Living on a student budget isn’t easy, especially when you want to look good for that crush sitting three rows ahead in that sociology lecture. I am a huge advocate of drugstore makeup, although I have to admit I cannot part with my Chanel foundation (it’s seriously the best!), so when I came across Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman brushes at Boots while studying aborad I never looked back.
For those of you who don’t know, Samantha Chapman is one half of Pixiewoo, her sister and herself are beauty ‘gurus’ and actual makeup artists. Samantha signed on to develop her own line of makeup brushes a few years ago and boy, is this ever a collection to smoke out the drugstore and high end makeup brush competition.
I absolutely love these brushes for several reasons:
- They’re afffordable. The single brushes don’t cost over $10 each and the kits not over $20. For me that’s a steal because makeup brushes can go upwards of $40 with high end brands.
- They’re synthetic. Personally I love synthetic brushes because they can be softer and hold up to brush cleaning MUCH better. I find that when I wash brushes that have real hair, they tend to get more mangled faster over time than my synthetic ones. This collection’s for you my cruelty-free-loving friends!
- Quality and design. These brushes are absolutely perfect for what they’re designed to do. All of them have great density, not flimsy. When I find a good buffing brush to apply my foundation flawlessly, I hold on tight. Some of my favourites for face makeup is the Expert Face Brush and the Stippling Brush. In addition, I love that the ferrule is longer than than any of the brushes I own which helps when I’m washing them. The soapy water doesn’t get inside the ferrule as easily so it’s less prone to the glue holding the handle and the ferrule together to loosen, thus prolonging the life of the brushes longer.
I know there are a ton of brushes on the market that have exploded in popularity because of YouTube like Sigma, Coastal Scents, Royal and Langnickel, Crown Brushes and so on, but I cannot say enough good things about these, collegiettes, you’ll have to try these out for yourself and see why I love them so much! However, they have a few attributes that are a bit of a downer:
- They’re hard to track down if you live in Canada. I ordered mine from iherb.com which ships to Canada for a flat rate of $4 for orders over $40. That seems to be the only affordable option for us Canadians, but I know my U.S readers can get them from Ulta. They also
- The brush case that comes with the brush kits can’t accomodate the single brushes because the end of them are shaped fatter than the middle of the handle. This makes it hard to push the brush through the elastic band to secure the brush in the case. However, you can fit other brushes with tapered ends in it easily.
Have you ever tried the Real Techniques brushes? Love ’em? Hate ’em? Let me know in the comments!
Find out more about the line here: http://realtechniques.com/