The MAC Skunk Brush--My New BFF

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when C receives any amount of money as a gift she will inevitably wind up spending it on makeup. Ergo, when my mother-in-law sent me some cash for Christmas, my first instinct was to rush to the local Sephora (inside JC Penny, but beggars can't be choosers) to indulge myself.

As fate would have it, however, there wasn't a parking space to be seen in the vicinity of Penny's, so I had to park on the other side of the mall and enter through Dillard's. Now, we don't have many good department stores in my small city, but Dillard's has an excellent selection of makeup counters that are run by incredibly nice people. I refuse to go anywhere near the counters at Macy's unless I'm desperate because the sales associates know far less about their products than even I do (and I'm hardly an expert) but I've learned some really valuable things from my friends at Dillard's. So it is hardly a surprise that I...lingered there for awhile. Naturally, I found more than a few things to spend my Christmas money on (Chanel's spring collection is calling my name seductively) but the item I wound up purchasing came as a total and very welcome surprise.

I'd been looking for a good new foundation brush for awhile, and when I stopped by the MAC counter the associate suggested that I try the 227. It's their "large" skunk brush (the 228 is the "small") and at first glance didn't look like quite what I had imagined when I asked about applying liquid foundation. It works like a dream, though, and creates a beautiful glowing finish that is frankly astonishing. I swear it even makes my pores look noticeably smaller.

I actually like this brush so much that I bought a second one today to use on my finishing powder.  I'll report back soon on how well it works for me in that respect.

Sephora Standing Brush Set--Review

I'm not such a makeup newbie that I don't understand the importance of good brushes, but I am new enough not to have a comprehensive brush collection yet.  My first brushes (Sigmas) were for eyes only, and it's been years since I last wore powder blush, so when I decided to give NARS Orgasm a try I realized that I needed to purchase a blush brush to go along with it.  This $25 set, which includes both large and medium powder brushes, a medium eyeshadow brush, a smudge brush, and an eyeliner brush, was a bit of an overkill since I wasn't in need of 4/5 of the brushes it provided, but I decided to give it a whirl anyway. 

First off, the large powder brush, which I use to apply Orgasm, is soft, supple, and provides even coverage.  It's perfect and lovely in every way, and if it was the only brush out of the set I liked I would still be pretty satisfied with my purchase.  The other two winners in the set are the medium eyeshadow brush and the smudge brush.  I already have Sigma versions of both, but these new ones provide slightly different coverage from the Sigmas that I'm really liking.  From the eyeshadow brush I can get a far lighter dusting effect when I use it to pat on a dark shadow, and from the smudge brush I can get a much denser (but still softened) eyeliner effect.  In short, they're keepers.

The medium powder brush isn't getting much use at the moment since I'm not really wearing anything these days that calls for a brush that size.  When I do, however, it'll be nice to have a brush on hand that I can likely trust.

My only criticism of the set lies with the eyeliner brush.  Before using any of these brushes I cleaned them (because...ew) and was really surprised when the eyeliner brush didn't return to its original shape after gentle cleansing.  There's a gap down the middle of the bristles that will not go away, no matter what I do.  Suffice it to say that it's headed for the trash.

Overall, I can heartily recommend this set for any makeup newbie (or longtime user looking for some good backup or full-sized travel brushes) who's looking to round out their brush collection.  Eyeliner brushes are really a dime a dozen, and the fact that this one wasn't up to par certainly isn't reason to write off the entire set.