Has anyone tried any of Drew Barrymore's new makeup line, Flower?

It's only available at Walmart, and I live in a smug Walmart-less city, so I haven't checked it out yet. It's also available online, though. I'm particularly interested in the quadruple-milled loose powder, but I haven't seen any reviews yet (and it's sold out online). Here's a review of the cream eyeshadow, though, which sounds intriguing.

Ugh

I feel like putting on eyeliner has become a whole different chore in the just the last year.

Be prepared for your fucking 30s, young makeup lovers.

Things That Annoy Me Tonight

1. Beauty bloggers who don't do their research. And then recommend products that do nothing or make things worse. You are part of the problem!
(I'm not saying my advice is flawless, but I try to frame my own personal experiences as just that and not to recommend things that are gimmicky, overpriced, or harmful.)

2. All the 5 star reviews on BzzAgent. I know it's because people like to get free things, and they are afraid that if they give negative reviews, the free stuff will stop coming. I've wondered about that myself. But really, 99% of people think all the products reviews are perfect? I doubt it. It makes the reviews kind of pointless.

The Drugstore Princess's "Inexpensive Products That Will Take Your Makeup Game to the Next Level"

A good guide.

Note: I don't personally recommend all of these. The NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil I tried was frustrating to use, and I really hate the old-lady-makeup smell of Rimmel powder, but as always, you may have a different experience.

35% off at The Gap today only

Includes most things, except jeans, cashmere, and other fancy shit. Use code GAP35.

Apologies for the sporadic posting lately

I had to prepare for, and then participate in a pretty time-consuming workshop. Then my sister visited for a week. So my regular schedule has been off, but I should get back in the swing of it soon. I'm also looking forward to getting back to my usual skin care routine, because my face is fucking punishing me for slacking.

Fix Your Face: How to use lipstick as blush

Here's a helpful link from Project Swatch if you want to expand your range of cream blushes without buying anything new.

Note: THIS is the silicone-based primer you should use!

Modcloth Cabin Fever Sale (70% off a bunch of stuff)

There's some pretty nice jewelry for around $4, for example.

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.

The Best and Worst Skin-Care Products of 2012 according to Paula's Choice

Good evidence that more expensive is not necessarily (or even usually) better.

(You need a Facebook account to view this, I think.)

Cheap and Natural: Tea Tree Oil for Acne

I know that benzoyl peroxide spots treatment are the industry standard for acne (things like Persagel, etc.), but for some reason they do nothing for me except bleach my pillowcases. Not only do they not get rid of zits, they don't even stop them from getting worse. I've tried a bunch of different brands.

If you have the same problem, you might want to give tea tree oil a try. It works wonders for me. Sometimes I can feel one of those great big subsurface pimples brewing, and if I get to it fast enough with the tea tree oil, it'll halt it in its tracks (mixed metaphors? whatever). And in the meantime it doesn't get any worse. It just gives up and fades away. So you can imagine that it also does well with more run of the mill crap. It also sort of dries up and heals the surface of gross oozing ones, so that I can put on my makeup or whatever without it being nasty.

Tea tree oil has anti-bacterial properties, so in principle it should work the same as benzoyl peroxide. But skin is weird, and everyone's responds differently to different things. I use this 100% tea tree oil, and just dip a Q-tip in it and dab it on the spots that need it once or twice a day. It has a strong medicinal smell, kind of like menthol or eucalyptus, but I don't mind it too much. Be careful if you have a zit too near your mouth and you use this, because it tends to migrate and tastes kind of nasty. Minor unpleasantness if you find it works for you, though. I've been using my bottle for about 4 months now, and I haven't even got through a 6th of it, so it's definitely cost effective at around $9 a bottle. I'd suggest making sure what you're buying is 100% tea tree oil, though, because otherwise it might not have enough potency to get the job done (for instance, this one from The Body Shop lists water and alcohol as the first ingredients. No.).

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.

Pluck 'Em: Set of 2 Tweezerman Tweezers for $15

Okay, that's my worst heading yet, but I had to do it.

This set of red glitter petite tweezers, slant and point tip, are on sale for $15 on the Sephora website. This type of set is usually $25, and this one comes with a leather carrying case, too. I've got them, and they aren't really much more petite than your typical drugstore tweezers. I've spent way more than this on one pair of cheap tweezers after another trying to find something that actually can grab my slippery little fine eyebrow hairs. Get 'em while they last.

