brush sets -

Sonia Kashuk Brush Couture 5 Piece Set Review Pt 3

brush sets, brushes, Inexpensive Products, Limited Edition, make-up brushes, Sonia Kashuk, Target 2 Responses »

Apr 242012

This is the 3rd and final segment of my review of the Limited Edition Sonia Kashuk Couture 5pc Brush Set. If you’ve missed the other posts, you can click here for Part 1 and Part 2.

Below is the Angled Crease Brush.

Initially when I saw this brush in the set I thought it was just like my Elf Angled Contour Brush. I’ve compared the two brushes below.

Good News! It’s not like my Elf Brush. The only features that are similar are the fact that they both have angles, other than that, they’re different. Sonia Kashuk has natural hair and the Elf brush has synthetic hair. The Elf brush is a lot bigger and more dense and not quite as angled as the Sonia Kashuk Brush.

Next up is the Synthetic Concealer/Foundation Brush. Yet another name I don’t agree with. I would not use this brush to apply foundation. I mean, can it be done? Sure, but it will take a long time because this is a small brush. It would work a lot better for concealer. Right off, I knew this was a brush that I didn’t have a dupe for. It reminds me of the MAC #192 but I don’t have that brush.

Above, I’ve compared it to other brushes I had. The Elf Foundation Brush and my Coastal Scents Purple Foundation Brush.

You can see that both of these brushes are a lot bigger. All of them are synthetic so they will work about the same as far as picking up product.

The 5th and final brush is the Smudge Brush. Don’t let the name fool you. It’s actually natural hair not a sponge.

Above I compared it to 2 other rounded crease brushes. In the middle is the MAC #219 and the 3rd brush is Crown Brush C431 Precision Detail. So what did I find out?

All 3 of these brushes are different. LOL! The Sonia Kashuk Smudge Brush is the smallest out of the three but the MAC #219 has the pointiest ( I think I just made up a word) tip. The Sonia Kashuk Smudge will work awesomely well for defining a “cut crease” look or for blending shadows in the crease for those with really small eyes. I’m sure a lot of people would think to use it for smoking out eyeliner, but because the tip is more rounded than pointed, you may end up with lots of smoke. Ha ha! This may leave you with a more dramatic look than you intended. Not bad or wrong, just maybe not what you had planned.

Sonia Kashuk Brush Couture 5 Piece Set Review Pt 2

brush sets, brushes, Inexpensive Products, make-up brushes, Sonia Kashuk, Target 1 Response »

Apr 232012

This is part 2 of my review of the Sonia Kashuk Limited Edition 5 Piece Couture Set. To see part 1, click here.

The first part focussed on the 2nd brush in the above picture, which is the Multi-Purpose Blending Brush. Mainly because it’s the reason I made the decision to purchase the set. In this post I will review the Powder/Blusher Brush.

I want to point out that I don’t think the name is appropriate though. I feel this brush is too big for blush unless you’re very careful, you’ll end up with way too much.

I compared this brush to a few of my other brushes. First I have it next to the MAC #150.

You can clearly see there are differences. MAC #150 is a lot larger than this Sonia Kashuk Powder/Blusher Brush.

Next I compared it to my Coastal Scents Pink Powder Brush

The difference in the shapes of the brushes are quite apparent.

Still trying to see if I had another brush like this one so I compared it to my Clinique Blush Brush

My answer is no. My clinique blush brush is smaller than the Sonia Kashuk Powder/Blusher brush. I’m pleased to report that this brush is much softer than both my Coastal Scents and Clinique brushes.

Stay tuned for part 3 of my review of this brush set.

Sonia Kashuk Limited Edition Brush Couture 5 Piece Set Pt.1

brush sets, brushes, Sonya Kashuk 5 Responses »

Apr 232012

I purchased this cool set of brushes from Target a couple of weeks ago. I love the color and design on the handles. The packaging imediately caught my attention. I have to admit that I absolutely don’t NEED more brushes, however, these were limited…so that makes it okay…right? LOL! Honestly I mainly wanted the multi-purpose blending brush. I’ve seen this brush in other Sonia Kashuk sets however I’ve never seen it sold individually. This was another reason I used to justify me getting this particular brush set. Here it is below next to the MAC #224 Brush. The handle is shorter but the actual brush is larger. The bristles are fuller, wider and more rounded than the #224. The Sonia Kashuk Multi-Purpose Blending Brush is also more tapered so it has a more defined point to it than the MAC #224.

Interestingly the Sonia Kashuk Mulit-Purpose Blending Brush is a bit softer than my MAC #224 brush. Not sure if it’s because it’s brand new though. Here I have it next to the Crown Brush C412 Brush. This was the brush I talked about in this post that was a dupe for the MAC #224 brush.

