Review - Spectrum Bombshell Collection

Hello! Today I want to talk about the Spectrum Bombshell collection. I have had these brushes for a while, but I wanted to try them out for a while before reviewing them so that I can talk about them properly. As you can see, these brushes are STUNNING, but stunning does not always equal functional, and as these brushes are shorter than Spectrum's usual brushes, I was curious to see how they would perform.

This set comes with two options of brush case - I opted for the clam shell case, although it does also come in a very pretty brush roll if you prefer something more compact to keep your brushes in. Both sets retail for £79.99 and Spectrum have a 10% discount code on your first order, taking it to £72 before delivery. Delivery is £3.99 in the UK and takes 2-3 days.

The case itself is absolutely stunning. It's a very eye catching pale gold and baby pink duo chrome colour with a rose gold zip closure. Unlike Spectrum's previous Glam Clam, this case comes with a detachable chain so you can take this out and use it as a bag if you wish, which I think is an excellent addition as my other case has just been shoved into a drawer since I got it. The case is sturdy and has elasticated holders for each brush. So lets take a look at the brushes!

I'm one of those girls who is in love with pink, so these brushes speak to my soul! Baby pink handles, rose gold ferrules and pink ombre bristles. They look absolutely stunning. The brush handles have "Spectrum" and the brush number printed in gold too. Very pretty, but are they practical?

There are 4 eyeshadow brushes in this set - A13, A07, B06 and A12. 

The A13 is a small flat brush designed to be used along the lash lines. It's nice for defining the lower lash line, and as it's quite fluffy as well as flat it blends the product nicely.

The A07 is also a flat brush, but less fluffy and absolutely ideal for packing colour on to the lid. As these brushes are made from synthetic hair they work beautifully with foiled or shimmer eye shadows, I really like this brush,

The A12 is Spectrum's pencil brush. Used in the same way as the A13, but I feel this brush gives better precision and I'd go for this one over the A13. I also like to use this brush on my lids to define the crease. It is an excellent brush for crease definition.

The B06 is a fluffy blending brush, in my opinion you can never have too many of these brushes! It's nice and soft and blends shadows really well. I took a picture of the brush from this set alongside the single B06 brush so you can see how much shorter the Bombshell brushes are.

It's not a huge difference, but you can see that they are definitely shorter than the standard brushes. They did take a little bit of getting used to (for me, anyway!) but they are nice if you want to pop a few brushes in your handbag but don't want to have to deal with those tiny little travel brushes that are no use to anyone/

The set also comes with a lip brush (A15) and a winged liner brush (A14). I don't have a lot to say about the lip brush, it applies product well and isn't super stiff like some can be. The A14 is listed on the Spectrum website as being a brush for creating winged liner. Personally I prefer a very small, fine detailer brush for winged liner but I did use this for my brows and although I do prefer my Anastasia Beverly Hills #15 brush, this one did the job well and was stiff enough to create a precise but natural brow.

The face brushes in this set are the C02, C03, A02, A02 and A00.

The C02 is a flat top contour brush and I really like this brush. It is stiff enough that you can apply your contour precisely, but still soft enough to blend it out effortlessly. 

The C03 is a tulip shaped powder brush. I'm personally not a huge fan of tulip face brushes, so I don't use this often, however it does apply powder products nicely.

The angled powder brush is the C04. This brush is super soft and not very densely packed so gives a nice, subtle application which you can build up if you wish,

This set has a brush which is new to Spectrum, the angled foundation brush (A02). According to the website, this is a softer version of the A05, their standard angled foundation brush. I use the B01 brush, which is their flat top version of this quite often so I wasn't sure what to make of an angled version! Unless I am using the Becca The One brush I only use flat topped foundation brushes so I was unsure about this one, but it is really good for getting the nose area, under eyes, between eyebrows - any area that needs a little bit more precision on application. I will be adding some more of these to my kit in the future.

The A00 is a really nice powder brush, It has lots of soft hairs, but not densely packed at all and sweeps powder across the face with ease.

This brush also comes with the set. It is the B05. I'll be honest with you, I have no idea what this brush is for. It reminds me slightly of the Wayne Goss Brush 16, but it's quite a bit wider. The Spectrum website lists this as a "Luxe Blender". I watched a couple of YouTube videos and I came to the conclusion that it may be a concealer brush, so that's what I used it for. I was not hopeful, but actually it applied and blended the concealer really well. I definitely prefer Spectrum's B03 for concealer, but I'd use this if I didn't have one to hand. 

