There isn’t brush brand out there that excites me outside of Real Techniques – I swear! Brushes, by and large, are tools and therefore not really that interesting to me… except when Real Techniques puts out a new brush range, be it shapes, or differently coloured handles… well… I actually get a little bit excited!
Real Techniques Brush Crush Collection
Within the Brush Crush Volume II Collection you’re getting four brushes and a sponge duo. The handles on the brushes have the appearance of frosted snow on a windshield, and the handle on the brushes are twisted for a little extra touch.
I tend to use my brushes not quite as they’re labeled – so for me the flat-angle foundation brush made a great stamping and blending tool for blush. And I used the blush brush more as a highlighter brush. The larger powder brush was great for applying all over face powder, but I found it to be a touch too floppy for precise application like blush. The eyeshadow brush is similar to all of the other RT blending brushes I have, which is to say it’s wonderful! I have about four or five of these in constant rotation in my daily routine, so I’m always happy to add another one into the mix.
Close up detail of the marbling in the sponge
The sponge duo set are absolutely beautiful to look at – I love, love, LOVE the marbling on them. I found the texture to be identical to my beloved Real TechniquesMiracle Complexion Sponge, but the shape made it a little bit more awkward to hold in my hand. Overall, I like the appearance of the rounded sponge, and it does apply foundation the exact same way as my regular sponge, but the shape isn’t necessarily right for me. That being said, I’ll be using the sponges up I feel like they need to replaced, so they’re definitely a good product!
Close up of the cracked ice/snow on a windshield look of the brush handles.
I really can’t get over just how beautiful the brush handles are though! That cracked ice appearance is one of my most favourite things I’ve ever seen in a makeup product, and I’m so happy to have a set of brushes that have that design on them.
Your best bet for finding the Brush Crush Volume II range is at Walmart.ca – I can see the entire range is still available online.
And now… on to the giveaway!
Real Techniques Brush Crush Set Giveaway
Giveaway Rules
This giveaway is open to Canada only!
This giveaway starts on December 21, 2018 and runs for one week.
One winner will receive the Real Techniques Brush Crush Volume II – brushes (4) and sponge duo.
Please be aware that all entries will be double checked to ensure fairness.
Once the winner has been contacted, they will have 48 hours to provide me with their mailing address. If the winner fails to respond within that time frame, I will pick another winner. (And so on.)
If you’re looking for a massive array of fake lashes that are vegan, cruelty-free (no animal parts to be found here!), with a price tag under $9 (most of them are much lower) AND run by a Canadian YouTuber… well you’ve found it – and the brand is called SocialEyes!
SocialEyes Lashes – Vegan False Lashes
Karissa Pukas started SocialEyes in 2014 when she couldn’t find affordable, well-crafted fake lashes. So, she set out to create them! And holy smokes… did she ever… if you visit the SocialEyes site, you’ll be absolutely inundated with options. You want small, flirty lashes for a little extra boost? You got it. You want hugely full lashes for a big night out? You got it. And there’s everything in between too!
SocialEyes accessories – tweezers and glue
Not to mention, SocialEyes also makes lash glue and lash tweezers which can help you with your application if you’re not a fan of using regular tweezers. I found the lash glue to be exceptionally good – it’s completely on par with my beloved House of Lashes glue, so I was really pleased about that. The lash tweezers I actually found to be useless to me in terms of applying the lashes to my eyes, and that may be because I’m used to using regular tweezers. I ended up using the lash tweezers to clamp the fake lashes to my real lashes after I’d applied them and I felt like that really helped to meld my lashes to the falsies – more of a seamless look, you know?
I was sent a massive array of lashes, so I wasn’t able to try out every single one of them for this post, but I did try out four different styles that I felt suited my style the best.
Wearing SocialEyes – Lady
TheLadylashes have an invisible band with a series of lashes clumped together in sections. I like the band because it’s translucent and also quite flexible. It doesn’t have the MOST amount of flex I’ve seen in a band, but it’s good enough to wrap around the curve of your eye without worrying about the ends pinging off.
