Hello my lovelies, I hope you all had a wonderful bank holiday weekend. As you may have noticed, I was a busy little bee and have made a few changes to the website, with a few more bells and whistles currently being developed. This weather has me feeling a little disorientated and I can sense that I’m losing the run of this post and I’m not even 5 lines in! It’s been one of those days; at one point I was contemplating showering myself, the kids and the dog all at once, three birds with one stone and all that jazz. Instead I showered them separately and by the time it came around to my turn, the water went cold half way through, so I’m now sat with conditioner in my hair and eye makeup all down my cheeks waiting for the water to warm up again…..
Right, back on track… One of the new features on my blog is called Loving Lately, and it’s where I’m going to share little random things, items, trends and whatever takes my fancy which I am “loving lately.” So for my first feature, it’s the MAC 130 Short Duo Fibre Brush, the first MAC brush I bought, and oh sweet mother of divine did I pick an expensive one?! Before you see the price and run a mile, I’m going to tell you why I’m loving it so much lately and why it’s worth every penny. I’ve had this brush for just over 6 months, and initially I bought it because I wanted something in between the Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki Brush, and the long, less dense Duo Fibre Brushes which are used to “stipple” foundation and other products onto the face to give an airbrushed finish. Those big duo fibre brushes are a bit overwhelming as you wield them to your face, hoping you don’t look like an absolute eejit shoving a brush repeatedly in your face! So something smaller and less daunting was the order of the day and until recently, foundation application is all I ever used the MAC 130 brush for, and it did a marvellous job. Admittedly, it took a little longer than I’m sure the larger duo fibre stippling brushes would take, but who’s splitting duo fibre hairs?
Since I got my beauty blender though, the MAC 130 brush has been neglected and hardly used. Determined not to let such an expensive brush go to waste, I started playing around with it and using it for various different products and areas of my face. Laziness and size led to it’s first use: blending in under-eye concealer. It is the perfect size and density for this job and the soft bristles make sure you’re not doing any damage to this delicate, thin and soft skin area of the face. Instead of laying the concealer on top of the skin with a traditional flat concealer brush, using the MAC 130, stipple and press the concealer into the skin and then buff out the edges to give a seamless, airbrushed finish. Midway through writing, I realise I didn’t have said concealer or the highlighter in the picture, I race back to re-take the picture before the sun moves around the house, run back, and realise how unfit I am. Note to self: do a work out later.
Ok, next use for the MAC 130 is for blending in liquid highlighters such as the MAC Prep+Prime Light Boost. I use the 130 brush for blending it in just under my contour shade under my cheekbones to really carve them out. A final, overall blend of cream and powder products to make sure there are no harsh lines, or anything remotely resembling a stripey face, is perfectly achievable with this brush too. Size doesn’t matter ladies, it’s what you do with it that counts and this brush is no different.
Another product which I really wanted to love but couldn’t find the right brush to apply it, was my Soleil Tan de Chanel cream gel bronzer. You can only imagine how gutted I was when I splashed out an unholy amount of money on the NARS Ita Kabuki Brush for contouring, and then found it wasn’t the match made in heaven with my Chanel bronzer I’d hoped it to be. The Ita brush, by the way, works better with powder products, like the Bobbi Brown Bronzers, or Benefit Hoola Bronzer which comes with it’s own iddy-biddy kabuki brush just like the Ita, only without the fancy handle – do not waste your money people! And like many other readers, don’t throw that little brush you get with the Benefit bronzers and blushes away either. I thought I’d give the MAC 130 a go with the Chanel bronzer last week when I was trying (and loving) the Dior Nude Air Ultra Fluid Foundation, you can read that post here. This was a trio made in heaven, let me tell you! In my head, I was saying “YAAASSSS” à la Jaclyn Hill while I was applying it and watching that brush buff and blend that beautiful bronzer into my skin. Okay, okay, I was actually saying out loud with my three year old daughter looking at me like I had completely lost the buffing, bronzing plot!
And finally, I was at the MAC counter a few weeks ago getting myself a new summer blush (MAC Melba) and the girl used a duo fibre brush saying they were really good, especially for applying matte blushes. I have to admit, it looked fab, and I only remembered it recently whilst waiting for a new blush brush to arrive. You can stipple the blush in, pressing it into the skin which gives immediate colour payoff, and thanks to the size of this brush, you have total control over where it goes. Alternatively you can buff the blush in using circular motions and then blend it out and up towards the temples to avoid any harsh lines or bright pink, doll-cheek circles, heaven forbid!
So, if you have this brush but haven’t thought to experiment with different products, I hope I have inspired and encouraged you to try it out with all your face products. If you haven’t got this brush but have been dilly-dallying about whether to get it or not, you can now splash the cash knowing this is a multi-purpose, high-quality brush that will give you plenty of bang for your buck. It can pretty much do everything but your eye makeup, all in one brush! What’s not to love about that?! If you have any brushes which you’ve played around with and found it great for applying lots of different products, comment below and let me know.
Gabriella x
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