Being a self-confessed foundation fanatic, I obviously have to share with you the make-up brushes I have been using to apply foundation – Shiseido Perfect Foundation Brush*, Royal & Langnickel [R]evolution BX-55 Pointed Foundation Brush and Real Techniques Pointed Foundation Brush*.

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Costco.  If you haven’t been to Costco before, you are surely missing out.  Costco opened up in my hometown of Glasgow yonks ago and it was and still is, one of my Mum’s favourite places to shop.  And guess what?  I am turning into my Mum because it is also one of my favourite places to shop now that Costco has opened up in Melbourne.  I love Costco’s freshly baked croissants, large packs of salmon, Skippy Peanut Butter and I really miss the baked potatoes because they don’t sell that here in Melbourne.  Damn them!!!!!!  Anyway, this isn’t a food blog so let me get onto the beauty bit of today’s blog.  During one of our Costco visits, I came upon Kirkland Signature 10 Piece Deluxe Brush Collection with Designer Bag for the bargainous price of $20 AUD and in a flash, it hopped onto my trolley and came home with me.

The 10 brushes are :-

• Powder : Big and fluffy but not soft enough for my liking
• Finishing : Good for stippling
• Foundation Concealer :  LOVE this as it is dense but soft and buffs well
• Cheek : 2nd favourite and great for contouring
• Crease Eye : I like to use this on fake crease (I have Asian eyes with no crease – boohoo!)
• Angled Eye : Not used very often so cannot comment
• All Over Eye : Great for eye shadow in powder form
• Liner : I’ve been using this a lot to line my waterline with black matte shadow
• Highlighting : Haven’t had the need to use this at all
• Contour Kabuki : Lovely and soft

Here is my review of Kirkland Signature 10 Piece Deluxe Brush Collection with Designer Bag in the Get or Forget format…

Get Kirkland Signature 10 Piece Deluxe Brush Collection with Designer Bag if :-

• You cannot be bothered washing your make-up brushes (hello, that’s me!)
• You’re not a make-up brush snob because the handles are plastered with Kirkland Signature logo which is a tad tacky
• A foundation brush is what you are after.  This is the star in the collection.  Star!!!

Forget Kirkland Signature 10 Piece Deluxe Brush Collection with Designer Bag if :-

• You have an ultra-sensitive face because some of the brushes are scratchy!!
• You like tapered handles on make-up brushes.  The handles here aren’t tapered and can make application a tad more difficult.
• You think you’re getting a “DESIGNER BAG” – it aint designer, I tell ya!  That’s false advertising!!!

My expectations for Kirkland Signature 10 Piece Deluxe Brush Collection with Designer Bag were low and that is why the brushes exceeded my expectations.  For $20 AUD, I am not complaining.  Don’t worry if you don’t have a Costco near you because you can buy it on Amazon

Are you a Costco fan?  Have you tried these make-up brushes?  And do you love Skippy Peanut Butter too?

Do you know what my favourite make-up brush is?  It is a big fluffy powder brush!  Why?  Because I love how the big soft fluffy bristles feel against my face and how it delicately tickles my not-so-delicate flat Asian nose.  No other make-up brush gives me that much satisfaction.  It’s like a make-up-brush-gasm (i.e make-up brush + orgasm)…if there is such a thing.  No?  Okay, it’s just me then…

Anyway, this will explain what happened when I received a Nude By Nature care package…  In the box, I immediately noticed a trio of lip glosses – which I promptly reviewed – and a couple of make-up items which I ooh-ed over…and THEN I SAW THE POWDER BRUSH!

I tested the bristles on my hand and I knew that this Nude By Nature Powder Brush was a goodie.  It was lovely, fluffy and supersoft.  INSTANT LOVE and that make-up-brush-gasm I was talking about earlier…ahem…

Anyway, my care package included the perfect accessory to road-test the Powder Brush and that was in the form of the Nude By Nature Mineral Finishing Veil.

Nude By Nature Mineral Finishing Veil is a finely-milled translucent finishing powder AKA “Oily Face Police”.  I like it but I don’t love it.  But that’s because of the packaging fault of the holes.  The powder just gets EVERYWHERE!  Up my nose, down my throat, on my bathroom floor…you get the picture!

So yeah… go and test out the Nude By Nature Powder Brush  ($14.95 AUD) and see if it gives you a make-up-brush-gasm too.  As for the Nude By Nature Mineral Finishing Veil ($39.95 AUD), it’s a better-than-average powder but it’s not perfect, in my opinion.

Have you tried Nude By Nature products?  Is it just me or are the photos I took for this post looking really good or what?  Also, I wonder what Google hits I will get from this post as it contains dodgy words like “nude” and “orgasm”.  Let me write “sex” too – just for the heck of it

A few weeks ago, I received a few Manicare make-up brushes in the post.  They were part of the Retractable range and included the Kabuki, Concealer and Foundation brushes.  These brushes would fit in beautifully with any travel make-up kit.  Or if you like to touch-up your make-up during the day, then it’s great to have these compact-sized brushes.

