delicate hummingbird.

Jul 30, 2011

brush weekend II: RMK Cheek Brush S + RMK Brush & Tip M

i loved my RMK Face Powder and Cheek brushes, so when i noticed that they do one other face brush i surely wanted to call it mine. so i contacted the customer service of bonboncosmetics.com where i purchased my other RMK brushes and asked if they could get the Cheek Brush S for me. luckily they could and i placed another order together with one more eye brush by the brand, i guess i'm quite well supplied with RMK brushes now ;)
bonboncosmetics.com have a super nice customer service and offer free delivery with any purchase above 30$ (i think this is not hard to do ;)). they offer asian high end brands and also Chanel, Guerlain & co. at reasonable prices. i have ordered many times from there yet and am a very happy customer, i can totally recommend this online shop to you!

RMK is the brand by Rumiko, a well known japanese Make Up Artist who founded her own line in 1997. they are known for their foundations and colourful make up range. their brushes are made by Chikuhodo, one of japan's best manufacturers.
the brushes always come in nice plastic pouches. they have rather short handles (which are convenient to handle when you are myopic and don't wear contacts ;)) and are perfectly crafted.

RMK Cheek Brush S

the Cheek Brush S is not only the slightly smaller version of their Cheek Brush, but it's also made of a blend of grey squirrel and mountain goat hair instead of pure squirrel hair. so it's still really soft but has more volume and texture to it and is just the ideal blush brush when you want to cut it down to 1 piece. it handles every pigmentation with ease and applies evenly and precise. it blends beautifully and effectively and also acts nicely as a small powder brush.
it washes nicely and kept the shape, it also did not loose any hairs yet.
i only don't understand why this brush (which is made of a less luxurious hair material) is more expensive than the regular Cheek Brush, it costs 59.99$ while the normal Cheek Brush was 48.99$.
although these brushes seem expensive, i find their quality totally relativate the costs.

pre-wash

post-wash

comparison

MAC 116 - RMK Cheek Brush S - RMK Cheek Brush

RMK Brush & Tip M

the RMK Brush & Tip M is my first dual ended brush product ever. it has a small eyeshadow brush on one end and a medium sized sponge tip applicator on the other end. while i totally dislike dual ended brushes because i store mine in a brush holder, i wanted to try this Brush & Tip because it has a small and promising eyeshadow brush. the other eye brushes i have from RMK are rather big and not suited for precise application. since i don't use sponge applicators (anymore) i thought that i would only buy this for the brush side and would stick it into my brush stand with the sponge tip end.
sponge tip applicators seem to be quite popular as serious beauty tools in asia, i see a lot of high end brands have several high quality versions in their range, different sizes and shapes and also different materials of the sponge.

the Brush & Tip range also has a smaller sized sponge applicator while the eyeshadow brush is all the same. i chose the medium size because i thought it would be most versatile.
the sponge applicator is interchangeable (you can buy replacement packs) and is of a decent quality, it's made of a fine foam rubber material. when i tried it out of curiosity i was pleasantly surprised by the result it gave. the application was even and smooth, the colour was intense and it was actually very nice to use! it's quick and i could even blend out the eyeshadow to a certain extend. i guess this brush-girl is somewhat back into sponge applicators again! i want to try it a bit more and might buy one or few more nice (!) applicators to add to my collection of beauty tools.

the eyeshadow brush side is a small flat brush made of horse hair. horse hair is a thick but soft and very sleek hair type. it's flexible and has not much volume since the hair texture is so sleek. it doesn't grab a lot of product but also doesn't absorb any product, so you will still get a good pay-off. the size and shape is perfect for my small lid space and it applies even dark colours evenly and builds up the colours nicely to an intense finish.
i wish it was a bit firmer since i don't like the wobbly tip for applying eyeshadow on the lower lashline but otherwise nothing to complain.
the RMK Brush & Tip M costs 34.99$.

eyeshadow brush side pre-wash

eyeshadow brush side post-wash

comparison

bottom to top: MAC 239 - MAC 242 - RMK Brush & Tip M - RMK Eyeshadow Brush L - RMK Eyeshadow Brush M

i really love the RMK face brushes, i think they are of excellent quality and you need to try at least one of them. the bigger surprise for me however is my newly aroused affinity for sponge tips!

