THE CLUTTERED COUNTER: Eyes

Quick Date Night Makeup Tutorial

7:48 PM

There are many times that my husband and I will go out to eat together and I'll meet him straight from work and not even bother to powder my face. But every now and then we like to go on actual dates where we get dressed up and go to a nicer restaurant than usual. On these nights, I don't have much time to get ready since I get home from work at 7:30pm. This means that I have to get ready quick so we can eat dinner at a decent time without one of us getting hangry.

To achieve my quick date night look I start by blotting off any excess oil on my face, including my eyelids. Then, I use a nude matte eyeshadow all over the lid to prevent creasing and smudging (use an eyeshadow primer if you have after-dinner plans and want it to last longer). I drew a semi-thick line with my Jordana 12-hour black eyeshadow pencil on the outer half of my lash line and used a Sigma E21 Smudge brush to drag the eyeliner to the inner corner of my eye and to wing it out in the outer corner. Then I grabbed my Lorac Pro 2 palette and used my Sigma E38 Diffused Crease and the shade Plum to smudge out the black eyeliner even more and mixed the shades Plum and Cool Gray to put on my lid and in my crease. I used the same eyeliner in my waterline and curled my lashes.

To freshen up my face makeup, I used Maybelline's Matte and Poreless face powder and Revlon blush in Naughty Nude. Then I used Anastasia Beverly Hills powder contour palette: Fawn for contour, Banana for undereye, and Sand to highlight my cheekbones, browbone, and inner corner of eyes. I wanted a no fuss dramatic lip so I decided to go with Revlon's Kissable Balm Stain in the shade Crush because it has great lasting power and wears off evenly which makes it easy to wear while drinking and eating. I also love how it stays in place so I don't have to worry about it ending up on my chin when I wipe food off my lips.

For my outfit, I wore a faux leather dress that I received in my Le Tote (pictured below) and cinched the waist with a black and gold belt. I paired it with black and gold dangly earrings from Forever21, black lace tights, black peep toe pumps, and a patent leather dark red clutch.

Eyes

Review: Bellangé 10 Piece Kabuki Brush Set

11:20 PM

One thing that a makeup lover can never have enough of is makeup brushes (...I guess that can apply to anything related to makeup like palettes, lipsticks, etc., but you know what I mean)! When my favorite foundation brush or blending brush is dirty, it's always nice to have a backup brush to use so having too many makeup brushes is VERY practical. ;) I received three different brush sets for Christmas- Sigma from my super awesome husband, Sonia Kashuk from my sister, and Coastal Scents from my uncle. But the latest addition to my collection is this 10-piece Kabuki Brush Set from Bellangé. I received a generous promo code from them in exchange for an honest review.

It probably sounds ridiculous to some of you that I am going on my fourth brush set in the span of 2 months, but some of the brushes in this set are unlike anything I have in my collection. They feature a pretty black and gold design and each brush has a description of its function labeled directly on the handle. They are all made with synthetic, animal friendly bristles. This set also comes with a brush bag which is nice because most of my makeup bags aren't long enough to fit my brushes. The material of the bag isn't very durable but I think it's thoughtful of the company to throw in some functional packaging. The bigger brushes in this collection are very similar to Sigma's kabuki set which costs $96, so if you've been eyeing that set but don't want to fork over the money then these Bellangé brushes are the way to go.

(Brush descriptions from left to right)

Flawless Foundation: This brush is great for applying liquid foundation and quickly blending out my cream contour.
Beautiful Blush and Bronzer: It's perfect for blending out cream blush but a little too dense for powder blush unless you want to look like a clown. This brush kind of reminds me of a bigger, angled version of Real Technique's Expert Face Brush, so it may work well with liquid foundations too.
Fierce Foundation and Powder: This brush applies liquid and powder foundation perfectly (better than the Flawless Foundation brush)! I like to use this brush to buff my foundation on. It applies product quickly without absorbing too much, giving me great coverage. No brush strokes from this one! This brush is a good dupe for Sigma's F80 Flat Kabuki, which has a denser, shorter brush head with softer bristles (pictured on right).
Perfect Precision: I use this brush to blend out concealer/highlighter with a tapping motion but sometimes the bristles feel a little sharp/pokey. I also unfortunately had lots of shedding with this one. A makeup artist friend of mine loves this brush so maybe I should wash and condition it to make it softer and try using it again.
Magic Mineral Blending: I like using this brush when the only foundation I'm wearing is powder. The dense and round brush head gives good coverage but it takes longer to apply than a big fluffy kabuki brush.

(Brush descriptions from left to right)

Perfection Contouring: I like using this to blend out cream contour when using my Nyx Wonder Stick. It takes longer since the brush is so small but it keeps the contour defined without being too harsh. The brush head is small, angled, and round.
Precision Contouring: The brush head on this one is small, angled, and flat. The bristles are a little too long and flexible for me. I tried it with contouring and didn't like it and can't find the best way to use it. It's a little similar to the Sigma P88 Precision Flat Angled but the P88 is a lot better with a denser, wider, and shorter head (pictured on left).
Precision Concealer: I didn't think I would like this brush because the bristles are long and the brush head isn't very dense, making the bristles very flexible, but it blends concealer out very nicely.
Precision Primer & Shadow: This one seems like a good dense crease brush but for some reason whenever I try to use it, it always makes my eyes itch and the bristles are a little on the rough side.
Mini Perfect Precision: It kind of annoys me that there is a typo on this brush (it says "Percison" instead of Precision). This one is way too pointy and dense for me. I haven't figured out a good way to use it. But the description straight from Bellangé says that this brush is good for discreetly brightening up under eye area.

This 10-piece kabuki brush set retails for $19.99 on Amazon but with their Love Your Look money back guarantee, you can return your Bellangé makeup brush set within 30 days for a full refund, hassle-free if you are not satisfied with their product. I think this is a great way to add variety to your brush collection, especially if you are a makeup artist. With the exception of the Perfect Precision brush, they are all very soft with no shedding. I would (and already have) recommend purchasing this set even if it's only for the bigger kabuki brushes.

I would ask you what some of your favorite brushes/brush sets are but I don't want to get tempted to add any to my collection for a while so instead leave me a comment telling me how you clean your brushes, maintain the quality, and store them. I've started noticing dust settling on some of my less loved brushes so I am going to change how I store them soon. XOXO- Jessie