Review: e.l.f. Bamboo Brushes & Studio Stipple Brush

Quite a while ago, I ordered a few brushes from e.l.f. I'd been using a number of their regular range and Studio Line brushes for just over a year and thought that they were good quality for their price point. Seeing the new Bamboo Brushes and knowing how soft and lovely my Studio Complexion Brush was, I ordered the Powder Brush. Having a thing for angled brushes, I chose the Angled Blush Brush as well. I noticed the Studio Stipple Brush was still in stock so quickly popped one of those into my basket and paid up.



These brushes are all an absolute pleasure and a dream to use. All soft, all pick up and deposit the perfect amount of product and all easy to clean, economic and best of all - each brush is produced using man made fibres (Taklon). The Bamboo Brushes are made of recycled materials too.



The Powder Brush is large, fluffy and perfect for applying loose powder quickly and evenly. I use it for pressed powder as well. The brush is also fantastic for blending out and diffusing colour when I get too blush-happy.



The Angled Blush Brush is beautiful and I love me a multi-purpose product or brush. It's perfectly sized to use as a blush brush, tilt it slightly to use with a highlighter or lay on its side to contour with bronzer.



The Studio Stipple Brush is not as dense as many duo-fibre brushes I've used but it's a nice size unless you plan to use it for foundation. I like my foundation brushes to be big (I use a MAC 189, e.l.f. Studio Powder Brush or my fingers) so this one wouldn't quite cut it. Though I did try it once and found it gave a nice finish. I love this brush for cream or gel blushes.

Each brush sits well in the hand and is comfortable to use whilst looking stylish and above their price range. I would highly recommend the Bamboo range!

Have you used any e.l.f. brushes? What are your thoughts? Any winners I'm missing out on?

I hope you're all well, I hope to be back and posting more often from now on!

How I Clean My Brushes + Makeup

I've always thought there isn't really a right or wrong way to clean makeup brushes. Sure, there's the whole "don't dry them standing upright" rule but there aren't really any with regards to what to use and how to do it. Except you know...don't soak the buggers in bleach.

So this is what I do:

Every day, immediately after use:

White face towel - cheapies from ASDA, 50 odd pence for a pack of 4.
e.l.f. Daily Brush Cleaner, £3.50 from eyeslipsface.co.uk

1. Spray brush cleaner on brush
2. Swipe across towel a few times, then in a zig-zag motion
3. Spray again to make sure all product is gone

Once every two weeks:

Simple baby shampoo - available from Boots, Superdrug and most supermarkets, about £1.50
Alcohol, got mine for under a quid at the chemist down the road

1. Squeeze a palmful of baby shampoo into a dish
2. Add 2-3 drops of alcohol and mix.
3. Wet bristles with warm water, taking care not to wet the ferrule
4. Dip brush into the mixture and swipe across hand a few times, then in a zig-zag motion
5. Rinse product out of bristles with warm water, gently squeeze dry.
6. Repeat.
7. Lay flat on a towel, slightly tiled downwards. I do this by folding the edge of a hand towel over a few times to create a "pillow"

I hang kabuki brushes upside down to dry (elastic hairband, paperclips and the doorknob - it's all a huge operation) so they keep their shape.

I also disinfect my powder and cream makeup every 2 months. I lay all my products out - open - on a towel and lightly mist alcohol over them, wait for them to dry then put them away. This is also a good opportunity to throw away expired products or get rid of things I just don't use anymore.

Though there are a million videos and blog posts on this, I hope it helps someone out there!

(Mostly) A Brush Haul

I picked up a few brushes today as well as an adorable pair of earrings and Grease Lightning from Lush.



Serious breakout going on in the chin area and I'd given the last of my beloved Grease Lightning to John's little brother to try out so I layered on the slap and headed out to buy some more. I really do feel this works. Within one day my blemishes are significantly reduced in size and day two leaves a colourless bump on my skin - much easier to conceal than a huge red beast.



The earrings...are lovely. I like cute little things like this. On top of that, they were cheeeap! A couple quid at Primark. They have a ton of statement jewellery in at the moment so go and have a look, fill your basket and play dress up when you get home!



These two Shu Uemura brushes are lovely and soft. The number 14 (synthetic) brush is like many Shu brushes; multi purpose. It's described as being a foundation brush. It's a little small for me as a foundation brush but is the perfect size for concealing large areas or getting into the little nooks and crannies of your face with foundation. The number 17 (pony/squirrel hair) brush is the perfect brush for highlighting. It distributes product beautifully and diffuses it for a natural glow. I haven't used it for any cream products yet but I'm sure I'll get round to it.

The MAC 189 is a large foundation brush with synthetic fibers. I have the 190 and it's too small for me. I like a quick application and this allows me to do that. Flawlessly. As you'd expect, it's soft and perfectly formed for both powder and cream/liquid application. I'm really looking forward to using this more.



