Real Techniques Starter Set

Real Techniques are my all time favourite brushes, and it's not surprise I own almost everything they have to offer. In the past few years I've become a keen eye shadow wearer, nothing too adventurous, more neutral colours. It helps even out any discoloration I have in the eye area and makes me look more awake and healthy. When I picked up the core collection it was buy one get one half price on all Real Techniques, so I picked up the starter set which is a set of brushes to use with application of eye make-up as I thought it would be useful.

The set consists of 4 brushes; a deluxe crease brush, base shadow brush, accent brush, pixel point eyeliner brush and brow brush. It comes with the standard case in all Real Techniques sets which the brushes can be held in to travel with and it also doubles up as a stand. The brushes are made of taklon which is 100% synthetic hair and cruelty-free. The handles are made from aluminium and rubber which make them super light to hold. The set retails for £21.99 and perfect for those of you who love a bit of blending, contouring and lining with shadows and eyeliners in the eye area.

• Deluxe Crease Brush: soft, oversized design for effortless contouring.
• Base Shadow Brush: applies a smooth, flawless foundation of colour.
• Accent Brush: designed for precision detailing, spotlighting, highlighting and smudging.
• Pixel Point Eyeliner Brush: tapered cut is ideal for sense or fine eyeliner application.
• Brow Brush: distinctive shape easily defines eyebrows.

What I use each brush for

Deluxe Crease Brush: This big is the fluffiest, biggest, eye brush I have ever used. Although it is targeted for blending and contouring in the socket, I prefer to use this as my base brush. It's good at applying a neautral base colour all over the lid quickly and effortlessly. It is also great for it's main purpose, blending colour into the crease.

Base Shadow Brush: I use this brush for absolutely everything. Applying shadow to the base of my eye and blending into the crease. Also I use it for applying highlighter below the brow bone and above my cupids bow. This brush is a great all-round eye brush and an essential in any eye shadow wearers brush collection.

Accent Brush: I soley use my accent brush for apply darker colours as eyeliner under the eye towards the outer socket. It's exactly the right density and size to be very precise with the line you create and allows to you have good control. It can also be used to highlight the inner corners of the eyes.

Pixel Point Eyeliner Brush: I must admit, I don't use this brush hardly ever. Maybe that's just because I personally haven't found a use for it yet. I don't really use liquid liner anymore but it could easily be useful to create winged liner with liquid liner.

Brow Brush: I did used to use this brush for filing in my brows with shadow before I started using Benefit Gimmie Brow. However, I did find it slightly chunky and prefered using my MAC 217 for brows. Instead I use it to line lighter colour under the eye on the inner corner. Can also be used to line the lids with shadow too.

I only owned 2 eye brushes before I invested in this set and they were both MAC brushes which were super expensive. For less than the cost of both of those brushes together, I have gained 5 excellent brushes that are super useful. Although I don't use the Pixel Point Eyeliner brush personally, I do believe this set is an excellent investment to anyone who uses eye make-up whether you wear one basic eye colour or experiment in blending and contouring all different colours at once. The synthetic hair is super easy to clean should you use and cream shadows which won't absorb product either. The set retails for £21.99 which is an absolute bargain as with all Real Techniques brushes. I haven't experienced any shedding of hairs with any of brushes and they all dry super quickly when cleaned also.

Real Techniques Core Collection

Real Techniques are my all time favourite brushes. Besides MAC, they're the only brushes I ever buy. Mainly because of their amazing quality for a decent price. I've brought many separate brushes in the past but never any of the sets. Since I had some Christmas money left and Boots had a buy one get one half price on all Real Techniques I decided to buy both sets. I thought I'd review the core collection first which is the most popular set.

The set consists of 4 brushes; a contour brush, foundation brush, detailer brush and buffing brush. It also comes with a nifty little case to store and travel with which also doubles as a stand. The brushes are made of taklon which is 100% synthetic hair and cruelty-free. The handles are made from aluminium and rubber which make them super light to hold. The set retails for £21.99 and is ideal for those of you beginning your brush collection as it has everything to achieve a flawless base.