Wearing Wearing SocialEyes – Foxy
Foxy was probably my favourite pair that I tried because they’re my preferred lash style – quite fluffy, but not super long.
Wearing Wearing SocialEyes – Glamorous Shorty
What’s nice about SocialEyes is they actually make “shorty” sizes for some of their styles. I’m wearing theGlamorous Shorty styles about, but if you like something a little bit longer, you can just pick up the Glamorousstyle.
Wearing Wearing SocialEyes – Lush
While the band on most of the lashes is quite transparent, there are a few that have a slightly milky-white texture that makes hiding the band a bit more difficult. While I liked the style Lush (above), I would this one to have the most difficult band to cover, even when I applied liquid liner on top of the eye lash. You can see a hint of the white-ish band sticking out. I was able to mostly cover it with liquid liner, but it does stick out on areas I missed. Out of the four I tried, this was the only one that I had an issue with the colour of the band.
Final Thoughts
Well I’m dead pleased with these! I knew basically nothing about SocialEyes lashes before the PR team reached out to me to try some out, and now I’m sold. These are affordable and well made lashes. I love the lash glue, and the tweezers work well to meld my lashes to the falsies. I like that the price point doesn’t break the $10 mark and that most styles are under that price point by several dollars. And the variety of styles? Unreal. Their web site has more than you could ever hope for!
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.
The original Tartelette palette! I feel like this one by Tarte doesn’t anywhere near the same amount of attention as the Tartelette in Bloompalette, but it was definitely the original that started the “Tartelette” theme for Tarte!
Tarte Tartelette
The TarteTartelette palette has twelve matte shades that are both cool and warm, but I do find it leans slightly more on the warm side of things overall.
Tarte Tartelette
Tarte Tartelette Swatches
Tarte – Free SpiritTarte – Force of NatureTarte – DreamerTarte – Multi-taskerTarte – CaregiverTarte – Natural BeautyTarte – Best FriendTarte – BombshellTarte – Super MomTarte – WandererTarte – Power PlayerTarte – Fashionista
It’s been a long time since I’ve tried anything new by Covergirl, so I was pretty pleased when I was selected for the Influenster Exhibitionist campaign!
For those unfamiliar, Influenster is a site and app where you can apply to get makeup for free. You don’t have to be a blogger or YouTuber – you just have to have some kind of social media account and be able to provide reviews on the products you try out on Influenster’s own web site.
Revlon Exhibitionist Mascara, Lipstick and Get In Line Liquid Liner
The CovergirlExhibitionist box contained their Exhibitionist mascara, the Exhibitionist cream lipstick in Hot, and the Gel In Line Liquid Liner in Major Matte Black.
And my initial reaction? Well, it wasn’t a good one.
I hate curvy, fat mascara wands because I find them difficult to use. So I wasn’t pumped about the mascara.
I *massively* dislike the smell of Covergirl lipsticks (ugh, horrible old lady scent anyone??). So I wasn’t pumped about the lipstick.
I haaaaaaate dip-pot style liquid liners with a felt tip applicator. So yeah… I wasn’t pumped up the liquid liner either.
Why am I telling you all this? Because this freaking box changed my dang mind on every single one of my preconceived opinions on these products, and it was kind of eye opening!
The end result of all three items was not only gorgeous, but it made me fall in love with new products!
Let’s dive right in. The shade I got to try in the Covergirl Exhibitionist Lipstick range is the shade Hot– a colour I was deeply, deeply interested in since I’d read years ago that Taylor Swift used to wear this colour and I was always madly in love with the reds she used to wear. I remember looking at the shade Hot in stores years ago and thinking it was pretty, but I just could NOT get over the horrific scent that Covergirl lipsticks used to have so I always put the shade back without purchasing it. When I realized that this shade was in my box I was excited to see what the colour would look like on me, but I figured I’d end up junking the lipstick because if there’s one thing I can’t handle in makeup, it’s a nasty/funky tasting lipstick.
