Beauty • On • A • Dime ✿ Brushes

Let's be real for a second, as much as we all love high-end makeup, sometimes (all the time) our wallets don't love it quite as much. Now, I'm not saying I'm a cheap-o, I splurge like any other girl...but when you're living on your own and you got bills, sometimes splurging isn't always in the cards. So, over the years I've picked up some little tips and tricks and discovered a few hidden gems along the way. This week, my favorite inexpensive brushes!
Always remember, just because it's got a massive price tag, doesn't make it a magical. I think a lot of times when people are shopping for makeup, they think "this is wicked expensive, it must be amazing" Well let me tell you what, I've tried many, MANY high-end-super-duper-expensive products and hated them. It's all about experimenting and figuring out what works best for you and for your skin.
&& Just because it works fabulously for other people and for certain gurus, doesn't always mean it's your cup of tea.
On that note, let me just say that I in no way hate Sigma, MAC, Chanel, or any brush carrying brand for that matter....but I don't understand why a company feels compelled to charge consumers $40+ for brushes.... yes, they're soft, yes they're pretty but honestly....there's so many good alternatives!

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Oh Gee Boutique. Just. Love. I've got a WHOLE review of them, you can check it out here!

Bri is a fellow guru over on youtube and she also has her own boutique in which she has FABULOUS brushes for a pretty stellar deal. You can buy the collection of 4 brushes for $30, or buy them individually for $10 ea. Don't do what Angela did, buy the whole set...haha I bought them all individually and I'm forever living in regret.

So gold and black is my go to combo, so I'm already sold, just by the way it looks. haha But anyway, I have three of the four brushes, the Tapered, Domed, & Flat Brush. I just...didn't see a need for the angled brush, but now I wish I snagged it. ANYWAY, these are ridiculously soft. The tapered brush is amazing for concealer (spot and under the eye) and both the domed & flat, I just for foundation haha I just the domed one for buffing in my foundation after I pat it on with the flat brush, hehe.

&& ladies, the flat brush is very, very similar to the Sigma F-80, juussttt saying ;)

Let's get a little more practical though, SOHO & E.L.F are my all time favorites, the all starts if you will.

I have so many ELF brushes, but....they're so old that they're falling apart.....so...they're not included photo wise, but from ELF, my all.time.faves are the Power brush, I just it to press the powder into my face during the summer, aka the time when I need to NOT look like a grease muffin haha. BUT! it can also be used to apply foundation, and it works fantastically as a foundation brush.

Their kabuki brush, OH MY GOD. That is the best brush, ever. Like seriously. I wish my target would restock already cause mine finally fell apart after like 2 years the other day. sad face.

So, these are my three faves from ELF, in regards to Eye Shadow brushes....I think a lot of times people are like "those brushes are $1?! Yeah, they must be sh*t quality"....guilty cause I thought the same thing the first time I saw these, but honestly, they're such good quality I curse my lips for ever saying hurtful words about the brushes out loud haha. I always come back to these, and that "c" brush is my all.time.favorite. brush, I have like 4 of them...haha oops! They're so soft and so fluffy and that crease brush, it's amazing when you're blending things in your crease, lemme tell you what. PS if you don't know anything about ELF, here's the most important thing you need to know...

Black handles = $3

White handles = $1

Rhinestones = $5

Crease & Eye Shadow brush - $1 (.75 if you can find it at big lots hehe)
Eye Shadow "C" brush - $3 (1.25 at biglots hehe)

SOHO! Can we just.........S.O.H.O

This brand is a little pricier than ELF, BUT if you look in the right places, you can score all these for a wicked low price aka Big Lots. Big Lots has this whole Get a grip collection as well as other brushes for extremely discounted prices. That's where I get most of my brushes hehe.

