It's (was) the most wonderful time of the year... Black Friday (duh). This is usually the time I put in my online makeup orders on my favourite sites. Surprisingly, I didn't order anything from ELF this time around but ever since I saw this new brush set and the liquid lipsticks from BH Cosmetics, I knew I had to make a purchase. I've given everything a try and here are my thoughts.
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| front of the box |
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| back of the box |
What I really enjoyed learning about these brushes is that THEY ARE NUMBERED. Woah, sorry couldn't contain my excitement there. But yes, these brushes come with an indicated number on them and while I think this is a great idea for tutorials, it needs to be implemented throughout all of their brush lines. One can simply say "Alright I'm using this brush from BH in number 122", in a tutorial, however BH Cosmetics does not sell the 122 individually. So, numbering these bad boys is a great idea, but BH Cosmetics... NUMBER ALL YOUR BRUSHES PLEASE AND SELL THEM INDIVIDUALLY. That is all.
These are the brushes, lined up and ready to go. Don't they remind you of something at first glance? Hmm, like another brush company...like Sigma? They're practically DUPES of the Sigma brushes, except with a gold accent instead if silver. Visually, I love the matte black handles with the gold accents. These brushes scream luxurious AND they're super soft to the touch! What more could you want in a makeup brush? I've already used five of them but I was nice enough to clean them off for you all ;)
Here are the five small brushes.
And the five large brushes. Let's get into each brush individually.
The 118 is the Small Tapered Contouring Face Brush.
This brush could be used for precise contouring. Even though I haven't tested out this brush yet, I might use it more for eyeshadow rather than for contouring, mainly because I've already fell in love with another brush that I've been using to contour with.
One thing I love about these brushes is that the bristles are very dense. You're definitely getting what you paid for.
This is the 119, Small Angled Blending Face Brush.
I use this brush for adding on my contour powder precisely. This could also be used for eyeshadow.
Out of all the other brushes, this is the flattest brush there is.
The 120 is Small Flat Blending Face Brush.
I LOVE this brush! I use it to apply my highlight/ concealer underneath my eyes.
It's like a mini stippling brush!
The 121 is Small Angled Contouring Face Brush.
This is the brush I like to contour with, mainly because it's on an angle.
It's like a mini angled stippling brush, I love it!
The 122 is the Small Round Blending Face Brush.
Again, I feel as if I would get more uses out of it if I used it more for eyeshadow than for contouring. I mean it does say it's a blending brush!
Again, in LOVE with the density of these brushes. Moving onto the larger brushes.
113 is your Round Blending Face Brush.
It's your typical powder brush, you can never have too many.
It kind of looks like a dandelion or a bunny's tail, it's so fluffy and soft!
The 114 is the Angled Blending Face Brush.
I've been using this to apply my blush lately, and I'm sold. It's become my new favourite brush for the job.
Again, so damn FLUFFY! (it's so fluffy I'm gonna die) ((no, okay))
The 115 is the Tapered Contouring Face Brush.
Now I can see how others would use this brush to go HAM on their contouring, but because I have such a small face, I couldn't really use this brush. Maybe for bronzer application?
This brush is also PACKED with bristles. It's also more stiffer than the rest. More stiff, but does not cause discomfort.
The 116 is the Flat Blending Face Brush.
This is like a kabuki brush with a longer handle, perfect for buffing in foundation or even for face powder.
So. Damn. Fluffy. And soft.
The final brush of the set is the 117: the Angled Contouring Face Brush.
Now based on that poor bristle sticking out I have used this brush. And I'm loving it. I use this brush for my bronzer but I have a technique of how to apply to without looking like I have dirt stains of my face. Basically, I just use one half of the brush, concentrate the product on that half and use a light hand when apply the bronzer. Then I'll use the other side without product to blend and diffuse any harsh lines. Boom. Genius.
Again, I love that these brushes are so dense.
Next we'll move into lip liners. I got two in this haul with one being a repurchase because I lost it earlier in the year. The lip liners are definitely water proof. However, you must be warned; HYDRATE YOUR LIPS BEFORE USE. These lip liners hold onto your lips for dear life and if your lips are dry, it won't be the prettiest sight. Also, if worm alone without hydration, they will feel very uncomfortable and drying. But, the colors kind of make it worth it. So far I have five of their lip liners, and if I can still use them, then they must be doing something right! These retail for $4 each, with the original price being $6, however I got them for $3. Now onto the colors I picked up.
This one here is Spiced.
Now I don't know what happened with this particular pencil, but every time I sharpened it, the tip broke off! However this is a marsala type of color. Look at me, hitting that 2015 color trend at the end of the year! Better late than never I suppose.
To give more accurate swatching, I'll have both warm and cool toned lighting to these swatches. Here is Spiced with cooler lighting
This is Retro, which was my repurchase.
I lost it a couple of months ago and I was insanely sad because it's my favourite red lip liner. Sometimes I will rock it on its own, but most of the time I love to use it when creating that perfect red ombre lip!
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| Spiced and Retro: warm toned. |
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| Spice and Retro cool-toned. |
Alright, now here's the real reason why I put in my order. I absolutely adore the BH Cosmetic lipsticks, so when I saw that they were coming out with Liquid Lipsticks that were MATTE I had to grab a few to try out. These retail for $6 but originally they are $11. I wanted to try these out since they were the same price as ColourPop's however the shipping to Canada was cheaper for BH Cosmetics than it was for ColourPop.
They come in a plastic tube with a duofoot applicator. The texture of these is unlike any other liquid lipstick I've tried. It's thicker than most, but the texture is really soft and buttery. These also hold on to your lips for dear life and because they dry to matte, you need to hydrate your lips or else they show all the little cracks in your lips.
This one is called Endora. And as much as I want to love this color, pinky mauves just don't work for my skin tone. I should really stop picking these types of shades out. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful color (obviously, or else I wouldn't have chosen it), but as you'll see in my lip swatches, I should've just passed on it.
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| Endora- warm toned |
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| Endora- cool toned |
Now this is Lust, tell me that you're lusting over it right now ;). It's your typical oxblood red, kinda perfect for the holidays don't you think?
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| Lust- cool toned |
The last one that I got is Icon. To me, I feel like Lust and Icon should swap names because this is definitely a color to lust over. Get this: its a deep purple. That's it. It's not an eggplant, there's no smokiness to it, just no. It's a straight up dark purple that you can definitely tell, it's a purple! This is the only patchy shade out of the three, however that can be expected when dealing with dark, vampy colors like this one.
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| Lust and Icon- warm toned |
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| Lust and Icon- cool toned |
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| Left to Right: Icon, Lust, Endora, Retro, Spiced |
Here are all the swatches with warm toned lighting.
And finally to end off the lippies, here they are on my lippies :)
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| Spiced |
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| Rebel |
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| Endora- yikes! |
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| Lust |
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| Icon |
Here are the swatches again under cool toned lighting, finally dried to a matte finish.
Overall, I'm extremely happy with the brushes I got that they're become apart of my foundation routine. The lip liners I love and use with caution towards hydrated lips. And 2/3 were a hit with the liquid lipsticks. I would definitely recommend everything I got and you better believe I'll be purchasing some more of those liquid lipsticks!
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