Haul: Morphe Brushes

So one day a few weeks ago I found myself  hunting the web for Morphe makeup brushes because of Patrick Starr ... *sigh*. I've been looking for a new foundation brush since the tragic demise of my well loved Sigma F80 *welp*, and as I am on a mission to try new things I didn't want to just replace it. I had read that the Morphe M439 was a great alternative to the F80 and then I heard Patrick Starrr mention in in his Morphe faves video and I was sold!

Morphe M439 Deluxe Buffer Brush

Obviously, because I am excessive,   I began watching a million other 'Morphe favourites' videos on YT and convinced myself I needed more than the M439 :'(( . Plus you would be silly not to listen to NikkieTutorials when she says the M310 is the best highlighting brush she has ever used. Just saying. The brushes are really affordable and they are super super soft. The brushes from the Elite collection, particularly,  are really well made and I am sure they will last me a very long time! 

The Elite Collection 

Morphe state that these brushes are limited edition but I know they have been out for a while and they are still available, so I don't think we have a MAC Oh Darling situation on our hands just yet. The Elite collection brushes are made of synthetic bristles, the handle of the brush is much more sleek looking and heavier in weight than the brushes in the other lines. I think you could achieve any eye look with the four brushes I chose- they are incredibly soft yet firm and I love the fact that the handles are slightly longer than the usual makeup brush. 

Morphe E14 Oval Shadow Brush - Densely packed brush, great for packing on eyeshadow £5.50

Morphe E23 Deluxe Blending Brush - Fluffy untapered blending brush, great for applying transition shades and for general blending £5.50

Morphe E24 Bullet Crease Brush - Very firm tapered brush for creating a defined, sharp crease £5.50

Morphe E28 Round Blender Brush - Tapered round brush for blending everything seamlessly, small brush head so particularly good if you have smaller eyes. £5.50

Morphe Studio and Morphe Studio Pro Collections

These are the lines that you have probably heard all about. There are over 150 different brushes in the line, it is mental! There is a mixture of natural goat hair and synthetic bristle brushes available. The brushes are much more light weight, and not as sleek looking as the ones in the Elite Collection, but they are still very soft and well made. 

Morphe M310 Large Soft Fan Brush (Goat hair bristle)- The highlighting brush that NikkieTutorials swears by! This is also good for sweeping away any fall out and diffusing any harshly placed colour £6.00

Morphe M433 Pro Firm Blending Fluff Brush (Goat hair bristle)- The shape and firmness of this makes it great for blending out any colour in the crease. This brush is often compared to the popular MAC 217 and the Sigma E25, this version obviously being the cheaper alternative priced at £4.75

Morphe M439 Deluxe Buffer Brush- very densely packed round top brush- great for seamlessly buffing out cream and liquid products. The bristles are much softer than that of the F80 and it has a larger surface area £11.25

Morphe M504 Large Pointed Blender Brush -  Bigger blending brush, fluffy and very soft- great for applying a wash of colour or a transition shade £5.50

Morphe M508 Smudger Brush - Great for smudging/smoking out shadow or liner on the lower lash line £4.50

You can get Morphe Brushes from:

Beauty Bay

Cult Beauty

Cocktail Cosmetics

Beauty Chamber

You will find that the sites have different brushes on offer but Beauty Bay and Beauty Chamber have more of a selection with offerings from most of the lines. It may also be difficult to get hold of the more popular brushes like the M310 and M433 but you can sign up to a waiting list on most of these sites. You can also browse and shop all the Morphe brush lines directly from Morphe but you will have to pay a Customs Charge if shipping to the UK.

I have started using them all and I am in love with them!! The M439... *Dancing lady emoji*, I'm sure you will see them all feature in my upcoming posts!  Have you tried any Morphe brushes? What do you think of them??

'Be your own kind of beautiful'

What's on my Face- The Valentine's Day Edition

I just wanted to do this post showing how I used the MAC Burgundy x 9 eyeshadow palette that I reviewed in my last post. The colours in the palette are definitely reminiscent of those normally associated with Valentine's Day so I thought I would post a look albeit me being bae-less- lolz. I like this look because you can keep it quite soft with a nude lip or amp up the drama by adding some black eyeshadow to intensify it and changing the lip to something darker. This time round I remembered to use an eyeshadow primer! It definitely helps a bit with the creasing I can't seem to avoid :( but it could still definitely be improved. My technique also needs work- this literally took me ages :'(( . Alsooo Shea Moisture come through- I'm stunned by how much my hair has grown!!