The eos lip balm that I got sent in my swap - in love! Couldn't have come at a more perfect time either as I've just lost my Lush lip balm and my Lizzy Arden 8 Hour Cream is a little heavy considering the humidity at the moment.



This is how NOT to bake cookies. Thanks John.

I also picked up a bunch of gifts so I won't show those but I put in an e.l.f. order today so I'll be posting that as soon as it arrives!

And the reason for my blog sale...August Haul!

I spent a lot this month! But it gave me a good excuse to clear out my wardrobe (and under the bed...and...the stuff stored on top of the wardrobe) so I'm happy.

I bought a ton of stuff for a swap I'm doing with one of my Twitter/BlogTV friends so I got mega excited about that! My first swap! I really hope she loves what I've bought her. I'll do a post when I receive her package and write more about what purchases I made for her and why.

I also bought a handful of things for my friend Joanna who is visiting from Hong Kong. Another separate post! I'm hoping to take her to the CCO in Bisceter Village.



More stuff for Jackie (who just got married!) which I'll send when her box is full up.



Picked up a bunch from Superdrug and made a few repurchases. First, a GOSH liner in Bananas - the best waterline colour. It's not as harsh as white and a nice shimmery alternative to my matt nude liner. They didn't have any Simple baby wipes in stock so I picked up some Pampers ones instead. Don't like them as much and they sting my eyes but they'll do for now! They had an offer on Barry M polishes so as well as picking up a few for some friends, I got Mushroom (finally!) and Lemon - a lovely pale yellow. Another item I've been wanting for a long time is Revlon's crease brush so I picked that up. It's so, so soft.

Same day, different shop. I popped into Boots and got a 17 Lasting Fix nail polish in Parma Violet and I'm very excited to try it. It looks so beautiful in the bottle. For some reason, I picked up a Miss Sporty Studio Lash mascara. Never used anything from this brand before, so it'll be interesting to try. Nice and cheap at £2.99. On my way to the checkout, I stopped to smell some of the body sprays and picked up a mango and papaya one - great for throwing in your bag when it's hot out. The smell fades quite quickly but it's a big bottle and wasn't expensive so I don't mind much.

Last two stops were The Body Shop where I picked up a few facial buffers and Lush where I bought another stash of Fresh Farmacy and CoalFace for John. These facial buffers...amazing. I now no longer need to buy a separate exfoliator!



I also picked up some ASDA own brand Skin, Hair & Nails vitamins. I've never been one to believe that a vitamin that costs 3x as much as another is any better. It all has the same stuff in it so why not save a few quid?

Pantene's new Aqua Light range pulled me in. I picked up the smaller bottles since they were 2 for £3 at Boots. I ran out of blades for my razor so instead of shelling out a ton for new ones, I decided to go back to disposables. I find they irritate my skin less - weird right?

A Filipino food store in Croydon opened up - I popped in and picked up a few of my faves including Young Coconut juice (YUM) - this is on the same excitement level as getting my hands on Mushroom!



The thing I'm most excited about (I think Reggie is too) is a No7 polish in Totally Teal 115. It was the last one on the shelf so I grabbed it quick! Of course, I bought it with one of my 500 No7/Ruby & Millie vouchers from Boots. I hate that whenever you spend one, you get one! I think I'll just have to resort to ONLY buying something with the voucher instead of...oh I'll just pick up some shampoo and conditioner as well. That's how they get us. Well...me.



My Model's Own order arrived a couple days ago and I've resisted opening anything until now. I purchased 5 polishes (buy 5, get £7 off!) in Betty Blue, Peacock Green, Jade Stone, Magenta Pearl and Purple Grey (meant to be a dupe for Chanel Paradoxal). I also got the three piece brush set and I got a free black kohl liner as it was my first purchase. Of course, the weekend after I placed my order...they hit 10,000 "likes" on Facebook and have a 50% off sale site wide. Just my luck. Go check it out - once again I highly, highly recommend their polishes.

Nail polish swatches (excuse my skanky nails):



No7 115 Totally Teal



Model's Own NP028 Peacock Green



Model's Own NP083 Jade Stone



Barry M Nail Paint 024 Lemon



Model's Own NP085 Magenta Pearl



Model's Own NP056 Betty Blue



Boots 17 Lasting Fix Nail Polish Parma Violet



Barry M Nail Paint 310 Mushroom



Model's Own NP052 Purple Grey





I picked up Marc Jacobs Basil. It's a clean unisex fragrance with top notes of tomato leaf, lemon and basil, middle notes of orange blossom, freesia and jasmine and base notes of sandalwood, musk and cashmere wood. Now I don't know what any of that means, I just know that I like it. Though I do think it might be weird that John and I will smell the same on certain days. I think he'll be using this a lot more than I will as it's a slightly more masculine fragrance - and I'm more than happy for him to. It is after all, a huuuge bottle.

So that's it for now. I'm thinking of just posting monthly collective hauls. Sometimes I'll just pick up one or two items that don't really warrant a whole blog post unless there are reviews attached to them. What do you think?