NicaBell Review: ELF Studio 11 Piece Brush Collection

Hello you!

I would like to wish Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin to all Muslims. I am unable to go out for Hari Raya to my friends and relatives house today because my cough is killing me!

So I bought my ELF Studio 11 Piece Brush Collection from Syiok Sendiri Sisters (Oh! Bless them!) as I have been wanting to have a complete set of makeup brush. I did own some brushes from TBS but not the whole range. And I previously use finger in makeup application.

Brand: ELF (Eyes.Lips.Face)

Made in: China (I think. Thus the cheap price tag.)

Range: Studio line.

Skincare Type: Makeup tools/brushes

Claims: (Taken from their website)Our ultra-luxe Studio Brush Collection contains 11 of our Professional Makeup Brushes, each one designed, tested and proven by a team of makeup artist pros to provide precision application every time. One of our most popular Makeup Brush Collection Sets, the Studio 11-piece Brushes are ergonomically designed to fit comfortably in your hand - with everything you need to create a flawless finish! 

This Professional Brush Set is ideal for any makeup artist at heart, at home or on the go. Perfect for traveling or for your busy, fast-paced lifestyle. You’ll love how you can quickly grab and store any of the 11 Studio Brushes included without taking up a lot of space. 

Our customers rave about what a time-saver these easy-to-use, easy-to-hold, and easy-to-love brushes are - whether going out for a night or going away for a week! And the Studio 11 Piece Brush Collection features a sleek, water-resistant case that holds and protects the full collection of beautiful, high-quality brushes. Talk about a great gift!  

What it says on the box: The ultra luxe makeup brush case is ideal for any makeup artist at heart! Perfect for on the go convenience so you can just grab and store without taking up a lot of space.

The sleek case is water resistant and holds a full collection of brushes for key protection and quick use.

Ingredients: Anti-bacterial synthetic hair taklon brushes; 

Pricing: SSS opened the pre-order spree for RM95. Pretty cheap for 11 piece of good brushes I tell you.

Texture: The hair is soft. The bristles that suppose to be soft is comfortably soft; the firm ones are nicely firm. 

Application: Let me explain each brushes for better understanding. 

ELF Studio - Complexion Brush

Love	No Love
~ I blame this brush because I do not reach to my TBS Face&Body Brush anymore. This one is soft but a bit firmer than the TBS.	~ If you are one of the peeps that pat your powder with your brush, this brushes is a bit pokey. Ouch! Itchy..

ELF Studio - Fan Brush 

~ This is one of the brushes existed that I don't know what to do with. A friend said it can be used for blusher, but there is a blush brush in this collection. To remove eye shadow fallouts on the cheek, okay perhaps. Bronzer, err... to thin for that? If you know what does this brush use as, please do tell me.


ELF Studio - Concealer Brush

Love	No Love
~ Firm. ~ Good for cream and liquid concealer & eye shadow. Not so much for any powder product.	~ I found no fault in this brush.

ELF Studio - Angled Foundation Brush

Love	No Love
~ Soft ~ Nice work for liquid foundation but haven’t try on cream yet. ~ The angled built is good for applying angled and small area like the side of the nose	~ None that I found.

ELF Studio - Powder Brush

Love	No Love
~ Firm and soft ~ Good for stippling, buffing, shading and blending the foundation onto the skin. ~ Not pokey.	~ Just the name. Someone at ELF should change the name from Powder Brush to Kabuki brush.

ELF Studio - Blush Brush

Love	No Love
~ Soft. ~ Good for cream and powder blusher. ~ Smaller than any blusher I have seen but works well enough.	~ None that I found.

ELF Studio - Smudge Brush

Love	No Love
~ Small & firm ~ Good for applying cream, gel and powder product. ~ Smudging eyeliner is effortless. ~ Small tip able to reach smaller area like inner corner of the eyes.	~ None that I found.