Crease: MAC Embark and Sketch 

Crease: MAC Embark and Sketch and Makeup Geek Corrupt

Base

Primer: Benefit the Porefessional 

Foundation: The Body Shop Fresh Nude Foundation - Tuscany Chesnut

Eyebrows: Anastasia Beverley Hills Dip Brow Pomade - Ebony (I feel like I will never finish the prodct in this pot *sigh* )

Eyes

Transition: MAC single eyeshadow- Swiss Chocolate

Lid: MAC Burgundy x 9 - Star Violet

Crease: MAC Burgundy x 9 - Embark and Sketch , Makeup Geek single eyeshadow in Corrupt for a smokier look

Tear Duct: MAC Burgundy x 9 - Honey Lust 

Eyeliner: Thebalm Schwing Liquid Eyeliner - Black

Mascara: MDMFlow Greater Than Mascara - Black

Lips

Liner : KIKO Precision Lip pencil -No.314 Wood Brown (  I think this has been discontinued in the UK - NYX Nutmeg is similar)

L.A Girl Glazed lip Paint- Elude

Finishing touches

Blush: C.A.K.E Cosmetics blush- Tropicana

Highlight: KIKO Water Eyeshadow - No. 200 Champagne

'Be your own kind of beautiful'

First impressions: MAC Eyeshadow x 9 (Burgundy)

Whilst contemplating how to spend a House of Fraser voucher, obviously in the Beauty department, I was drawn to the MAC eyeshadow x 9 palettes, mainly for the pretty composition of the palettes. I was clearly having an impulsive day as I went ahead and ordered the Burgundy x 9 and the Navy x 9 palettes without doing much research at all (do not follow this example). I have since given away the Navy x 9 palette as I just could not figure out how to use it- the shades were so underwhelming, chalky and incredibly difficult to build up. All in all it made me realise that cool tone shadows have no place in my life.

The Burgundy x 9 Palette was a little more promising, if you watch as many YT videos as me you will know that MAC Embark is one of those shadows that everyone seems to have and Sketch is one that has been gaining noticeable popularity recently. There is a good mix of different finishes in the palette- lustre, satin velvet etc, and the colours, a mix of permanent and limited edition shades,  are actually put together really well. 

I'd say the stand out shades, in terms or pigment and smoothness,  in this palette are Sketch (velvet deep burgundy with gold specks of shimmer), Star Violet (veluxe pearl purple- pink) and Antiqued (veluxe pearl burnt copper shimmer- pretty much the same as Morphe Burlesque ES74. #Noir (velvet black- brown with bronze shimmer) has potential- when you look at it in the pan it looks gorgeous, but it takes an awful lot of product to make any impact- I guess the # is to differentiate it from the lip colour?  Honey Lust (lustre bronze dipped peach), again, one with a lot of potential has an epic amount of. It's much easier to work with if you dampen your brush and i've been using it as a tear duct highlight. I am convinced that the formula of Embark (matte dark reddish brown) in the standard MAC pots is much smoother than the one inside this palette  but all in all it is a great crease shade, particularly if you don't want to use black for a smokey eye. Quarry (matte muted plum) although a bit powdery is a lovely shade for an everyday neutral eye if blended well. I am quite indifferent to Haux (matte muted plum rose) and Poppy Seed (satin pink nude)- the latter, particularly looks a bit ashy in my opinion.

You get 0.8g of product per shadow compared to the Standard MAC eyeshadow pots and pro pans which are 1.5g. I guess the main positives to this is that it is a seemingly good way to try out lots of MAC shadows before committing to full pans. The whole palette is £30, Full size MAC single shadow pans are £10 and the potted shadows are £13 so you definitely get a lot more colours for your money.  The palettes are also very compact and would be great if you travel a lot and want to create quick looks on the go. If I'm being honest, I'm not sure if I would recommend this just for these reasons alone. I think it's just as easy to travel with a small Z palette built with affordable full size pans from Morphe and Makeup Geek. You are likely to get much more use out of your own palette as you won't be left with shades that you won't use. I think the shadows in this palette could do with being a bit more smooth and creamy but I may just be biased now to buying individual shadows so don't listen to me lolz-  I would definitely advise you do a bit more research than me and go and swatch the shades in a MAC store if you are thinking of purchasing this. MAC has these in Burgundy, Navy, Amber and Purple and they are part of the permanent collection for now.

Straight after this I will be posting a Valentine's Day Inspired look using this palette.. so definitely check it out if you would like to see how I used it xx 

Have you tried these out? What did you think? 

'Be your own kind of beautiful'