Fix Your Face: Stain Remover for Your Teeth

I had a lot of stains between my teeth from drinking tea and coffee every day. This got rid of them, and it's less annoying than whitening strips, and it's $8. The end.

Okay, not the end. Just so you know, it's not designed to get rid of stains from smoking, just food. And my teeth haven't got all scary bright white all over, but the stains are gone, and that's what I care about. They were gone within a week of using it, and a lot lighter and smaller by the second time I used it. Also it only takes 2 minutes, it's easy to use, and it doesn't taste gross. If you are both cheap and umwilling to put in a lot of effort, this is a good choice.

Review: Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream, Part II

Disclosure: I got these products free from BzzAgent.
Final Thoughts:

Here is my hand and nails after using this hand cream exclusively, two or more times a day, for about 10 days. I took this immediately after applying the cream.

Smoother, but still the same peeling nails and hangnails.

Better, but the poor quality of this photo also sort of airbrushes out some of the problems. It's hard to photograph your own dominant hand! Why did I decide to do that? Here is the before shot, for reference.

This is what my tube says on the back: It is so concentrated that only a small amount instantly leaves dry, cracked hands noticeably softer and smoother after just one application. Used daily, it heals and helps keep dry skin from returning.

So what do I think about that? Well, a small amount did make my hands feel "noticeably" smoother after the first use, but it wasn't because my skin itself was softer. It just left a smooth film on the surface. It never felt greasy, though, which I appreciated. I could pretty much immediately go about my business without feeling like my hands were slick and gross. The unscented variety was also truly unscented - another plus. No smell at all. The original variety, which has scent, is very, very subtle. Unless you are extremely sensitive to fragrance, you should be fine with that one too.

After several days, it did improve my skin, but no better than any other hand cream I've used. I never really felt like my hands were being deeply moisturized. They remained kind of shriveled and almost calloused feeling, though my cuticles improved. So I don't know what I think about the use of the word "heals" here. That's just what my hands are like in the middle of winter, and this didn't fix it. After a few days, I wished that my testing period was over so that I could go back to my old hand cream. This just wasn't doing it for me.

The other marketing claim that the Neutrogena campaign put out was that this would "extend the life of manicures". I'm not sure exactly what that means. It certainly didn't make my nail polish stay on any longer than usual. And my nails still broke and peeled just as much as they usually do. So I'm going to say it failed on that account.

I wonder if this stuff would work better in a more humid environment. If one of the ways glycerin works is by attracting moisture from the environment, it wouldn't have had much opportunity to do so, in the parched, furnace-heated air of my house in the winter. Maybe that's why the Norwegian fishermen were more into it than I was.

Overall, this is a decent product. Not great, but fine. I think it would work well in conjunction with another hand cream, but I would prefer to just use a single product that smoothes the surface of my skin AND provides moisture that soaks in. I'll be going back to my trusty Avon lotion. But if you're not already using something that works well, this could be an upgrade.

I'd give Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Some Bullshit: Self-Adjusting/Mood Makeup

You know this stuff is bullshit, right? I mean think about it for a minute. Just try to imagine how it might work.

There are lots of products out there that claim to adjust to your own personal body chemistry or some nonsense in order to create the most flattering possible shade for your complexion. There are BB creams, foundations, lipsticks, glosses, blushes, etc. I'm not going to link to any in particular; you know how to use Google.

Sounds nice, but once you think about it for a second or two, it doesn't make sense. Right? How does the makeup know what shade is most flattering for you? Are there nano-computers in there with tiny cameras on them? No. It's adjusting the same way no matter who wears it. Here's an explanation of the science behind these things. Some of them might change color more or less depending on how moist you are or whatever, but does it stand to reason that moister people have skin tones that are more flattered by deeper shades? Or vice versa? Fuck no. I think that the way these products get away with fooling people a little is by being a fairly universally flattering shade, and also being a bit sheer, so that they look okay either way. And by blinding you with science. Ooooooohh, it's transforming before my eyes!

Anyway, if they're affordable, they can be fun as a novelty. And they might work perfectly well. But they don't have brains, and they can't judge what's going to suit you best. You, on the other hand, do.