Jul 29, 2011

Maureen + brush weekend II: Le Métier de Beauté Brushes.

let's start into another brush weekend!
i'll begin it by reviewing my Le Métier de Beauté brushes, which i am lucky to be able to try only thanks to the fabulous and lovely Maureen.
she is a woman who lives in the states and who loves make up so she feels with everyone who is lustering for a product but doesn't have access to the brand. she is nice enough to purchase these for fellow make up lovers and send them to you since in the US there are a lot of intresting products/brands that have not made it to us. she only charges fair paypal fees, really low shipping costs and compensation. you can pay via paypal. you can contact her at mgjmj(@)comcast.net and tell her what you need, but check her livejournal page before to see the "requirements". she only does this as an act of friendship, i so much appreciate that and the idea of a community where you help each other because you share the same passion. so please appreciate that too if you want to "order" something through her because this is not a profitable service but pure kindness.
i will put her contact information on the sidebar so you can get back to it in the future.

well, i was lusting for this certain brand, Le Métier de Beauté (LMdB). a high"est" end brand that is not available around here in germany. they do incredible looking eyeshadow palettes and face products which i wanted to try for ages, and those fabulous brushes that were appealing to me in the reviews of The Non-Blonde, Visionary Beauty and Hopelessly Devoted To Makeup (btw 3 awesome blogs that should not be missing on the bloglist of everyone who loves high end- and niche brands!!!).
i'm like this, whenever i'm getting into a new brand, i would try their brushes first ;)

and this is where Maureen comes in, she ordered these for me and sent them to me real quickly. she always kept me updated about the order etc, everything was packed really safely and she even added a little EOS lip balm for me as a goodie. i'm forever thankful for that, Mari!

i went the whole hog and ordered 3 brushes: the Powder Brush, the Blush Brush and the Crease Brush. everything together was about 200$ (the brushes were 165$, but there still were shipping&handling, pp fees, tax, insurance etc. Nordstrom would charge about 40€ for international shipping + customs extra).

the brushes come in a sleek black cardboard box and a black velvet pouch. LMdB brushes have really short, travel sized handles. they all are really sturdy and substantial with black wooden handles and matte black ferrules. the brand name is printed on one side and the brush name on the opposite.

Le Métier de Beauté Powder Brush

the Powder Brush (65$) is a round bounded brush with rather flat dome shape. it's made of densely packed long goat hair so it's quite fluffy and flexible. the hairs are soft and smooth, there is no prickly feeling on the skin at all even when i stipple on my face with the brush tip.

it's a very good powder brush that not only dusts a sheer veil of powder onto your skin, but is substantial enough to work the product into your skin. i like to use it with my MAC MSFN or Laura Mercier Mineral Foundation when i want to add some coverage over my liquid foundation. it's also a faboulous bronzer brush (for example with the Chanel Bronze Rosé) and works wonderfully with the Guerlain Meteorites.

the only downside i see with goat hair brushes in general is their character of getting prickly after a few times of usage. goat hair gets stiffer when there are product residues on it, the brushes don't feel as great as freshly washed so they need to be washed more often. i wash mine after about 5 usages.

it washed fine, it lost less than 10 hairs and bled a bit of dye during the wash but has not shed while usage.

pre-wash

post-wash

comparison

MakeUpShow Powder Brush - LMdB Powder Brush - RMK Face Powder Brush - Lunasol Powder Brush

