Iherb green beauty shopping – part 2

Hello there! Here I’m again with the second part of my Iherb shopping, where I’m going to review mainly some new brushes that I hope you’ll like. Well, I guess you’ll be curious since many of you are EcoTools and Real techniques fans. I was curious about some of these items too and so I wanted to give them a try. Before I start with the brushes I will present you a lovely item from a (for me) new brand called Deep steep. I was so attracted by this body mist which is fantastic in summer days to moisturise your skin. I have chosen the scent Grapefruit-Bergamot which is awesome fresh! And the ingredients are very good too. Here is the list:

INCI: Aqua, organic aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf extract, infusion of organic herbs, citrus grandis (grapefruit) extract, citrus aurantium bergamia (bergamot) fruit extract, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) fruit extract, aroma (organic and wildcrafted aroma blend), natural color. It’s packed in a nice plastic bottle of 177ml. When you apply it on your body, it leaves you a sense of freshness because of the citrus scent and it’s not sticky or oily which is great! They also have other items like oils, shower gels, creams, scrubs and other scents too. So it’s a brand to discover. Have you tried it yet?

Green makeup tip  I want to share with you another great tip that I discovered these days and which works great for me. It can be useful especially now in hot days as a hair removal tip. I realised that I can use this body mist not only after the epilation for hydrating and calming the skin, but even before! Why? When the hair became so small after long term epilation, and perhaps the skin is even dry, I realised it’s much better to hydrate the skin before (but the product must not be oily or greasy or creamy, therefore this mist is perfect!). When I bought the epilator, I even got some kind of wet wipes for using before the epilation (that I haven’t used of course, but I understood the point). And so I thought to use this Deep steep body mist before the epilation (instead of those wet wipes) and the body hair just went out better and quicker. The mist was super helpful, because it helped the epilator’s tweezers to adhere to the hair better and remove them quickly (even the smallest ones).

Makeup brushes & accessories

As you can see from the picture above I have picked a few different things. First on my list was EcoTools with the Six piece day to night clutch set and the new Skin perfecting brush. Btw, I’m so glad that Iherb has got all the novelties as soon as they are out! Regarding Real Techniques I wanted to try just the Stippling brush and the Miracle complexion sponge. In general, I’m not a fan of Real Techniques, although they are good brushes, because I find the handles using a lot of space and the long ferrules are quite “sensitive”; every time a brush falls down it has a scratch somewhere.

EcoTools Six piece day to night clutch set review

I like this cute brown-bronzy clutch, its practical aspect, all the brushes and it’s very well made as well (and the price is so affordable; in comparison with the quality is a good investment). It contains 5 brushes which are called this way (it’s even written the name on each brush): from left to right according to the photo above: Detailed lip/liner, Stay-there shadow, Round powder, Smudge, Pointed concealer. And now to the description on my own 🙂 I love all the brushes and use them in different ways. The first brush the so called Detailed lip/liner is an amazing small detailed brush suitable for applying the lipstick, to make a line with a gel eyeliner and I even find it useful for concealing small spots. Needless to say a multi-use brush! The second one, Stay-there shadow brush has a nice tapered cut point and is a quite large brush for eyeshadow application. It’s great for applying a layer of eyeshadow on the entire eyelid. The third and the biggest one from the set is a multi-purpose one as well! It’s not too big, but big enough to use it for powder, for blush and even bronzer, especially if you are on-the-run and you have to adjust your make-up quickly, this set has all you need. I love the softness of this brush. And all the brushes, as you may already know, dry very quickly, because have synthetic fibers. The fourth brush is called Smudge and is a small rounded brush with a pointed cut. It’s good for applying a dark shade of eyeshadow on the lash line or in the crease of the eye and smudge it. Very good for detailed applications! The last brush is the Pointed concealer which is stiffer than the previous one which is very soft and this is why is good for applying concealer even under the eyes and blend it well. Here are all the “small” brushes from the set to see them in detail and compare them:

EcoTools Skin perfecting brush review

are the next 2 brushes from this brand that I love too! Especially the big one called Skin perfecting brush which is meant to use with the new technologies of products like BB/CC creams, primers, tinted moisturisers. This brush is great because it stays very comfortable in the hand and you can work quickly with it. It has a tapered cut, it’s very dense and soft and it’s a duo-fibre brush; all features that makes a good quality brush for this purpose. I’ll compare it later with the second one from Real Techniques. It does an excellent job, also because you can reach every corner of the face thanks to its shape. Highly recommended! I love to apply all sorts of primers, creamy products, especially these light and modern type of foundations. Easy to use, handy and gorgeous design! In this set was added another brush as a bonus which is a smaller one called Eye primer brush. This is also a duo-fiber brush designed for applying eye primer, although it can be used as a classic concealer brush as well. It’s a little bit stiffer, because it’s meant for detailed work. I don’t use it so much, but it’s definitely a good brush that complement nicely this set.  Below, I have put the picture of 4 brushes to compare. From left to right: the powder brush from the 6piece day to night set, the 2 above described brushes and the Real Techniques stippling brush that I’ll now describe below.

Real Techniques Stippling brush review

The main point of this US brand is in my opinion the multi-use and practical purpose of every brush or product (sponge). Their signature design is also very well recognisable in the huge makeup brush world. Which is great! Their concept is very good and I wanted to try some of their brushes that I like. But overall, I’m not such a fan of them, because I find them quite big and not so comfortable to carry around in a make-up bag. They just take a lot of space. For instance when I wanted to put this brush in my makeup bag it didn’t go in the normal brush section and even among other products it took so much place. So this is for me a downside. But I use it at home and it’s nice for using it with any cream or powder product. Because it’s a duo-fiber, it picks the right amount of product and transfers it evenly on the face. This is a good advantage with all duo-fiber brushes. I have to say that in comparison with Bdellium Tools Studio line duo-fibers these two (EcoTools and RealTechniques) are both much better. Compared to the previous one from EcoTools this one is less dense and it has a round shape. You can see the difference on the photo here:

and here to see the length of the handles as well:

To conclude, they are both nice and multi-purpose brushes, perhaps the Real techniques would be better for those who need a more-in-one brush because is slightly more versatile. On the other side, the EcoTools brush is fantastic, if you search a special brush for your base (such as liquid, creamy foundations/BB/CC creams,…).

Real Techniques Miracle complexion sponge review

And lastly, the makeup sponge; In general I’m not a fan of sponges, but since there are so many trending on the market I wanted to give this one a try after seeing their very convincing video on how to use this sponge in so many ways!

Oh, yes, sometimes I’m attracted by US marketing promises as well 😀 haha. Anyway, as you can see there are many ways to use this sponge and I don’t disapprove it at all. I have tried it and yes it works well, it’s just that I can’t get used to sponges because I have the attitude to wash the sponge every time I use it. Not only for hygienically reasons but also not to melt many left colours/products together that remain on the sponge. And when it comes to wash it, the color still remains on quite a lot. (I wash it with Dr.Bronner’s soap and hot water as always). For the entire application I prefer brushes, but for me the sponge is great for blending everything together, for the final touch. So it’s your choice, I’d say. The sponge it’s definitely a nice and handy product that does the job well.

Have you tried this sponge? Do you like it? And the other products from the review – what do you think?