I was very fortunate enough to be sent some brushes and makeup pieces from Bdellium Tools through their Product Review Programme, I've used them a plenty since receiving and feel like I know them well enough to share my honest thoughts with everyone.
Bdellium Tools (pronounced del-ee-uhm. The "b" is silent) are a company based in California who provide makeup tools and products designed by brush experts, the brushes are custom tailored and handmade in their factory in China by skilled artisans. They have several product lines and I was sent the brushes from their Studio line. These brushes have been made with either synthetic or natural bristles, I believe the natural bristles are either Pony or Goat hair. They also have several Eco-Friendly and vegan line of brushes in a choice of 4 pretty colours. These Studio brushes are described as having professional and full sized handles and the ferrules are made of anodised aluminium. They've also recently launched their first cosmetic product which is a series of twistable Lip Crayons in an array of beautiful shades.
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| Love the super bright yellow! |
The products I received were safely bubble wrapped and came individually packed in clear cellophane packets and the whole bundle was nicely wrapped in bright yellow tissue paper mimicking the signature yellow theme of their Studio line brushes. When I first held the brushes in my hand I straightaway noticed the feel and quality of the brushes, they felt very sturdy and solid and definitely had more weight to them than any of my other wooden handled brushes. The lacquered finish on the brushes is incredibly smooth and glossy and really makes them look and feel the part. Just from inspecting the bristles and running my fingers through them the first time I could tell these were quality and professionally made brushes without a shred of doubt and better than a lot of the brushes I already own.
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| Professional looking and sturdy feel |
The first brush I'll review is the Studio 776 Blending Brush, $9 (just over £6). Oh I love me a good blending brush! I really do and this brush is no exception! I love the length and thickness of the barrel, so sturdy and really feels solid. The bristles are made of natural fibres and are very very soft to touch, much softer than my ELF Essential Blending Brush, they have a good balance of sturdy and swishy-ness which is important for the role of blending. The brush head is tapered and comes to a rounded point, the ferrule isn't round but is flattened a bit, so from a birds eye view the brush head looks slightly oval instead of round, I find this shape mostly useful for blending out the crease. Though blending brushes can be used for a myriad of other purposes, like blending out concealer or lightly dusting powder onto specific areas and I say you can never have enough blending brushes in your keep!
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| Slightly oval shaped perfect for the crease |
I first done an eye look using my Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette to test out it's performance and found that it felt nice and soft on the eyelids, it really blended out the shadows smoothly and quite professionally, effortless is what came to mind. I was most definitely impressed and for a minute there this amateur eye shadow-ist felt like a pro! I always do a pinching test with new brushes where I pinch and tug at the bristles to check for shedding and there was none with this brush, none at all, I did this a few times with some definite grip but still no bristles were coming free. When I went to wash the brush after using, I swished it around in my palm with the cleanser and found the stains washed off nicely, I also kept a close eye on it whilst washing and did notice one bent-ish bristle snap off, just the one though but other than that I haven't noticed any other form of shedding which is excellent as I've always had brushes shed whilst using and washing. This has happily replaced my ELF Blending Brush for sure and I can see myself reaching for this quite a lot from now on.
Another brush that I received is the Studio 936 Concealer Brush, $9 (just over £6) . This brush is also made with soft natural bristles. It's a thin and flat brush and the bristles on this brush feel very smooth and soft yet firm at the same time. Again I carried out the pinch test and found no bristles came out whatsoever, even after washing. I've been using this with my Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer and have been loving it! Since I don't apply tons of product anyway, the size of this has been absolutely perfect for my under eye circles and the odd blemishes I want to conceal, I find the bareMinerals concealer brush that I was using to be a little too big and I end up using more product and getting it where I don't need it. I apply a small amount under each eye and pat and blend it in, I find the amount of sturdiness really blends and moves the product well when I want to cover small imperfections around my face and the flat side really pushes and pats the concealer into place.
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| The bristles are very smooth and soft |
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| This is how thin the concealer brush is on the side |
I've also used this to apply eyeshadow onto my eyelids for the main lid colour and it's worked very well, I adore how smooth it feels on the eyelids, the swishy-ness at the tips really glides on softly and smoothly across the lid and applies the shadow on nicely. As it's quite a thin brush this won't pick up and deposit a lot of shadow but you can build up and pack on the colour as you wish, overall this works perfectly fine for me.
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| Nice rigid bristles to comb out unwanted clumps |
The last brush in the selection is the Studio 733 Lash Brush, $8 ( just over £5). Made of synthetic fibres, this quality spoolie is ideal to use through your brows and lashes. Apart from combing through and taming my naturally bushy tails (brows) I use this mainly for brushing through my lashes to get rid of mascara clumps, to separate my lashes and to fan them out for a more volumised, yet natural and wispy look. If you know me then you'll know I'm fussy when it comes to my mascaras. My lashes are long but thin so they're very prone to clumpiness, I hate it when mascaras clump on me and bunch my lashes together and make them look sparse and minimised instead of volumised. This happens a lot when the beauty-holic in me purchases new mascaras to try, more often than not the brush or formula isn't the most perfect option for me and they'll clump up on my lashes, so I'm forced to go in with a separate -preferably clean- mascara wand to try and comb out the clumps, but the wands just haven't had the right amount of stiffness.