No, It's Not a Good Idea to Make Your Own Mascara (from The Beauty Brains)

It's not better for you! Just buy some at the drugstore for $3. And learn what a "chemical" is, while you're at it. (Hint: water is a chemical.)

Dress Yourself: Cheap Boatneck

These were on sale for $7 at my local Old Navy on Monday in all sorts of colors and patterns. There was much more variety than there is online, including lots of solids. (Hopefully they are still on sale.)

You can channel Coco Chanel for cheap.

Ha!

Zenni Optical just sent me an email saying that they'll give me a $25 bonus for every $200 worth of revenue I generate through my affiliate links.

Know how much profit I've made from ALL the affiliate links I've ever posted on this site since I started using them? Almost $9.

I'd be rolling in it, except that I don't get a check until I reach $50.

Fucking rolling in it!

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link. ;)

Temptalia and Nouveau Cheap's Weekly Beauty Sales Posts

I frequently post links to beauty sales that I think are particularly good, but I don't post them all. Sometimes I think things are just too expensive, even on sale, or I don't particularly like a specific brand.

If you want to keep up with what's going on everywhere, though, a couple of good resources are Temptalia's sales posts each week (like this one), which tend to cover high-end brands, and Nouveau Cheap's (like this one), which tend to be limited to drugstore sales.

Boohoo

I'm still really bummed about my favorite sunscreen being discontinued. It was like my religion. Now what? I have to worship some other false god? They all smear into my eyes and burn or make me break out in cystic acne.

When I emailed Paula's Choice to ask about the disappearance of this product from their line, this was the response I received:

"Thanks for your questions regarding our Weightless Finish SPF 30 Spray. We never want to be the bearer of disappointing news for our customers, but yes, this formula has been discontinued.  

Please know our decision to discontinue a product is never done impulsively and involve Paula’s entire team. Many different factors are taken into account, including customer preferences, purchasing patterns as well as well as the availability of new ingredients and more advanced formulations.

With the expansion of our line (including a large sunscreen offering), we have been reassessing all of our sunscreens based on customer feedback and, surprisingly, the SPF 30 spray was among the least favorite.  We do apologize for the shorter than typical notice, we normally have more time in advance to notify customers but that wasn’t possible in this instance due to supply/order timelines.

While there are no plans to create a new SPF spray at this time, our Product Development team is continually looking at alternatives and even more innovative options such as our RESIST SPF 25 and Hydralight SPF 30 formulas for oily skin due in 2013."

I do wish I had known sooner so that I could have stocked up! And I don't know why people didn't like it. I'm hoping that one of their new products works for me. The problem I usually have with lotion-type sunscreens if that, even when they claim to dry to a non-greasy finish, they always end up places I don't want them, like in my eyes. The liquid spray never did.

Anyway, I've started looking for alternatives. I recently bought a bottle of Cetaphil Dermacontrol Oil Control Moisturizer SPF 30, and I'll post a review of that soon. Meanwhile, I am nursing the last 1/4 bottle of my precious, which is set to expire next month. Boohoo. 

Fix Your Face Review: NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Bronze

According to the blurb on Cherry Culture, these pencils have been a NYX bestseller for years. One of the major attractions for me was the huge range of colors: Cherry Culture has 36 shades available, ranging from basic neutrals to glittery metallics to acidic neons. Regular price is $4.50 (though they're on sale for $2.99 at the moment).

I figured I couldn't go wrong with something so popular and ended up getting the Bronze shade. Despite the name, it's copper. Definitely not bronze.

Big Illamasqua Sale

Illamasqua has a big sale on their website right now, with polishes and makeup around 50% off or more, so you can get $24 nail polish for $8, for instance.

I'm going to pass, because I have too many untried bottles of brand new polish in my collection already, but if you've wanted to try out this fancy shit, maybe now is the time. The catch is that shipping to the US is around $13, so it's maybe not worth it unless you were planning to buy a whole bunch of stuff to begin with.

(I have always pronounced this company's name like, "Llama-squama" in my head. It was only when I had to type it out that I bothered to actually figure out what it was. Oops. I'm not very sophisticated, I guess.)

Nouveau Cheap's review of Wet N Wild Fergie Take On The Day Eyeshadow Primer

Looks really impressive!

