Beauty Product Reviews | Page 2

UPDATE: two years later

An update, since I've been using this brush for two years now. Still fluffy and soft. I use it to apply powder and it works great for that. It's much smaller than my other powder brushes, but it actually gets in the lid of my powder container so I can swirl it around. Also I have a small face, I don't really need a giant brush. I've used this for blush and contouring and it works great for that as well. To clean just wipe it on a towel and it releases product. I've only shampooed this brush a couple of times in two years. It takes a LOOOONG time to dry it's so dense. So plan ahead if you are going to clean it. Not meant for creams or liquids. I made that mistake when I first bought it. A shampooing cleaned it out. It came back into shape and I still love it.

A "bargain" to get both KA contouring colors in one product

I bought this because I was afraid of paying $88 for the contour and highlight powders. As others have said this is a tiny amount of product, but a little goes a long way. I've only had it few weeks, but I've used it every day and I've barely made a dent. The product is super creamy, but doesn't go on greasy. You just touch your finger to the product and it transfers to your skin. I use my fingers to apply and then blend with a flat top kabuki and it works great. I'm just getting the hang of contouring, but it's really fun to have access to the best there is. This plays nicely with all my foundations, but particularly well with the RCMA foundation. I'd say if you have the light neutral RCMA palette there is a color in there that is mighty similar to the light color here but I think the texture of this is a bit better for contouring because it has some silicon in it, I think and that makes it go on really slick and fast. I can sketch out my face contour with two fingers in about 40 seconds. No more "no time to contour" excuses.

First time returning a beautylish product

I have crepey lids and oil collects and creases my makeup in hours. My search for an eyeshadow primer that really works continues. I was really hoping this would help me with both problems, but alas, I don't think it's a good product at all. First of all as an eye shadow primer, this gave me no boost in shadow color. I swatched and compared it with four other primers (all of which were cheaper than this and from the drugstore) and they all gave more shadow boost. Of all the primers I've tried, this is the least effective at keeping shadow on longer. Honestly I've worn this for less than four hours today and my shadow is creased. That's the performance I get from bare skin! As an eye serum, this product just doesn't work for me either. It burns/tingles when I put it on and not in a pleasant way either. I toughed it out for a couple of applications, but that's it, I'm sending it back.

Amazing sampler, be careful with it in extreme temps

My first impression is that it is small. That's not entirely bad, since it fits easily in my hand as I do my makeup. Also the pans are reasonably deep and a little goes a long way with this stuff. It would be perfect for travel, but with one caveat: when this arrived the surface was cracked and pebbled because of the cold. After it warmed up the cracks disappeared as the oil melted back into the makeup. So if you do bring it with you on a plane, put it in your checked luggage to avoid this issue. I don't think it does permanent damage but it took a few hours for the palette to be a useable temperature. Pro tip from the frozen North! Otherwise I'm just learning to use this thing. The handy tutorial that was emailed to me the day after it arrived helped a bunch. The color picking advice I got from Beautylish was spot on as well. You guys continue to be so awesome. So far the best method I've found for application is to dot the foundation on with my fingers and blend with a beauty blender. The coverage is sheer, doesn't settle in pores and provided I set with powder, lasts all day. I just checked my makeup and the redness around my nose is still covered. It's been nine hours and it's still there! That's amazing. There's almost never any foundation left around my nose by lunch because I'm a face toucher. I'm always putting my palm to my face in despair at life in general. Oh, one other thing: it works as a concealer palette as well. The too light for me shades are perfect as concealer.

LUXURY!

Wow this is the most luxurious brush in my collection. It's the softest thing I've ever put on my face, including baby kittens, etc. It is expensive, my first luxury brush purchase really. The size is perfect for contouring and blush. II tried using it to blend out my RCMA creme foundation and it wasn't really stiff enough to do that without a lot of motion. I used it to blend in a creme blush and that worked better. I will probably stick to using my flat top synthetic brush or beauty blender for blending creme foundation anyway. This morning I put too much blush on and this brush just wasn't stiff enough to really knock the powder off. I had to move to a much coarser brush and then my beauty blender to get it right. I have yet to use this brush for contouring with powder products, which is where I think this brush is probably best suited. But so far, I'm not really seeing this as the Everything Brush that it's been touted as. Gorgeous brush, though, amazing quality. I actually look forward to doing my cheeks with this, it feels so lovely.

