Real Techniques Brushes Review (Core Collection, Starter & Travel Essential Set+Foundation Brush, Powder Brush, Lash Brow Groomer & Stippling Brush)

Hi everyone. If you have been a long-time reader of my blog, you would have caught glimpses of what I am reviewing today here and here. I bought these Real Techniques brushes off Amazon a while ago and I have finally gotten around to posting this review. Sorry for the huge delay.

For those of you who haven't heard of this brand, the Real Techniques brushes are by Samantha Chapman who is one half of the  famous UK beauty blogger and youtube beauty guru by the name of Pixiwoo (with her sister Nicola Chapman). (more info here) I love watching Pixiwoo's videos on youtube and highly recommend their channel if you like makeup or if you want to learn how to create different makeup looks.

There's 3 brush sets available in the line (the core collection set, starter set and the travel essential set) and I purchased all 3 of them for $17.99 per set.

CORE COLLECTION SET

The core collection set contains 4 brushes (the detailer brush, pointed foundation brush, buffing brush and contour brush) housed in a black brush case designed for applying base makeup. 

From left: contour brush, pointed foundation brush, detailer brush and buffing brush.

CONTOUR BRUSH

I really like this brush for highlight and contour because this brush is not too big so I can apply the product on precise areas on my face. The bristles are also very soft which makes blending a breeze. 

POINTED FOUNDATION BRUSH

I hardly reach for this brush because I am not a very big fan of it to be honest. I just think that this brush is way too small to apply foundation. I do sometimes use this brush to apply and blend out concealer and it works ok for that.

DETAILER BRUSH

I have only used this brush for precise concealing (blemishes and what not) and it works really well for that. What I do is that I use this brush to dot concealers onto the mark/blemish that I want to conceal and then blend the edges out with my fingers. This brush will also work well as a lip brush.

BUFFING BRUSH

This is my favourite brush out of all the brushes that I bought. I love using this brush to buff on foundation/bb cream/powder because it gives such a flawless coverage. The soft but dense bristles really helps to blend the product seamlessly into the skin to give a more natural finish. I sometimes use this brush to apply blush if I want a slightly heavier application too!! 

STARTER SET
The starter set contains 5 eye brushes in a black brush case: base shadow brush, deluxe crease brush, accent brush, pixel point eyeliner brush and a brow brush.

From left: deluxe crease brush, base shadow brush, accent brush, pixel point eyeliner brush and brow brush.

DELUXE CREASE BRUSH

 As you can see, this brush is quite big for an eye brush and I rarely use it for that. I love to use this brush to blend in concealer under my eyes, around my nose and around my mouth. I used to use a fluffy blending brush to do that but this brush does a much better job at providing good coverage while blending the product into the skin to avoid a heavy/cakey look. I sometimes use this brush to apply a colour wash onto my entire lids, which is very quick and easy because of the size of the brush.

BASE SHADOW BRUSH

This is a normal basic eye shadow brush. The tip is quite wide and fluffy so might not be the best choice if you want to place shadow precisely on the lids but works well the lay shadow down on the eyes as well as blending shadow around the socket line.

ACCENT BRUSH

This brush is excellent to apply shadow on my lower lash line and to apply highlight colour in my inner corners. 

PIXEL POINT EYELINER BRUSH

 I prefer using flat eyeliner brush to apply eyeliner but for those of you who are used to using eyeliner brushes of this shape will probably like this brush a lot more than me. The bristle hold their shape well so you are going to have a fair amount of control when applying eyeliner. It is a teensy bit thick though, so it might not work if you like wearing a very thin eyeliner. This brush is also very good for pin-point concealing.

BROW BRUSH

 Nice and simple angled brush that is good for filling in the brows. I use it to apply eyeliner (gel/shadow) and this brush is very good for creating a cat-eye.

TRAVEL ESSENTIAL SET
The travel essential set comes with 3 brushes also housed in a black brush case (essential foundation brush, multi task brush and the domed shadow brush).

