Sonia Kashuk 15th Anniversary Brush Set (only at Target) - Review & Photos

 

Sonia Kashuk 15th Anniversary Sets are on sale now at Target, for approximately 40-50% off, depending on the location. I picked up the Sonia Kashuk 15th Anniversary Brush Set and this is my first impression of the product as well as a review of how these brushes perform after having used them for about a week. This set normally retails for $39.99 but I picked mine up for $27 during the clearance sale.

The brush set comes with 15 brushes and features a wide array of brushes, I can't even think of any others which you may need to complete your beauty routine, this is an all-inclusive set. The purple bristles, golden ferrules, aubergine weighted handles, and golden cap bottoms make them look very elegant and high end.

Let's start by reviewing everybody's favorites: the eye brushes. From right to left, the set contains: a large blending brush, a medium crease blending brush, a small crease brush and a flat eyeshadow brush. The flat eyeshadow brush is ideal for packing color onto the lid. The medium crease blending brush is great for applying a crease transition shade and the small crease brush is wonderful for targeted application of a crease shade.The large blending brush is for feathering out your shadows after application to achieve a seamless look. All of these brushes perform as well as any higher end brushes I own.

You also receive, from left to right, an eyebrow spoolie, a flat lipliner/eyebrow/small shadow brush, an angled liner/eyebrow brush, and a pointed shadow liner brush. I like to use the flat lipliner/eyebrow/small shadow brush (not its technical name) to apply powder to my eyebrows, and the angled brush is ideal for applying gel eyeliner. The pointed shadow liner brush is great for getting color just under the lower lashline, this has been my primary use for it. 

These are two very conventional brushes, one is a larger powder brush and the other is a blush brush, I use them as the names suggest and am very pleased with the results. The blush brush is the ideal size to cover the apples of my cheeks and up to my temples.

The dense brushes in this set are a an angled foundation/powder brush and a buffing brush. I use the angled brush to apply my foundation, but it does not provide the smoothest of finishes, so I go back over my liquid foundation with the buffing brush to make it seamlessly blend into my skin. Both of these brushes also perform very well with powders.

This contour brush is worth the purchase of this whole set, it is a dupe of the NARS Ita brush (which is a single brush that costs $55!) - I can tell you that it is varied from it in the sense that it is more densely packed, has a larger thickness and has slightly shorter bristles. I use this brush to deepen my contour after using a larger brush to apply a contour transition shade.

These are the liquid/cream brushes which are best used as a foundation brush and small concealer brush. I like using these with thick products because they provide a very precise application while not letting product drip all over my face. Ideally I find that these apply concealer well under my eyes and on spots. 

Overall, I think this purchase is a great buy, the brushes don't bleed when you wash them although I do suspect that they will start to fade a little bit after multiple washes. There is also no hair fall-out from these brushes, they are dense and stay that way through continued usage - so they are nice quality overall, especially for their value (they were less than $2 each for what I paid!).

Product Review & Swatches: Too Faced Everything Nice Palette for Sephora Holiday 2014

The Sephora-exclusive Too Faced Everything Nice (That's What Pretty Girls Are Made Of) Set retails for $56 and is currently available for purchase here. There has been so much hype and speculation over this palette and I spoke about it really briefly in a previous post. UPS just delivered mine so I've put together this review ASAP. Basically, this set is a variation of the Too Faced Few of My Favorite Things Set from last Holiday 2013.

This year the bag is... not as spectacular as last years. This is for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's a bright fuchsia color that doesn't particularly appeal to me and secondly, it has chunky glitter particles adhered to its backside. I'm not sure why Too Faced went this route over, say, a clear window panel, but the glitter catches onto other fabrics and flies off everywhere. The back of the bag does not have a smooth texture, it is rough due to the large pieces of glitter. The cutest part is the zipper which has a round ornament on it, but it does add even more bulkiness to an already large bag.

The next issue I have with the bag is that it was not designed to fit the Everything Nice palette! Deceptively, they come in the box together, next to one another, but the box is much thicker than the bag and the zipper of the bag does not open the whole say, so you could never fit the palette inside. I suppose it's meant as a "bonus" for us to keep other makeup inside.

