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There's nothing quite like that little feeling of victory you get from finding a great bargain. Honestly though, I wasn't expecting to discover anything worth raving about from my scavenge through Superdrug's own brand of make up brushes. How wrong I was...
I've been looking for a decent concealer brush for a while now without a great deal of luck. Everything seems too small to be of use (E.L.F Studio Line- I'm talking to you!) or too expensive. So far, I've managed to resist the lure of the MAC 195 brush, and finding this little high street gem has banished temptation completely!
I'd actually gone to Superdrug to check out the Real Techniques range, but the display looked like it had been attacked by a taklon-hungry monkey, and the store was almost entirely sold out. I'd never taken any notice of Superdrug's own brand brushes before, but curiosity got the better of me and I decided to purchase the "Blending Brush" for the hefty price tag of £1.99. Interestingly, it's not predominantly marketed as a concealer brush, but as an eyeshadow blender. To me, it seems far too big for its intended purpose, and I think the company is really missing a trick by not calling it a concealer brush on the packet.
It was hard to get any idea of the quality of the product through the garish cheap packaging, but for the money I thought it wasn't the end of the world if it turned out to be crap. I was pleasantly surprised when I got it home to find that the synthetic brush head was very soft, yet stiff enough for working with a liquid product. The main positive about it is the size. It's chunky enough that working under the eyes takes only a couple of seconds, whilst being slim enough for more fiddly areas such as around the nose. It works well with both cream and liquid concealers. I've tried it out with my E.L.F All Over Colour Stick and my MAC Select Moisture Cover- both resulting in a flawless finish. Arguably, the most impressive thing about this product is that it does not shed one bit! Amazing for such a cheap little thing. It hasn't lost a single hair so far, even when I've washed it.
Of course, for £1.99 it's not perfect. It could do with being a little bit denser to make application smoother. This really is my only complaint though, and wouldn't stop me repurchasing the brush. Because of its size (about a half an inch in width) , it's not ideal for detailed work such as scars and blemishes so I'm sticking to the pointy end of my Beauty Blender for this. However, I think that this is a fantastic staple for and brush collector on a budget and I know it's going to be getting a lot of use.
Before I found this product I was never really into cream eyeshadows. Sure, I had a couple of E.L.F ones and a MAC Paint Pot, but Mayelline Color Tattoo's are absolutely fantastic! They each cost £4.99 and you get 4 grams per pot (according to the interwebz), which is a bloody good deal for such a great product.
I currently own 4 of the eyeshadows (L to R) in "Turquoise Forever", "Endless Purple" "On and On Bronze", and "Permanent Taupe". As you can see from the snaps, the names are pretty self-explanatory, but the colours on the lid don't resemble the actual product at all! Three out of four of these shadows have shimmer in them, but "Permanent Taupe" is matte and seems to be my favourite so far. I bought the first two of these products (bronze and turquoise) in my local Boots store, and the others were purchased in Superdrug. As far as I could see, the rest of the range is very shimmer-intensive, with the exception of taupe, of course.
The colour in the pot is very true to the colour on the skin. These eyeshadows, on the whole, are incredibly pigmented with amazing payoff. A little goes a very long way indeed, so I imagine I'm not going to be running out any time soon. My only gripe is with "Endless Purple" which is ever so slightly more sheer than the other shades, as you'll be able to see from the swatches. All this means is that you have to work a little bit harder to get the same amount of intensity on the skin as you do with the others, but it's not a major issue at all.
(L to R: "Turquoise Forever", "Endless Purple" "On and On Bronze", "Permanent Taupe")
The consistency is what makes this product so lovely. Each one is very creamy, and blending is an absolute breeze. I think this is what makes them so wearable- you can blend them to be as strong or as muted as you wish. I'm favouring application with a stiff, synthetic brush at the moment, but I've also managed to create a few looks with my fingers. I've found that applying them to the upper lash line on a flat brush adds a pop of colour to my eyeliner, so the Color Tattoos are definitely multi-functional. They dry fast, but not so fast that you can't work with them and they don't crease at all, even after a full day's wear. Oh, and when they say 24 hours, they mean 24 hours! I'm a little ashamed to say that after a heavy night recently, I went to bed in a full face of make up and woke up to find my eyes exactly how they were when I went to sleep- not even slightly smudged. I've also tested them out in the shower, so I think it's pretty safe to say they're waterproof too. Of course, this means that you're going to have to use a good quality remover to get them off- the standard baby wipes might not do it.
I should probably say a word or two about the wonderful packaging. The pots are ridiculously tactile I'm finding myself obsessively cradling them. For such an inexpensive product, the packing is seriously substantial- each shade is presented in a satisfyingly chunky glass pot with a screw top. Just a word of warning- I've noticed from other reviews that the packaging in the States is slightly different, as are the available shades, so this is something to watch out for.
Honestly, I cannot praise this product highly enough. The colour and consistency is that of a high end brand, but at a fraction of the price you really cannot go wrong. As a base for other shadows, a liner, or on-the-go all-over lid color, Maybelline Color Tattoos really do tick all the boxes. BUY, BUY, BUY!
I've been meaning to get this whole blog thing underway for a ridiculous amount of time now. I'll start by introducing myself; I'm Rachel.
I'm 17 (18 in a month- bring it on!) and currently studying for my A-levels, whilst keeping up a weekend job in a café, bakery and ice cream shop. I guess you could say that this makes me a pretty typical teenager with pretty typical teenage finances- I'm as poor as a church mouse. So, it's somewhat unfortunate, I suppose, that I've got a rather expensive hobby which is hoarding make up, fashion and beauty products like there is no flippin' tomorrow.
I'm sure I can't be the only girl who enjoys a lifestyle she can't financially sustain, so I guess jumping on the blogging bandwagon and passing the occasional thought on the affordable-beauty-product-of-the-moment can't be such a bad idea.
I've just had my final splurge of the year (or so I tell myself) on a couple of online orders from e.l.f.com and mememe.com, so I'll have plenty to witter on about for a bit. Very excited to get going on the nitty-gritty of the cosmetic world so I'm going to keep my little intro short and sweet for now! Hopefully I'll get the hang of this blogging thing nice and quickly.
Rach.
