Ecotools 5-piece bamboo brush set

Alright so this is a first impressions. I haven't had these for very long so it's not going to be a crazy long review.

This is for the bamboo brush set pictured.

I have used these and I have no complains. They are found at drug-stores everywhere. The kit runs usually about ten dollars which is a reasonable price.

I like this kit for a beginner. You can buy these and a few other brushes and be set for awhile! They are all soft and have great application.

Fave: Eyeliner Brush

Least Fave: Eyebrow brush (I've said before I really like double ended ones so for me it just lacked on a convenience level. It's not bad or anything just nothing special.)

Also the big brush isn't very dense. I like to to set my face with a loose powder. I feel like if you use it for your foundation or blush you'll use more product. Also since it's not dense it'll take you longer to apply the product.

So far so good guys. I'll let you know if anything happens to them! So far I have not had any dreadful shedding but sometimes that gets worse after a wash so well see....Crossing my fingers!

Conceal it!

Conceal it!

A review of some of my favorite and not so favorite concealer products.
This will include: Concealers, color correctors and illuminators.

Also remember prices can vary.

ELF Studio Concealer Palette:

So you get four different colors in each palette which means you can pretty much make your color. This is a perk in a sense if my perfect color wasn't already in the palette. So the other colors are kind of useless to me. You don't get a lot of product in each pan, I've hit my pan already in less than a month. For three dollars though you can't complain too much. These are pretty impressive coverage wise. I always like to see how much coverage a product has by testing it on my tattoos...So yeah, this nearly covered my arm tattoo which is pretty much all grey/black and some blue. So the coverage is tops.
But in the end coverage doesn't matter much id the staying power is bad. The staying power for these are okay but they last longer if you top it with a powder and have a good base. To be honest I don't grab for this much. I also have the color corrector but I never use that.

Pros:
Cheap!!
Good shade selection(When you mix it up etc)
Good coverage

Cons:
Won't last through a work day.(4ish hours)
Have to purchase online(I think, I've never seen this one in-store before)

Price: $3
Buy again? No

You can purchase ELF online via ELF. In-store at Target, K-mart and some dollar stores. Products vary by location.

Skinfood Undereye concealer:
Kill me kill me. Okay?
I didn't want to pay for Bobbi Brown salmon toned concealer for my dark circles. I paid about $12 for this and I don't regret it one bit. Why am I saying kill me? Because this is an asian brand so it will be harder to get SORRY GUYS. If you're comfotable with ebay you'll get it no problem though. This thing is amazing and totally a go to for me. I read reviews before purchasing and it seems like anyone who has tried it loves it.
Pros:
Great staying power, lasts all day.
Lots of product in the pot.
Great for dark eyes
Affortable.

Cons:
Not many shades.(Two but this is a problem with asian cosmetics, they never tend to have darker tones. Ever)
Semi-Hard to purchase, impossible if you don't do online shopping.(Well, not impossible if you live in asia)

Price: $12.50
Buy again? Yes

Avaliable on Ebay. You may be able to find this on a asian cosmetics website as well.

Maybeline Dream Lumi Illuminator
Okay so I hate my dark circles, I also like to brighten the area.
This is the second illuminator I tried and to be honest, it's not that great.
This gets into my fine lines like it belongs there. It also creases probably 80% of the time. When it doesn't hate me and works appropriately I love it, as much as my no.7 illuminator? Nah.
This comes in a twist pen form and as we all know...One click, nothing, click click, argh nothing, Twist two more times and you get a volcano. Not my favorite form ever.

Pros:
Cheap!
Drug-store product, easy to find and buy
Decent shade selection for light/medium skin

Cons:
Creases
Gets into fine lines
Bad shade selection for darker tones

Price:  $6.50
Buy again?No

Available at most drugstores online and in store.

I can't find mine or a stock photo. Photo will be uploaded soon.
No07 Under Eye Illumnator
My first and still favorite illuminator.
This is the same as the dream lumi. It's a YSL dupe but the packaging is a click pen, just like the YSL. This works how I want it to. No creasing, long lasting and doesn't get into my fine lines. Score! Also is a fraction of the cost at 12.99 vs $40. I would love to try YSL but that price is too prestigous for me. Give me a sample because I can't commit to that price.

Pro:
Long lasting(8hrs)
Does it's job
Affordable

Cons:
Two shades, you guys kill me.

Price: $12.99
Buy again? Yes

Available in store and online by Target.