Le Métier de Beauté Blush Brush

the Blush Brush (55$) has a fluffy paddle type shape with a flat tip. it's also made of goat hair and is as soft as goat hair can get, it feels nice and smooth on the skin. the brush head is rather big, comparable to the MAC 129 but with a flatter top (and a lot softer than MAC since it contains a higher part of uncut/naturally grown hair. now i can finally separate from MAC ;)).

i use it to apply sheer or firmly pressed blushes (MAC Well Dressed and co., or also the Givenchy Blooming Fuchsias) or bronzers - it's surprisingly fabulous to apply the Chanel Bronze Universel! the shape makes it even interesting for foundation application (which is the next thing i will try it with).

it washes nicely without bleeding or shedding.

this is a really versatile brush that's so much better than my MAC blush brushes. they will find their way into the blog sale now ;)

pre-wash

post-wash

comparison

MAC 116 - Rouge Bunny Rouge Blush Brush - LMdB Blush Brush - MakeUpShow Blush Brush

Le Métier de Beauté Crease Brush

the Crease Brush (45$) is a chubby tapered round brush. it's really soft and dense, i guess it's made of squirrel hair. but unlike my other squirrel hair brushes this one lacks of flexibility, it's just very soft and the only resistance it has comes from the densely packed bristles. this may sound negative, but in fact i really like it that way. it reminds me of a softer and finer version of my beloved (and much destructed) Edward Bess Luxury Eye Brush (can you tell - i have managed to beat it even more! now it's flattened on one side because i smashed it on the table in a bout of temper :/ i definitely need a new one, and something to channel my anger. i'm just using it so often that it was the first thing in my hands at that moment hahaha). the shape also reminds me of the MAC 226, but a lot softer, denser, better (bye 226!).

this brush creates a beautiful dark but soft crease/outer corner and is a fabulous blending brush. i think this can be love.

pre-wash

post-wash

comparison

Hakuhodo S146 - Edward Bess Luxury Eye Brush - LMdB Crease Brush - MAC 226

this was quite an extensive start into the brush weekend, but there are some more great brushes to come!
what do you think of such "projects" like the brush weekends? is it something to keep or too boring/condensed for you? should i rather do the brush posts more occasionally?

and what do you think about Le Métier de Beauté? i know many of you love this brand, i'm brand-new to their products and am still awaiting some eyeshadows to arrive, but i'm sure many have not even heard of them yet. i think it's totally exciting to try such "new" niche brands and since i'm not afraid of buying cosmetic sight unseen, i hope that you can benefit from my tests!

Rohto Hada-Labo BB Moist Emulsion.

this is the Rohto HadaLabo BB Moist Emulsion, the fluid version of their BB Moist Cream that i showed you some days ago. the fluid version is aimed to the oilier skinned customer or to those who want a lighter consistency for the summer.
i bought it on ebay for about 18$ (the seller was alphabeautyuk). it contains 40ml and is made in japan.
it has a spf of 50+ PA+++ which is higher than the creamy version.
it comes in a squeeze bottle with shaking beads contained since you have to shake it well before usage to merge the sunscreen ingredients.
i purchased the lighter available shade of two, Natural Beige, which matches me well. it has a liquidy consistency and is of a light shade with strong yellow undertone, it matches an NC20 skin in MAC. it does oxidise and will match a NC25 better afterwards.
it's free of fragrance, mineral oil, preservatives and alcohol but has a very slight herbal and bit plastic scent.
it blends ok but i find the texture to be a bit powdery and dry. it creates a matte, dull finish and provides a light coverage. it emphasizes on dry, flaky skin and settles into enlarged pores especially on the nose. when applied with the fingers, it settles incredibly into my brows -_-
this is best applied with the BeautyBlender, the finish is easily streaky when applied with a brush (and with the fingers it just looks meh).
even with my oily skin i don't like the finish of this BB. it lasts ok and after a few hours it melts into my skin oils and looks better, but i much prefer the BB Moist Cream by HadaLabo. out of the few BBs i tried, i like this the least.