H&M BB Cream Brush, bareMinerals Blurring Buffer Brush, eBay Dupe for H&M BB Cream Brush

I have been so impressed with NYX lately. Their recent lip product launches have been a HUGE HIT in the beauty industry, causing waves of happiness and joy and I can totally understand why!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

Swatched partially on top of Jordana Nutmeg Lip Liner

One layer swatched completely over the Lip Liner

As I previously mentioned in one of my reviews, the way Velvet Teddy looked was the ultimate way I wanted my lips to look. It has a 90's sort of look to it. Sort of terracotta like. Ever since I was young (90's child) I'd always liked the look of the 90's lips colour. And when I first got into makeup, that was when that frantic search had began for that specific colour. And then it was that day in the Mac store, when one of the mua's had it on, that was when I fell in love, that was when the obsession had started!

I went to the Mac store and I looked for it on the lipstick stand, I'd never seen the lipstick in real life, so I was picking up all the ones that I thought could be Velvet Teddy, scanning the colours, picking them up one by one, checking the labels underneath. I had to recognise it! I just had to! This is Velvet Teddy after all, I have a connection with this lipstick! I considered help, but no this would hurt my ego, I-must-recognise! After about 5 mins of doing this and almost picking up the same ones twice I gave up. I asked one of the assistants if they could find Velvet Teddy for me, she didn't recognise the name ('pffffffttt' I thought) so she asked another assistant, and number 2 said its a beigey colour, 'it's between this one and this one', pointing at Hug Me and Kinda Sexy (if I recall well). So they started looking for Velvet Teddy, then after another 5 minutes, it didn't seem to be there! Hah! My ego remained unharmed! My connection with Velvet Teddy was still intact! So assistant number 2 opened up the storage cabinet underneath and took out a new tube for me... :)

So I walked over to the mirror, Velvet Teddy in one hand and disposable lip brush in the other. I was so nervous yet excited! I was going to try on this much loved and much stalked lipstick for the first time, this was the moment of truth, I had waited for this for a long time...(Cheesy right?). I swiped the colour over my lips and analysed...hmmm...it seemed nice and natural like a nude pink, natural. It was okay, okay enough for me to make it mine, so I bought it! But I'd forgotten, I'd forgotten how much store lighting can be deceiving....

When I got home I tried it on again, and it was a different story.... Da da daaaa! It looked pale on me. A 'little' too pale for my liking. I didnt find it flattering at all. No 90's look, just some fake grey mess with dry dull hyperpigmented lips. I looked over to my sister with a look of grief, I was heartbroken ;( . She took a look and scolded 'dont get disheartened so quickly, you've got to make it work, do your thing, experiment! Try some lip liner or something, add a little gloss.'

I did what she said and played around with it. I rummaged in my makeup draw and took out a reddish brown (terracotta) lip liner, I think it was Jordanas lip liner in Nutmeg. I lined the outer rims of my lips and pressed my lips together to blend slightly, then I applied Velvet Teddy mainly to the centre of my lips and pressed again to blend slightly. I took a step back and scrutinized. My sister then said 'Wow! There! That looks gorgeous on you!'. She was right, it looked lovely! So naturally gorgeous! The perfect balance of beige, pink and brown with a slight hint of terracotta. It was my own 90's lip! It was what it looked like on the numerous girls I'd seen it on. I added a tiny tiny dab of gloss just to the centre of my lips and it was perfection!

Velvet Teddy is from the matte range of lipsticks. Very creamy and very pigmented. It can be a tad drying and chalky on darker skin tones like most nude mattes but lipbalm and gloss helps with this. It's a beige pink nude colour. On fair skins it can look light terracotta-ish, on medium skintones it looks like a nice beigy pink nude and on darker skintones it can look like a pale beigey pink. On my nc40 - nc41 - nc42 skin and hyperpigmented lips it is a bit too pale pinky beige for my liking, I'm not into the whole corpse look. Okay im exaggerating, I didnt look like a corpse but I just wasn't sure about it. But when I have a decent lip liner underneath it gives it a bit more life and looks like a nice beige peachy pink nude. I love it ! Lining my lips and outer rims with a darker lip liner and adding a little gloss in the centre adds plumpness and dimension to my lips.

I really do love it and I want to make it known to those who are of similar skintone to me and are interested in getting Velvet Teddy, that they should give it a try, they should experiment. Its such a lovely colour. I definitely think nc43's, perhaps nc44's too, can wear this and get the same 90's look out of it too and in my opinion Velvet Teddy looks phenomenal on nc30's, nc35's and nc37's. The swatches on my hand can confirm this as I have rather pale NC30/35 hands compared to my nc40-42 face. If it wasn't for the hyperpigmentation around my lips and on my lips it would look great on me too just swiped on straight from the tube, but it doesn't and I need to make it work my own way. Though, I'm content.

As for it being a dupe for Revlons Mauve it over, I will be doing a post on this very soon Inshaa Allah (if God wills) and will discuss the similarities and whether it is actually a good dupe.

Hope this was helpfull, please comment and ask questions if you need any additional info. Thank you for reading this long but informatively meaningful post. Hope I didn't bore you. Peace and love xxxx

Revlons Matte lipstick in Mauve it over 003

Now Mauve it over is a nudish pink, people have said it's similar to MACS Velvet Teddy, I can't confirm this cause I haven't seen or used Velvet Teddy myself (Now I have! It most definitely is a DUPE. Link here ). Though I have seen it on someone who was light skinned and it looked ah-mazing on her. It was like THE ultimate way I wanted a lipstick to look on me, I loved her overall look. simple, clean makeup and the lipstick complimented her skin tone so well, it was a nude with just a hint of peach type of colour. Gorgeous!

Without flash

Like Cocoa craving it's a matte texture and can be tad drying and ever so slightly chalky, but lip balm or gloss will correct that. I should admit that it's not a colour that I'm confident to wear on it's own. Its a bit too pale for me...  When I have foundation on, it ties into my skin better, or when I line my lips, I can easily apply it and am rather impressed with the colour, it works out to be quite a good nude colour for me. Hence why I like it.

With flash

I think a NC40 person can wear this definitely, but because of my hyperpigmentation on and around my lips it's a tough one for me and I need a lipliner to make it work. In the swatches I've included, the top swatch on the hand is one swipe and the bottom is a few swipes.

If you have any questions please do ask. Peace..