SUNDAY SPECIAL: My top 10 make-up brushes

I often get asked which brushes are my favorites – do I prefer drugstore brands or is it worth investing into more expensive brushes. I also get asked about fake brushes that you can purchase from various websites – if you want to know about my experience with those, let me know in the comments below!

Anyway, I own both drugstore and high-end brushes – too many of both, to be quite honest with you, since I love buying and trying new ones. As you will see, my favorites consist of both. These are the brushes I use on a regular day when doing my go to make-up look. I listed some prices below, but to find the best deal, check out *this post* I wrote about my favorite online stores and their offers!

Makeup Revolution Ultra Sculpt & Contour Kit

If you follow me on Instagram (@low_maintenance_beauty), you probably noticed that I received a few packages from Licila.si and Makeuprevolution.si through the month of May. Well, one of the packages got me all excited and today, I'd like to do a quick review of the product. 

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two years, you know that it's not all about the bass (no treble, lalala), but rather, it's all about contouring. When looking at photos, I feel like I could cut bread with some of the cheebones of various models and actresses. And with this new trend came a myraid of new products, intended specifically for the purpose, creating  a whole new category of beauty product – the contour kits. 

Anyway, I was sent the Makeup Revolution Ultra Sculpt & Contour Kit in light-medium. 

The palette brings three different products – a matte bronzer, a highlighter and a shimmer blush.

The packaging itself is nothing special, but that can be expected for the price range (with the exception of the MUR Iconic Pro lipsticks I wrote about here – how about that for spectacular packaging). It's a plastic palette with a mirror. I like that it closes up really well – I wouldn't be worried to travel with it. 

Makeup Revolution ICONIC PRO lipsticks

It will probably come as no surprise to most of you that I am quite partial to Licila.si when it comes to make-up shopping. And they are often lovely and spoil me with a thoughtful gifts when they receive new products. One of such packages arrived yesterday and inside was one of the new Makeup Revolution Iconic Pro lipstick in the shade Game of mystery matte. 

I took it out, applied it and a couple of hours later I was in love. So normally, I went and ordered a few more, because why not, right? You can now buy Makeup Revolution products on a brand new site  and until end of June 2015, you can use the code BLOG17 to get 17 % off your purchase (on the products not yet on sale). 

I now own not one, not two, not three, but four of the Iconic Pro lipsticks. In all, there are twenty different lipsticks in the collection.  

They come in either a satin or matte finish, so you could basically choose the same shade in two finishes, but this is not true for all of the shades in the range.

Concealers – a quick review!

When I asked you guys what you’d like to see me write about, so many of you mentioned concealers that I just can’t stay away from the topic. Mind you, I’m not a huge concealer junkie – I think it’s one of those things that you need to find whatever works for you and just stick to it. And let me just say that all of the reviews here will be mainly positive, since I’ve had quite a bit of luck on the concealing side. So let’s jump right in!

Makeup revolution concealer (Fair)

I picked up this shade since I wanted something that would also act like a subtle highlight underneath my eyes (you know - the triangle trick). It has a bit of pink undertone but is still lighter than my natural face shape. I bought this on Licila.si for a bargain price of about 2 €. It also comes in the natural shade, and in the last few months, they also added a new line of Makeup revolution concealers called Focus & Fix, which I need to try as well. 

Anyway, I just use this underneath my eyes since I don’t really have any breakouts to take care of very often and the shade would be much too light for that. Consequently, I cannot judge the staying power on the face, but it doesn’t budge at all underneath the eyes. The only thing that slightly bothers me is that it’s quite a dry formula and if you don’t set it with a good powder, it will probably crease on you, more so if you have some fine lines under your eyes. 

Still, for the price, it’s a great concealer and I would repurchase it. The packaging is nice and sturdy (even though all of the writing came of quite quickly) and looks pretty nice as well. Applicator: doe shaped.

Very late August favorites

I have been feeling under the weather so much lately that my blog also suffered from it. However, I am feeling really productive today so hopefully things will get better. Does the weather affect you as well?

Anyway, it's time for the much overdue August favorites.  As you can see, it's been a very nail oriented month, especially because I spent some of it at the seaside and we all know what sea and sand and being all-around crazy will do to your nails...

Two of these I actually picked up in the USA – the OPI »I'm not really a Waitress« (BTW, the names of OPI polishes crack me up, I spent a good ten minutes just reading them and laughing out loud, which is much less unusual in America as it would be at our local DM store). Unlike most nail polishes, this one actually comes across a bit darker than I would have imagined, but that's OK, because it will be a pretty fall color as well. I love the consistency (it's my first OPI and I didn't know what to expect), but above all I love that it actually lasts more than 2 days on my nails. So, favorite it is. 

Next nail polish that I've been wearing all summer long is the Essie Mint Candy Apple. It's the perfect mint shade that looks good on both hands and feet and is also easy to combine with other pastels. This would be my favorite color of the summer. 

On top of both, I've been using the Essie Good to go top coat, which gives the nails a bit of shine but above all makes them dry super fast. I've never been a believer in these formulas because none have worked so far – but Essie's works! It basically dries up 2 coats of any nail polish in under a minute and seals them perfectly. I believe this top coat is also available in DM stores in Slovenia. It cost about 8 $ in USA. 

Moving on from the nail polishes, I've got to include my EOS balm in blueberry acai. These balms are absolutely perfect to throw in the bag because they are sturdy and will never crack or open.  All EOS are made without parabens and 100 % natural. This is an added bonus. You can find them in any of the larger international online stores and they cost about 5-6 €. I think it's only a matter of time before we'll see them in Slovenia as well. 

Last but not least is another item that I picked up at Licila.si . It was a spontaneous purchase but I must say the best one I've made in a long time. This Makeup Revolution Kajal liner is one of the best things ever. The packaging is super nice and the ribbon at the end is a nice touch. 

However what really separates this product from other liners out there is its multipurpose use. You can use it as  a semi-precise liner (although don't try creating a cat-eye with it since it's too thick for that), as a liner which you smudge afterwards and also as a base for other colors. I've tried to create a smoky eye with this for a base and it worked perfectly. 

What were your summer favorites?

Until next time, stay beautiful, stay awesome!