One of the bonuses of trawling the beauty blogs like I do, is that you get to learn of products that maybe wouldn't have been on your radar if not. A prime example of this is the Real Techniques (RT) Expert Face Brush by Samantha Chapman.
Samantha Chapman is obviously pretty infamous in the online beauty world thanks to her Pixiwoo Youtube make-up tutorials, but if you're new to the whole online blogs/tutorial videos thing, then this little wonder brush of hers could quite easily pass you by.
I have posted about the Expert Face Brush before, and I can firmly say that in my opinion this brush is unrivalled in liquid foundation application. It makes it so much easier to buff the product into your skin, and I have come to realise this is key when it comes to bringing out the best in a lot of foundations. It's all about buffing rather than 'painting' the liquid on.
Following on from my obsession with the Expert Face brush, I decided to dabble with some of the brushes in the rest of her range, and bought the Blush Brush. Bronzer is a staple of my make-up regime and this claimed to be good for contouring/bronzing.
I normally use a Bare Minerals blush brush for my bronzer, which I'll be honest, is very good. It is smaller than usual brushes but this makes it easier to hold and use. The bristles are also very densely packed but still soft, which I like, but it does end up putting quite a lot of product on your face. Having said that, it's a good little blender and I always end up with an even finish.
Right, at this point I have to be completely honest with you, a week or so ago when I first used the RT Blush brush, I wrote a pretty unenthusiastic review on it. It was all drafted and ready to upload, but then the more I used the brush, the more I felt my first impression was wrong.
I think my initial concern was that the RT blush brush was the complete opposite to my Bare Minerals (BM) one, in that it was much larger (brush and head size) and the bristles were a lot softer and looser. By virtue of these points, the way the brush worked was always going to be different but I (maybe stupidly) was expecting it to be the same.
So to describe the RT brush, the bristles are mega soft and although quite densely packed, are still quite loose and floppy. It definitely doesn't have the rigidity of the BM brush, or of a typical kabuki type brush.
The head of the brush is also quite large, and I've read several blogger reviews which have said this lets the product down, as it covers quite a large area of your face. It means you can't be quite as precise with where you put your bronzer/blusher. You can see in the photo below that it covers quite a large area of my cheek.
When you swirl the brush in your bronzer though, it is only really the tip that picks up the powder because of how floppy the brush is. There seems to be a lot of brush that just doesn't get used. This does mean the application is more precise than the brush-size suggests, but it also makes me wonder why they didn't just make the brush smaller. I'm guessing the bulk at the bottom of the bristles is there for a reason, it probably helps the movement of the tips.
You can see the size difference between the blush brush on the left and the expert face brush on the right. You can also sort of see the difference in density, as the expert face brush is sooo tightly packed, whereas you can see the blush one is looser and more feathery.
I used the brush with my Sleek Contour kit and when I swirled the brush in the powder, it didn't feel like it was taking as much product up as my BM one does. I gave the brush a tap to knock off any excess bronzer, then went in for the application.
One thing is for definite, this applies the bronzer much more lightly. Having said that, as I continued to use it, I noticed it still needed quite a bit of buffing in order to get an even finish. The Sleek Contour bronzer is quite pigmented and does have a tendency to be a tad uneven, but I definitely had to give it some welly with the buffing to really even the colour out.
My original review then went on to slate this brush for its "weak" application, and the fact it didn't give me a very precise contour line due to the size of the brush head. However, on using this more and more, I've noticed that maybe it just works in a different way. Whereas the BM one packs the colour on and you blend it out, this one builds the colour up. You end up with the same result at the end. And I'll be honest, this brush has really, really grown on me. It does cover a bigger space on my face, but it also gives an almost airbrushed even-ness after buffing, and because the bristles are so soft and loose you don't end up irritating your cheek with all the buffing (nor do you rub off any foundation or concealer).
I actually quite love the gentle application of this brush now, and it is also ideal for dusting colour over your forehead, chin, nose etc. There is something a bit frustrating about how loose the bristles are...I can't help buffing away thinking 'grrr, just give me a bit more oomph' but bronzer is not something to be slapped on so I can see why the brush is like this.
I'd definitely continue to use my BM brush for stronger, more precise contouring and probably for blusher. I haven't tried the RT brush for blusher yet, but I have small cheeks and I think this will just put colour over far too large an area. I think the RT brush will come into its own in Winter though, when I need a bit less colour and more of a gentle wash of warmth.