Glamoflage concealer by Hard Candy
So I had to try this because it seems like everyone loves it. I'll tell you though I went looking for it a few times and they were almost always sold out. I went to grab some snacks and then I saw it and was just like, alrighty then.
Anyways this is totally worth the hype. Works perfectly and is nearly a perfect tattoo cover up too.(Works well for small areas but on large black spots, not so much) I will be honest and say I haven't really used this on my under eye as it is reccomended not to by a lot of reviewers.I already have a under eye concealer routine that I found works for me.Why change it when I don't need to?
I find this great for concealer pores, redness, scars and acne.I use this to cover up my piercing scars and if it filled them then it would be perfect. Unfortunally it won't fill any scars or scne scarring but it covers my scars discoloration.

Pros:
Cheap
Easy to find
Long Lasting
A little goes a long way
A lot of product in bottle
Full coverage
Tattoo coverup

Cons:
I hear it's bad for the undereyes but I haven't tried that first hand.
Will not fill acne scarring/scars

 

Price: 6.00
Buy again? Yes yes yes.
Available in-store and online via Wal-Mart.

Sonia Kashuk Hidden Agenda Concealer Palette

Okay so if you haven't tried Sonya Kashuk, you should. I was apprehensive at first, not sure why. So far everything I have purchased in this brand I love except for the tinted moisturizer. This quad has three cream concealers and one matte setting powder. Since I always set my concealer I love that it's right in this palette. Very convenient. This palette seems to have a bit of a cult following so that proves it's pretty great. Though I have the older white packaging and on the back it says not to use near eye area so I don't. Kind of a scary warning to have on my concealer since I always use concealer on my under eye area.

Pros:
Easily available
Affordable
Offers setting powder in quad

Cons:
WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE SHADE SELECTION. Really I do this because it's a con for darker tones, not for lighter/mid tones.
It says right on the back, don't use near eye area? Weird.

Price: 10.99
Buy again? Maybe
Available in store and online via Target. Sonya Kashuk is a target only brand.

Coastal Scents Camo Quad
 Okay so I need to order a new one because it's been awhile since I've had a camo quad. Anyways this is more off of memory but I thought I'd put it in here because it's a fave of a lot of reviewers. I had both the color corrector and the skintoned one.
The color corrector is really pigmented and kind of harsh to blend out. Sometimes I would see some green around my nose as some other make-up faded. Good staying power but unfortunally sometimes would show through and I'd look like the wicked witch.
The skintoned concealer is great. I love the variety of colors and that you can blend your own perfect shade. Glides on, decent lasting time(6 hrs) and at a good price point.

Pros:
Good color selection
Good coverage

Cons:
Online only

Price: 7.95
Buy again? Yes

Only available here on coastal scents.

DermaBlend Cover creme
Okay so this was my number one favorite for years. This product glides on with ease and is so easy to blend. I have crazy dark circles so I would have to pack it on so often it got into my fine lines. This is great for acne and redness but for severe dark circles? I'd pass. Especially at this price point. If you're like me you need a salmon color concealer for those crazy sleepy eyes.

Pros:
Lots of product in the pot
Good color selection
Easily Available

Cons:
Um, the price?
Not good for heavy dark circles


Price: 36.00
Buy again: No(due to price)

Avaliable everywhere, I always get it at Ulta with my coupons.


My current concealer routine:
I use skinfood for my dark circles then illuminate the area using no.07 illuminator pen. I use glamoflage for my scars and redness and whereever I may need it .

Feel free to ask questions. As always I never get anything for free. If I ever did I'd be sobbing like OMG I'M POPULAR ENOUGH FOR THIS? Yeah, no. I'm a loser.

Flower Cosmetics Skincognito

Flower Cosmetics Skincognito(Stick Foundation)

So as you may or may not know. Flower is Drew Barrymores new make-up line! As soon as I found out about this I ran out the door, hahaha. In my defense I love her and all but to get an affordable foundation stick I was maybe a bit too excited.

So I ran to the store to get this and a few other things in mind. Unfortunalyl this is only at Wal-Mart and only at specific locations. I emailed the company about it and they told me they're slowly expanding and will have more locations. My only store is about 15 minutes away so it's not so bad, but for you all who don't have a location by you(Check out flowerbeauty.com, they have a location tool) it can be ordered on Wal-Marts website.(Ofcourse doing that makes getting foundation even trickier)

So I wish they had testers but I picked the shade in 03. The shade is a bit light but the next shade would have been too dark. They have a limited range of shades which is very unfortunate especailly for darker or very fair skin.

