6 posts tagged “brushes”

So thanks to all you girls I have joined the pre-buy wagon. *sobs*

I've been a bit more restrained though. Am combining my order with sc_ so at least my shipping won't be so bad ($3)

In the end, it's still a bit of money though. $40 odd AUD. For 4 brushes.... the samples don't really count so much. In the end, they'll average out to about $10 each. Damn conversion rates...

	Pre Buy - Angle Eye Blender In Category: Pre Buy Synthetic Brushes ID: pbb19 Free Sample: Cashmere - Medium Warm	$5.00		Delete
	Pre Buy - Bent Eyeliner Brush In Category: Pre Buy Synthetic Brushes ID: pbb6 Free Sample: Cashmere - Medium Beige	$5.00		Delete
	Pre Buy - Fiber Optic Angled Blush Brush In Category: Pre Buy Synthetic Brushes ID: pbb5 Free Sample: Sahara	$10.00		Delete
	Pre Buy - Full Size Retractable Kabuki Brush In Category: Pre Buy Synthetic Brushes ID: pbb11 Free Sample: Cashmere - Medium Golden	$11.50		Delete

So I thought I'd show you how much my collection has grown in the last four months. This is what I started out with, and this is what I have now:

Eyeshadow Sets

Above are: Lumiere Travel set (9pc), MAD synthetic brush set, MAD sable set, Lumiere dual ends, Coastal Scents crease brush, and TKB's lip brush.

Powder and Blush Brushes

From Left to Right: Coastal Scents Buffer brush, Angle brush, Lumiere flat top, blush and powder brush (from 9pc set)

Kabukis

Forever Female Brush Set

Fred's Full Coverage Brush

7 comments

This was the first set of brushes I ever got. Anne put together a custom set for me, and from left to right you can see: lip brush, eyeliner brush, brow brush/comb, crease brush, 2 eyeshadow brushes, wet-dry brush, dual end brush (my beloved), small concealer brush, full coverage brush, blush brush, and flat top.

I went and washed these brushes the other week, and I thought I'd lost my full coverage brush. I'd left them outside to dry in the sun and this HUGE crow flew down attracted by the silver ferrules. Tried to take my brushes! I was lucky and saved them all, although I couldn't find the full coverage brush. So I thought it'd been sacrificed to save its siblings. Little did I know. It'd just fallen down, and Fred found it. I managed to save it, although I don't know if I can use it anymore. Check out the teeth marks. He even managed to bite/chew off some of the bristles! LOL. He's so cute though, that he doesn't even need mmu.. LOL

Now this is the set of synthetic brushes I got from the bargain store for $5. They're actually art brushes but if you look at the smaller brushes, they're perfect for eyelining. The 3/0 one (last on the right) did a great precision job with the gel liners the other day.

I love the long handles though. They help steady my hand. I haven't tried the bigger brushes - I don't really know what to do with them. Maybe I'll just use them to paint with. LOL.

FYI, usually art brushes from art stores cost between $1-$10 each, depending on the brand and bristle types - have you felt art sable brushes? Ssoooooo soft. So I'm pretty happy to only pay $1 a brush, even if I don't end up using all of them. Having said that, I did hesitate for a few seconds when I saw the price. LOL. I'm such a bargain hound aren't I? *grin*

MAD brushes

My final order arrived today. A 6pc small brush set from MAD. I originally emailed Barbi about a week ago to find out what they were made of and how they compared to most other synthetics currently on the market. Barbi reassured me they were good quality (despite the small price tag - I think I paid like $10 for it?) and explained to me they were a one-off sale. She'd order this sample set of synthetics with the thought to stock but discovered they weren't going to be cost effective enough.

What's even better, is that the angle brush in the set, is the same size as the angle brush that sc_ bought that I was eyeing and thinking abt ordering. I knew it was a good idea to wait till all my brushes arrived before I did anything else.

Basically Barbi had said the 2 magic words to me (sellers take note - geminisc's 2 magic words guaranteed to make her cough over the dough) 1: synthetic 2: one-off.