If anyone knows what this brush is actually for, please leave me a comment!

Jeffree Star Lipstick - Real vs Fake

I have a lot of Jeffree Star's Velour Liquid Lipsticks. All of them, in fact (I know, I know, I'm a terrible person with no morals etc). But there was a period in time where if you didn't grab a new Jeffree release the moment it was available for sale, you missed out. Luckily, either the hype has died down due to his controversies this year, or he really has been working to make more units available for launches. Either way, I could not get hold of Gemini, and I wanted it BADLY!

Gemini was released in the summer, and I was unable to get it on the first release and following restock. So I took myself off to eBay to find one. I didn't think it'd be a problem, I'm pretty good at spotting fakes and I have bought one Jeffree Star product from eBay previously that had been real. I was wrong!

I paid £19.99 for Gemini, a terracotta red matte liquid lipstick. It arrived in a couple of days and I was so mad to find out that it was a fake! I mean, I paid more than retail price for this lipstick, I (wrongly) assumed it would be genuine! Now I have a genuine Gemini bought from Jeffree's website, I've taken some comparison picturess in the hope that this will help other people to spot counterfeit products.

Firstly, let's look at the boxes they come in;

Left: Genuine, Right: Fake

Left: Genuine, Right: Fake

Left: Genuine, Right: Fake

Left: Genuine, Right: Fake

Left: Genuine, Right: Fake

Left: Genuine, Right: Fake

At first glance, they appear to be almost identical. The boxes are the same shade of pink, with the metallic JS logo on the front. The writing on the front and sides is identically worded in white lettering. The writing is slightly closer together on the fake one, but the font and colour are the same, and I haven't spotted any differences in spellings - feel free to correct me though!

You can see that the stickers with the shade names are completely different, with the genuine sticker sealing the box closed. The fake has a small colour coordinated sticker with two stars and the shade name. However, if I remember correctly, this is how the lipsticks originally came labelled in the past,

There is also a serial number on the bottom of the real box, with nothing on the fake.

Left: Genuine, Right: Fake

Again, the tubes look almost identical. If you look closely though, you can see that the colours differ slightly and that the tube on the fake product is slightly taller than the genuine one. It's hard to tell from these pictures, but the counterfeit products have a darker shade of pink on the packaging.

Left: Genuine, Right: Fake

The genuine lipstick has a sticker on the bottom with the shade name, this counterfeit one has nothing on the bottom. Here are some comparison swatches. I swatched them on my arms, and have had no reaction to the fake lipstick, but that does not mean that they don't contain dangerous ingredients, and because of this there's no way I'm risking a lip swatch!

The genuine product is at the top, and the fake underneath. You can see that the fake is darker and more of a brick red than terracotta, but the shade match isn't completely off so I can see how easily people can be duped by these fake items!

Now, the counterfeit lipstick I received may not be identical to another counterfeit produced and sold by someone else, so these are just a guideline. In general, the easiest way to tell a fake Jeffree Star liquid lipstick from a real one, is by the wand. 

Left: Fake, Right: Genuine

The doe foot wand on a Jeffree Star lipstick is quite distinctive (unfortunately, my camera didn't want to focus on it). The doe foot should look a little "fluffy" and have a curve to it, this is to help the wand cover the curves in your lips effortlessly, and the doe foot should be flexible. The wand in a genuine Jeffree Star liquid lipstick is clear, not white.

The wand on this fake product is white, and has a long, flat doe foot applicator. the inner part of the lid is white, where it should be pink and this particular lipstick should have a ""root beer float" (or cat pee as some like to describe it!) scent. A fake will not be scented. Not all of the liquid lipsticks in this range are scented, but if you check the official Jeffree Star Cosmetics website it should say on the shade description if it is scented or not.

I have definitely learned my lesson about buying from eBay, and I hope this blog helps others out! If you're in doubt, message the seller and ask for proof of purchase. Or better still, buy direct from Jeffree Star Cosmetics, Beautylish or one of his other official stockists. A list can be found at https://jeffreestarcosmetics.com/pages/faq. Currently the only UK stockist is Beauty Bay who currently have a huge selection of shades in stock and offer next day delivery for those of us who have a serious makeup addiction and no patience!

