makeup haul

It's been a while since I've been on here but I'm back with a makeup haul...

im going to focus on my new Mac goodies from the Daphne Guiness, naturally and one item from the tour de fabulous collection...From the Daphne Guiness I got three things starting off with Vintage Grape Blush Ombre. Vintage Grape retails for $28 USD for 9 Gm, and it is a Limited edition. It's such a pretty two toned from mid tone violet to plum, swatches follow underneath



the horizontal swatch is a blended swatch of both tones, the top right hand swatch is of the midtone violet part, and of course the bottom is of the plum part...

Also I got an awsome purple plum Pro longwear lipstick in "seasoned Plum" & a Cremsheen glass in "narcissus"
 

"Seasoned Plum" ^



"Narcissus" Pro longwear lipcreme & swatches down below




on the left we have Hip N happy lip liner (not pictured alone) refer to my video & main pic, "seasoned Plum" & Narcissus Cremsheen

And this brings us to the final collection (of items I own) Naturally! I only got "blonde" msf, and a mineralize eyeshadow in "in the sun"

 as u can see i did four swatches going from the lightest part of the msf to the darker or pinkier

& finally "in the sun eyeshadow"....





To be honest I totally recommend everything! BTW EVERYTHING IS LIMITED EDITION.. :) tHANX FOR STOPING BY & STAY PRETTY! 



Sigma Complete Brush set.

SIGMA COMPLETE BRUSH SET- MY THOUGHTS

When I started with makeup I realized that sponge tip applicators & Sponges weren't going to do it for me. So I decided that it was time for me to build my brush collection! Honestly I didn't know where to begin or what to buy,I Actually wanted to buy the high end (MAC) brushes, but something inside me told me, "hold up Brenda baby steps, baby steps" So I began buying drugstore brushes and brushes off beauty online websites.

Untill one day I was browsing the net looking for more brushes to buy and I came across "Sigma" I clicked on their website and saw that they sold brushes much like MAC brushes in Sets. There were several sets anywhere from 6-12 brushes. The one that really caught my eye was the one with 12 brushes & a brush roll for $99 USD. Making each brush about $8 bucks a piece. Before I bought these I decided I was going to watch & read a couple reviews. So I did I went on YT typed them in and to my surprise they had really good reviews, which resulted in a purchase lol.

(the pics are NOT mine, they are from the website)

The brush set I got is called "Complete brush set" which is a basic set perfect for begginers (like myself at the time!) The set included a very nice faux leauther brush roll/fold and of course 12 brushes, 5 face brushes & 7 eye brushes. BTW these brushes are numbered (or where) just like MAC brushes thought I'd point that out! Anyway,

-The face brushes include:  a Powder brush SS150, a traditional foundation brush SS190, an angled countour/blush brush SS168, a Duo fiber highlight (multipurpose) brush SS187, a concealar brush SS194.

-The eye brushes iclude: An eyeshadow brush SS239, a Large eyeshadow brush SS252, an angled eyeshadow brush SS275, a blending brush SS224, a pencil brush SS219, an angled eyeliner brush SS266 & finally a pointy eyeliner brush SS209. I also got additional brushes, I ordered the SS182 kabuki and the now F80 flat top kabuki brush.

ABOUT THE BRUSHES: when I first opened and unwrapped the box I was stunned! Never had I had such nice brushes, and yes they most definately looked and resembeled MAC brushes. They were and still are soft. They wash nicely with the exception of the SS182 and SS150 which bleed alot and shed. I've had my brush set for a year now sigma recently changed their numbering system. The brushes are now named or numbered differently due to the high amount of critics that called the company copycat. So I encourage you to check out their website for reference. The brushes are made from natural hair and the hair is colored with black dye (duh, lol).

My thoughts & expirience:

These brushes are very nice especially for a begginer that wants better than drugstore quality, or for someone on a budget as they are a great value and still good quality. But if your looking for long lasting quality or if you own high end brushes already these WILL NOT meet your expectations. In fact you might end up finding lots of flaws. Reason why I say this is My SS187's ferrule is coming loose from the handle, & my SS224 is scratchy and is loosing it's dye so it looks like it has white hairs :(! And of course the kabuki brush SS182 bleeds like there's no tommorrow I'm surprised it's hairs are still black no joke. From a scale from 1-10 I give em a 6.5.

Repromotd MAC 226!!!

If you're a makeup junkie like myself, then you've probable heard about MAC and their great selection of cosmetics and brushes. Brushes are one of the most important tool in your makeup kit as they will be your magic wands when applying your makeup;) as I've said before investing in good quality brushes is essential!Speaking of MAC and brushes I wanted to tell you all about their famous 226 tapered blending brush! Famous?, yea I mean everyone raves about it and it's also a limited edition brush. It get's re promoted once a year (don't quote me on that) but yea. If your familiar with MAC brushes i'ts like a MAC 224 only more dense and in baby form. The MAC 226 retails for $24.50 USD, and unfortunately it seems it's not available on the MAC website but you can get it at any MAC counter or store!

*THE FIRST PIC IS ONE I FOUND ON THE INTERNET FROM THE ACTUAL MAC PAGE, THE SECOND OF COURSE MINE ;)*

and here's a close up

as you can see it's not as tapered to such a point like the promoting pic :(

and here's a comparison to the 224

the MAC 224 is of course clearly longer and fluffier, while the 226 stays nice and compact...