From left: essential foundation brush, domed shadow brush and multi task brush.

ESSENTIAL FOUNDATION BRUSH

 This is a traditional paddle shape foundation brush, which is not my favourite kind of brushes for foundation. I have never used this brush before.

DOMED SHADOW BRUSH 

This brush is a little bigger and denser than the base shadow brush. I like to use this brush to apply eyeshadow on the entire lids, contour down the sides of my nose, highlight my brow bone and to blend out concealer. As you can see, this brush is really versatile in my opinion.

MULTITASK BRUSH

Although this brush is named the multitask brush, its functions revolve around face makeup. This brush is good for applying powder (be it powder foundation or makeup setting powder), blush (I have tried it with cream and powder blushes but I prefer using it for powder blushes more because the brush is very dense so it can easily apply cream too heavily) and bronzers.

There's 3 individual base makeup brushes in the line: powder brush, foundation brush and expert face brush. I have the foundation brush ($7.99) and the powder brush ($9.99).

FOUNDATION BRUSH

This is an angled paddle foundation brush and it is slightly larger and thicker than the pointed and essential foundation brush, which out of the 3, is the only one that I have used to apply foundation. This is good if you like brushes of this shape, the angled edge makes it easy to get into certain areas of the face like around the nose and under the eyes.

POWDER BRUSH

This is a huge and fluffy powder brush, which I mainly use the set my makeup. I like to use a dabbing motion with this brush to avoid moving the makeup that I have got on my face around (I love using this brush for that because this brush is so big!!). I sometimes use this brush to apply bronzer in a larger area around the backs of my cheeks to add colour.

For eye brushes, there's 3 individual ones in the line: shading brush, lash-brow groomer and fine liner brush. I purchased the lash-brow groomer ($11.98 for two).

LASH-BROW GROOMER

I recently broke my brow groomer (clumsy me) and I have been looking for a replacement. I also wanted a metal lash comb and I found one cheapy looking one in my local drugstore for around $10, which I think is so overpriced because that lash comb is not of very good quality at all. 
This real techniques lash-brow groomer killed 2 birds with one stone and I have been loving it. I use the brow groomer to comb my unsightly brow hairs into shape as well as to brush through my brows to blend out the colour once I have filled them in. I then use the metal lash comb to comb through my lashes after mascara when I want a more natural flared out lashes rather than the thicker and clumpy effect.

Last but not least, there's 4 finishing brushes in the real techniques line: stippling brush, blush brush, setting brush and kabuki brush. I bought the stippling brush for $9.99.

STIPPLING BRUSH

I use this brush at the start of my makeup routine rather than to finish it. This stippling brush is quite dense, which I really like to use to buff on foundation (again, works well with both liquid and powder foundation). I have a few other stippling brushes but this is my favourite because I really prefer the shorter and denser bristles.

CONCLUSION
I have been loving most of the Real Techniques brushes that I have. The bristles are made using a material called taklon, which is soft and plush and feels nice against the skin. These are not the softest of bristles of course, but for the price I really can't complain. The brushes are dense and hold their shape well, which allows good control when applying makeup. The handles are also very light weight but sturdy at the same time. I have washed these brushes many times and the shape stays relatively well (a tiny tiny bit of splaying will occur if you don't reshape them well before leaving them to dry). There also has been little if no shedding at all. The brushes are made of synthetic fiber and cruelty free products are always a plus right?

One thing I wish Real Techniques did was to make the brushes in the set available individually because not everyone will find every brush useful for them. Another thing to note is that the dense synthetic fibers makes it a little difficult clean. I tend to wash every brush twice with brush cleanser to make sure that I have them completely clean of residue. Synthetic fibers also tend to take a little longer to dry. 

All in all, the quality of these brushes are excellent for the price. I don't want to recommend any brushes because everyone favours different brushes for different purposes. 

That being said, my personal favourites are definitely the stippling brush, buffing brush, powder brush and the deluxe crease brush. 

This is it from me so far.
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Until next time xoxo