My Favourite Makeup Brushes

Hello! Today I want to talk about some of my favourite makeup brushes. I will start off by saying, that other than my eyebrow brush, my all time favourite brushes are Illamasqua. I realise that they can be pricey, so aren't the best choice for someone on a budget or who is just starting out in makeup, but after a lot of years of makeup obsession and brush hoarding, I will always choose an Illamasqua brush over anything else. I have tried to mix up brands in this post though and have talked about different brands at varying price points, so hopefully this will be helpful to someone!

I rarely use Morphe brushes, but my favourite foundation brushes for a long time were the Morphe G6 and the M439, however I found them almost impossible to wash all the product out properly and they shed far too much for my liking. I never reach for them these days, my favourite foundation buffing brush is the Spectrum B01. Mine came as part of the Glam Clam set, which is ten brushes in a very pretty seashell brush holder for £59.99, although they do sell the B01 seperately (in pink and blue) for £8.99. This brush is flat topped so buffs foundation in beautifully, and it is dense enough to do the job well, but not so packed with bristles that it leaves streaks or the product gets stuck in the bristles and is difficult to wash out. The only problem with these brushes is that they are so pretty I have to psyche myself up to use them as I don't like getting them dirty!

A favourite to use on clients is Becca's The One Perfecting Brush. This is a very large, rectangular brush that on first sight looks like it would be ideal for contour. Becca markets this brush as an all in one tool for your makeup - foundation, blush, highlighter and contour application. I hate the idea of mixing products on my brush so I tend to use this either for contour or foundation. This brush applies foundation like a dream! It gives a natural, airbrushed finish to your look although I find that it does use up more product than the Spectrum brush does. This brush gives the perfect finish for bridal makeup in my opinion. The bristles are goat hair, so that's something to keep in mind if you are planning on using it on a vegan client. I also find that although the brush washes nicely, it stains so easily as you can see from my picture, This brush is available from Space NK for £40, although if you catch it on offer at QVC you might be able to save some money.

My favourite brush for powder application is the It Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe Airbrush Bronzer and Powder brush. This brush is SO soft! It's nice and chunky but not too bulky that you can't hold it and work properly. This brush just glides the powder over the face so you get an even application without any cakeiness. It Cosmetics isn't an easy brand to get hold of in the UK, but this brush was from QVC.

The Spectrum C02 is a flat topped contour brush. I really like this brush for contour as it's dense enough to give you a nice sharp line, but still soft enough that you can blend out your contour. It's dense but not stiff, and as it's from Spectrum it's really pretty! Mine came in The Bomb Shell set (£79.99 for 12 brushes), but it is available singly with a longer handle (The Bomb Shell collection have shorter handles) and in pink and blue for £8.99.

Another Spectrum brush, sorry! The B03 is great for buffing out concealer. When I do my own makeup, I like to blend out my concealer with my ring finger, but I always use a brush on clients. This has a nice flat top, and is dense enough to buff out but still very soft so as not to damage the delicate under eye skin. Mine is from the Glam Clam set, but a single B03 is £4.99.

I have just rediscovered the Real Techniques Setting Brush! I have had this a while, and only really used it as a back up in my collection, but it is not only perfect for setting the under eyes, as you would expect from the name, but if you are looking for the Instagram style "highlighter to blind your haters" look, this brush applies highlighter SO well! It gives a more intense application than a fan brush and you can build up the product to your desired level of glow! These brushes are £4.99 and are available in Superdrug, Boots and even some supermarkets.

I clearly had a hard time narrowing down my eye brush selection so I'll just go over these quickly! The Illamasqua Blending Brush (£22.50) is my absolute favourite eye brush, I have 3 or 4 of these in my kit and they blend eyeshadow like a dream. I also have some Spectrum B06 brushes (£4.99) in my kit too. I use a lot of eye brushes! My favourite flat brushes are the Illamasqua Eye Shadow Brush (19.50) and the Wayne Goss 17 ($32 from Beautylish). I use the 17 to set the eye primer with a light shade, and the Illamasqua brush for packing colour on the lid. My favourite pencil brush is the Wayne Goss 20 ($30, Beautylish). The Wayne Goss brushes are natural hair bristles, so again, keep this in mind when working on a vegan client.

Nearly done, I promise! My holy grail eyebrow brush is the Anastasia Beverly Hills #15 brush. This angled brush has a short handle so you can get close to the brows for precise application and it is super stiff which I love in a brow brush! There is also the #14 which has a spoolie on the other end, but I have a thing about double ended brushes (how are you supposed to store them?!) and I use disposable spoolies on my clients, so the #15 is more suited to my needs, The #15 is available on several websites for around £13. The other brush here is a(nother) Spectrum brush. The A09 is a tiny detail brush that's perfect for eyeliner. It doesn't lose its shape when it gets washed and I've had no splayed bristles either which is amazing for a £4.99 eyeliner brush!

Finally, my all time favourite brush EVER! This is an ancient Illamasqua brush that I bought probably around 7 years ago now. It was called the highlighter brush I believe, and it's what I use every day to apply my highlight. This brush is sadly discontinued now and I won't use it in my kit because I am unnaturally attached to this thing! I couldn't tell you how much I paid for this, but they do a similar brush, the Round Buffing Brush for £26. It's wider and denser than this one, but looks to be the closest to the old highlighter brush. If anyone knows where I can get a dupe, or if you spot one on a selling site anywhere PLEASE let me know!

Review - Lime Crime Diamond Crushers

Before I start this review, I think I should give you some background on my experiences and thoughts about Lime Crime.

I first discovered Lime Crime in 2009, when my friend sent me a text telling me I should go and check them out. I was immediately sucked in by the whole unicorn aesthetic and purchased every lipstick that was in stock, around 6 loose eye shadows and the eye primer (best primer I have ever used, if anyone knows where I can get something as good please get in touch with me). The products were mostly OK, with a couple of exceptions (New Yolk City anyone?) but hey, they came in holographic unicorn packaging so I didn't care and continued to buy anything and everything that Lime Crime ever put out. I did start to notice at some point that the lipsticks began to turn up looking nothing like the official swatches, the primer changed formula, the glosses were extremely sticky and stained my lips, and the eyeliner brushes splayed after two or three uses. I became disheartened and stopped buying from them. Then came all the drama surrounding this company and its owner. I was put off buying from them, and I didn't buy from Lime Crime in about five years.

This year, Lime Crime released their infamous Superfoils. After seeing Lisa Eldridge rave about them, I decided to give them a try. I really look up to Lisa as a makeup artist and truly trust her opinion. Mine turned up with strange black spots around the outside, no discernible "foiled" finish and the pink (Flamingo) stained my skin. Two days later, the news broke that people were finding mould in these Superfoils and they were to be discontinued. Great.

On to the review!

Lime Crime's latest release is the Diamond Crushers, 6 glittery "lip toppers" in a variety of shades, but all packed with sparkle. The Lime Crime website states that they can be used as a lip topper or highlighter. I have heard stories of people having reactions, and the Diamond Crushers having an unpleasant scent, so this release passed me by without raising much interest. That was, until I saw Alyssa Marie use them in several looks on her Instagram page. Alyssa is another of my favourite makeup artists, and she created some absolutely stunning looks using the Diamond Crushers. My head said no, but my sparkly makeup loving heart said yes!

The Diamond Crushers retail for $18 each on the Lime Crime website, or £13.95 on www.love-makeup.co.uk, Lime Crime also do a bundle, all 6 for $80.

My review is on the shade Choke, here is an arm swatch:

Super glittery and iridescent, this formula goes on pretty evenly and dries completely in less than 30 seconds. Really pretty, even on my see through skin! 

One thing I was really surprised by was the size of the tube. Lime Crime are known for their Velvetines being particularly small, and at $20 for 2.6g of product, they work out as one of the more expensive liquid lipsticks on the market. The Diamond Crushers are larger and less expensive, which is always nice!

I tried this lip topper on my lips (of course), inner corners of my eyes and my cheekbones. I have to say that I absolutely adore this product! The shine it gives off is absolutely amazing, it works wonderfully if you want to go for that "blinding glow" Instagram style highlight, is my favourite inner corner highlighter and it transforms your lipstick from day to night so quickly. The formula dries down beautifully, does not feel gritty on your lips/face and is pretty long lasting (although it did wear off my inner lips when I ate).

Diamond Crusher in Choke on top of Jeffree Star Cosmetics Sagittarius

The product has a very artificial strawberry scent to it. I actually prefer this to when brands pump their products full of that nasty artificial vanilla scent, but I can see how people would not enjoy the scent. The strawberry scent did go away once the product had dried down though.

All in all, this is a very impressive product from a brand that I was incredibly disappointed with for a long time. I will happily recommend these Diamond Crushers to friends and will be purchasing the bundle in the new year for my pro kit.

Jeffree Star Holiday Collection - Review

Jeffree Star's second holiday collection launched on Black Friday. Seven liquid lipsticks in limited edition red packaging, with two new Skin Frost highlighters launching at the same time. Both Skin Frosts are pink - Regina George, a hot pink and Princess Cut, a baby pink.
The lipstick shades are Deceased, described on his website as a "mauve greige", Checkmate, a bright orange-red, Chrysanthemum, a pink based nude with gold sparkle, Sagittarius, a nude mauve, Crocodile Tears, a deep forest green, Designer Blood, a deep red with gold shimmer and Pumpkin Pie, a beautiful autumnal orange.
Each liquid lipstick retails for $18, or the bundle of all seven is $99.99. The Skin Frosts Retail at $29 each.

The holiday collection is available from the Jeffree Star Cosmetics website and Beautylish. Beauty Bay will be stocking this collection in the future, but as yet there is no confirmed date.

I prefer to buy from Beautylish where possible, as they calculate customs charges for you and you pay on ordering which speeds up the delivery process and you avoid that £8 Royal Mail handling fee which I always begrudge paying! Beautylish also have the most adorable packaging, I love how everything comes wrapped in brown paper with the black and white string, it's so sweet.

Now, on to the lipsticks (I may review the Skin Frosts at a later date).

Here are the arm swatches

Top to bottom; Designer Blood, Crocodile Tears, Chrysanthemum, Sagittarius, Pumpkin Pie, Checkmate, Deceased

They swatch beautifully, and I had no problems with application on my lips either. I had seen someone comment online that Chrysanthemum was patchy, but I did not experience that. For a light colour, it applied really nicely and I had no issues with patchy or streaky application. This is my favourite colour out of the collection.

Apologies, I'm stuck using an iPhone camera for now so my images are pretty dreadful! 

I wasn't expecting Chrysanthemum to last very long on my lips at all due to the pale colour, but I was very pleasantly surprised! It dried down completely and lasted for the 4 hours I wore it. Not a full day's wear but I did eat while I had this on and it didn't budge. This shade also smells AMAZING! Only two of the collection appear to be scented, Chrysanthemum and Sagittarius. Jeffree described it as "cotton candy scented" and while I personally don't get cotton candy from the scent, it is a lovely sweet smell.

Pumpkin Pie was a surprise hit for me. I was not expecting to like this shade. Autumnal colours and warm shades are not something I tend to reach for, but I fell in love with this as soon as I swatched it. 

Pumpkin Pie lip swatch. I know my lips are asymmetrical and I hate them!

When I first swatched Pumpkin Pie I thought it would look great with an eye look using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette so I had a go at some "fall inspired makeup".

Don't worry, my brows have been reshaped now!!

Once again, no issues with application (this is the same for all of the colours to be honest, they apply like a dream). This is one of the unscented shades. I know a lot of people don't like the unscented liquid lipsticks, but personally, anything that doesn't smell like vanilla is good with me!

Pumpkin Pie wore nicely, although it did start to wear away on the insides of my lips after eating. These lipsticks layer without any issue though, so a quick touch up and you're good to go.

Today I wore Sagittarius. Very close in colour to Deceased, as you can see in the arm swatch, Sagittarius is a pretty nude mauve. Deceased is more grey toned, and pulls quite brown on me (although I didn't get a lip swatch, sorry!) so they do look quite different when they're applied on the lips.

Sagittarius

This is a pretty wearable, every day shade in my opinion. It's just purple enough to stand out from the crowd, but still pretty nude. I paired it with an eye look from the Kat Von D Metal Matte palette today, but this colour would go with most looks.

I applied this lipstick at 2pm and ate a pretty greasy meal (home made chips, I promise I'll join a gym in the new year) and it didn't even wear away on the insides. It's now just after midnight and I still have most of the colour on my top lip and probably about half on the bottom lip. I am incredibly impressed with the staying power of this one!

I haven't had chance to road test the other colours yet, but I can do a part two if you'd like. So far, I am really impressed with this collection. After the summer collection didn't receive the best reviews, I really feel like Jeffree has taken people's concerns and criticism into account and made a good quality collection with a variety of wearable shades. If you can get your hands on this collection, you won't regret it!