Seventeen Stay Time Concealer

Long time no see! Hope you're all keeping well, I know - I've been a bad blogger! I don't have any excuses for my absence except that I've just been enjoying life and blogging has taken a backseat to all the things that are keeping me busy these days! Blogging is something I've always enjoyed though so here's hoping I can find some more time for it from now on! So, excuses out of the way, let's get down to business!

For some reason my nearest Boots does not have a Collection stand, which in my opinion is a crime, seeing as I have to travel to Dublin if I ever run out of my beloved Lasting Perfection Concealer. I had literally been scraping every last bit of my last tube of said concealer for months and was going out for drinks one night with the Mr, and I couldn't get any more out of the tube! I legged it to Boots in desperate need of concealer anything would have done so I ran to the Seventeen stand because I didn't fancy spending the guts of 15 euro on a concealer that I probably wouldn't like so I settled for Seventeen's Stay Time Concealer which only set me back €6.50 or so. I picked up the shade fair, and I have to say I have been pretty impressed with this concealer since the first use. 

The shade matches my pasty complexion perfectly, the concealer claims to be full coverage and I have to say that it covers blemishes really well even the biggest and angriest ones! I also use this under my eyes and it doesn't crease and covers the discolouration there pretty well too. Staying power is great it doesn't budge at all throughout the day, as for if it stays for up 18 hours like it claims to I'm unsure as I don't think I've ever worn it that long but I'd imagine that it could last that long as it is still perfectly intact when I go to remove my make up at the end of the day. I often wear this concealer alone with no foundation and just powder over the top and it covers everything brilliantly on its own without foundation. 

I absolutely love Collection's Lasting Perfection Concealer and it is still my absolute favourite but this offering from Seventeen comes seriously close to being just as good and is a great alternative if like me your nearest Boots doesn't have a Collection stand!

Do you have any recommendations for other great cheap high street/drugstore concealers? 

Benefit Rockateur Review And Swatches

Like a lot of other bloggers I'm sure, I have been dying to get my mitts on Benefit's latest addition to their boxed powders. I've been scouring every Benefit counter I know of every time I've been in Dublin lately and I eventually spotted it!

Rockateur is a rose gold blush, which in my opinion actually leans a little more orangey brown than rose gold, but none the less it's still a cracker!

Benefit Rockateur Boxed Powder

Wear time is great it lasts a good eight to ten hours before it starts to fade and even then theres some still there when I go to take my make up off.
 As with their other boxed powders there's a brush included, the brushes aren't the worst they're usable if you need it but I don't bother with it as it can be a little fussy so I just use my usual blush brush. (Sigma F40, see it here, if you'd like to!)

As you'd expect from Benefit, Rockateur is a great quality blush and works as it should. I hate the price though, €34 seems so steep for this, especially when there's actually less in here than in their other boxed powders, I think it'll last me a long time though as I have so many blushers to get through and its so nice I would re-purchase if I had the money floating about.

Have you tried Rockateur yet? Is it your favourite boxed powder from Benefit yet?

Sigma Mr Bunny Essential Brush Kit

Sigma Mr Bunny Essential Brush Kit

I purchased the Sigma Mr Bunny Synthetic brush kit last November just after my birthday as a present with money my dad gave me. I had been salavating over the kit for ages but it had a huge price tag costing €120. 

I owned a good few Sigma brushes before I bought the kit and I had much love for the ones I had so eventually I took the plunge and ordered the kit from Cloud10 Beauty here. You can also get the Mrs Bunny brush set on the site also, it's the same set of brushes but the brush handles are blue and the ferrules are pink instead of the simple black handles and silver ferrules of the Mr Bunny set.

The Mr Bunny (and Mrs Bunny) brush set is a synthetic version of Sigma's Essential brush kit, meaning that instead of the brush hairs being of animal origin they are made from man made synthetic materials. I actually prefer synthetic brushes, as theyre easier to clean, hold their shape better and dont absorb as much of your products so youre not wasting any extra make up. Being synthetic also means that these brushes are animal friendly which is always a good thing.

You get 12 brushes in the set, 5 face and 7 eye brushes. They come with two brush cups that you can leave separate or click together for a sturdy way of bringing brushes with you when you travel.