The websites claims:

Translucent, second skin coverage allows skin's natural tone to show through.

I would describe this as very build able, from little to full coverage. I can get away with using this instead of concealer for my acne and red spots. From what I know this is an OIL based foundation so if you have a oily face you might want to avoid this. This makes my average T-Zone pretty oily but nothing a little powder doesn't fix for me.

The staying power without a primer for this is average, about 6 hours and it starts fading and I see some redness around my nose that I hate. If I use this I prefer to use a primer but that goes for most foundations for me.

Glides on smoothly and blends easily for an instant, uniform finish.

I don't struggle with this at all and I have to agree 100%. I just make some lines on my face with the stick and blend it out and it looks great, no streaks or anything.

I do warn you though, don't twist the whole thing up. This thing is so fragile and I have heard this from other people AFTER it happened to me. So I twist it up and it just breaks in half. Luckily it was a pretty clean break so I managed to fix it, kinda. More of an annoyance then a full complaint.

This product is $8.98. Available in store and online from Wal-Mart. For more information check Flower beauty

Just got my Ipsy and Birch Box sub boxes in today, at the same time. Freaking out with happiness!

Reviews to post soon:
Ipsy
Birch Box
Wet and Wild 8 pan palettes
Concealers, all prices and ranges.
Beginner Beauty Bag: $20
Beginner Beauty Bag: $50

Hard Candy All Lid Up

Okay so recently Hard Candy has changed a few things and added a few things. I hadn't seen these before so I grabbed a few.

My colors include: Midas Touch(Golden Yellow),Tidal Wave(Turquoise), and Clam Bake.(Pearly White). They had a decent variety(10 shades). I really wanted to try the purple but they were all sold out. Sad.

Okay first of all if you dislike shimmery, they are not for you. All of these have shimmer in them. They are a creme eye shadow and they claim:

Vibrant, long wearing crème eye shadow lights up and enhances eyes. Our groundbreaking hybrid formula has a soft cushion texture that allows it to be worn as eye shadow or eyeliner. This crease proof, stay put formula is blended luminous, multi-colored pearls that provides glamorous evening looks

I have tried these with and without primer and as eyeliner and eyeshadow. Without primer these last for about 6-8 with minor fading and no creasing. When I use this with my UDPP it lasts forever. I accidentally fell asleep and woke up the next morning, my eyeshadow had faded but where I used this product hadn't budged. It had faded of-course but yeah, crazy staying power. These really make me remember that Hard Candy was once a  more prestigious line and not just a drug-store line.

I love to use these alone on my eyes. I know some people like to put eyeshadow ontop of them but the colors are so gorgeous I just couldn't do that. Though the white I have mainly used as a inner corner highlight I do want to try some colors ontop of it and see how that looks.

Warning: THESE ARE NOT WATER PROOF.
I teared up a little bit while wearing Tidal Wave and it traveled all around. I didn't even cry, just watery eyes and yuck, a mess. Of course I didn't catch that it traveled til later when it dried then IT DIDN'T WANT TO COME OFF. If these were waterproof and had more colors I might just call these 100% perfect.

My only other complaint is SO meager but....the labels. They bother me. They are placed on top of the lid. Which can be semi convenient to know the name of the product but it would be just fine on the bottom of the jar. It bothers me because the lid had a cute heart design and it's covered by the label. I took the label off of one of mine and put it on the bottom...unfortunately it left gunky stickerness on the lid and now barely will stay stuck on the bottom of the jar. Personally with cosmetics you think this would have been thought through a little better. In the end I'd rather the packaging have a complain than the product.

My pictures suck. Sorry. Anyways, I took the label off of the top of Midas Touch and left it on the others.

Midas Touch, Clam Bake and Tidal Wave swatches. No primer. It won't come off my hand, I fell asleep with this on my hand and it's still there. I tried to rub it off with water, nope. Only make-up remover. No primer either, these things are nuts.

Hard Candy is a brand only at Wal-Mart. These are $5 dollars a pop and can be found in-store or online. As always I never get anything for free.

Update: TIDAL WAVE DRIED OUT AND I'M REALLY UPSET. It was fully closed too...

Okay finally. Sorry this took so long to post. Anyways, Onto my brush review.
This is pretty general about ELF brushes. The $1 dollar line is not so great in my opinion. The eye brushes are okay but I find the face ones to be scratchy. The brushes are poorly made and all of mine had fallen apart on me after a few months. If you're lucky it's fixable and if not it's in the trash. Mine always seemed to have a crazy case of shedding which was never a good thing and always annoying and like I said, I trashed them all. Over all recommendation is that if it's all you can afford to begin with MAYBE you should get them but keep reading. I have a point.
Also one thing to never spend more than a dollar on is:

I prefer double ended ones but maybe I'm just lazy. When people buy these from Mac I'm just like ???.

