Review: Crown Brush Part 2 - 626 - 11 Piece Studio Pro Brush Set

This is Part 2 of my Crown Brush Review. See part 1 here.

I got this set a number of months ago after seeing rave reviews by  Miss Makeup Magpie and The Black Pearl Blog. 

A few point I thought I would raise, both reviews showed the brushes wrapped individually.(plastic sheath things) Seeing that, I thought that I would receive those too. But I was mistaken, because mine came like this ( excepting the taped name tags. Those I did after). I did feel a bit put off by that, because it made me feel like the company gave a better service in the PR samples and that always annoys me. I did think that while the extra plastic is a bit more of an environmental problem, I would have liked it just to know my brushes definitely were kept securely for shipping, but onto the actual product...

I do reallylike the wrap the brushes came in. It is very soft and I actually like this better than the one I purchased which I reviewed in Part 1 of my Crown Brush reviews. The brushes slip out of the pockets really easily and you can change up what brushes are inside. However, I would note that the little spaces between the brushes can't actually fit any other brushes, but you can always stick one or two brushes into the same pocket.

First up is the Large Powder Brush. I like this brush as it is very soft and applies powder so nicely, without looking cakey or anything like that.

It did shed a LOT for me, which I was disappointed in, but it has since stopped (considering I washed it 5 or 6 times before it stopped.) 

Next is the Small Powder brush. I like this brush as well, and I use it for blush mostly. It isn't my favourite, but it gets the job done and gives a nice effect. 

This brush shed a lot as well and still sheds a little when I spot clean it. However, this one did come out with a bit of black dye the first time it was washed and still does sometimes, though less now.

The Large Duo Fibre Brush is one of the larger brushes within the set. In fact, I think it is the largest. I have used this to stipple on foundation and it works quite nicely, but I almost wish it was just a bit smaller so I can really get the small areas of my face (eg around my nose), but it works nicely for those areas as well. It's a bit too loose and fluffy to get the effect I wanted so I use this for powder and I really really like it for that.

It washes out so clean with no shedding at all.

This is the Angle Blush Brush, quite possibly the most disappointing brush of the set, mainly because I was looking forward to this one the most. It's good for applying blush, bronzer, highlight, and possibly contour (based on reviews as I personally like a smaller brush). It is super soft, and feels really nice on the skin.

So why don't I like it? It smells. Like actually stinks. It is made of goat hair so I was expecting it to have some smell, but this is too much for me. I do have a slightly sensitive nose, but when I put this anywhere near my face (eg my forehead), I actually feel like gagging. It is horrible. I don't know if it's just me or if it's just this brush, but I cannot use it. I have tried everything, washing it over 15 times now, using everything from brush shampoo to soap to dishwashing liquid and olive oil to my shampoo and conditioner. It still stinks. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know in the comments below because I really want to love this brush.

Edited to add: After a real attempt at using and washing this brush, I can now thankfully say that is doesn't smell as badly anymore. It is now one of my favourite brushes, but I recommend airing it as I found that helped the most.

Moving on from that, we have the pointed flat foundation brush. I kind of expected this to be a bit useless as I tend to prefer buffing brushes and I was pleasantly surprised. This brush doesn't leave strips on my face but rather leaves a nice smooth layer. However, I felt I used more product than usual and there was a feeling of a mask. So I am planning to use this brush a bit more and figure out how to use this brush a bit better. It helps that this brush is so incredibly soft, I use it to stroke my face sometimes... 

This brush washed out nicely and has not shed.

Moving on to eye brushes, this is the Pro Blending Eye Fluff Brush. I like this brush for blending and it does that really nicely. It is small and quite dense, but there is plenty of movement in the bristles for it to really buff out edges.

This washed well with a little shedding. Black dye does come out when I spot clean though, so I stick to deep cleaning it, which means this brush doesn't get as much use as I would like.

This is the Pro Blending Crease Brush and I love this brush. It has a slightly more squared off head, and is flatter than the usual blending brush shape. I use this when I am just putting a single colour on the lid because it lays the colour down nicely then buffs it out. I also like that it is white as I can see when it is dirty.

It washes out white with no shedding.

Last of the natural hair eye brushes we have the Precision Pencil Brush. I like this to smudge out anything I put on either top or bottom lashlines and it works well for that. I also use this to place colour on my lashlines as well as the inner corner. It isn't the absolute softest, but it doesn't irritate my eyes as long as I don't push too hard.

