/ Real Techniques brushes review /

Among all beauty lovers and enthusiasts, Real Techniques brushes are iconic for their quality and design; possibly labelling them the best brand on the High street.
To many, these brushes when brought separately can appear both extravagant and pricey and so with the opportunity to purchase the whole collection in bulk on eBay at a much cheaper price, its no wonder that this set consisting of 22 brushes, from which 12 are typically designed for the face and 10 are ideally used for the eyes, are such a huge staple in our current collection.

In relation to the sheer size of this collection, we have chosen 7 of our favourites in which to review;

Powder brush: This being the largest of the face brushes, is ideal for ensuring a light dusting of powder across the face to ensure lasting power of your foundation and preventing shine in the T-zone. This soft-bristled brush is great for covering your entire face in minimal time, distributing the powder evenly without a 'cakey' look being the end result. Although this brush is great for large areas of the face such as the cheeks, due to its size it makes under-eye powdering tricky; thus a smaller brush is recommended for the under-eye area. ('Setting brush')

Buffing brush: As quite obviously stated by the name, the sole purpose of this brush is to ensure, typically, a cream or liquid based product of some sort, whether this be a cream blush or a foundation, has been sufficiently buffed into the skin. Specifically, after using the essential foundation brush to distribute the foundation evenly around the face, I then use this brush to directly 'buff' the foundation seamlessly into the skin using circular motions to make sure the product is no longer just 'sitting' on top of the skin and rather, is blended in to appear natural and effortless. The densely packed fibres of the brush allow you to cover all the hard to reach areas of the face, whilst controlling the finish; you can easily manipulate the coverage by buffing the foundation out for a sheer, minimal, natural base or, layering the product up more and blending out for an supposed 'airbrushed' cover. 

Expert face brush: This is a much smaller, round-topped, oval brush which is perfect for both concealer and foundation. Due to its much smaller size you can cover all the small crevices within the face seamlessly. I also use this to apply my foundation as its smaller size means you can really manipulate the coverage; although, it does take longer applying foundation with this brush and the 'buffed in' finish isn't necessarily achieved, it does ensure an even, smooth base. 

Multi-task brush: This brush, as stated by the name, can be used for a variety of things in particular bronzer and even when applying powder. For me specifically, I use this brush in order to bronze the face, adding dimension and to some extent, natural shadows in order to make the cheek bones more prominent before contouring with a small angled brush. The structure to the bristles of this brush mean its quite 'fan' like, with a wide tip that enables you to achieve a natural, even, sun-kissed tan effect on your face. 

Setting brush: The 'setting brush' is designed particularly for setting powder under the eye, to prevent creasing of the foundation. Although, this step is not always necessary in your makeup routine it helps to pro-long your base keeping everything in place. This brush has a soft-bristled, pointed tip perfect for distributing your chosen powder evenly without picking up too much product which could lead to your foundation looking 'cakey' or too 'powdery' looking. 

Domed shadow brush:This brush is ideal for sweeping your eye shadow across the entire lid in a few small strokes. The 'domed shadow brush' is quite large for the eyes, so although it enables quick shadow application it can look rather messy if done quickly. However, because the bristles are so densely packed together I often use it too blend out my eye shadow so the edges look seamless, which this brush does perfectly. 

Base shadow brush: An ideal brush for crease and outer corner eye shadow blending work as the pointed tip makes it effortlessly easy to get into the finer edges of the eye; it can also be used for under the eye if it is done precisely. This brush is so versatile that I often use this to hide blemishes and spots on the face with a good coverage concealer.

/ Top 12 MAC lipsticks /

At an RRP of £15, it's obviously understandable that MAC lipsticks don't appeal to everyone, but honestly in our opinion they are 100% worth it, it's just about knowing exactly what you want and the background information surrounding them, so hopefully this will aid anyone who's wanting to try their first MAC lipstick or just add to their current collection.

Back row : (left to right) Cyber, Diva, Rebel, Flat out Fabulous, Up the amp and Captive.

Front row : (left to right) Chili, Russian red, Mehr, Creme cup, Kinda sexy and Honey love.

Cyber - (Satin) A dark, cool toned, deep purple; perfect for a Gothic Winter look. Despite looking rather scary and unusual in the bullet, when applied the colour has noticeable brown undertones that look great especially with pale skin for a vampy look; in which i'd usually feature with a neutral eye-look with a striking purple in the crease.