Well, that and it was a great price. On top of which, Barbi does $5 shipping. Which i LOVE. I have soooo much MAD stuff at home, I don't even know where to begin. It makes it hard to capitalise on the sales though. Because you look at everything and go, 'well, i already have that one. and that one, and that one too'

Anyway, I LOVE Barbi. I can't rave about her customer service enough. Always prompt on the emails. Fast shipping, well packaged. And always with free samples! Not to mention the fact that her shadows are always so great.

FYI, this is the last of my brushes/orders. No more Mail Days for geminisc now =( *sob*

Course, I could just go and get that crescent brush I've been eyeing, plus another flat top back up. For $5, what can I lose

So everything that I ordered last week has arrived, save for my MAD brush set.

Lumierebrushes

2 comments

I love how Lumiere is currently packing these brushes. They're in protected pvc cases! I don't have a pic here, but the eyeshadow brushes themselves are pretty small. Fine for me, but just FYI, on average, these brushes from tip to end of handle are about 10cm long - what's that? About 5 inches I think? not sure.

So I ordered my 9 pc set, plus 1 long handled kabuki.

They have a crease brush in here! I'm glad I didn't cave in and buy 2 crease brushes at the coastal scents sale earlier.

Coastal scents

Which reminds me..

This is my coastal scents order on the right. 4 sea sponges, 1 flat top (very very very nice), 1 angle brush (not as soft, but good density) and the crease brush. I got 2 free shadow samples (in the top left hand corner) because I added another order for Sc_ later and combined it. So they were generous to give me two freebies =D

Gel liners

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And here are the 4 gel liners that I got off Lili. Thanks!!!!! =D =D =D The one on the left is the tidal wave that i'm wearing today. Right next to it is Penny, followed by Khaki and Chocolate Mousse. *drools quietly in corner*

Lumiere brushes

20 comments

My Lumiere brushes came today.

Just one thing though, their baby buki? It's smaller than a baby. It's TEENY WEENY. What am I going to DO with this thing?! I put the brushes next to a 5 gram jar to give you a better idea of it's actual size.  

And that 'baby' cost me $10 !!!! Makes the big sized kabuki SO WORTH IT.

However, both are silky silky soft, as promised.

I'm baaack.....

Seeing as I didn't have my camera with me the last few days, I can't really start reviewing the foundations I'd tried yet. However, I will note that I did try out some Lure this weekend, and while I'm still too dazzled by choices to find my right colour yet, I was impressed with texture. I originally started out with a rice based powder, and despite my little sojourn to 'other' MMU bases, I might come back... no itching that I noticed (although I wasn't exactly in a place that was very hot), and texture was soft with a nice sheen. And this was without a primer.

Anyway, more on Lure later.

In the meantime, I thought I'd be a bit self-indulgent and just share some pictures of my 'tools of the trade' with you...

• My Kabuki brush, baby buki brush and flocked sponge.... both kabukis are from Forever Female, and the flocked sponge was generously sent over from a wonderful lady from the MMM forums (thanks shirley!).
  

• My 'swirly bowl' or more precisely my old sugar scrub jar that I've converted into a swirly bowl. I find it a great piece to travel with. It's the perfect size to fit both my kabukis and even some foundation jars. I use the bottom for foundations, and the top for blushes and finishing powders.
  

• My brush set. Customised from Forever Female. I'm missing one dual end brush, but as you can see, there's definately room for more... ;)
  

• The above brush kit folds into this compact size. Faux leather, but still very stylish, at least I think so...

Mycollection22apr07

This was taken a few days back, before all my other samples arrived.
The picture's probably too small to see (i.e. you'll need to enlarge the photo),but I've got stuff there (all foundations) from Joppa, EDM, Milan, Mineral Boutique,Aromaleigh, Meow, and Lauress, just to name a few.

Mystash22apr07

Meanwhile, this one on the left is of all my eyeshadows, finishing powders and blushes.

I've tried to be a bit organised about it all, and put them in colour families in seperate ziplock bags. But you gotta admit, they definately look a bit like a cocaine stash of some sorts don't you think? ;) Small bags of powder.... all stashed up together... seriously suspicious.

Now I just gotta figure out how I'm going to fit all my OTHER stuff in there..