Okay so onward to the Studio line. These brushes are $3 dollars each(And the 'buki is $6) and my true recommendation for beginners. Yes it's $30 for a starting set, but compare it to other brands it is the best bang for your buck with the most variety. Also ELF is ALWAYS having sales. In fact I got my set for 2.50 with a $20 purchase or something like that. So always keep a look out for that.

As I said the set is good for beginners and has everything a beginner should need and then some.(Most people aren't crazy for Fan Brushes when starting out it seems.)

These are much softer than the $1 dollar line, But they seem to have the same quality control issues. I had some of my bristles not just falling but just chunks of my blush brush falling out. I contacted ELF about it and they never replied via email nor Facebook. Since then I'm a bit apprehensive to buy from them. Nothing kills me more than bad customer service.

Regardless, they do the job. I have no problems with these and I still use some of these. Do I pick them over my Real Techniques? Occasionally due to the larger variety but if it's essentially the same brush than I pick my Real Techniques brushes.(They are softer and I have had no issues with quality)

As for how this line compares to the Mineral or the new Gem line. I'm not able to tell you. Honestly I feel like the Gem line might just be the same quality but in a cuter brush. As for the mineral I hear it's good for mineral make-up which I have a on and off relationship with. If I ever make the purchase of those brushes I will compare them in that review.

As always these are my own opinions for things purchased with my own cash.

You can find ELF products here.
Got a Redcard with Target? Get ELF from Target, 5% off and free shipping! 
Elf is also available in store at certain stores. I have found them at dollar stores, Target and K-mart. It depends on the store to be honest. Whenever I do see them though I get all excited and buy something.

Real Techniques brushes by Samantha Chapman

I know reviews on this have been done and done again because as most people know this is Sam from Pixiwoo's line. If you don't know Pixiwoo check out their youtube!!

The one thing I love about this line above all is the availability. Sigma, you have to buy online. Mac is online or stands only. Even ELF is pretty limited. But I got my brushes from Target(used my redcard and saved 5%. Score!!), they were also on amazon, walmart, I think even k-mart and of course on their own website. So availability is awesome.

While these are more expensive then ELF brushes the quality is better. Also I feel like the quality control is good. I've had hit and miss with my elf brushes. I've had them fall apart, bristles just come out all at once, etc. ELF can be hit and miss and the company never responds to my complaints. I've had about twice as many elf brushes as my Real Techniques but I've also had a lot of bad quality brushes from ELF too.(Almost all of the $1 dollar line is blech, I like the pro line but I've had some fall apart on me)

They have single brushes ranging from about 6 bucks to ten. Sets are about 17.99.(Cheaper on amazon but I like target because returns were easier if I was going to hate these brushes so you have to weigh the pros and cons) So wayyy cheaper then Mac and still cheaper than Sigma. Now, I cannot compare this to Sigma but I will when I get some Sigma brushes.

One thing I am not crazy about with these brushes is that they are THICK. The bottoms are made to keep them standing up. I always have my brushes in their case or in a brush cup, so this is not useful for me. Also I feel like if you accidentally hip bumped your table they'd all plop over anyways, so boo that.

I do love the little case they come in because it has slots of other brushes. The case can also sit up like a stand as well as be carried around as a little clutch, super cute!

As for the brushes themselves I have no complains. I love them all! I have the setting brush, 5-pc starter set and 4-pc core collection. I do plan on grabbing the rest when I have some funds. So far these are my favorites, I really liked my Sonya Kashuk brushes but these are becoming a go to for me. My only complaint is I wish their was a bigger variety like with Sigma and Mac but they seem to be adding new things on their website! Hopefully soon they will expand out and have just as many!


The quality is great, they are so soft and dense. I have not had any fall out so far. They're so great, no complaints that I can think of sans not having a big enough variety!

Like all my reviews these are my own opinions and the only free products I get are with store promotions. I'm a wee little blogger, no freebies here guys!
Disclaimer: Picture I used is not mine, my camera went missing plus my brushes are dirty! If this is your picture and I stole it I am so sorry I'll link you or remove it!

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Reviews will be posted tomorrow for: Real Techniques Brushes. Elf Brushes and Wet and Wild Eyeshadow palettes!