Washes out with with no shedding. 

Next up we have the small round applicator brush. Made of synthetic bristles, this brush is best used for cream products,

Personally, I don't use this brush much as I prefer to apply cream products with my finger then blend it out with a duo fibre eye brush, but I have used this brush for concealer and that works.

One of my most used brushes, this is the angle liner brush. I use this with my Anastasia Dip Brow Pomade to define and shape my eyebrows and it works so nicely. I've also used it with powder, but it doesn't work as well in my opinion. 

Finally we have the liner brush. I originally dismissed this brush, having been obsessed with the Silicone liner brush from Real Techniques, but this brush is really good. I used with gel liner to get a really precise and thin line just on my upper lashline and I was really impressed with the ease of application and the thin crisp line I got.

Overall, really impressed with this kit, besides the horrible smelling Angle Blush Brush. The shedding is annoying, but now it has stopped I am less fussed.

This set is £39.99 and is available on their website.

Do you have this kit, let me know what you think in the comments below! If you don't, let me know your opinion on it anyway. What do you think about the Angle Blush Brush and most importantly, is there anything I can do to make it smell somewhat more normal? 

Signing off now,

Dusty Foxes.

Review: Crown Brush Part 1 - Random Brushes and a Case

I've had these brushes for about a year now so I thought I would talk a bit about this "cheap" brush brand, Crownbrush. 

These are the few single brushes I picked up (as well as a case) so this is part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2 which is a set.

I added a picture comparing it to a bobby pin for size. 

First of all is the C321 Bullet Crease brush. This is £2.49 and is made of  sable and goat hair. It is a tiny little brush and I use this to blend colour along my upper and lower lashline. It is a little scratchy on the lower lashline, especially as my eyes are very sensitive, so I use this with more pigmented products that I won't need to use too much pressure to apply.  

This washed well, with no shedding.

This is the C441 Pro Blending Crease. (on my brush is printed DLX Blending Crease, but it isn't that.) It is £3.99 and made of goat hair. I have a slight (very large) obsession with eye blending brushes so I really wanted to try this as I heard good things about it (it's one of their bestsellers.) but I was in all honesty, a little disappointed in this. I have a small-ish lid space on my eyes, so I prefer more precision in my blending brushes. This was just a bit too large, but I imagine if you have a large lid space, this brush may work better for the crease. On the other hand, I use this to sweep colour all over my lid and that works a treat as it blends it out at the same time. So it's nice, but wasn't what I was expecting, considering it is called a Blending CREASE brush. 

This washed well with no shedding.

This is one of my least used brushes, but it is still one of my favourites. It's the SS029 Syntho Angle Fluff. It is £3.49 and synthetic. It's a very small brush, and I like using it to contour my nose. It's also quite good at roughly smudging colour onto the lashlines, and is softer than the Bullet Crease brush, but I find it's less precise due to the wider tip. It's also good for placing and blending colour in precise areas so I use this more when I do full on makeup (which explains why it is one of my least used brushes). This is similar in shape to the Angled Shadow brush from the Nic's Picks set from Real Techniques but is quite a bit smaller and less fluffy.

Again this washed well with no shedding.

This is the C430 Duo Fibre Crease. It costs £4.70 and is made of goat and microfibre bristles. It is my favourite purchase from Crownbrush and I use it all the time. I like this for blending cream/ liquid formulas and it gives a really nice finish.  Mainly I use it for eyeshadows, but it works well for concealer as well.

This washes out really nicely and no shedding.

To be honest, this brush was a bit of a waste to me. It is the C600 Design Fan. It costs £4.39 and is made of... I'm not actually sure as it isn't listed on the site.  I use this mainly to dust off any powdery bits on my palettes and such, but don't really use it on my face as I don't tend to use heavy makeup that has lots of fall out. It is a strange brush, feeling both rough and soft at the same time.

It shed a little but has stopped after the 3rd wash. 

Finally this is the SCS Leatherine Snap case costing £9.53. It is a brush wrap type thing and is supposed to fit 12 brushes, but I have gotten away with about 15-17 brushes. I got this to bring some of my favourite brushes with me on holiday and it did that well. 

The large pockets fit most brushes, but I couldn't fit the Real Techniques Blush Brush inside, nor the Expert face brush as those widen at the ends. So that was a bit of a shame. I like how there's the plastic part at the top to protect the brush and you can't really see it in the photo but there are 2 layers to it so it protects the case from any product left on the brush and is easy to wipe down. The metallic clasps feel secure and the case is soft and it feels like it protects the brushes inside well. 