ELF Studio - Eyeshadow C Brush

Love	No Love
~ Good for all wet and dry product. ~ The bristle is big so good for applying eye shadow.	~ None that I found.

ELF Studio - Contour Brush

Love	No Love
~ Soft ~ Contouring job is great. ~ only tried on dry product but works great.	~ If you push the bristles to a side, you can see the inner part of the feral. Seems like some cheap brush.

ELF Studio - Angled Brush

Love	No Love
~ Soft & firm. ~ Good with both wet & dry product. ~ I have two of this brush so yay! On can be use for eyeliner and the other one for brows!	~ I have two that means I do not own the precision brush. Boo-hoooo!

ELF Studio - Brush Case

Water resistant and look quite nice. All black so no worries of dirt to show.

Overall, I am satisfied with the brushes. I give it 4.9 out of 5. lack of 0.1 point just because I do not own the precision brush. I really want to know what that do^^

Till next time.

xoxo

NicaBell

NicaBell Review: The Body Shop Face & Body Brush

Wassup guys!

I will be making another review for my favorite brush!

I bought this brush the same time I bought my M.A.C 187 brush. I got my yearly bonus at the time so I got all excited to buy good quality brushes.


I have always been a big fan of the TBS. I love the fragrance, the body butter, the lip pot, the nail buffer, the body scrub, etc. I love their make up even though I cannot wear them because TBS's make up is usually very shimmery and glittery. My face is too oily to add more shimmer to it XDDD

So when the brush was launch here in KK, I was excited but I cannot afford to buy it! Its quite expensive for me who is a student at the time. Then, I remember another friend who love the brushes told me: "Even OPRAH gives thumbs up to the TBS brushes!

As a young OPRAH fan from Malaysia, I got much more excited! It got me thinking, if OPRAH said they are good, then it must be very good then!

It cost me around RM 80++ and I didn't get the whole range too. The reason is because I didn't really need the rest. Well, at the time lah! Now, I think I really need to buy the other brushes into my collection^^

I learn that the bristles are made out of bamboo which I think the most amazing thing about the brush! I am actually okay with animal fur, but I would try to get vegan product if I get the chance.

I say that it is amazing not just because it is vegan, it is amazing because bamboo trunks are hard! The fibres are not suppose to be as soft as this bristles!

This brush is:-
1. Wide tapered brush
2. Very soft, no density
3. can cover the whole apple of the cheek.
4. Would not hold a lot of product during application
5. Could be used with wet and dry product.
6. Never shred even from the first time I wash and use it.

I love using this for applying loose powder to set my make up. The fact that it only pick up a little product helps a lot in the application.

I only have 2 minor issues about this brush.
1. The huge handle eats up a lot of space in my storage. The person who came up with the design might have the ideas that users will leave the brush by making it stands on its flat bottom. But I don't do that. Leaving brushes like that will only let dust, germs and bacteria to sit on the bristles easily.
2. It is quite burning for the wallet just to buy this brush. I feel like I am paying the price of it being a TBS product instead of a brush! And a friend had told me that TBS brushes are quite expensive for synthetic brushes.

Comparing the size with the M.A.C 187 brush. Look at how huge the handle is comparing to the 187 brush!!

No matter what, I still love this brush for what it have done for me. Good job TBS!

xoxo

NicaBell

NicaBell Review: M.A.C 187 Duo Fibre Brush

Hey-Yo! 

I am so happy that my best cousin had deliver her first child!! Her baby girl was borned on the same day and month with my brother and weight about 3.4kg. Baby girl have her daddy face, very chubby!! I was unable to visit her as I was busy with the preparation for my brother birthday party and prayer, to thank God that he was able to have a quick recovery from his accident. 

Back to the title, YES! I am going to give my opinion on the M.A.C 187 Duo Fibre Brush! Yay!! 

Known as the stippling brush and the skunk brush, this brush gives what its promise; airbrush finish!

The bristles is so fine, stippling with this gives an airbrush & flawless look!

