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Penneys PS Pro Makeup Brushes

This is my second Penneys post in the space of a couple of weeks. That must mean I am either going mad, or they are really stepping up their game! The last one was about their new individual eyeshadows here. It was more just a show and tell. This post is going to be on the Penneys PS Pro Makeup Brushes.

I’ve have been using these for a good chunk of time now, so think I can give a decent review on the ones I own. I wanted to use them and to clean them a few times, so I could show you properly how they fared.

They have pretty much all manner of brushes in this collection. I picked up the ones that I thought people would be interested in and of course I would actually use myself. They are all synthetic and from what I can see all under a fiver too.

I have nine brushes from the collection. Five eye brushes, and four face.

I have the Duo Precision Brush Set. This was €4.

It contains two eye brushes. One duo fiber pencil brush and a blending brush with a more splayed out tip.

The other double pack is The Duo Blending Brush Set. Again, this was €4. This contains a black bristled tapered shadow brush and then a blending brush very much like the Mac 217 just synthetic.

My last eyeshadow brush from the Penneys PS Pro Makeup Brushes range is probably my least favourite out of the ones I have. This is €2. It’s their Eyeshadow Shading Brush. Just personal preference but I find this a bit too soft to pack on colour with, and that’s what I would mostly use this shape brush for. I don’t get much use out of it.

I have their Touch Up Brush with is a duo fiber little domed brush. This costs €3. Generally, I use this for under eye powder or highlight.

This is the Large Duo Buffing brush is €4.

To me this is a standard enough large stippling brush. I have been loving this for applying bronzer.

I have been using their Large Powder brush for it’s complete name sake and loving it. This costs €4.

I’ve actually purchased very similar tapered brushes to this in the past that I found shed alot. The dye also ran dreadfully when I washed them. I can confidently say, neither of these things has happened with the Penneys version.

The last brush I have from the Penneys PS Pro Makeup Brushes range is their foundation brush. This costs €4.

This was the hardest brush to get my hands on and the one most people told me to get! It’s a soft, but densely packed, rounded, with a slight slant, kabuki brush.

Overall, I am a big fan of the Penneys PS Pro Makeup Brushes! I have used other brushes from the brand in the past that have ended up in the bin. These, however have made it into my daily rotation. I am picking up some of these brushes instead of my Zoeva, Sigma, Blank Canvas and even Mac. I have washed them all a few times now and haven’t had much hair shed as of yet. They all washed really well. (Have a click here to see how I clean my brushes).

The handles are plastic, so if you enjoy a more weighty makeup brush, these won’t be for you. All of the ones I have are soft, and do pretty much what they are supposed to do. I honestly cannot say anything bad about them, and generally I try to be objective here! If you’re in the market for some new brushes that work and don’t want to break the bank, look no further.

Have you tried any of them? What other ones do I need in my life?

xxx

October 25, 2017/by Gem

Lifestyle, Youtube Video

What’s In My Handbag

The day I filmed this video I was heading to the Irish Beauty Blog Awards where I was casually up for an award…no biggie like 🙂 Unfortunately I came home empty handed, but we had a good night regardless 🙂

I love handbags, but I am a lazy git and don’t always carry one. However, for a night out a bag is a completely necessary addition to my outfit. Us girls bring an arsenal of ‘just in case’ items in our handbags. We just make it a little smaller when we hit the town so we don’t have to lug around the big everyday bag. I think this makes what we bring that more important and it’s stuff we actually use and love 🙂

So tonight Matthew I bring you ‘What’s in My Handbag’ the night out edition. Just a bit of fun. I love having a nosey into other people’s handbags so I though it was fitting that I let you have a nose into mine. Click on the video about to watch me waffle up a storm and then I’ll have everything I talk about listed below and anything that I can link linked 🙂

So…what’s in my handbag?….

Too Faced Kabuki brush. I can’t find the exact one. This is a similar one from Too faced here.

Mac Studio Fix Powder, you can buy from Brown Thomas here

Catrice Prime & Fine Contour Palette can be found in Penneys nationwide and independent stockists. I have swatches of it here.

Benefit Porefessional License To Blot , You can pick it up from Debenhams online here and I have a full review here too.

You can buy the Rimmel Exaggerate Eyeliners in store or from Boots online here.

You can get the Exaggerate Lipliners like the eyeliners in store or from Boots online here. I also have swatches of it here if you’re interested 🙂

Rimmel The Only One Lipstick in Naughty Nude- I have swatches here and you can buy from Boots online here.

I bought the Chanel card holder from Brown Thomas. Very fancy purchase, but I do get alot of use out of it 🙂

And I think that’s it, if I missed anything out be sure to let me know.

Thanks for checking out what’s in my handbag 🙂

xxx

May 27, 2016/by Gem

Makeup, Makeup Tools

Top Five Foundation Brushes

I popped up a post about the top five eyeshadow brushes to have in your collection last week here and it went down really well. So I thought I would add onto this and talk about my top five foundation brushes. Now I’m not saying you need five foundation brushes in your life, that’s just for beauty junkies like myself who just can’t stop buying them. I just thought I would list five different types of foundation brush that are on the market and explain a bit about them and you can just pick your favourite from the bunch…or all of them… it’s you prerogative really 🙂

First up I have, the kabuki style brush.