The inside of the Everything Nice Set is a charming little number. It consists of 20 fairly large (basically full sized) eyeshadows, 2 blushes, a bronzer, a highlighter, a deluxe mascara (Better Than Sex) and a 3-piece mini brush set. You're receiving a great variety of color in multiple textures, including shimmer, matte, satin and glitter. I think some basic math will tell you that this set is worth the price - I can see them selling for double or triple on eBay once stock runs out at Sephora.

For me, deluxe sized mascaras are cute for travel, so I'm happy to have received the Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara. I like the conventional yet slightly bulkier mascara wand, I find that it gives me extra volume and carries a good amount of product so I won't have to re-dip during application.

The synthetic brush trio has cute handles, which have glitter suspended inside a layer of resin (which is what I would have preferred the makeup bag to be) so the glitter is really only aesthetic but won't scratch or fly off. The largest brush might be useful for contouring under your cheekbones, there is a decently sized eyeshadow brush and a liner brush (can also be used as an eyebrow brush). You're getting a nice variety of brushes and they are held securely in the set by a plastic strap so they won't fall out every time you open the palette.

Too Faced Everything Nice - Sephora Holiday 2014
Sweet Pink, Papa Don't Preach, Chocolate Soleil, Inner Light & Synthetic Brush Trio

Swatches of Too Faced Everything Nice - Sephora Holiday 2014

As you can see, these colors all swatch well and are of the quality I always expect from Too Faced's products. All of the face products are smooth and buttery, easy to apply and blend.

• Sweet Pink is a light blue-toned pink with golden finely milled glitter.
• Papa Don't Preach is a shimmery bronze peach color which was exceptionally smooth
• Chocolate Soleil, their cult classic, smells like chocolate and is a warm mid-toned bronzer.
• Inner Light, a re-promote from the Be Bright palette, is a pale golden highlight with fine gold glitter 

Eyeshadows in Too Faced - Everything Nice Set for Sephora Holiday 2014

A quick overview of the shadows will reveal matte, satin, shimmer, metallic, glitter and duochrome shades. This set contains a wide variety to please every taste. Some shades are even multiple finishes, such as metallic shimmers and they are interesting and unique.

Swatches of Row 1 of Too Faced Everything Nice Eyeshadow Palette

• Turtle Dove - pale highlight white matte, will not achieve fully opaque color
• Dream On - neutral nude matte
• After Hours - metallic dark gold, super pigmented and buttery
• Fawned of You - light caramel-toned brown matte, very highly pigmented and smooth
• Knockout - appears dark brown in pan but secondary swatch reveals medium brown matte

Swatches of Row 2 of Too Faced Everything Nice Eyeshadow Palette

• Paper Roses - pale baby pink shimmer
• Kindness is Free - pearlescent pink shimmer satin
• Mauvelous - lilac silver shimmer (re-promote from Too Faced Be Bright Holiday 2013)
• Be You - warm taupe matte, well pigmented
• Secret Lovers - dark chocolate brown shimmer, very pigmented and smooth

Swatches of Row 3 of Too Faced Everything Nice Eyeshadow Palette

• Heaven - light nude matte, fairly weak pigmentation
• Shiny Happy - metallic green-toned gold shimmer
• Honey Pot - metallic yellow gold, very smooth and highly pigmented
• Don't Settle - antique gold metallic shimmer
• Girly - green burnt orange/brown duochrome - the most unique color in the palette, I love this one; re-promote form the Too Faced - Pretty Rebel palette (thanks to reader Selina Alexandria for the info!)

Swatches of Row 4 of Too Faced Everything Nice Eyeshadow Palette

• Totally Fetch - bright fuchsia pink satin, re-promote form the Too Faced - Pretty Rebel palette (thanks to reader Selina Alexandria for the info!)
• Live It Up - purple shimmer with sparse blue, less intense than Totally Fetch and Too Glam
• Too Glam - satin metallic emerald green with fine shimmer, extremely pigmented
• Head Over Heels - dark navy blue with cobalt blue glitter densely packed inside
• Chocolate Moon - dark brown with sparse gold glitter - this color may be an attempt at black, but the opacity just isn't there, so I would say that it comes off much more like a dark brown

I really like this palette, of course there are some misses (Head Over Heels, Chocolate Moon, Heaven) but for the most part, this palette is absolutely fantastic. You will be able to create a wide variety of looks, and even the worst of the palette is still definitely usable, you just have to layer and work with the product. Overall, the consistency of all of the powders is very good, the extra bonuses of the set are a cute addition, and it would make a beautiful holiday gift for any makeup fan. The packaging is cute and sturdy, even though it is made of a condensed and covered cardboard. 