Diva - (Matte) This lipstick is one of my favourites in my current collection; a 

deep, burgundy red is a staple (as shown by Laura wanting this for a long time, and attempting to steal mine!) 'Diva' is impeccable for winter and would suit any skintone. 

Rebel - (Satin) Admittedly, this is probably one of the most obvious MAC lipsticks in which true colour is not represented accurately both in pictures on the website or in the actual bullet, even in the photo shown above it can appear rather daring and vampy yet, when applied to the lips develops as a gorgeous Autumnal/Winter deep berry, fushia colour. Noticeably with this lipstick, colour can vary when applied on different people, its clear to us that on my lips the purple tones are alot more prominent in comparison to the more pink side visable on Katie's, but despite this; the pigmentation is definitely one of the best i've seen, with a long lasting finish effect and a nice comfortable feel on the lips.

Flat out fabulous - (Matte) Best described as a bright, hot pink that is famous for its stand-out nature. Although this is a matte finish, I would interpret it being more of a 'retro matte' finish as its hard to apply; it must be worn with a primer to prevent the 'dragging' on the lips (very similar application to 'Ruby Woo'). Despite this, is ideal for both a day-time (neutrals pink and grey) and night time look (dark smokey with heavy lashes to complete).

Up the amp - (Amplified) This is an extremely cool-toned, intense purple with a slight glossy finish (although I blot with powder for a matte lip) The colour can be intensified or blended out for a wash of purple; highly recommend for the pale girls! 

Captive - (Satin) This being one of the recent additions to my collection, is actually one of my favourites, this unusual purple with brown and slightly red undertones is quite obviously one of the most easy lipsticks to wear, looking simple yet defining with any daytime neutral grey eye look whilst also appearing rather bold and statement like when paired with some falsies and winged eyeliner for the night time.

Chili - (Matte) 'Chili' is a brown-toned red that compliments both warm skin colours and pale skin (this lipstick is fab with a tan as the brown-undertones really compliment the skin).  Its also very pigmented so the colour in the bullet is exactly as when applied on the lip; a great alternative to the bright, post-box red. 

Russian red - (Matte) This being my very first high-end lipstick is one of my favorites, it was also my first MAC purchase (slowly followed by Laura buying it) My go-to red lipstick, its a highly pigmented bright red that makes your teeth look incredibly white, due to the blue under-tones. One of my all time favorite red's, unrivaled by another other in my opinion; its easy application and true to-colour brightens any look and gives all skin-tones a healthy glow and a pop of red. Although some consider it a daring colour, I wear this both in the day-time and in the evening with my favorite lashes. 

Mehr - (Matte) Although this is not a cult classic 'Mehr' is my favorite mauve pink lipstick that looks amazing with any make-up look; making it one of the easiest lipsticks to wear. I would only wear this as a day-time lipstick as its such a effortless neutral-pink although, this means you can really intensify your eyes! Loved by both me and Laura, definitely a great lipstick to start with in your MAC collection if your overwhelmed by the masses of lipsticks, as it would suit almost anyone. 

Creme cup - (Cremesheen) Despite this being a 'cult classic' and quite well known to most beauty bloggers and youtubers, this is infact my least used within my current collection. Its cremesheen formula means it only actually provides a subtle, glossy wash of pink to the lips and can not be seen as long lasting at all. However, in contrast to this, its creamy easy to apply nature means its evidently moisturizing to the lips and therefore suitable for those colder months.

Kinda sexy - (Matte) Again, this being a not so well known one, I was skeptical to how good the quality would actually be, yet when tested this unsual nude with apparent peach hints is rather unlike 'Honey love' in relation to being quite clearly more warm toned, and therefore the usual expected connotations of a nude lip making you appear rather 'washed out' certainly don't apply to this one. Regardless of its matte formula, this lipstick is easy to apply and positively comfortable on the lips, looking especially classy with any bold eye make-up you dare to pair it with.

Honey love - (Matte) This is a staple nude with brown-undertones that really compliments heavy eye-makeup ( I often pair this with a smoky eye) The brown-undertones really enhance your complexion without washing you out with 'concealer lips'. My go-to nude this looks great with a simple contour on the cheek bones and a wash of bronzer; suitable for both Winter and Summer. 

 (Left to right) Honey love, Kinda sexy, Creme cup, Mehr, Russian red, Chili, Captive, Up the amp, Flat out fabulous, Rebel, Diva and Cyber.