Overall, I thought these Crownbrushes were really nice but stay tuned for part 2 coming next week!

Signing off now,

Dusty Foxes

P.S.: To make sure you don't miss the next part, follow my blog! Links on the right. :)

Products I'm Throwing Away/ Empties!

There are about 101 posts (not actually counted) on why you should throw away your make up and why they have use by dates and what those dates are, but I tend to go with the "it-still-works-so-why-throw-it" rule. In fact, even when I can't use a product anymore, I still like to hoard it if it holds a special memory or just because I don't throw things away (looks at receipt in purse from 3 years ago...). So I decided it was time to say goodbye to some of the things I should have thrown out a long time ago as part of the new year clean out...

First product I knew I was getting rid of was this 17 BB Blemish Balm in shade medium. It was really sad to let go of this since it was one of the first make up products I bought for myself, but it was about a year and a half old, was separating and was  starting to cause my skin to itch when I put it on. I liked this when I first got it, but to be honest, I didn't love it once I started on my Etude House BB cream. I won't be repurchasing this as I think there are other products that work better for me.

These 3 are liquid eyeliners from Korean brand Etude House. I love these as they make liquid eyeliner application quite easy as they have a brush end. It's super fine and makes really nice lines, but these eyeliners were about a year old and I decided to stop using them near my eyes. However, I going to use this as a striper in nail art so it's all good. I would repurchase these, but I have other eyeliners I'm using first so these are just ones I'm keeping in mind. 

Finally 3 mascaras. As you probably know, you should change mascaras every 3 months. These are about 7/8 months old so I decided to let them go and move onto the backlog of mascara I have. The one on the left is a clear one by Make Up Academy or MUA and I used it as a brow gel. As you can see it's really gross now so I decided to throw it away, especially as I've stopped using it. It was £1 so I may be repurchasing if I decide I want a clear brow gel again. I liked this as it didn't make my brows look crunchy and it worked.

The middle one broke my heart to throw away as it always got me such great compliments. It's the Maybelline Big Eyes Mascara and it's double ended. I got the waterproof version and while it did smudge after 6/7 hours, it made my lashes look really nice.  This was really hard to let go off as it was the mascara I brought with me to my 1st time in New York and it was the mascara I wore on my first date with my boyfriend. So for sentimental reasons I didn't want to throw it away. Those reasons aside, it was a good mascara so I will probably repurchase this again once I'm through my backlog of mascaras. I do love the Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara (mini review in my Sephora Haul post here.) But this one is a pretty decent affordable dupe. I actually used it everyday until it dried up, which is a major accomplishment if you ask me!

The last one is the Barry M Lash Vegas Mascara. I liked this for really big lashes. It was clumpy, but when you don't have much to work with, I'm not too fussed. I got this when it was on offer at Boots (free gift when you spent a certain amount on Barry M), but I don't think I'll be repurchasing as it isn't one of my favourites. It is still a good mascara, but it's a bit too showy and clumpy for my tastes.

I feel better now that I have cleared out a few things that I really needed to but I think I still need to be a lot more strict with my purchasing and really buy things when I need them as opposed to buying them to hoard. 

Have you done a make up clear out?  Let me know what products you've had to let go of and what you think about any of the products mentioned here in the comments section below!

Signing off now

Dusty Foxes.

Ch-Ch- Changes???

Hello!

A quick little mid week post here on the blog. This Sunday at 10:00 am GMT will have a new post up as usual, but I just wanted to talk a bit about the changes that have occurred over the past week or so here on the blog.

First off, I changed the colour scheme slightly. I know a lot of bloggers, especially beauty bloggers like white backgrounds for their text and as a general theme on the blog, but for me, I chose to use a slight blue tint still as that's my favourite colour. Hopefully it's easier to read the words now, especially on mobile.

Another thing I changed is the background of the blog. I wasn't really happy with the old background, so I changed it to this. I'll be sticking with this one until I find something I prefer, but hopefully you like it.

I also took Chaitra's CSS tips into mind, and made all my pictures into the same, large-ish size, so let me know if you like it! With that in mind, I also widened the blog slightly, so do let me know if you like that as well!

Finally, and maybe most notably, I changed my commenting system to Disqus! If you don't know what that is, it's a 3rd party system which allows you to be notified when I (or anyone else) replies to your comments (unless you sign in as a guest). I've been tempted to do this since I started my blog as I really like the engagement in comments, so now that I was tweaking things here I decided to take the plunge!