This spoolie however is exactly what I need, it's stiff enough to brush through the clumps and it fans out my lashes perfectly. I've had spoolie's before but they've either come off the handle, ferrule and all or they've not had the right firmness to break up the clumps, this has been working a charm for me and I know the ferrule won't be coming off anytime soon, if ever! It's a solid spoolie and everyone needs a spoolie in their lives to achieve a professional and beautiful finish to their lashes and it's definitely gotta be a quality one like this one.
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| Simple and sleek packaging |
The last product I received was a makeup product, specifically they're Auto Lip Crayon, in the shade "In the Nude". Oh my this was a treat! Everyone and their mum knows I'm a vehement lipstick junkie so this was right up my aisle, not only that but the fact that it was a nude shade had me overly thrilled! I know my lipsticks, I've worn and owned a heck of a lot so I can tell when certain formulas are quality formulas, the way they apply on to the lips, the finish, the colour pay off and comfortability are all indicators at how specific the formulas intricacies are and how meticulously it has been put together and this product definitely fits the bill.
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| Twist up tube |
At 1.5g and containing natural, nourishing and hydrating ingredients like shea butter, the lip crayon glides smoothly on to my lips, it's beautifully pigmented, the colour pay off is great and it covers the hyper-pigmentation on my lips really well making my lips look full and perfected. This actually feels really nourishing and super comfortable on. It's a satin/matte finish and smoothens the surface of my lips nicely. I do prefer matte-er finishes but I appreciate the quality and really like the formula of this product, it's so buttery smooth and has plenty of colour concentration and it doesn't have that cheap slippey/slidey texture that some drugstore lipsticks can have, so this does last a decent time especially after I set it with some powder. It's also paraben and perfume free for those that have issues in that department. The packaging is simple, sturdy and effective with the convenient twist up mechanism. Applying this is a dream, I can easily line my lips with the pointed tip and fill them in at the same time, easy peasy!
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| Bdellium Tools Auto Lip Pencil in "In the Nude" |
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| Swatched in sunlight to show off its' pretty nude tones |
The shade is quite a pale nude on my tanned NC35 - ish South Asian (hyperpigmented around the mouth) skin tone and this shade is not something I can pull off on it's own at all, I think people with NC30 skin tones and under can wear this without any additional help but it's actually a wonderful shade for mixing. I've had my eye on MAC's Honeylove for a while as it's a really pale nude shade that looks amazing on tanned skin when mixed with other lipsticks or with certain lip liners underneath, so I was very happy to use this lip crayon mixed with other products and I've created some stunning combinations, this actually layers really beautifully! One of my favourite combos is Jordana's Nutmeg which is a deep reddish brown lipliner and with "In the Nude" on top it turns into a wonderful gorgeous dusky pink nude that makes my lips look fuller, then I pat on some Soap & Glory Kick Ass Powder and it's matte perfection, full, pouty, nude lips, me loves!
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| Swatched partially on top of Jordana Nutmeg Lip Liner |
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| One layer swatched completely over the Lip Liner |
I love the formula of these Lip Crayons and want to get my hands on more of the shades, particularly the one called "Helen of Troy" which is an everyday mauvey pink colour and another called "Sinister Rouge" which is a deep berry shade. At $10.00 (which is just under £7) these are very affordable and offer excellent quality for the price.
I am so chuffed at receiving these great brushes and the Lip Crayon, I really am so pleased to have them in my stash as they're just such great affordable and reliable quality brushes. I've seen Desi Perkins use Bdellium Tools on her channel and if a professional like Desi gives these her stamp of approval then they're definitely worth it, you can take Desi's word as well as mine! I don't have any qualms or negatives to say apart from the fact that these beautiful goodies are on the other side of the pond from us here in the UK! Which is really just me having a comical moan because they're offering free International Standard Shipping if you spend over $20 and topped with the amazing 25% off New Years offer they have going on currently, NOW is a great time to fulfil your makeup brush wishlist! Just enter NEWYEARS25 in the discount box when you checkout. Hurry because the offer ends at 01/01/2016 at 11:59pm PST. (PST is -8 hours from BST. E.g. If it's midnight in the UK then it's 4pm in PST.)
I want to thank Bdellium Tools for sending me these brushes as well as Sal from www.UmmBaby.blogspot.co.uk for giving me the heads up, it's very much appreciated. I've attached links to each respective product so have a browse if you need more information on Bdellium Tools and their other products.
*As mentioned in the beginning of this review, these products were sent to me for review purposes through the Bdellium Review Programme, though, I can promise you that you will always, as per usual, have my honest thoughts and opinions in all my reviews. I am immensely grateful and rather overwhelmed that these products were sent to me even though I deem myself a small beauty blogger and have this teeny tiny space on the in'ernet. Thank you for taking your time to read this review!
Love & Peace everyone!
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