Real Techniques Brushes: Stippling Brush and Blush Brush

Ask anybody for recommendations of good quality, but reasonably priced make-up brushes and the first place that you will be directed is most likely to be Real Techniques. In fact, I am almost certain that you will be told to march yourself down to Boots, get yourself some Real Techniques brushes, and never look twice at another brand. And rightly so. They're fairly priced with individual brushes ranging from £6.99 - £11.99 (depending on the brush), they perform absolutely perfectly; giving a flawless and professional effect and they also last an absolute age! I have had my Core Collection (a great place to start for new make up brushes) for 10 months now and wash the buffing and contour brushes fortnightly and they still look, feel and perform as good as new. I love the fact that they don't shed either - nothing more annoying than finding little bristles scattered around your face while trying to do your make up!

If you're looking to extend your brush collection a little bit further then I have two suggestions here for you: Real Techniques Stippling Brush (£10.99) and Real Techniques Blush Brush (£9.99). The prices may vary by a couple of pounds depending on where you buy from, but the prices and links that I have provided are from Feel Unique - my favourite place to shop online for beauty products. 

Most of us know the basics with these brushes now: designed by one half of the Pixi Woo sisters (Sam Chapman), made with synthetic taklon bristles so that they don't suck up and absorb all of your product, wash like a dream, and have colour coded handles depending on which 'category' they belong to - Base, Finish and Eyes. As an extra, they have a flat bottom handle so that they're self-standing (not sure how much that would factor into your decision to buy these brushes, but it's a handy little extra), and they're just really lightweight, easy to use, fantastic quality and deserve all of the hype that they receive.

Stippling Brush
I find the stippling brush to work the best for use with cream or liquid products. It could be used to apply liquid foundation all over the face but the head of the brush is a little small for this to be done at any sort of speed - if you have all day feel free to use this for foundation because I have tried it and the finish was lovely. It looked smooth, flawless and almost airbrushed as there was no tell-tale brush marks or streaks. I much prefer this for dabbing into a cream blush and tapping across the tops of the cheek bones to give a very controlled hint of colour to the cheeks. The best function I have found for this is to use with a new found love in the form of a cream bronzer for contouring (for reference: ELF St Lucia cream duo - review to come); the brush head is small enough to offer precise and controlled application, but not so small that the end result doesn't look like an unnatural streak splashed across the face. Circling the flat top of the brush into the hollows of the cheeks effortlessly buffs the colour into the skin to look like a natural shadow.

Blush Brush
Of course there is nothing to say that you are confined to using each brush for the particular function that the brush is named for - I would never think to use a brush this size to apply blusher and I doubt that many would. The tapered shape and densely packed bristles of the brush are what appealed to me the most and I find myself using this most often for dusting powder products over my face - whether it is bronzer, highlighter or sometimes even setting powder, it doesn't matter which one I choose as it always works brilliantly for any type of powder product. The bristles are soooo soft and easily pick up a good amount of product and blends it beautifully. I love the way that this can be a multi-use brush to use however you wish and can range from a light dusting of highlighter, to the full works of contouring your entire face!

I'm looking to try out the RT Powder Brush next, and maybe the Expert Face Brush too. 

Do you have any recommendations for me?

Thanks for reading!

Follow Me On Twitter - Follow Me On Bloglovin'

Voting is open for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2013
 Cosmetic Crave has been shortlisted for 'Best New Beauty Blog'

Spare a minute to vote for your favourite blog(s) here:
http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/blogs/cosmo-blog-awards-2013/cosmo-blog-awards-2013-shortlist-vote-here
♥