Sharpener might be the best thing about nudestix

I had a couple of cheap eye pencils that this weird plastic coating around the top (NYX cream shadows) and I thought they were unsharpenable, but I managed to sharpen past that and get to the wood without ruining the point of the pencil with this sharpener. It can take thin or thick pencils as well. Works tons better than the cheap sharpener I got at Target that I've now thrown away.

Some problems with this one...but still worth a look

I was really excited to try nudestix. I've been a fan of NYX's shadow pencils for a while, but the packaging is kind of flimsy and the product was a bit oily for me. So in comparison to the NYX this is a vast improvement (It also costs four times as much so you'd hope so!). I also have Makeup Forever's long wearing shadow stick and Sephora's 12 hr jumbo eyepencil for comparison. The product is closest to the makeup forever in that it goes on smoothest and is easy to blend. At this price point, that's what I would expect. It is superior to Makeup Forever because it's a pencil that you can sharpen, while MUF is a roll up that gets a blunt tip fast and after 10-12 applications you need a brush to get the corners of your eyes etc. So far so good. So why am I not raving about this product? Well, for one thing it doesn't last on your face. I bought the shimmer to use as a base under other shadows, and as an eye brightener, and it's really only average for that purpose. The nyx products are just as good at that task at a quarter of the price. I have oily lids, to be fair, and will probably try the magnetic formula when I get a chance. Also the packaging as wonderful and slick as it is, was problematic. The tip on the smudge end of the stick was not actually glued down so I have to fuss with it to get it to work. I could return it, but I will probably just glue it myself. This nudestick is about two inches longer than the lip/cheek one, because of the smudger and that means the tin is even bigger. This you could actually use as a pencil tin or a brush case. It's huge.

The sharpener is excellent. It cleaned up the mess I'd made of my NYX and Sephora pencils with a cheap sharpener. I can see myself getting maybe one more nudestix and then filling in with other cheaper products and carrying my whole face kit in this larger tin. As usual Beautylish's customer service is nonpareil. My order arrived fast, was wrapped like a little hipster gift and included a hand written note. Awwww. You guys are the best!

Nice quality packaging and product, with some minor caveats

I was really excited to see Nudestix turning up at Beautylish. I had wanted to try them since I heard about them. I always like a product that doubles as a lip/cheek stain and I liked the look of the purplish red called Sin. The packaging is flat out ace. You get a real metal tin, in a dark matte black, that's big enough for four pencils this size and a sharpener (which is great because I love pencils and have a ton of them and will get ruined if you carry them in your purse) with a really good mirror in the lid. The sharpener is high quality, much better than my other sharpeners and gives a really good point on the product. The product itself is creamy and easy to apply and doesn't tug at lip skin like a liner usually does. It is fairly matte so it needs a gloss with it, I think. It lasts as a stain quite a long time, but will need reapplications throughout the day like most lippies. That's where the tin comes in handy I guess. The color works on me but if you don't like purple or fuscia, stay away from it. It's quite strong, not really a "nude but better" look. While it is $4-6 more than my other high end lip cheek products, the extras make it seem worth it. However, I don't think it's worth it unless you already are into pencil make up because the tin is kind of big really especially compared to my other lip/cheek products which are quite small. This is somewhat gimmicky, I think, which is why I'm taking away a half star. But it's still a good product.

Undereye bags...going, going, GONE

I have tried every brush in my house to cover my under eye bags and nothing worked quite right. The trick is to just lay concealer in the narrow little trench under the bag. If you get concealer on the bag, you've blown it and actually made the problem worse. This brush fits perfectly in that little trench and is firm and supple enough to lay down cream concealer in a smooth line. It feels very soft to the touch and doesn't drag on the sensitive eye area. I would use it as a liner brush as well, but I haven't tried that yet. The brush feels very nice in the hand. I like the thickness of the handle and the heft of it. The end that holds the bristles looks solid as can be. The wood is a nice touch and so is the very readable font on the brush. Wish all brushes were this well thought out. LOVE.

Locks on strong, really solid feeling case

I like a strong palette. My favorite is my Aveda compact palette which is metal and has a mirror. It was also too small for my Inglot shadows. I think for the price, this is a good palette. It feels solid and strong, and the magnets are really secure. I think the trick to opening it is to twist and lift at the same time, otherwise you might sweep the magnets across the pans and pull one free (which I did one of the first times I opened it.) I don't like the fact that Inglot logo is all over the frosted lid. I think it detracts from the beauty of the product. It allowed me to make a super Inglot quad that fits comfortably in my palm while I'm doing my makeup. It's not too small, or too big. Holds a TON of Inglot product in the four pans.