Beauty - Real Techniques Core Collection Review

Hey everyone, and welcome back to Shelly Says So!

Just after finishing my semester one exams a few weeks ago, I decided to treat myself in Superdrug (not that I need much of an excuse to treat myself in Superdrug!) to these Real Techniques make up brushes. I follow a lot of bloggers online, and as a result I have heard so many good things about these brushes from other bloggers, so I decided to give them a go. They cost £20.99 in my local Superdrug, but they'll set you back €29.99 if you live in Ireland.

I bought the Core Collection, which consists of four brushes. From left to right, you have the contour brush, the pointed foundation brush, the detailer brush and the buffing brush. They come in a plastic outer packaging, attatched to a case which can be also used as a stand, which is very handy indeed.

First impressions: they look beautiful.
The gold colour is very pretty and they are super soft to the touch too. But less about the aesthetics and more about the function!

The contour brush, as you may have guessed, is said to be ideal for applying contour on your face. I think the slight precision point at the top of the brush allows the process to go more smoothly and it being super soft and lightweight means it's not an ordeal applying contour.

















The pointed foundation brush is supposed to work best with liquid foundations, which is the usual foundation I wear. I had been using Primark's foundation brush (which I'll review very shortly!), but since I had this, I wanted to try it out. As it's quite a small brush, I found it made the foundation application much more lengthy! Which is fine if you have plenty of time to spare in the mornings but alas, I never do (who even does?).  I wondered whether I was simply using it wrong, so I watched a video on www.realtechniques.com about how to use it. I wasn't, but it did take long and it said it is good for light application of foundation.





This again is completely fine if you're after a natural look but I just personally
prefer a medium layer of foundation. With all of this swiping around it also left so much more tell-tale brush strokes which immediately turned me off. I will say that it does work well to get into precision areas such as side of your nose. I started using it also to apply concealer, which it does work well with.








The detailer brush is the smallest and skinniest of the brushes in this set, and as you can guess, it is used mainly for precision applications in small areas. It can be used for applying concealer or lipstick for "long lasting shape and definition". However, I began using it in eye makeup to define my eye crease, and I couldn't believe how amazing it was! Definitely my favourite of all these brushes. The quality of this small brush even inspired me to purchase the other Real Techniques set made especially for eye makeup.



The buffing brush apparently works ideally with powder and mineral foundations. Since I have neither to test that theory out on, I decided to rebel slightly and use it for I for applying liquid foundation, and found that I really liked it. It's obviously a lot bigger than the pointed foundation brush so less time consuming. However I tend to go over the application with Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge (review of that product is HERE) to ensure the makeup application turned out flawless. I also used it for applying bronzer and blush, and find it works well then too.


So the question you've all been waiting to be answered: Are these brushes worth the price tag? Although reasonable by other beauty brush standards such as Mac, these are quite expensive. Although my opinion is bound to be controversial, I need to be honest about my review as I don't want my readers to be rushing out buying these, especialy with limited funds. I think that besides from the detailer brush which was ah-mazing, these guys are simply not worth twenty-odd bucks. Fifteen perhaps, but not twenty.