The brush itself is tapered, it's fluffy at the top but very dense at the bottom, making it perfect for blending little areas, or using it on smaller eye creases:) I personally have a larger crease area, but a small crease/blending brush is always nice as it helps me stay within a perimiter and precisely define my crease. While a pencil brush would work, I find alot of them way to dense and hard to work with. A regular blending brush like the MAC 224 would work as well, but I find it applies to much color and blends too much color upwards. This 226 brush is awsome just what I was looking for, it's not scratchy at all and does it's job very well ( I couldn't wait to use it, so I did!) Like I said, this brush helps me stay within a small area and work color in:)..

OVERALL THOUGHTS: While you can't judge a book by it's cover, I was kinda upset at first,  I was expecting something on the more pointier tapered side just like in the promo pics... But as I Started to compare it to other brushes and feel the density and what not, I'm really happy i Picked this up! if you're looking for a nice tapered blending brush & want to invest in quality then I encourage you to snatch the 226 brush while you can! If for some reason you can't the closest dupe I can find is the Lancome #17 blending brush, it's much pointier and longer, but it's kinda scratchy which hurts my crease. That's why my decision to get this brush was a definite yes!



Achieving the perfect look...

Alot of the times women ask me, "OMG i love your makeup, for more than I try i Just can't do eyeshadow, liner etc"... Well I tell them, that it's all about having the right TOOLS!

Sponge tip applicators are ok for super minor detail work, but are definately not an everyday tool for me. Imagine how hard it is to even try to blend colors with those little guys,,... uh too hard! Sponges are ok as a last resource but carry tons of bacteria and we store it in our compacts contaminating all of our powders yuck! But don't worry, God has given man intelligance to create BRUSHES! ahhh i absolutely love them! From now on they will be ur best friends;D! There's tons of different brands and stuff, powder face brushes, duo fiber brushes, omg i could go insane! flat shader, fluffy, round crease, fluffy crease.. U really can't go wrong, Now in this category brand will matter just a bit, as you your gonna want quality at an affordable price...

There are so many brands out there! MAC being one of the most popular and at the same time very pricey! Yes MAC brushes can be worth it, but you need to see them as an investment! I started out with Sonia Kashuk brushes available at target, and i have to say they still work wonders. These brushes are very popular. If you want to create an awsome look here are the brushes that in my opinion are MUST HAVES:

• a flat eyeshadow brush, flat and somewhat stiff brush is a must have as you will be able to apply a wash of color to the lid and even blend it out a bit
• ROUND CREASE BRUSH- Having a round crease brush will hellp you apply eyeshadow to your crease or eye socket and round crease brushes are also perfect for blending,
• A MINI DEAIL PENCIL BURSH- I think having one of these is essential as u can really do precise detail work. From your inner corner to your outer "v",..
• A DENSE, SOFT & FLUFFY POWDER BRUSH-  This brush will help you apply powder foundation, or set your liquid foundation.
• BLUSH BRUSH! - U really gotta have a blush brush, a fluffy and tapered brush is a must!

Now if your simple than thats all you really need to create an awsome look! but if your like me go ahead and buy yourself all the brushes your heart desirees ;D!





New to cosmetics? Need some tips?...

Ok so lets face it even the best makeup or beauty professionals start somewheres and work there way up... Same thing happened to me, Im not a pro but im working my way up there. I remember i was so anxious to get all the popular stuff to be able to "fit in" or look cool, MAC, urban decay, too faced, Makeup forever.. etc u name it i had to have it! But what I didn't realize was that there were many factors and things i needed to understand before i went bolognee by purchasing cosmetics (which i later regreted buying) haha!

It's all part of life taking baby steps,  learning from mistakes, which trust me, I made a few thousands! A a begginer I had tons of questions but felt stupid if I asked a pro, I later realized I should of and would of not made so many mistakes. Buying the most expensive makeup products dosen't make you cool, but it's how you use it and how much knowledge you can share with others... Here i will give you some important tips on beggining with makeup, wether you realize you want to enhance your natural beauty or just want to enlarge your makeup collection :) Here's a few of thee most important points.

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1. Super important #1, Makeup is to enhance your natural beauty not to hide it behind ounces and ounces of something!    Its ok to have fun with it once in a while but never over do anything!

 

2. UNDERSTAND YOUR NEEDS! this one is also very important, You may have good skin and end up covering with chemically full coverage foundations, yuck! It is important to know what kind of coverage your skin needs, full, moderate, or concealing.. and what will best suit ur needs. There's some liquids for full coverage, powders for meduim, and tinted moisturizers for sheer..

 

3. KNOW YOUR SKIN TYPE!  I wasn't sure if to make this 2 or 3, anyways its super crucial you understand your skin type, theres 5 major skin types. Normal, Dry, combination, oily & sensitive. You don't necessarily have to have just one skin type, i know women with dry sensitive skin, or oily sensitive etc. I will dedicate a post just to skin types. But adding something on YOUR face that will cause a reaction to your skin is not cool! Theres liquid for dry, powder for oily, omg i could go on and on!

 

4. STRICT SKIN REGIME.. This definately contributes as your skin will notice the change your making it go through. Having a proper religious skin regime and MOISTURIZING your skin daily before makeup application and once you've removed it will ensure balance of your skin and will help it be ready and in shape for whatever you throw its way! Theres tons of skin cleansing products & moisturizers for oily skin, dry, combination, etc. You really cant miss out, if anything DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK!, departament stores have counters with knowledgeable individuals ready to help you!

 

5. ASK, ASK, ASK! Who cares what anyone thinks! We all started just like you,.. Soon You'll see yourself giving tips/advice!

 

OMG! I really hoped I helped alot of you gals in need of some tips with your "How do I begin" questions! ahh sooo much to talk about still! I feel like Im missing a point! Anyways this series shall continue! Thanks for reading:)