The photo above are the eye shadow brushes that I use the most. (L to R) The first one is an all over the eye brush, it's a little dense, but it applies really well and is phenomenal at holding the shadow to it's bristles. The two middle brushes are blending brushes, I fancy the one with the skinny pink stripe more, only because it's softer and it's a lot more subtle with the blending. I use it for blending out my crease everyday....and the one with the large pink stripe seems to like....wipe off the shadow instead of blending it. The last brush is a smudge brush that can be used for smudging out your eye liner for that smokey effect, but I just it for smudging out my outter corner-ness of my eye for when I'm trying to smoke out my eyeshadow :)

The prices will vary depending on where you buy it, but I bought the last two brushes in a set of 3 from Walgreen's for $7 & I know that the first two are both available at Big Lots for like $2- $5 each.

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OKAY HOLD UP, PAUSE, HOLD THE PHONE. All brushes below are from SOHO (available at Walgreen's, CVS, Big Lots, Target, and various other stores) and are part of their "Get a Grip" Collection & Let's just go over this real quick.

All of the brushes have a "ergonomic handle" meaning that they are made to offer comfort in order to reduce injury ... AKA it's easier for you to hold them in your hand, meaning they're pretty effing amazing. I didn't think they would make a difference, but it really, REALLY does. They handles are kind of....squishy...ish. Very soft rubber that offers great support. Especially on the eye based brushes! Anyway....

Foundation brush. Okay, I don't like foundation brushes like these, they just....they're not my cup of tea. But I do use this brush to assist me with applying concealer, and it works wonders for spot concealing.

Duo Fiber brush (or stippling brush) I Swore by my ELF Stippling brush...until I got my hands on this baby! It's SO soft and so bouncy! I use this for applying heavily pigmented blush, it just has a way of subtly applying it and makes it look a little faded and not like BAM pink cheeks. Great for the rosey affect as opposed to the while color blocked look. girrrrllll you know what I mean.

Kabuki brush! Who doesn't love a good kabuki right? This one is a lot more dense than my ELF kabuki, but it blends out everything so effortlessly. I use it for blending my blush and bronzer so it's not color blocked ;) and so it's more of a nice natural look

POWDER BRUSH! You need a good powder brush, well unless you don't wear powder, than you don't need this necessarily, but this brush is amazing. i SWORE by my real techniques powder brush, but this one brings it to a new level. I still love Reach Techniques, but I find that the powder brush trapped in a lot of my powder within the bristles. This SOHO brush effortlessly glides the powder wherever I need it to go and doesn't leave streaks anywhere.

What' I'm trying to say is......
You can splurge on make up, a little treating yourself never hurt anyone, but when it comes to brushes, save your dough and try out some other stellar brands! I would STRONGLY recommend the Oh Gee brushes! I've been using mine for about 3 or 4 months now and I've had no problem with shedding or any issues whilst washing them. I've bought Sigma brushes before that fell apart after I washed them, that wasn't a good day. SOHO is available almost everywhere haha but if you live near a Big Lots, I'd check there first. I've been to 5 different ones, and every single one had SOHO brushes of some sort. & ELF, well they're amazing &price wise, the best. I'm so glad they have it available at Target AND WalMart now. So convenient!
OH OH! One more thing! I've recently FALLEN IN LOVE with BH cosmetics brushes! They're not featured in this post, because they're currently going through a wash, haha but you can check out their amazing brushes here! I got a travel size kit to keep in my purse for touch ups, and their concealer brush is UH-MAY-ZING!

i love handwritten notes, especially when they come along side goodies! Thanks again SOHO for picking me to win your giveaway! Can't wait to find more of your lovely brushes!

I know this isn't beauty related, but I was cleaning my closet and found this shirt, and fell in love with it all over again. SO SOFT! Check out Rebelles Clothing! xoxo

What brushes are YOU obsessed with one?
Let me know, I'm always down for trying new things, hehe

** SO, I won a giveaway, and that's how I scored these amazing SOHO brushes, so yes, they were sent to me. But no I was not asked to review them, nor am I getting paid to advertise these

***Everything mentioned in this post was bought by myself with my own funding. Oh Gee Boutique & ELF did not send me these products nor am I affiliated with either company (except in my dreams haha).

All opinions are my own and are 100000% honest, pinky swear.