It was called duo fibre because the bristles were made out of 2 types of fibre which are black goat fur and synthetic white fibres; nicknamed the skunk brush for its black & white bristles; and also known for stippling brush for the awesome method people usually use with it. 

It is a flat top brush with a metal feral and a black wooden stick. The brush is dense and that would help when you are stippling. 

I use it as my foundation brush and covers foundation all over my face with stippling motion. 

This brushed was introduced to me by Enkore through his EnKoreMakeup YT channel (He is so FAB!!) saying stippling  will help to give a flawless airbrush finish and he show the 187 brush as one of the most popular option for stippling. I was fascinated by it and saw another video (which I forgot the channel's name), she has quite a lot acne scars and I swear, her face look flawless after stippling the foundation with the 187 brush!! It gives me a thought: I MUST GET IT NO MATTER WHAT! 

It cost me about RM180++ (here in KK) and that is very expensive. But I never regret buying it because it really deliver what it promised. 

I have been using it for a whole year last year and I love it! I only have use it with liquid and gel foundation though. I personally thinks that it is a good brush if you are using foundation that has liquid texture. Gel foundation dries out fast so stippling it with this brush smell like a disaster to me. My face looked cakey and patchy because I can clearly see I cannot stipple it evenly as it already dried up. Gel foundations are not bendable with stippling method! 

If you  were to use it with swirling motion or stroking, you will not get the airbrush finish like it suppose to be. I have tried it, and I can see few streak here and there. 

For me, this brush is not a necessity to have in your make up bag. It is kind of a luxury item. It does gives a flawless finish which you can also get with primers and concealers. However, my reason to invest on this brush is because of my curiosity and it is hard to find good primer here. We don't have Sephora or UD here either. All we have here is M.A.C, TBS, SaSa, Watson, Guardian, Clinique, and other high end brands that I don't think have produce primers that I think worth investing. <<-- IDK. May be that is just me. So, suggest a good one for me puh-leeeeaaassse! 

I read some blog saying this brush sheds like craaayyyzzzaaayyy. Hell no! It does shred but it was minimal! I was it before I used the first time, it shreds like 3 or 5 bristles. Wash the second time, it shreds 2 or 3 bristles. And by the third time I wash it, there are no more shreds. 

Comparing the size with the PaperMate retractable ballpen.

If you haven't own one or going to get one, please give it a deep thought. IT IS EXPENSIVE!! But if you are such a curious cat, having one is a good anyway. Just make sure you have some money left till your next pay check! 

Till then! 

xoxo

NicaBell

NicaBell: What is STIPPLING?

I was thinking to make my review on the M.A.C 187 Duo Fibre brush and I know there are already many reviews out there about it but I just want to make mine too! 

But before that I would like people to understand what stippling actually means! 

The bristles like the skunk brush bristles for example are very fine and stippling with it gives an airbrush finish which is similar to the airbrushing technique; spraying the foundation onto the skin where the small particle of the product forms small dots onto the face. So, tapping/ stippling the foundation onto the skin gives a fine/micro foundation dots. Those fine/ micro dots gives a flawless finish without using too much product.

Many people have misunderstood what stippling is. 

Most people think: 

1. pour/pump the foundation 

2. tap/dip the flat top surface brush on the foundation

3. tap on the surface of the skin 

4. swirl to blend the foundation 

The actuality: 

1. pour/pump the foundation 

2. tap/dip the flat top surface brush on the foundation

3. tap on the surface of the skin

4. and tap tap tap 

5. keep tapping until your face covered with foundation. 

If you tap and swirl, that is not stippling. There are possible for you to get streak marks with that too. 

People who have acne scars, pores, freckles, uneven skin tone and blemishes would definitely fall in love with this technique!

It is a remarkable technique anyone could try. You doesn't necessarily have to own a M.A.C 187 brush. Just a regular but dense flat top brush will do. And make sure it is synthetic because natural bristles tend to absorbs more product! 

Till then! 

xoxo

NicaBell