Real Techniques Bold Metals Colleciton: Review!

Can we all just take a moment to soak in this beautiful sight...

The metallic handles, the luxe gradient to white brush hairs, the packaging. If you didn't already know these are the Real Techniques Bold Metals collection. I saw a picture of them on Instagram a few weeks ago and almost developed a hernia out of excitement. Today I found them in store and I am so glad I did. 

Now these are much more expensive than regular Real Techniques brushes. The face brushes were around 25 dollars and the eye brushes were around 15. This does seem like a steep increase but honestly they are still significantly less than MAC or even other luxe brushes that are sold at Ulta so I didn't have much issue handing over my VISA, especially because coupons and point rewards apply!

As you can see I picked up four brushes, the large powder brush,the tapered blush brush, the shader brush, and the pointed crease brush. They are one of three metallic hues, face brushes are gold, eye brushes are silver, and my personal favorite, the cheek brushes are rose gold. There are a few more brushes in the collection however they didn't seem super worth it for my personal preferences (they were gorgeous though). 

This is the large powder brush. All the brushes feel heavy and very luxurious so this is no exception. Its a dense semi flat paddle style powder brush that I know I will use daily.

This is the tapered blush brush. It's quite a small blush brush but I love that because it's unique to the rest of my blush brushes. It's wonderful for blush application as well as contour or highlight.

Quite possibly my favorite of the collection is this tapered crease brush. It's incredibly dense, short bristled, and excellent at what it is intended to do, which is apply color in the crease. I used this today and I loved it for the exact application of crease color that I desired. After that I blend out the color with one of my fluffier brushes and voila!

My last brush choice was the classic shader brush. This one is superior to the others I have because it is large enough to cover my inordinately large eyelids in one swipe. It applies a good wash of color evenly and beautifully.

Overall did is obviously a rave. The price could be cheaper, however, when is that not true? It's obvious that with the upgraded price they have also upgraded the quality in the brushes. 

Will you be picking up any of these gorgeous brushes? I'm not positive but it seems like these are limited edition. 

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and/or Hanukkah. Mine involved a lot of food and alcohol, which in my world is how it should be! 

Winter Makeup Look

There really are no excuses for my absence at this point other than I started a new job and have been overwhelmed preparing for grad school. Damn, those are excuses, aren't they?

Anyway, let's get down to business (to defeat, the Huns). I'm writing to you from a very dangerous location, it's called Nars Lane. Aka, the place where I bought one Nars powder product and now can't stop. The blushes, the eyeshadows, the special collections. I can't help myself and I don't really know if I want to. 

So here's my take on a glowy, probably overdone, definitely themed winter makeup look.

The star of this look is my Nars Dolomites eyeshadow duo. This came out with the autumn collection so it may be hard to get your hands on it, but if you can, do. I hunted it down off of Barneys.com and am so glad I did. The lid shade that I used is the purplish pink on the left. It has a shot of silver sparkle that gives the shadow a metallic look on the lids. After applying one or two layers of this over my Laura Geller Cool Lids Eyeshadow in Rose Gold (a product I got in a kit that is nice but I wouldn't necessarily recommend), I worked the brown hue on the right into my crease. 

The costar  of this show is definitely Nars Almeria Blush. It is also limited edition although it was from the winter collection so it should be more available. The packaging is special (not pictured, a shattered glass-esque print of the front of the normal Nars packaging). In addition to that, the actual product is gorgeous. The color is a rusted brown plum color with hints of red. The perfect "wind swept" winter blush to pair with any lipstick, especially those of the darkest hues.

To complete my cheek look I pulled out my newest and go-to highlighter, the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Moonstone. I could probably write an essay about this product and let me know if you want a full review, but overall it's just a gorgeous, pigmented, smooth, soft as butter, and luminescent highlighter. It creates the most gorgeous candlelit glow that I can't get enough of. I also use it as a highlight on my inner corner and brow bone.

Ahh, a plum lipstick. My old friend. This is an old tone for me but a new product. This is Bobbi Brown's Creamy Matte Lip Color in Crushed Plum. I'm pretty obsessed with this formula because as an avid matte lipstick wearer I often suffer from dry lips. This color is mostly matte and doesn't dry out my lips to the point of no return. Way to be Bobbi. 

So here's the finished look! A winter look that I wear in about ten different variations all winter long.  Glowy skin, smokey-ish eye, dark lip. 

I hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the holiday season. Wear some red lipstick, sing some Christmas songs, and drink some hot chocolate (either spiked or not). 

Happy Holidays, I'll be checking in soon! (I've been buying myself two gifts for every one I buy for someone in my life...whoops)