Beauty - Real Techniques Core Collection Review

Hey everyone, and welcome back to Shelly Says So!

Just after finishing my semester one exams a few weeks ago, I decided to treat myself in Superdrug (not that I need much of an excuse to treat myself in Superdrug!) to these Real Techniques make up brushes. I follow a lot of bloggers online, and as a result I have heard so many good things about these brushes from other bloggers, so I decided to give them a go. They cost £20.99 in my local Superdrug, but they'll set you back €29.99 if you live in Ireland.

I bought the Core Collection, which consists of four brushes. From left to right, you have the contour brush, the pointed foundation brush, the detailer brush and the buffing brush. They come in a plastic outer packaging, attatched to a case which can be also used as a stand, which is very handy indeed.

First impressions: they look beautiful.
The gold colour is very pretty and they are super soft to the touch too. But less about the aesthetics and more about the function!

The contour brush, as you may have guessed, is said to be ideal for applying contour on your face. I think the slight precision point at the top of the brush allows the process to go more smoothly and it being super soft and lightweight means it's not an ordeal applying contour.

















The pointed foundation brush is supposed to work best with liquid foundations, which is the usual foundation I wear. I had been using Primark's foundation brush (which I'll review very shortly!), but since I had this, I wanted to try it out. As it's quite a small brush, I found it made the foundation application much more lengthy! Which is fine if you have plenty of time to spare in the mornings but alas, I never do (who even does?).  I wondered whether I was simply using it wrong, so I watched a video on www.realtechniques.com about how to use it. I wasn't, but it did take long and it said it is good for light application of foundation.





This again is completely fine if you're after a natural look but I just personally
prefer a medium layer of foundation. With all of this swiping around it also left so much more tell-tale brush strokes which immediately turned me off. I will say that it does work well to get into precision areas such as side of your nose. I started using it also to apply concealer, which it does work well with.








The detailer brush is the smallest and skinniest of the brushes in this set, and as you can guess, it is used mainly for precision applications in small areas. It can be used for applying concealer or lipstick for "long lasting shape and definition". However, I began using it in eye makeup to define my eye crease, and I couldn't believe how amazing it was! Definitely my favourite of all these brushes. The quality of this small brush even inspired me to purchase the other Real Techniques set made especially for eye makeup.



The buffing brush apparently works ideally with powder and mineral foundations. Since I have neither to test that theory out on, I decided to rebel slightly and use it for I for applying liquid foundation, and found that I really liked it. It's obviously a lot bigger than the pointed foundation brush so less time consuming. However I tend to go over the application with Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge (review of that product is HERE) to ensure the makeup application turned out flawless. I also used it for applying bronzer and blush, and find it works well then too.


So the question you've all been waiting to be answered: Are these brushes worth the price tag? Although reasonable by other beauty brush standards such as Mac, these are quite expensive. Although my opinion is bound to be controversial, I need to be honest about my review as I don't want my readers to be rushing out buying these, especialy with limited funds. I think that besides from the detailer brush which was ah-mazing, these guys are simply not worth twenty-odd bucks. Fifteen perhaps, but not twenty.

Beauty - Superdrug Haul featuring Collection, Make Up Academy, Make Up Revolution & Beauty UK

Hi everyone!

I popped into Superdrug a few weeks ago and got a few make up related things there. As I'm primarily a budget blogger, I decided to try out some of the budget brands that were there. Some of these brands I'll mention Irish readers may not know about, I'm not sure are they available in Ireland as well as in the UK.

Collection Lasting Perfection 16 Hour Ultimate Wear Foundation
I couldn't bring liquids on the plane over here so that unfortunately meant that my Rimmel Match Perfection foundation I'd usually wear for day time (see review of that product HERE), was left behind in my bedroom in Ireland (sob!). So obviously the most essential piece of makeup I needed to buy was a new foundation. (the other make up I bought that I'm going to discuss in this blogpost was purely me being distracted quite easily in Superdrug!). I decided to try out the brand Collection as I had never used it before and I'm always open to trying out new brands. Collection is a British produced brand but is available in Boots in Ireland as well as here in the UK (though for some reason I had never tried any of the brand out while in Ireland). This foundation claims to last for 16 hours, provide 'flawless coverage' and 'minimize imperfections'. The packaging says it contains SPF 20 which is always good to have (even in British rainy weather!) and claims to be oil free also. I tried this out the next day after I bought it. To test the lasting power of it, I tried it out with very little setting powder. My skin is usually not very oily, but after just a few hours of wearing this foundation I saw that it had become particulary oily. I have tried to use it with quite a bit of powder but I just don't like applying too much powder - I think it looks a bit cakey - but with this foundation I felt like I had to.
Another thing I really disliked about this product was the shading. Even though Ivory is the perfect shade for me throughout pretty much every make-up range, this foundation in Ivory looked more than a little orange on my face. I try not to buy the lightest shade in any foundation, because it tends to make me look drained and washed out more than I look at the minute, but with this one really had to because I was walking around uni looking like one of the Oompa Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Even so whilst wearing the Porcelain shade, it still ended up slightly orange on my face, which means I can no longer use the two foundations I shelled out over £13 for altogether - ugh! I don't know is this related to stress or what I'm eating, but I did notice while I was wearing this that I kept breaking out in new blemishes every single day!
I am keen to try out the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer  though - it's nearly always out of stock here and it's meant to amazing, so when that comes back into stock I'll have to buy it and chat a bit about it! But as for this foundation - it's a definite no no for me!