• Contour Brush: delicately applies highlighter to contour or create sheer, soft-focus finish.
• Pointed Foundation Brush: Use with liquid foundation to build custom coverage.
• Detailer Brush: precision cut to effortlessly conceal problem areas; or, use with a lipstick for long-lasting shape and definition.
• Buffing Brush: Ideal for full coverage application of powder and mineral foundation.

What I use each brush for

Contour Brush: I must admit I don't use the contour brush much, I use a larger brush to contour with but it definitely can be used for this purpose. I usually use the brush to apply blusher or to set my concealer with powder under my eyes.

Pointed Foundation Brush: My least used brush, only because I don't like these types of brush to apply foundation as I find they can be quite streaky for heavy coverage liquid foundations. Perfect to apply primers and BB creams with.

Detailer Brush: I use this brush to apply concealer onto blemishes as it is very small and can pack on coverage easily. I also use it to apply highlight to my cupids bow and even to line under my eye with a shadow. Very multi-purpose brush.

Buffing Brush: My favourite brush in the world, ever. Not just from this collection. The brush is perfect for blending any form of liquid and mineral foundation. It will give you a medium-full coverage and makes your skin look airbrushed and streak-free.

Overall I am more than impressed with the set. First of all the price is great for 4 good brushes, You can more equal or in excess of this price for just one MAC brush. Although the hairs synthetic is makes them easier to clean as they don't absorb cream products or stain the hairs. The hairs are super soft and don't scratch at all, they are also really easy to clean, you can read my post on how to wash them here. I wash my brushes once or twice a week and have had them several months and still not experienced any shedding or change in the texture of the hairs unlike my other brushes. They also seem to dry pretty fast in relation to most brushes I've used. If anything, the buffing brush is so good it's worth the £21.99 just for that brush. The set is definitely a good investment to any make-up user whether you're just starting out or already own a ton of brushes.

How To Clean Your Make-Up Brushes

Having acne prone skin and using a base on my face requires clean effective tools. My make-up brushes are a god send and without them my poor spotty face would be having my hands transferring all kinds of bacteria on it of a daily basis. Cleaning your brushes is an essential but gruelling task in order to keep your face blemish free and your make-up application as seamless as possible. There are a number of ways in how you can clean your brushes but I thought I'd write up a little post showing you my way of doing it in case you're curious.

I don't own many brushes as you can see, I don't apply a huge variety of products and I wash my brushes every few days so it isn't too much of a problem. My brushes are all MAC and Real Techniques which are fantastic may I add so check them out if you're on the hunt for good brushes! My brushes can get really grubby quickly, mainly from my base make-up and clogged up brushes aren't too hot at applying non-streaky foundation. Every few days I take my pot of brushes to the bathroom for a good wash at the sink. For this I use a Dove hand wash as they clean well without stripping the brushes too much so it leaves them soft and fluffy once they're dry. I also take a hand towel and some toilet paper.

First, I run the tap so it's warm, too hot can damage the hairs on the brushes and too cold won't lather up the wash enough to thoroughly clean them.

I wet the hairs on the brush and also my left hand.

I then pump the wash onto the head of the brush. The amount will depend on the size of your brush, an eye shadow brush will require a lot less than say a powder brush.

I then swirl the head of the brush around my wet palm in circular motions for around a 30 seconds. If you have quite a thick dense brush I suggest also using your fingers to work the product into the hairs.

Then thoroughly rinse the wash out of the brush under warm water. Give them a little squeeze with your fingers to get the excess water out.

And finally, wrap them in tissue or toilet paper and leave them overnight to dry.

The result? Clean fluffy brushes that work a dream. I've also heard you can microwave brushes zap all the bacteria out of them but my MAC brushes have metal on them so I don't think I'd even try this. You can buy fancy brush cleaners but like my skincare, I don't think something is properly clean without using a product and clean water. Give this a go and let me know how you get on or if you have any other suggestions on how to clean brushes.