So imagine my surprise when I sniffed the bullet and realized Covergirl had put a touch of vanilla in the lipstick. Okay… I can get down with this. There’s still a hint of old lady makeup scent, but it wasn’t as disgustingly overpowering as it used to be. So I put the lipstick on, was immediately wowed by the colour… and then I quickly realized that the scent completely dissipated! It didn’t taste or smell like ANYTHING at all! I was elated! With that terrible scent out of the way, I was now free to enjoy the lipstick!
And enjoy it I did – I wore this sucker for 6 hours straight without really thinking about it. The shade Hot has amazing longevity, and it’s likely because the lipstick is quite staining (you’ll need an oil based remover to get most of it off). The formula claims to be a cream, and it does apply like one, but it goes matte within thirty minutes. It’s not uncomfortable matte though – this is really, really lovely to wear. And the shade? WOW. I’m in love!
On to the eyes!
I scowled at the dip-pot liner as I pulled the applicator out of the tube to apply it to my face the very first morning. Dip-pots, by and large, are messy to me – I find the product ends up getting on my lashes because the applicator style is clumsy (or maybe I’m clumsy, who knows) and I’ve always preferred pen or a real brush as an applicator. Fortunately, the Get In Line Liquid Liner ended up being less messy than I had anticipated, and I was suddenly struck with how much I missed using a truly matte black liquid liner. While I love my pen-style brush tip liquid liners because they’re so incredibly fast to use, it has to be pointed out that there is no truly matte formula on the market – they all have a hint of a sheen and I’d kind of forgotten that over the years. I was blown away at just how matte this black was on my eyes. The longevity is also on point – I had no flaking or transferring, and it looked just as good at the end of an eight hour work day as it did when I first put it on in the morning.
The only real downside to this product is that the felt tip applicator is very, very flimsy – it has too much give to it in my opinion. This can make it a little bit hard to really follow the edges of your eye. That’s the only thing stopping it from being truly perfect in my eyes. That being said – I’m 100% going to use every last drop of this product and I would absolutely consider repurchasing it.
And lastly – the Exhibitionist Mascara. I have never really fallen in love with hourglass-shaped mascaras as I just find them to be cumbersome and quite messy. I’m prone to getting mascara on my upper lid during application, and large wands have a tendency to exacerbate this problem (which is why I prefer small, conical wands). But I’d been sent the mascara in the box, so of course I was going to give it a good go.
And it was good. So good. I’m a one coat mascara wearer, so what you’re seeing in these photos is only of a single coat, but you could easily build this up if you had to as the formula isn’t super crusty which to me has always meant that it can layer well. The volume isn’t unreal, or out of this world, but it’s a solid mascara that gives me that bit of extra boost I’m going for on a day to day basis. It’s more on the wet side of things too – not super soaking wet, but it’s not as dry as I was expecting which made me really happy. And, rather impressively, I had no lower lash transfer to the hollows under my eyes. This has always been a problem spot on me – even waterproof mascaras tend to transfer from my lower lashes onto the skin underneath and I’ll end up with black spots which just look really terrible (this is why I generally avoid wearing lower lash mascara to work). CovergirlExhibitionist Mascara though? No transfer! And it’s not even a waterproof formula either!
So… Covergirl… you did GOOD! This Influenster box knocked it out of the freaking park as far as I’m concerned. I went into this box/product review with a seriously negative attitude just based on my past experiences with certain aspects of each product, and yet each one managed to completely turn my head around. As a blogger I try to go into reviewing each product with an open mind, but after years and years of trying products, you start to learn what your preferences are, and for me… an hourglass shaped mascara, a dip-pot eyeliner and (what I thought was) a nasty smelling mascara were 100% at the bottom of my list of products I ever wanted to try again. So I’m happy to say I’ve got a fresh new perspective on these products and would absolutely recommend them!
And, in case you hadn’t heard, Covergirl is now 100% cruelty-free!
So with my change of heart in mind – maybe YOU can tell me about a product that you tried out that you thought was going to be bad based on your past experiences but turned out to be amazing!
The products featured in this post were sent to me by Influenster. Post contains affiliate links.