If you are considering purchasing this set, I recommend doing so early, because last year's equivalent sold out in a few weeks and I suspect this will do the same due to its high quality and great value.

E.L.F. Studio Large Brush Holder Review

A long-time favorite of mine is the E.L.F. Studio Large Brush Holder. This retails on the elf website for $15, but since they frequently have 50% off sales, I purchased mine for $7.50. It reminds me of the makeup holders that MAC has their brushes (or used to) in their stores and it looks very luxurious and high end. Don't mind the  powder smears on mine, it's well-used and well-loved. It is also very easily cleaned with a wet cloth or paper-towel, I just haven't gotten around to it for awhile.

The container itself has 3 compartments with 2 dividers, it has a matte finish with a soft rubberized feel reminiscent of the NARS packaging (which E.L.F. is notorious for duping in much of their packaging for blushes and lipsticks). These are fairly generous compartments with each one fitting more than a typical mug might (particularly because there are no tapered edges at the bottom).

The angled view of the bottom reveals that I have added some Adhestive Grips to the bottom since there aren't any on the actual product, this gives me the added security that the brushes won't all fall over if I accidentally hit it with one of my palettes when I'm in a rush to get ready. 

The overhead view really provides a good angle of just how much I was able to fit into this brush holder. My brushes are separated by type, with the left-most compartment holding eyeshadow brushes of all shapes and functions (53 eye brushes in total), the middle compartment holding foundation/concealer and smaller powder brushes (13 in total) and he right-most compartment containing large face/powder brushes (10 enormous brushes are housed here). There is even more room in each compartment and I could stuff it even more, but I like to leave room so I can easily handle my tools.

All in all, I think this is a great, inexpensive and professional-quality purchase at a really affordable price. It's not the most glitz or glam, but I find that it doesn't stick out in my room and it actually hides the fact that my brushes are so dirty (I figure a white container would probably make my brushes look VERY dirty).

E.L.F. review

I purchased a bunch of things when E.L.F (eyes, lips, face) had a sale awhile ago and I got basically everything you see here for about $31.00, shipping included. I've heard great things about some of their products and seen them in video reviews, so I figured I would give them a shot, after all they are so inexpensive it's hard to stay away (most of their products are sold for $1/product). I don't know how they sell everything so inexpensively, but it goes to show you that a lot of makeup products are so overpriced and are probably filled with the same kinds of chemicals. Obviously there will be *some* quality difference, I wouldn't purchase face creams and health-related items from an inexpensive website because you don't necessarily know what you're getting, but in terms of the things I got, I'm perfectly fine with the quality. This is my haul:

I decided to experiment with bronzers but I wasn't willing to pay too much for them because I don't know how often I'll be using them or which shade I like best, I figured it was best to first try my hand with these big products from E.L.F. that I knew would last me awhile. It also helps the packaging is basically a mimic of NARS packaging, which gives it a higher quality feel. I also purchased an eyebrow kit, brushes, brush shampoo, sponges, shimmering facial whip, cover sticks, all-over face powder, blushes, and an eyelash curler (something I've always wanted to try out but never wanted to splurge on as a purchase).

 For $3 each I purchased the 'Golden Bronzer' and 'Contouring Blush and Bronzing powder' from left to right on top of the photo, respectively. These colors are true to the way they look, the color payoff is great, and they have a beautiful shimmer to them, which isn't too sparkly but appears as a dewy finish on your skin. In terms of single-shade bronzer, I chose the $1 each 'Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder' in 'Sun Kissed' and 'Matte Bronze'. The latter of these is too dark for my fair skin tone, but they also have a little bit of sparkle (matte bronze has considerably less and will not give you a dewy finish). Finally, as an all-over face powder, I chose 'Clarifying Pressed Powder' in 'Rosy Beige' because I was running low on my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish. Obviously, this product's quality is nowhere near that of a MAC powder, however I was pleasantly surprised that it is just as good as any drugstore brand (L'Oreal, Revlon, etc.) which usually retail upwards of $8. I found that the powder colors appear darker in reality than they do on their website photos, had I known this, I probably would have gone with a lighter shade.