Don't worry if you don't have a Disqus account, it's really easy to make one or if you prefer, you can sign in with Facebook, Twitter or Google plus. I've also enabled guest commenting, so if you rather not hear from me ever again, you can use that (but please come back and visit my blog...). Hopefully this will help me engage with my readers a bit more, which I am looking forward to, so let me know what you think (with my new snazzy commenting system!)

Signing off now

Dusty Foxes

Project 10 Pan

Every year, I start off with a few days of rest, then cleaning everything up for a fresh start. This year was no exception to that, except, I realised that my few "sneaky purchases" ended up being more like a lot of very expensive, unnecessary purchases.

I originally thought that I would put myself on a spending ban and not buy makeup for say a month or 2, but then I realised that previously after my ban was over, I went and spent excessively which resulted in more stuff which I'm having trouble keeping (and since I'll be moving in summer, I'm already beginning to wonder what I'm going to do!)

Hence, I turned to the interwebs for tips for downsizing my makeup collection and the general consensus was throw out unused products, but that didn't work for me as all my makeup is relatively new (though I did choose a few products to toss).

Eventually I came across project 10 pan. It's one of those where the rules aren't clear and I can't seem to find who started it, but here it goes!


My rules:

1. I will not buy any more makeup unless that particular thing (eg foundation) is completely finished. If it's something like eyeshadow, I will use up the dupes in my collection before buying a new one. In this case, either I can choose a new product or my favourite one of the ones I've tried. I can buy one replacement only.

2. I will reward myself by adding a high-end product into my collection. In my crazy spending spree, I bought a bunch of makeup like the Naked palettes and haven't used them yet. I've decided not to use them until I've used up at least 10 products as I know I won't use the makeup I have already if I start using those! It's also a good initiative to remember this project! Most people would remove their spending ban, but I want to really downsize my collection first so I'm using a reward system instead!

3. If there is something that I really want, either a replacement (that I still have others of the same of, see rule 1) I will write it down in my notebook and see how I feel about the product once I've finished the other products. An example of this is the Benefit They're Real Mascara. I already know I want to repurchase it, but I have a lot of other mascaras to finish first!

4. I will post reviews of the things I finish on the blog! This is to make sure I don't get tetchy about not having things to blog about and also so that you (my lovely readers) can see my opinions after using a product up completely!

5. Anything can be considered an empty, including body butter and body scrubs, but not soap, shampoo, conditioner or single use masks. This is because I tend to use them up quite quickly anyway. Also, items that go off or I decide I don't want anymore because they're not that great, can't be considered. I have to actually use them!

More details:

Review: Barry M Natural Dazzle Matt Bronzing Powder Compact

Sorry for the long hiatus again, but if you've been following my instagram, you may have seen that I've been away and my laptop screen broke so I had to get it repaired. I have mentioned that blogging is just a hobby for me, and sometimes, hobbies have to take a backseat. Unfortunately, this is one of those times. I managed to find an extra hour or so to type up a review of one of my most used products so hopefully you'll enjoy and I'll be able to update my blog more in a month or so.

This is the Barry M Natural Dazzle Matt Bronzing compact and the one photographed is my backup compact and if that doesn't tell you how much I love this, nothing will. I mentioned this in my Project 10 pan as well, but as that one has been depotted, I decided to use the backup to take pictures. I use this mainly as a contour shade as it is matte and has a grey undertone instead of an orange one. It is super easy to use as it isn't too pigmented and thus is good for beginners. It is quite easy to blend so long as you don't put on too much product but can look quite stripy if not blended properly.

Here is a swatch and it may look scary but I had to build this up quite a lot. Forgive the shadow on it, but this was the picture that shows the grey undertone a little better.

Here it is blended out. If you can see the dip looking thing on the back of my hand, that's the powder. It blends in quite easily so it's not super noticeable, but provides a shadow look - which is great for contour! Just FYI, my hand doesn't actually dip like that when it is in a fist. That's the effect of contour. I don't use this much on my face, but I thought it would show the effect a bit more.

I apply this lightly with my Real Techiques Contour Brush, in the 3 motion and it just adds dimension to my face.

It costs £5.99 and is available anywhere that sells Barry M. I got mine from Superdrug.

Have you tried it? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Signing off now,

Dusty Foxes