These come from all brands in all shapes and sizes.

They are a basically a tightly packed, (hopefully soft) synthetic foundation brush. They can apply alot of product and do it quickly and can be used to really buff foundation into the skin. These are probably my favourite type of foundation brush, as I have large pores and I find I can get the foundation into the pores really well with a kabuki brush and fill them in.

Next up is the old school flat foundation brush.

I only have one of these in my brush collection, because for me personally it’s not my favourite application tool.

However alot of people love using this type of brush for applying foundation and then even using something like a beauty blender to work it into the skin more. For me, I feel a flat brush leaves the foundation sitting on your skin more, it tends to apply like a paint brush. I have oily skin, so for me especially this doesn’t bode to well throughout the day. Again, it’s just personal preference really 🙂

Here we have the stippling brush.

The stippling brush is a duo fibred brush. This means it two different types of fibre within the same brush. It has denser (usually darker) bristles at the base of the brush, with lighter looser packed bristles at the top, which are again synthetic hairs. Synthetic bristles are much better for creams as the the product doesn’t soak into them and disappear as much as it would real hair.

A stippling brush as you would assume is softer on the top, so you can really massage your mug with it in whichever way you prefer depending on the pressure you use. You can kind of have the best of both worlds with it.

Buffing brushes are next in my top five.

These are like a less densely packed kabuki brush.

So they splay out more as you use them to work your foundation in. Because of this they give a less concentrated coverage, so a lighter coverage of product ensues 🙂

Ok the last brush I’m going to talk about is not a brush at all. But I wanted the title of the blog post to be the same as the eyeshadow one so apologies (I’m sad I know).

So makeup sponges!

Sponges have been used since the dawn of time to apply makeup so there’s nothing new here really.

You can buy packs of them in the euro shops for next to nothing. I personally would say dampen the sponge before you use it, it makes for a smoother application and it doesn’t suck up all your foundation. Sponges like the Beauty Blender and Real Techniques ones I have here market themselves to be dampened, but the cheaper one wouldn’t always tell you so tis’ a handy little tip. Sponges are a great tool for using after your foundation brush aswell, to just roll on your skin, and take up any excess product and just make sure your work is blended as much as it can be 🙂

So there you have a little synopses of some of the foundation brushes on the market :p

Of course there is a million and one ways of doing it, this is just a break down of a few I have tried and tested.

Cheers for reading as always.

xxx

August 10, 2015/1 Comment/by Gem

Makeup

Chanel Vitalumiere Loose Powder Foundation

As you may have read in my post about what I got for Christmas here, I picked up the Chanel Vitalumiere Loose Powder Foundation in Brown Thomas with a voucher I got off my brother (thanks bro)!

With a price tag of €65.00 I did not want to like this product, but alas I fell in love from the get go, I apologise in advance 🙂

First off I will quickly mention the mini kabuki brush the foundation comes with.

This is the softest little synthetic brush I have ever come across, oh my god, it’s like rubbing a kitten on your face. Dramatic maybe, but it does a fab job at applying the product. It is the perfect density for it and it is very pretty, so a lovely addition to my makeup brushes. I have never owned a Chanel brush before and I feel very fancy indeed using and owning this one 🙂

The sifter on the pot is made of a textile/mesh material rather than plastic which is rather refreshing as you can just bounce the brush of it to get the product onto it. You do have to be careful, the brush can pick up alot, so be sure to tap before you dab onto your face.

Onto the main event, the foundation. I have used a few different powdered foundations in the past, and have always ended up just using them as setting powders as I never really got my desired coverage out of them.

This stuff has changed my mind. I feel comfortable wearing this as just my foundation with some concealer underneath (I have crap skin!), hallelujah!

The Vitalumiere Powder Foundation has an SPF of 15. It is finely milled and blends in very well. It does a good job at covering light imperfections, veins and redness and gives a lovely velvety finish to the skin. You definitely need something more heavy duty underneath for proper breakouts or under eye circles.

I have oily skin so for me this is the perfect kind of product for me. I think if you have dry skin or dry patches this foundation might cling and enhance them, so air on the side of caution and test it out at the counter.

I find this powder lasts really well on me, and looks natural and satin like. It does not oxidise which is brilliant too.

Overall, for such a lightweight powder it ticks so many positive boxes for me. I am nearly sad at this because lets face it, 65 quid is a pretty hefty amount of money to splurge. I suppose it is nice for a treat now and then though. When I enjoy a product like this I add it to my present list, so when family members are thinking of something to buy me, there is always a few reliable things on the list that I will be delighted with. How thoughtful am I? :p

Tell me, have you any favourite mineral foundations?

As always, thanks for reading.

Gemma

xxx

January 13, 2015/2 Comments/by Gem