makeup brush – the Spiff

The Makeup Brush Everyone’s Been Yammering About

August 17, 2016 No Comments

beauty blogger, knoxville beauty blogger, beauty product review, beauty blogger elizabeth ogle, makeup brush review, brush review, makeup of the day, knoxville blogger

How do you react to makeup trends?

Do you jump on them the minute you see something new, or do you wait it out and let it get all the way down to a Walgreen’s knock off before you try it?

I have varying reactions when it comes to trends. When a makeup trend rolls around, I want to try it right away. I’m in bed watching makeup tutorials wondering if Target carries what they’re talking about so I can go get it YESTERDAY.

But clothing trends I like to let settle down and get passed around before I decide if it’s “me” or not.

When I heard about this new foundation brush, I wanted to be all over it. To the point where I heavily considered dropping $50 on the name brand brush from Net-A-Porter (I’m still not against that, but we’ll see).

So this brush I’m referring to looks like a hair brush (or a large toothbrush for giants with humongous teeth). And it’s said to give you an airbrush look.

I don’t know what it’s non-branded name is. The fancy pants one on Net-A-Porter is called the Artis Brush. The one I used is it’s $16 counter part on Amazon.

I watched a video review on the difference between them both and the reviewer said there wasn’t a huge noticeable difference. I figured I’d drop $16 now, see if I like it and move onto the better version come birthday time.

Here are the pro’s and con’s:

Pros:

I’ve stayed away from liquid foundations because I don’t want to apply it with my hand. This brush is a great way to get it everywhere without having to use your fingers, and really does a great job of spreading it around.

I also like the fact that it doesn’t seem to soak up a lot of product. It’s been compared to the beauty blender and comes out on top because it doesn’t soak up as much. When you drop some serious cash on foundation, you want to get the most out of it.

It’s pretty easy to use around the contours of my face. It’s pretty easy to use in general. I would recommend watching a video or two before hand, but overall I was pretty comfortable with it right off the bat.

Cons:

It didn’t deliver the “airbrush” quality that I thought it would BUT that could be the foundation I was using. (DANG YOU FOUNDATION). I’m also testing out new liquids and I’m not happy with my first trial run, so maybe once I find the right foundation it will act better.

They said this brush would make it so that you would only have to use very little amounts of foundation (again, this could be the LAMO foundation I was using), I didn’t see that to be the case. I had to use what I thought was a “regular” amount. A medium sized amount, a grande, if you will.

I can see where this brush would be great for blending. I’ve seen a couple of YouTube videos where they talk about using the same brush for foundation application and contouring. I don’t know how they do that putting all those colors on the same brush and not look like a circus freak. But hey, these women are strong enough to put their bare face on the internet for all to see, so… #respect.

It is something fun to get that will shake up your routine without having to spend a lot of dough.

Summer is almost over (yay!), check out what I’m wearing on repeat before the season comes to an end.

bare minerals, Beauty, beauty products

Flawless Radiance Brush

August 21, 2015 No Comments

Honestly, I really enjoyed being pregnant in the summertime. I don’t sweat very easily and am not often hot, so the 90 degree temps never really bothered me. Not to mention the fact that my husband is quite the opposite so I was finally comfortable in our 60 degree home.

What I enjoyed the most was not having to worry about my tan. I felt as if I could get away with being super white since I was pregnant (you can’t judge me I’m pregnant).

The one thing I didn’t give up (and don’t regardless of the season) was putting bronzer on my face. After applying foundation, I always contour my face with some bronzer to add color and dimension back in (I make an “E” starting at my forehead, hitting my cheek bones and finishing along my jaw line). This brush is one I reviewed last year, but it’s still doing an amazing job at applying just the right amount of color…

Boy, does Bare Minerals know how to name their brushes or what? Who can say no to “flawless radiance“? On top of that, I’m going to go ahead and skip to the even better part, it’s only $22.

Now that I’ve got your wallet and your face considering it, let me tell you why it’s so great…

I’ve always been a big advocate for buying good brushes. Because I truly believe a good makeup brush takes your look from “homemade” to “professional” faster than anything else. This is true with any brush you would use on your face, but most recently I learned just how true it is when it comes to a bronzer brush.

I’ve been practicing what I preach by having great eye shadow brushes for years now. But I was getting a failing grade in the bronzer and blush brush category. “Oh any old thing will do,” is what I thought to myself as I picked up my old foundation brush to wipe the bronzer all over my face. Then I would get frustrated with the bronzer for not looking right…and the cycle would continue.

Then I went to Bare Minerals one day to talk about their new foundation. The girl applied it and some bronzer on my face (the very same bronzer I’d been failing with) and it looked fantastic! The difference? The brush.

You can believe I bought up that brush then and there! Gal pals, it makes such a huge difference. I mean HUGE difference in how the bronzer looks on my face. I’m loving how it blends and even how the bristles feel on my skin – it’s become my favorite part of the makeup process for sure.

Don’t waste any more time being frustrated with bad bronzer – get a new brush!!

Will you consider using bronzer all year?

Beauty, makeup, makeup brushes, Videos, wbir

Cute Babies and Clean Makeup Drawers

April 17, 2015 No Comments

A lesson I’ve learned this week, is babies will come into the world when they’re good and ready.!

This little beauty (my niece from my husband’s sister) surprised us a few days early which threw off our week (in the best way possible). Her name is Delaney! I can already see where she’ll be fun to shop with, and be able handle her little boy cousin who will join her in a few months!

I gave you a cute baby to look at so that you’ll overlook the fact that this post is going to be short and sweet.

Please enjoy my segment from a couple weeks ago when I talked about cleaning out your make up drawer. It’s such a necessity since we’re putting these things on our FACE. And it’s going to completely revolutionize how you get ready in the morning.

I know that’s a strong statement, but cleaning out your makeup and only having what you’re actually going to use AND seeing it organized will send you out the door feeling like super woman.

Beauty

Why You Need an Angled Brush

November 10, 2014 1 Comment

Fingers crossed I win some kind of award for blog with the most pictures of closed eyes. ;)

Really I just wanted to show you why you need an angled eye liner brush. Not only does it help deliver a smooth line, but it also has turned out to be the best tool for filling in eye brows.

The brush I use is this one by MAC. I love it.Now if it makes you nervous and you’re getting ready to click away from this because you’re thinking you’ll never try it…hold on!

You can always start/practice with the brush by using eye shadow. Instead of going with a liner right off the bat, get your favorite dark shadow and line your eyes using the brush that way. It’s a great way to change up your look and give your eyes a softer smokey eye if you want. And wait, there’s more…wet the brush before dipping it in your eye shadow and give it even more definition.

And finally, if you want to try the brush but you don’t want to buy it and a pot of liner you can always run the angled brush over your eye liner stick to pick up some color then apply it to your lids.

Listen, practice really does help with this so if you want the professional look of eye liner, get yourself an angled brush (or put it on your Christmas list)!