Collection Fast Stroke Liquid Eyeliner

I couldn't find my usual liquid eyeliner - Essence Liquid Eyeliner - when I first moved to the UK due to the amount of bags and clothes I was trying to sort out, so I bought this one, which is also by the Collection brand I've mentioned above. This eyeliner is a bit of a strange one. It does have quite a sharp point to allow for better definition and precision which is great if you're desiring a really defined cat eye liner effect, but I just found that when I was applying it, it was a bit too sharp and slightly sore on my sensitive eyelid. I'd much prefer a brush tip like with the Essence one (which I eventually did find by the way!) that is softer which doesn't irritate the delicate eyelid skin as much. Once on though, the lasting time for this eyeliner is average really - it doesn't last too well with watering eyes and smudges before the day is out. It set me back £2.99.


Make Up Academy Mega Volume Mascara

Make Up Academy is a mega affordable brand here but unfortunately for my lovely Irish readers this budget makeup brand is only available in the UK (soz!). The makeup stand in Superdrug caught my eye as much of their products only cost about a pound each, which is enough to make even the most hard-pressed for cash student stop and have an auld look! Because of the cheap price, the packaging is understandably very basic - all plastic and looks like it would break quite easily. However, I picked up this mascara, at just £3 I figured I hadn't much to lose. This mascara has a good brush size, with tiny bristles which ensure that every lash is coated. It wears off within a few hours, which means it won't win any beauty awards anytime soon, but is still a good day time mascara for a very subtle makeup look. I would advise to layer a few coats of mascara if you're after a noticeable effect at all, i.e. apply a coat, wait for it to dry and then add another or another if you want, depending on how dramatic you want to go, but do note that you won't get the false lash effect with this guy.
 


Make Up Academy Translucent Pressed Powder.

This is literally the worst ever powder I have ever tried! I applied a small amount the first day I used it to see what it was like but combined with the Collection foundation above, it made my face look like a good place to fry an egg on! I applied a bit more the next day but it just made my face look super cakey and I hate the look of cakey powder on my face and even though with a lot applied it doesn't seem to fufil it's role of setting foundation all that well! I did only pay £1 for it so really wasn't expecting much but my Primark Loose powder was €2.50 (which isn't too much more expensive when you convert it into pounds - £1.43), and that to me was a far better product.




Makeup Revolution Focus and Fix Liquid Concealer

Makeup Revolution is another budget British makeup brand that I was interested in trying out. This concealer was affordable at £2 so I said I may as well give it a go. I thought this concealer was only just all right. It's nothing too amazing, quite average really. I found that I had to add a lot of product to get it to even have any effect in covering up my dark circles (and compared to other times in my life, my dark circles at the moment aren't even that bad). As for trying to conceal spots, I felt a foundation worked much better.  Having said that though, Make up Revolution is a brand that I really want to try out more over the coming months. Their eyeshadow palettes are dupes for the Urban Decay Naked palettes, and are only £4, which truth be told was what really attracted me to the brand!

Beauty UK Lipstick

This is a budget beauty brand but as you may have guessed by the name, is only avaliable in the UK. I got it in the shade 'Passion', which is this beautiful pink shade as you can see and applies very smoothly to the lips and has a peppermint smell. It does last if you don't eat or drink anything, so you would need to constantly reapply. By the end of the day it turns to a pink liptint which I actually found to be a lot more wearable so it doesn't vanish completely. It does normally retail at £3.20, but I got it for a reduced price of a pound.



Hope you enjoyed this post! xx

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