If I were to give any tips on using this brush, I'd say stick with it and practise the application. Trust the floppiness of the bristles and just keep buffing like you would with a more densely packed brush, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the result. The Expert Face brush is also a bit of move away from traditional foundation brushes, and maybe this blush one is the same. I was just a little more stubborn with this one it seems...
I'm a self-confessed floozy when it comes to cosmetics. I fall for the chat every time, and if a shiny new product comes out promising to make me beautiful, then I'm sold. I have a wicker storage box at home which is positively bursting with half-used products which I've dabbled with, been unimpressed by, but refuse to throw out because I spent hard-earned cash on them.
If a product gets repurchased, that's a big deal in my world. But even more rare, is a bulk buy. Cosmetics are often on 3 for 2 or buy-one-get-one-free type offers, but these tend to be across brands or ranges, and therefore these deals are often a great excuse for me to buy items I couldn't normally justify (I mean, they're practically free, right?)
But recently I took advantage of an offer like this to actually, genuinely bulk buy. Here's the proof....
The product which made its way into the hallowed halls of my bulk-buy hall of fame, is Charles Worthington's Moisture Seal Mineral Hair Rescue Masque.
I first came across an ancestor of this product years ago whilst at university, and whilst on a mission to get shiny, soft hair ready for graduation (because obviously shiny hair is a must for graduation). Back then the product was called Mineral Hair Spa Rescue Treatment, and looked like this........
I LOVED this stuff. It was my first tentative little foray into hair treatments and I was highly impressed. But then it seemed to disappear off the shelves a bit, it came back in a tub, then CW changed their packaging and it didn't seem they'd retained it in their product range. I've dabbled with other treatments in the past (see reviews on Tresemme Platinum Strength range and Herbal Essences Bee Strong Intensive Mask) but always found them to somewhat coat your hair.
So I was mooching around the haircare aisle in Boots the other day and noticed the CW Mineral Hair Rescue (£5.99). It had the words 'mineral' and 'rescue' in the title, and the blurb on the back talked about 'marine extracts' just like the old Hair Spa one. Exciting! So I bought it, tried it, and bloody loved it.
It seems to be a refinement of the old Hair Spa product rather than a replica, and I'll be honest, it is SUCH a good hair treatment.
The product comes in a flip-lid tub which is sealed on purchase. This always makes me think it is more effective, as if the goodness might sneak out if it isn't sealed in.
The actual hair mask is a white, thick, gloopy cream with a really gentle but sweet smell. It is the exact same scent used in the CW Intense Rescue Melting Balm and I've read a lot of blogs raving about the fragrance. The smell stays on your hair as well, which is always a bonus.
To use it, you just scoop a load out of the tub and smooth it over your wet hair. I concentrate on the ends of my hair (about 2/3rds down) and then use what is left on my hands just to lightly wipe over the upper 2/3rds of my hair (so as not to make it greasy). I never leave it on for more than 2-3 minutes (even though the tub says 5) as I get bored in the shower, and with 3 other women in my house, you don't get much shower down-time.
One of the weird things about this product is it leaves your hands with a clean, squeaky feeling after you've smoothed the cream on. It doesn't feel oily or greasy, it actually feels quite fresh which is really unusual for moisturising treatments.
But this is kind of reminiscent of what the results are like as well. Hands down, this leaves my hair SOFT. As you probably know, my hair is platinum blonde and bleached to within an inch of its life. It is also thick and long. This is the only treatment I have used which genuinely leaves my hair feeling healthier and softer to the touch, with no greasy residue or coating. My hair feels freshly washed and 'swishy' but still soft, and this is REALLY difficult to achieve with most high-street moisturising treatments.
I mentioned earlier about the CW Intense Rescue Melting Balm and I'm probably going to be stepping out on my own with this comment, but I think the Mineral Hair Rescue Masque is better than the Melting Balm. And it is also £11 cheaper. Ouch. It just made my hair softer and was less hassle to use. Having discovered the Mineral Hair Rescue Masque, I definitely wouldn't repurchase the Melting Balm.
There's 100% something about this product which makes your hair just feel better, more healthy, more nourished but it is more of an honest softness because you don't feel like it has just coated your hair. I got about 5 uses out of the tub, which isn't brilliant, but I do have thick long hair and it still works out about a £1 a use, so that's not too painful, especially if you use it as a treat rather than an everyday conditioner. I also think that if you have fine hair or hair that gets easily greasy, then give this a try as I think you'd find it doesn't weigh your hair down as much as other conditioning treatments. Plus if you bulk buy (i.e. 3 for 2) it only works out about £4 each! Bargain!
Right that's me done. Go buy it.