There's also a handy leaflet in the box telling you what you can use the individual brushes for. The photo of the leaflet isn't great, so i'll write what use Sigma suggests for each brush in the leaflet with each individual brush.

Info Leaflet

Eye Brushes

E05 Eyeliner 

A fine tipped brush for a precise, even stroke to line eyes. I like this brush but personally I think it draws lines a little to thickly, I prefer Sigma's E10 brush for liner.

E30 Pencil

Precise application of colour to the crease, outer corner and both lash lines. Love this brush for detailed work. Gives you great control on the outer corner of the eye and stops your shadow going everywhere. A bit too small to use in the crease unless youre doing a cut crease, can imagine it being good for that. Best use for me is for smuding pencil and eyeshadows on my lower lash line.

E40 Tapered Blending 

Rounded and tapered top. Designed to apply and blend colour on the crease. My favourite eye brush in the set. Fantastic for blending purposes, may blend too well to be used to apply colour in the crease but great for blending edges of eyeshadow.

E55 Eye Shading 

Use to apply eyeshadow and pigments. I like this one for pigments, it picks them up really well and there isn't as much fallout with them when you use this brush. Also a good smudging brush if you dont have to be precise. 

E60 Large Shader 

Ideal for cream formulas and primers. I dont use this one a whole lot, its kind of too large. I actually use this as a concealer brush and the concealer brush from this kit the way this brush is intended to be used. They're the same brush essentially, but there's a size difference as you can see in the picture below.

E65 Small Angle 

For application of gel or cream liner on upper and lower lashline. I use this for my eyebrows (when I can be bothered doing them) but mainly for pushing eyeshadow into my lower and upper lashlines it works incredibly well for this as it's so small.

E70 Medium Angled Shading 

Angled, tapered, flat top. Use to apply highlight shades under brow and in inner corners. This is a great allround brush. Good for highlighting as the leaflet says, but I mostly use it for putting a shadow all over my lid, it works good enough for blending too as its fluffy.

Face Brushes 

F30 Large Powder

Dense with a round top. Use for applying powder products on face and body. Amazing powder brush! Easily my favourite brush from the whole kit. Really soft bristles and it evenly distributes powder on the skin without knocking foundation away like other powder brushes. Good for an all over dusting of bronzer on face and neck, not great for contouring.

F40 Large Angled Contour 

Angled for applying blush or contour shades. I have the non synthetic version of this brush and I much prefer the synthetic version. It holds its shape unbeliveably compared to the normal one as you can see from the photo below. This is the only brush I use for contour its fantastic, I use the non synthetic version for blush instead.

F50 Duo Fibre 

Generates an airbrushed finish with blush, highlight shades and foundation. I use this for blush, mainly cream blushes and cream highlighters. I've never understood using duo fibre brushes with foundation, for me, it makes it look streaky I use Sigma's F80 or F82 for foundation. If someone knows how to make the F50 work for foundation let me know!

F60 Foundation 

Use to apply liquid or cream foundation or to conceal large areas. This brush dosent get a lot of use, I mainly only use it when my F80 and F82 are dirty. It is a good foundation brush though, dosent leave streaks on your face like standard flat foundation brushes do.

F70 Concealer

Ideal for concealing the under eye area and blemishes. Like I said earlier I use this brush as an eye brush and the E60 as a concealer brush. This one is good for concealer but I just find the E60 quicker to work with as it's bigger and conceals bigger areas more quickly.

So there's a pretty picture heavy post! I absolutley adore my Mr Bunny brush set, can't reccomend it highly enough. It is definatley expensive but works out a lot cheaper than MAC brushes for instance and they're just as good quality. I love the set so much that i'm currently saving up for a second one but I may get the Mrs Bunny set this time because the colours are so pretty. 

This brush id definatley an investment though and if you take proper care of it you will have it for a long, long time. I have had mine since November and have washed them religiously once a week (and havent been too gentle with them either) and they still look brand new, with minimal staining and they havent lost their shape.

If you're going to splurge on MAC brushes, i'd seriously have a rethink and consider investing in this kit.