All posts tagged: tools

Quickie: Hakuhodo H601 Powder Brush

Published by

The Hakuhodo H601 Powder Brush is one of my all-time favorite brushes. It’s a retractable brush that is intensely soft and fluffy. Whenever I wash brushes, this is one of those that take the longest to dry, because it’s so dense. The hairs are black and made from goat’s hair, I believe. I got the H601 in Japan, and it cost about $30 in Japanese yen. It was the only Hakuhodo brush on my list that I was able to get, since they don’t have the full range at the Osaka counter. I use this brush for most of my powder products for the face, so I feel like it’s such a great deal. I’ve used this for a pressed powder, a loose powder, setting powders, finishing powders, et al. and it has worked great every time. This is also an awesome blush brush, because it picks up and deposits just the right amount of pigment. The fact that it retracts makes the “head” of bristles smaller or bigger, catering to your needs. Big and …

Quickie: Charm Retractable Kabuki Brush

Published by

Here’s an old brush that I never think I featured on here, for whatever reason. It’s not because the Charm Retractable Kabuki Brush is bad. I think it’s because I don’t really use it that often because I stowed it away, in a place I didn’t regularly interact with. Speaking of which, I’ve reassembled my makeup and now everything is pretty much within reach, so all is well. Anyway. This is pretty awesome. A kabuki brush is something you use for all-over face product application. It’s a dense brush that is often very soft but not bendy. They usually come with short, stubby handles that you can use to prop them up on your desk. Kabuki brushes are used to buff in all sorts of foundation with the aim of a flawless base. I’ve tried this with a pressed compact: Loose, setting powder: and Guerlain Météorites: I’ve also tried this with loose, mineral foundation, but have no pictures. I’m happy to report that it works really well for all of them. I don’t know how …

Quickie: Wing It with the MAC 266

Published by

When I asked Laura for help picking out MAC items, she remarked that since I seemed to be having trouble applying liner (I was), I should take a look at the MAC 266 brush, a very small, stiff angled brush. She recommended that I use a dark eyeshadow (e.g. MAC Carbon) and push the color into my lashline. I’m a little better at eyeshadow now, but this remains an astonishing little tool that I’m glad I ended up getting. I used it to apply my KATE Gel Liner for my NARS Paramaribo review. I cleaned the brush right away, since I hate it when gel liner sits on brush bristles. I’m sure the brushes hate it, too. The line is awesome, and I get a lot of control with it. I’ve sworn by the Marionnaud N°37, which is basically the same thing, only with a little spoolie on the other end. They’re the same brush, in theory, because they are both stiff, angled brushes for the eyes. I use the N°37 all the time for …

RealTechniques Duo Fiber Brush Collection

Published by

I only have a small collection of Real Techniques, even though I truthfully want them all. Even though I love my travel set and my Expert Face brush, I wanted to get one more set and I thought that this set would give me the most mileage. I have here the RealTechniques Duo Fiber Brush Collection, which has three brushes: the face brush, the contour brush, and the eye brush. I wanted to get the Core Collection, but I am a sucker for all-in-one type of sets. I don’t know why, but that’s how I ended up with this instead of the Core Collection. The RealTechniques Duo Fiber Brush Collection is a limited edition collection that’s going to be sold all throughout the year, if I’m not mistaken. It is comprised of three duo-fiber brushes for buildable color and texture. What sets these apart from most brushes is their being “true multitaskers.” Duo Fiber brushes work well with cream, powder, and liquid products, making these kind of all-around products. RealTechniques brushes are also made of …

Quickie: Illamasqua Blush-Up Brush

Published by

Here’s a super quick post on one of my favorite tools as of late: my recently-acquired Blush-Up Brush from Illamasqua! It’s a very tightly-packed, narrow brush with short, soft bristles and a long handle. It’s supposed to apply blush in a revolutionary~ way, eliminating the need for a contour. Here is a tutorial from the Illamasqua team, explaining how. As you can see, it deposits pigment in a different way than brushes usually do. Going by the shape of the Blush-Up Brush, it’s supposed to apply blush in an angular way. When placed right under the cheekbone, it creates a stark line that highlights the hollows of the cheeks, which I suppose is what they meant by it “eliminat[ing] the need for contour.” I don’t know if it works all that well for me if I use it like that, but it does really well for normal blush and contour application, which I think it should be recognized for. Tarte’s Exposed used to be my “standard” for a good blush brush. If the brush can …

Quickie: too cool for school Marshmallow Puff

Published by

Here’s one of the Beauty Blender dupes that have been released upon the world. Since I have no Beauty Blender myself, this isn’t necessarily a comparison post. I just wanted to share with you guys how this worked out for me. From what I can see in other people’s videos, though, these imitations don’t really “work” in the same way as Beauty Blenders do. From what I understand, wetting the Beauty Blender causes it to kind of expand. These don’t do that. They don’t seem to have the same kind of “bounciness” and softness as Beauty Blenders do either, so I don’t know how much that affects application and actual results. HOWEVER, these are pretty awesome at applying liquid application. Here’s an example of me using it with L’Oreal’s Lucent Magique Liquid Foundation: I think that’s kind of a decent job. No streaks or patchiness or anything like that. That’s a pretty good foundation job for something I got for $5. They are not that durable, though, the first one I got tore in the …

Quickie: shu uemura Eyelash Curler

Published by

The shu uemura eyelash curler is the sort of thing that has reached a certain level of cult status that no one else bothers to write about it anymore. And, really, why would you even bother? I didn’t really care for curling my lashes because I always seem to get uneven “curlage” anyway. My right set of eyelashes would be more curled up than the left set and my eyes would look wonkier than it already does, which you’d think would be a hard thing to pull off, but it’s really not. Anyway, I don’t really know what to say about this eyelash curler, so I’ll let the pictures speak for it. I have pretty short and invisible lashes, so I tried to do only one eye with the curler and let you see how it compares to my uncurled lashes. See how it opens up my eyes? 🙂 The eyelash curler comes with an extra silicone pad, in case you need to change them. Be warned, though, that they do not sell extra pads. …