I finally decided to pick up a few new brushes, mainly E.L.F because they were super cheap and cost me no more than $25 for all four E.L.F brushes. I'm sure like many of you out there, I associated the thought of cheap brushes to something that would be terrible quality however, after much research (watching a lot of kathleenlights videos) I decided to bite the bullet and grab a few. Surprisingly, these brushes are really soft and I use two out of the four everyday! (I picked up another one but after I took this photo)I only recently dipped my cheeks into the world of blushes and didn't want to go all out and buy an expensive brush. I didn't know if I would like blushes on me, so investing in a decent brush/blush wasn't really something I had in mind. I was always a bit iffy about it because I honestly thought that a blush wouldn't really make a difference but in reality, it adds a really nice subtle warmth to your complexion.
Anyway, back to the brush at hand, I didn't really like thus brush for my cheeks. I think its a bit too big and picks up a bit too much product. SO instead, I started using it as a bronzing brush. Not really to apply my bronzer, but to blend it in. As it is so soft, it really diffuses and distributes the bronzer across the face. It's particularly great for blending bronzer around the forehead and temples area. Now this blush brush is great for blush... he he he. I used to apply it by painting the blush onto my skin and then blending it in but I stopped that method a couple of week ago because I found that using a circular motion works much much better. The circular motion helps to really work it into the skin so that you don't end up with a big pink blush stripe across your cheeks. I definitely recommend this brush over the angled one.I'm not the biggest fan of stippling brushes and now I remember why. A couple of years ago, I was once the owner of a Real Techniques Stippling brush and I absolutely hated it - only because the whole dual fibre brush thing wasn't really my cup of tea. I decided to try this one out because I have really upped my makeup game and skillz (just kidding!) and wanted to see if maybe it didn't work for me because I hadn't mastered its technique. However, as I had expected - it didn't impress me. It left my concealer looking streaky and I had to use another brush to clean up the mess. It feels kind of flimsy and I definitely would not recommend this.This is my absolute favourite E.L.F brush! Its comparable to the Real Techniques Setting Brush but I think it does an even better job! I use it to set my concealer with the E.L.F HD Undereye Setting Powder. It sets the powder so beautifully and leaves no crease marks, these two paired together are a match made in makeup heaven! It's small enough to fit under the eyes and soft enough to leave no harsh lines. This one is definitely my pick of the lot!
Now for the rest of the brushes:This brush was gifted to me by my cousin who at the same time got me the Opal Becca Highlighter! This highlighting brush applies highlighting powders beautifully. It picks up powders quite easily and deposits it on your skin quite seamlessly. I only have two highlighters, the Becca one and the Mary-Lou Manizer and even just tapping the brush into the powders picks up a nice amount. My highlight isn't on fleek like Desi's or Katy's but to me I'd still say it's still pretty good!I mentioned this brush before, but this was my favourite setting brush until the E.L.F one came along. It is pricier than the E.L.F one and they do the exact same job. THIS is the brush I would recommend as a bronzing brush. It;s amazingly soft with the ability to blend like a dream. As I don't use a powder to set my foundation, putting on powders on top of semi-wet foundation usually leaves your face looking cakey. The powder usually just sits on top and just chills there where everyone can see. I don't usually powder because I haven't found the perfect powder yet (but I've been eyeing off the laura mercier one) so finding this brush was a dream. Like I said it doesnt leave my bronzer looking caked up in the one spot, it allows me to distribute the bronzer evenly across my face. When I saw the new bold metal collection, I knew I had to have at least one! I chose to the flat contour brush as I felt that I would get the most use out of it. It's completely different to all the brushes I own. First off it's densely packed, there's a lot of very soft bristles that pick up a LOT of product with just one dip into any powder. Because of this, if you're after a real sharp contour, that will be easy to build up and blend out this would be the ideal brush for for you. However, for me I use this to initially add bronzer and then blend it out with the RT sculpting brush as it's much quicker for me!