While I’m not really a brush person when it comes to makeup, there’s one thing I can say for sure, and it’s that I am a REAL TECHNIQUES person. Every time they have a new launch, or extension to their range, I AM THERE. And you know why? It’s because the quality is always consistent and I have yet to encounter a brush I don’t love. And? Their price tags are completely reasonable!

Real Techniques has a number of new launches lately that I wanted to cover – including some limited edition sets you may want to snag before they’re gone – so let’s hop right in.

The number one most exciting launch for me is that they’re now selling the Miracle Complexion Sponges in a 4-pack. A chance to save some money on my number one used foundation sponge? Hell yes I’m into it! The Miracle Complexion Sponge is the *only* product I use to apply my foundation because it leaves me streak-free and looking airbrushed. The porosity of the sponge is perfect – it’s dense enough that it doesn’t soak up all of my foundation, but it’s also soft enough so that I can spread the foundation around evenly.

For those who like a traditional brush to apply their foundation, the Expert Face Brush is a good alternative to my beloved sponge. (If I’m out of sponges, I’m using this brush!) Just in time for the holidays, Real Techniques has launched a mini version that’s perfect as a stocking stuffer. While the size of the overall brush is smaller than your full size one, rest assured that the brush head is the same size – you’re really only getting a smaller handle.

Moving on to the limited edition sets, I’ve got two that are out for the holidays that fill me with utter joy. The set pictured above is their Color Correcting Essentials Set. The idea behind it is that you can use the brushes and mini sponges to help colour correct areas of your face with the appropriately coloured sponge and brush. Personally, I get the point behind the colours, but my main reason for loving this set is that the brushes are IDENTICAL to the deluxe crease brush! What a great way to pick up four extra crease brushes (and all with lovely coloured handles). I had thought that the price of this package would be a bit too pricey considering it’s four brushes and four sponges, but it retails for about $17.99 CAD/$19.99 USD which is a phenomenal price tag! I’ll likely only end up using the sponges for concealer every once in a blue moon, so for me this set was allll about those brushes!

ANOTHER exciting one – the Color and Contour Set! Number one, look at that freaking colour gradient on the handles! From copper orange to hot pink to purple? YESSSSS! And number two? This set has my beloved Multitask Brush which is the only brush I ever use to apply my bronzer. That brush is currently only available in another set (the Technique Essentials Kit) which I could repurchase so I have more than one brush, but it’s got a bunch of other brushes in there that I don’t necessarily need. So I was extremely happy to discover that this set has it in there!

This set also comes with the Multitask Cheek Brush (great for blush or highlighter), lip blur brush (an interesting one to me – I often see Sam of Pixiwoo – creator of this line – obliterating harsh lip lines since she doesn’t like the way it looks – so I can try that with this one), lip brush (great for lips, OR great for applying glitter to my lid!), miracle sculpting sponge (totally new to me) and a mirror. This set is a bit more pricey than the last one at $34.99 CAD/$24.99 USD, but you’re getting a lot of really good brushes in beautiful packaging so it’s well worth that price tag. Heck, that Multitask Brush is well worth the $35 alone!

Real Techniques is available at select Pharmasave, London Drugs, Pharma Choice, IDA Guardian, Value Drug Mart, Jean Coutu, Unipix and Familiprix stores in Canada. Looking to purchase online? Check out farleyco.ca for all your Real Techniques needs!

The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.

Oh boy. Okay so… I don’t contour my face. I never have, simply because I’ve seen a lot of bad contours in my day and I *don’t* want to be the woman on the street with terrible unblended streaks on her face. So when I was sent the Real Techniques Sculpting Brush to try out, needless to say… I was slightly intimidated.

HOWEVER! I spend sooo many hours of my day watching makeup video after makeup video on YouTube that I feel like I’m armed with enough information to give this contouring business a try.

Where do we start? Well, a brush is as good as any. The relatively newly released Sculpting Brush from Real Techniques has the basic shape to get you off on the right foot.

It’s a fat, dense brush, but it’s pinched neatly so it can get into the crevices of your cheekbones. It’s not so stiff that it’ll give you grief while blending, but it’s not so floppy that you can’t get any definition. In my eyes, this makes this brush perfect for newbies like myself.

Essentially, the idea behind contouring is to make your face look more gaunt. It helps to slim out our features, pop out our cheekbones and recede anything that we don’t want to draw attention to on our faces. The best way to do this is to use products (powders, creams, etc.) that have a natural grey-cast to them. Ideally, you should be contouring with a product that is darker than your own skin; one that can cause the effect of a natural shadow. Shadows aren’t orange or brown in colour, nor do they sparkle, which is why bronzers are not recommended for contouring. That’s not to say they can’t be used, but orange and glitter definitely don’t scream “shadow”, do they?

So here’s what I did: I took Makeup Geek‘s Barcelona Beach eyeshadow on my Real Techniques Sculpting Brush and drew a line along the areas I wanted to recede. This included my jaw line, the hollow (not that I have much of one) UNDER my cheekbone and, because I forgot what I was doing, the sides of my forehead (an area I normally bronze. Oops!).

Using the lines as a guide, I then blended upwards and downwards to soften the streak I had created. This is highly necessary, otherwise you end up looking like a badly done up drag queen.

And here’s how it came out. Seeing myself with contouring for the first time is very weird. My first reaction is that I feel like I overdid it, or that it wasn’t blended in enough. As I look at the pictures more over time, I get used to looking at my face like that and it seems less stark than I had originally thought it was.

On a side-by-side comparison, I can see how much it chiseled out my jaw bone and created a definite recession underneath my cheekbone. I’m not a huge fan of the forehead business, but I can live with it. Amazingly, I don’t think it makes me look dirty either, which is something I half expected to see.

I don’t see myself contouring my face on a regular basis as I just don’t feel it’s a step that I need (or want to do!) on a daily basis. I can see how much of an impact it can make though! I’m really happy that the Real Techniques Sculpting Brush made this a relatively simple job to do. And I mean that, I don’t think contouring my face took more than 3-5 minutes, which is pretty good for a total rookie.

So how do you guys contour? Or do you not bother with it?