I was intrigued with their $3 each blushes being package duplicates of NARS blushes, so I purchased one as a highlighter in 'Gotta Glow' and one in 'Mellow Mauve' because I normally purchase colors that are lighter, so I wanted to try a darker blush for a change. I have used the highlighter a whole lot, it's useful for the inner corner of your eyes to give you that refreshingly awake look and for on top of your cheekbones so they appear larger and more beautiful. I was glad I went with a darker blush because the color payoff doesn't appear to be too great with these blushes, you have to put quite a lot on your brush to get any color at all out of it. Finally, I purchased the 'Natural Radiance Blusher' in 'Blushing', this one had larger glitter specks inside of it and is much more pigmented than the other ones, but the packaging is just awful. I wouldn't purchase this again even though it was only $1 because it's really a small amount of blush, in a very annoying package that you have to slide to get open every time (it even took me awhile to figure out how to open it!).

 I got extremely excited when I saw that they had a 'Waterproof Eyeliner Pen' because I thought that for $1 I could get the equivalent of Stila's waterproof eyeliner pen (which this appears to be a packaging duplicate of). Right off the bat I purchased three of them in plum, coffee and black. when they arrived, I was excited that they tip is easy to use and went on waterproof on my hand. Unfortunately when I tried it out on my eyes, I found that the formula was too dry and the pen has to be pressed too hard onto your eye and you never quite can achieve that perfect line that I go for. If you're fine with just a smudged line, these are ideal. But if you're looking to do that perfect cat eye, stay away from these pens because you'll just be disappointed. I also purchased a $1 eyelash curler which is just as good as any other eyelash curler I've ever seen and even comes with a replacement pad. Then, I went for the $3 'Eyebrow Kit' in 'medium' which happened to be the perfect color for my eyebrows. This comes with an eyebrow pigmented wax (the darker color) to fill in your eyebrows and keep them in place, as well as the lighter brown color as another aid to filling the color in and setting the wax. I'm very happy with this product and I use it every day now, it also came with a handy little brush if you don't have one to begin with.

The difference between the 'All Over Cover Stick' and the 'All Over Color Stick' is that the former is very matte and can cover your pimples (it's a thick formula) and the latter is sheer and slides onto your skin like cream (it has a shimmery finish and is not matte at all). At $1 each, they are both worth the price for their respective uses (one to cover pimples, the other to add highlights to your face). The 8-pack of sponges is also $1 and is just as good as any sponges you will get at the drugstore, while the brushes I purchased were also the same price. I'm a big fan of the 'Defining Eye Brush' for contouring my eyes with nude colors because the color doesn't go on too harsh as with other brushes, the bristles are more spaced out and give a fluffier appearance to the brush. However, I have nothing positive to say about the 'Foundation Brush' and the 'Eye Shadow Brush'. The foundation brush is far too small to do anything with, it would take you much too long to apply your foundation with this poor excuse for a brush (it's way too thin and small overall). The eye shadow brush is also really flimsy and very short, you can't pack a whole lot of product onto it, so unless you like a very faint wash of color on your eyes, this is not a good brush.

 A video review convinced me to purchase the 'Shimmering Facial Whip' which is a product of creamy consistency which a very potent color. These colors also have a ton of staying power, they won't come off or wear off as the day goes on at all. They're a great value at only $1 each, I purchased the colors 'Lilac Petal' and 'Toasted'. I use these as a base for eyeshadow looks by placing them on my eyelid instead of primer or concealer, they give a very sheer finish. You can use these in any way you want on your face, they are very versatile, I have read of people using them as lipgloss and blush. This is definitely a product I recommend.



You can purchase a bunch of their items online at Amazon as well, they make great stocking stuffers or Christmas gifts and really are very inexpensive for a large quantity of good products: