Anti Haul

If you venture outside of the more popular beauty gurus on  YouTube (and I'm sure most of us do), then you will more than likely be familiar with the concept of anti hauls.  For those of  you who have no idea what an anti haul is, it originated from Kimberly Clark, a drag queen, activist and anti consumerist. It's basically a list of products that you don't want to buy, for whatever reasons. Kimberly did her first anti haul back in November 2015 and they have really taken off on YouTube, with lots of content creators making these videos on a regular basis, so I thought I'd give one a try! I'll  link Kimberly/Chris's YouTube and Instagram at the end of this blog if you want to give some of the videos a watch, although I believe Kimberly is taking a hiatus at the moment as Chris is currently on tour.

So, cracking on, the first item I am not going to buy is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam palette. On first glance, this palette is so pretty! The pink shimmer and the pops of orange are so beautiful, they would make a really pretty summery look and I do enjoy ABH eyeshadows.

Image: anastasiabeverlyhills.com

However, after a closer look, this palette is very neutral and there are a lot of brown shades which I will absolutely never use. There are also a couple of shades that are repeated from the Modern Renaissance palette which I already own, and they are shades that I don't particularly reach for.
I have seen it mentioned often about how great this would be for bridal work and to keep in a professional kit, but I completely disagree! Yes, the shadows are beautiful, they are pigmented and blend like a dream, but they are also small and very loosely pressed which means you go through them very quickly (I see Modern Renaissance used often on project pans because they are easy to finish). The packaging is also not kit friendly. At all. The velvet type finish on the component is lovely but it gets filthy almost immediately. It picks up dirt and fluff constantly, and because of the material it's impossible to clean. I took Modern Renaissance out of my kit for this reason, I don't feel professional showing  up to someone's home with minging products!

Image: uk.morphe.com

Next on the list is the Morphe x Bretman Rock Babe in Paradise highlighter palette. Oh boy, where to start with this one?
Firstly, the price is unreal. £29 for a Morphe palette is ridiculous in my opinion. Their products just do not warrant such a high price tag in my experience of the brand, customers are basically paying extra in order to give "beauty gurus" a pay cheque at this point. If you really want this then I don't think it will be long before the likes of Lick and Lash, Delanci etc release this.
Secondly, why do you want this? There are 6 shades in this palette of varying depths of colour. If you are pale, you won't be able to highlight with the deeper colours, and if you have a deep skin tone the light shades are going to look ashy on the skin. To use in your kit? No, Morphe is not a brand I'd want to see in a professional working artist's kit. Yes, you could possibly use the other shades as eyeshadows, but look at  your eyeshadow collection, do you already have shimmers that look like the shades in this palette? I have fallen into the trap of telling myself I'll use a palette like this as eyeshadow, and guess what? Never happened. I bought the Jeffree Star 24K palette, telling myself I'd use the pink one as a blush and the others as eyeshadows. I've worn one shade to death but the others remain untouched. I'm not a fan of face palettes that cover multiple skin tones unless it's going in my kit.

Image: urbandecay.co.uk

The Urban Decay Naked Petite Heat palette is up next! Cute? Yes. Shades that are super popular right now? Absolutely! But I didn't get the original Naked Heat palette, and this one appeals to me even less. The shades in this palette are slightly different to the original Heat, but not different enough that  you would necessarily need both palettes. There are six shades here, varying from a bone shade to a deeper reddish brown. All very basic colours that you probably already own in some form or another. Warm toned palettes are so popular right now, and although this is a good little palette for travelling, I am sick of seeing them now. If you haven't bought yourself a warm toned eyeshadow palette by now, you probably aren't going to. Sorry Urban Decay!

Image: allure.com

This one is hard for me to write, but I will not be buying the Kat Von D 10 year anniversary collection. It looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and you can see a lot of work has gone into the designs for the packaging and case for this collection but aside from the fact that I'd probably have to sell a kidney to buy it (a huge annoyance of mine is how Kat Von D Beauty don't tend to announce prices very far in advance), I don't know if this will be on sale at Debenhams yet (and I don't want to imagine the customs on this collection) and I wouldn't use a lot of it. The collection has a Tattoo Liner, two liquid lipsticks, a lipstick, a brush collection, eyeshadow palette, Metal Crush highlighter and makeup case. I'm not a huge fan of the Tattoo Liner, I really dislike the brushes from this brand and didn't enjoy the Metal Crush highlighting palette. Having seen the eyeshadow palette too, it appears pretty at first glance, but it's really nothing that special or anything that I don't already have somewhere in my collection. It would essentially be a very expensive makeup case and lipsticks for me!

Image: salutemag.com

Next up are the Fenty Beauty Body Lava and Fairy Bomb. I've not got round to trying anything from Fenty yet, and I have to admit it Rihanna, you almost got me with this glitter pom pom! The Fairy Bomb is a huge fluffy pom pom filled with glitter which you are supposed to pat over your body for some sparkle. Super cute idea, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. I think that this would take up a huge amount of space though, I'd probably never use it and it is pretty much a big teabag full of glitter for £34, so I will pass. Unless it goes on sale.
The Body Lava comes in at an even higher price of £46. It does come in a beautiful glass bottle, and you get a huge amount of product here, but are you really going to go through 90ml of glittery body oil in the two and a half days of summer we get in this country? No. I have also seen and read lots of reviews stating that as this is a body oil, it doesn't completely dry down and can stay quite tacky to the touch, which would drive me absolutely crackers! You can make your own version of this for next to nothing too - just pop some shimmery pigment into a body oil that you already have and apply it wherever you fancy.

Lime Crime have recently announced that they are releasing a fourth Venus palette. This is perhaps not surprising given the success of the recently launched Venus XL palette, and the previous Venus palettes which were very well received and some may argue that the original Venus palette kicked off the whole warm toned eye trend.Venus 2 was also quite a forward thinking palette at the time, and they both have colours that would work really well together if you owned them both. Venus 3 has me stumped. I don't understand why they've gone for a palette full of pink and purple shades - most of them shimmers. There is nothing versatile or groundbreaking about this palette, and while the colours certainly are pretty, you are absolutely going to need to incorporate another palette if you want to get more than a couple of looks from this. I do think that the Venus palettes have excellent quality shadows, but this is just a hard pass from me. If you want to try out the Lime Crime eyeshadow formula, then I'd definitely recommend picking up the Venus XL if you can!

Image: @mallybeauty Instagram

I'm going to finish up with something that I'm unlikely to buy (I daren't say for definite until we get more information though!) and that is the very recently announced Mally x RuPaul collection.
Ok, now I love drag, it's had an impact on me aesthetically, politically and socially. I'ts a big part of my life and of who I am. I applaud Ru for bringing drag into the mainstream and helping it to be much more socially acceptable and seen as less of a "freak show" than it used to be. That said, not only have I never tried any Mally products, I'm really not a huge fan of Ru. So unless this collection has the best packaging and shades I've ever seen, I reckon this is gonna be a bit of a "Sashay away" for me!


Kimberly Clark YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kimclarkqueen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberlyclarkofficial/  https://www.instagram.com/chrisgiarmo/

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!

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!