Real Techniques Voxbox

November 25, 2016

The holidays came a bit early when Influenster sent me the Real Techniques Voxbox. I've recently been getting more into makeup brushes (other than Sonia Kashuk / Mara Hoffman for Sephora) so these were a fun, holiday surprise!

Included in this Voxbox were 4 brushes (tapered, triangle concealer, tapered shadow, and a setting brush). Additionally I received the miracle complexion sponge!

Bold Metals Collection 300 tapered brush (on sale for 13.99)

This is a small, tapered, paddle shaped blush brush. I personally don't wear blush so I apply cream highlighters with this brush. In terms of highlighting I've never used a brush other than Sonia Kashuk's Limited 15th Edition Buffing Brush so this brush was completely different. Its so incredibly soft and blending/sculpting your cheekbones is seamless.

On a unrelated note this brush cleans really easily with e.l.f's daily brush cleaner.

Bold Metals 102 triangle concealer brush ($10.49)

In terms of appearance the gold brushes from the Bold Metals collection are my favorite. I just love how they look! I was surprised by how much I liked this concealer brush, possibly more than my KVD lock-it tattoo concealer brush. This brush just really gets all the product in, with so much precision. Most of these brushes are sort of "multitaskers." The flat edge of this brush also works for highlighting and contouring around the eyes, nose, and chin.

203 tapered shadow brush ($9.09)

I'm not a big eye shadow brush buyer so I was sort of at a loss with this brush. I'm awfully lazy and tend to use only 2 brushes for an eyeshadow look, 3 max. This brush seemed a bit overpriced for what it is, but it has nice bristles for blending.

Miracle complexion sponge

Beauty sponges are tricky for me. I can't seem to find the best foundation/sponge combo to get a Lilly Ghalici look (yes that's my goal). When this beauty showed up on my door I was excited. I love the fun orange colour, and the texture is great.

Similar to any other beauty sponge you wet the complexion sponge and wring out the excess water. I applied both Sephora Collection Foundation and KVD Lock-It Foundation to see how the foundation applied. Overall, I was pleased with how smooth the foundation applied. I also thought the sponge fit nicely into the crannies of my face. My foundation looked smoother, but I personally didn't think I got the medium/high coverage I like.

I felt like with this sponge I'd have to apply more foundation than I normally do to get my airbrush, brush results. I was surprised at how dirty this sponge got, my e.l.f. daily brush cleaner did nothing, and my foundation stained the sponge even after washing it =( Overall I do think its a good sponge, I'd like to try it with MAC's pro longwear waterproof foundation to assess further.

Real Techniques Setting Brush ($5.59)

This setting brush is perfect to set those small areas on your face. For me my under-eye area is so challenging to get and my KVD brush is just a bit too big to precisely get the area I want. I like this brush because it gets that undereye area so well.

What I dislike about this brush is that its so light and not weighted. It feels so flimsy. None of my makeup brushes feel this light so its quite a strange feeling. I do think the 300 brush would work well for setting since there is no specific setting brush in the Bold Metals collection.

I'm also loving Smashbox's Always On Matte Liquid Lipstick in Driver's Seat. Such a pretty color!

Overall the first thing I have to say about these Bold Metal brushes is that I love how they feel in your hand. They're weighted so there's precision when using them. Something I disliked about these brushes was the packaging there is so much invisible tape strapped to the brushes and its so difficult to peel off. The Complexion Sponge was a nice addition to my makeup collection although its challenging for me to use since I'm not a sponge person. I would recommend the Bold Metals collection and would love to get more of the face brushes on sale!