Seeing as I have no travel plans in the near future *sad face*, I used these Manicare brushes as part of my normal make-up routine and they did a fantastic job.  Some synthetic brushes are really harsh and scratchy on my skin but that wasn’t the case here.  I was very impressed!

My favourite brush had to be the Kabuki brush because of how multi-functional it is.  It can be used for powder, bronzer, blusher and is dense enough to be used for mineral make-up too.  LOVE!

Famous Last Words

If you’re looking for affordable, good quality make-up brushes, I would happily point you in the direction of Manicare.  They are so confident in their products that they even have The Manicare Guarantee – where if you are not completely satisfied, you can return your product and get a replacement free of charge.  Not that I would return my Manicare brushes because I am completely satisfied…

Now all I need is to book a holiday!  Yay!  Oh wait…I need to save up first and stop spending.  Yes, I have been spending a-plenty lately so stay tuned for tomorrow’s haul post

What is in your travel make-up bag?  Have you used Manicare brushes before?  Where’s your next holiday destination?

I need to pat myself on the back for making a good decision in purchasing this beauty – Beauty Pod Airbrush FX Sponge - for a grand total of $10!  Oh yes, it’s amazing!  It’s almost as awesome as Hello Kitty!  I’ve wanted one of these make-up sponges ever since I read raving reviews about Beauty Blenders but I was too el cheapo to fork out too much money.  So glad I saw this at IMATS last year!

Before The Beauty Pod Airbrush FX Sponge Entered My Life…

• I used my fingers to apply my liquid foundation and BB cream.  Works for some people, but not that good for me because the foundation would seep under my nails and curdle up there.
• Wedged make-up sponges were a waste of money because they would soak up a lot of the liquid foundation and I had a habit of using them once and then dumping them (*insert your own one-night stand joke here*)
• And I bought a few foundation brushes and tried out a stippling brush, but with the streaks, my face resembled skidmarks my Husband left behind in the porcelain throne after a good Indian curry!  (I think that’s why my toilet went beserk the other day – don’t believe me?  Check out the live recording of the crazy toilet in action!)

Enter The Beauty Pod Airbrush FX Sponge…

• Flawlessly fantastic foundation and BB cream application!  Also works with stick foundations – and when I used it with my Invisible Zinc foundation, I got a compliment from a girl-friend about my complexion which I credit half to this sponge and the other half to this miracle serum.
• I also used it yesterday to blend concealer under my eyes and it worked well too.
• The shape (pointy top and round bottom) of the sponge works well with blending in all areas of my face.
• The sponge is dense so it doesn’t soak up liquid foundations easily.
• It’s latex-free (I am allergic to latex) and it can be washed and reused.  (I wash it with the Daiso Sponge Cleaner – magic!!)
• It also doubles up as stress ball.  Good for times when I get frustrated with applying my falsies and when I want to squeeze something else other than my own excess tummy fat.

Have you tried one of these beauty sponges before?  Do you have excess tummy fat too?  I feel your pain!  ARGH!!!  I’m off to the Gym to do Pilates…wish me luck! 

Ladies, please give a warm welcome to Napoleon Perdis Finishing Powder Brush s25 and Complexion Perfection Brush 17s as they join my family of make-up brushes courtesy of the good people behind the brand.  Allow me to introduce them individually…

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It’s a sad day on The Best Beauty Blog as there has been an unexpected death.  It brings me with great sorrow to announce that my Red Earth lip brush committed suicide today.  Here’s what happened :-

I thought I was doing the right thing by giving my set of Red Earth brushes a wash – all the makeup gurus insist that it is important to wash makeup brushes frequently to prevent bacteria build-up and contamination.  So I thought I’d do my good deed for the day (I try and do one of them every day) and take them for a wash.  But before I even turned on the tap, my Red Earth lip brush leaped out of my hands and dived into the plug hole…never to be seen ever again!

I tried to rescue it.  I did.  I even used my precious Tweezerman tweezers to dig around and try and fish them out.  Instead, I fished out a clump of long yukky hairs.  GROSS!  Obviously, the hairs don’t belong to me!!

I just don’t understand why!!  Why did my Red Earth lip brush want to leave behind the rest of her family?  Just look at that photo – all the other Red Earth makeup brushes are wet with tears!!!!  They are so traumatised that they want to jump into the plug hole too!  NO WAY!  I lost one today and I do not intend to lose anymore of them.

I adopted this beautiful set of Red Earth makeup brushes around 5 years ago when I first laid eyes on them in Hong Kong.  They were beautifully crafted and served me well for all these years.  Admittedly, I did not give the lip brush much love as I only recently became a lipstick lover.  But I promise to change - I, Ling Tung, do solemnly swear never to wash my makeup brushes ever again!

Let’s have a minute of silence as we remember my Red Earth Lip Brush…which never lived to be photographed.  Forgive me when I brush my teeth tonight and spit on you!  RIP in Makeup Brush Heaven.