You can see that the Sonia Kashuk Mulit-Purpose Blending Brush is more similar to the Crown Brush C412 than the MAC 224 based on it’s shape.

It’s still bigger than the Crown Brush C412 though and it’s tapered to a finer point. This means that I didn’t duplicate the other blending brushes that I own. Score!!

Stay tuned for part 2 of my review of this brush set.

My New Tarte Make Up Brush

brush sets, brushes 4 Responses »

Jan 062012

I got a new make up brush for Christmas!! My mom bought me this brush after I asked her for the one she had…that she wouldn’t give me. LOL!

I don’t hear too many people talk about Tarte’s brushes. I was highly impressed with this one. It’s really dense and soft and seems as though it will pick up a good amount of product and will allow me to buff it into my skin really well. Of course I’ll post an update after I actually use it. I was just so excited to have it that I wanted to post about it. I will say that it’s not as soft as my M.A.C. #182, but it still feels good. I took this picture from the M.A.C. website.

I love these types of brushes with the longer handles like my Smashbox Face & Body Brush #19. It gives me a better sense of control and I don’t accidentally apply too much product. Here’s a picture of the brush I’m talking about. It was taken from the Smashbox website. I’ll do a more thorough comparison of these two brushes at a later time.

I just checked the Tarte Website and didn’t see this brush offered. I guess it was a special promotion product. That’s unfortunate because I wanted to purchase another for my make up kit. I did see where they had a limited edition brush set that’s now sold out. It looks like it was really nice and it was purple. I hate I missed out on it. The picture below is from the Tarte website.

When I think of Tarte, I think of their Amazon Clay Blushes. Here’s a picture of a Tarte Blush from the Tarte website.

What products do you have from Tarte? What are your thoughts about them?

Target Haul Part 2

Airbrush brush, brush sets, brushes, coastal scents, Expensive brushes, Inexpensive Products, Luise Young, Sephora, Super Foundation Brush, Target Haul No Responses »

Jun 152011

This part is focusing on the 3 brushes I bought last week. Here are my thoughts about them.

From left to right: Sonia Kashuk Pointed Foundation brush, Sonia Kashuk Pointed Blending brush, Elf Foundation brush

I was overjoyed to find this guy. I’ve been wanting a brush like this for over a year now. I first saw something similar to this at Sephora. The worker introduced me to their Airbrush brush when I got samples of HD & Matte Velvet Foundation. It’s not quite as tapered but it’s similar. I didn’t get it but I never forgot about it. Then I was watching YouTube videos and saw both Ebony of Color Me Beautiful (one of my all-time favorite YouTube gurus) and Michael of Sublime Agent talk about Luise Young’s foundation brush. Ebony also did a review of a Sonia Kashuk limited edition brush set that came with a clutch. I saw this at Target. It retailed for $24.99. The only brush I wanted was the Pointed Foundation brush. Well after checking back time after time, I finally saw this brush being sold by itself for $12.99. I know you are probably thinking that it was a better value to just get the set with the clutch but I really didn’t want those other items.

Professionnel Platinum Foundation Airbrush #55

Sephora Airbrush brush. Not quite as tapered but definitely not a traditional flat brush. It retails for $34

Luise Young Super Foundation brush. It retails for 24 Euros which I think is about $52.

Sonia Kashuk Pointed Blending brush. Retails $3.99.

So you know that I was hoping this was going to be a dupe for the M.A.C. #224 right? Ha ha! It’s not too bad actually. I like this brush. It’s a bit thinner and it’s shorter but it works well. It’ll be a good alternative when working with clients who have smaller eyes b/c sometimes the #224 is too big. Oh and the #224 Retails for $29.50.

On the left is the Elf Foundation brush. Retails $1. In the middle is the Coastal Scents Synthetic Foundation brush that came with my Metallic Plum brush set. I purchased it about 2 years ago. The entire set comes with 12 brushes and a brush roll. It retails for $29.95. On the right is another Coastal Scents brush, Bionic Foundation Concealer brush. It retails for $5.99. I bought this brush last year. It’s the biggest flat foundation brush I’ve ever seen. I love it. It’s really soft and blends product very well. A great buy for the inexpensive price.

Just another picture showing the differences in the sizes of the brushes. The Elf brush on the left is significantly smaller than the other two. It seems to work better as a large concealer brush than a foundation brush due to it’s small size. I mean, of course you could use this brush to apply foundation, it’s just going to take you a while to do you entire face.

Just in case you were wondering about the Metallic Plum brush set I was talking about above. :-) I highly recommend this brush set. The only brush I didn’t like (I actually hate) is the angled brush. It’s very rough. In the picture it’s the 2nd brush from the center.

*The pictures of the Sephora Airbrush brush and the Luise Young Foundation brush were taken from the companies’ websites.