away on their shiny MacBook Pro's, I took the plunge and decided it was time for me to upgrade - which hopefully means more frequent blog posts!

Anyway, as the title suggests, I wanted to do a little review on a few of the Real Techniques brushes that I currently own.



The contour brush is definitely one of my most-used brushes from my ever-growing Real Techniques collection; you can use it for so many different things! Aside from contouring the cheeks, I like to use this brush to set the concealer that I use under my eyes, and it's also the perfect size for powdering around your T-zone.

Next is the buffing brush, another strong favourite of mine. This works really well with liquid foundations as it enables you to achieve a perfect, streak-free finish. The bristles are slightly less dense than those in the expert face brush, which is why I prefer to use it on foundations of a slightly runnier consistency.

The blush brush has tapered bristles which allow you to apply blush to precise areas on the face. While it is a great brush, I don't use it as often as some of the other Real Techniques brushes which is probably down to the fact that I very rarely use blush... although I have used it with bronzer before and was pretty happy with the way it turned out :)
I remember buying the powder brush and thinking "wow, it's bloody huge", but it's honestly one of my favourite brushes EVER. You can apply powder to your entire face in seconds and it also works great with bronzer if you're looking to achieve that perfect all-0ver, sun-kissed look.

The stippling brush is another of my absolute favourites. It works brilliantly with BB creams or foundations of a runnier consistency and can even be used with cream blushes.

If you haven't yet purchased any of the Real Techniques brushes but you fancy giving one a go, you really cannot go wrong with the expert face brush. The bristles are super dense which makes blending foundation into your skin a whole lot easier, especially foundations of a thicker consistency that are otherwise quite difficult to blend.

The pointed foundation brush is one of my less-used brushes from those that I own mainly due to its size; I find it a little on the small side for applying foundation. However it does come in very handy for applying concealer under the eyes as it's the perfect shape and size for getting right into those pesky inner corners.
Last of all is the tiny detailer brush. In all honesty, I've only used this once or twice when I was applying lipstick but it does have other uses. I'd imagine it'd work really well with concealer to hide any unwanted blemishes or to conceal any dark circles under the eyes :)


What do you think of Real Techniques brushes? I'd love to know which one is your favourite!