Be Cheap (or: Free-ish Money): Ebates

Disclosure: This post contains referral links.
If you do any online shopping at all, and you don't use Ebates, you should. There's quite literally no downside. No figurative downside, either. You sign up for free, get a $10 gift card, and then get cash back for every order you place online. It works with just about every online retailer that exists. For Amazon, it only works for certain departments. All the other major players are there, though. The percentage of cash you get back ranges, on average, from 3-12% of your purchase's subtotal. Then, once a quarter, they mail you a check or send you your money by PayPal. If you have less that $5.01 in your account at payment time, they roll it over to the next quarter. And if you're super nice, you can opt to have that money sent to a charity or a friend instead.

You get your money by going to the Ebates site first, and then clicking through their link to whatever store you want to shop at. (Or you can install their add on in your browser, which is easier.) It's supposed to keep track of everything and add money to your account automatically, but sometimes things don't show up. I usually go through my email every so often and see if there are any orders more than a month old that haven't appeared in my account (sometimes it takes 30 days to update since that's a typical return period). If there are, you  submit a quick form here, and they credit your account within 5 minutes or so.

I hope that doesn't sound complicated. It's really, really not. It's basically just a way for you to save a few bucks on purchases you'd be making anyway. Even if you only buy a few things a year online, that's like $5.02 you wouldn't have otherwise. That's five free e.l.f. lip glosses (is it irony that e.l.f. is one of the few companies that's not on eBates? No, it's not. A little sad, though.).

I've been using the site for a year without any problems. It's legit. Right now I have $23 pending, and I just got my last payment in November. Don't try to use that to guess how much shopping I do! Jerk. The only negative is that now I get really pissed at myself when I buy something and forget to go through Ebates first.

Here's my referral link, if you'd like to use it. That would be cool. Do what you want, though. I wouldn't suggest this if there were any sort of catch involved. You get $5 per person who signs up through your referral, plus bonuses when you reach a certain number.

Free money. Ish. Any questions?

In case you or any of your readers are in to Bath and Body Works/Victoria's Secret body products - they're both having ridiculous sales right now! Like, 4 dollars and under/75% off kind of sales.

 barbryallen

Thanks! That is very useful information. I think The Body Shop also has a huge sale on now, and Philosophy has deeply discounted its holiday stuff on its website. 

Hard Candy Hall of Fame Train Case on sale for $6

It's full of makeup. It's $6, plus $1 shipping (half price). I've never tried Hard Candy makeup, so I can't vouch for it. Your call!

You Smell: Treat Yourself Cheaply (Juliette Has A Gun Discovery Kit)

If you want to get yourself a cheap treat/bribe for finally vacuuming/prize for having the hottest ass in the whole fucking country/reward for knowing more about foreign affairs than all those assholes at work who never shut their damned mouths, you could do worse than the Juliette Has A Gun Discovery Kit. You'll get nine 2 ml vials of fragrance for 10 euros (about $13). All of their scents are amazing. A lot of them are made up of ingredients that I didn't think I liked (like patchouli or musk), but they manage to do something magical with them. These are not fruity, flirty, girly scents. They suit their names (Lady Vengeance, Mad Madam, etc.). I feel like a badass when I wear them. And I just like to smell different (good) things, so this was fun for me. They each come in a little envelope with a lovely notecard with its "olfactive description" eccentrically translated from the French. Sex-ay.

Unfortunately, one of my vials broke during transit (they ship from France). I could still smell it in the envelope, and it turned out to be the one I liked least anyway (Calamity J). Just be warned that that can happen. Oh, and if you decide to buy a full size bottle of one of these within two months of ordering the kit, the cost of the kit will be deducted from your purchase. The full sizes are not very cheap, though.

Review: Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream, Part II

Disclosure: I got these products free from BzzAgent.

See Part I here.

First impressions:

The marketing copy for this stuff says that you only need a "small dab" to repair damaged skin and nails. So I decided I would use this amount, at least twice a day (but really whenever my hands felt dry):

I start by rubbing it into my finger tips and nails, and then spreading over the rest of my hands. I'm not using any other hand creams/lotions on my hands during the testing period of one week. I'm also following my normal routine, which means a couple of nail polish changes during the week. Ultimately I want to see if this stuff works as well as my favorite hand cream (which is really a foot cream), Avon Foot Works Beautiful Lavender Overnight Cream. The Neutrogena cream's main claim to effectiveness is that it contains glycerin. Glycerin is a standard ingredient in moisturizers (for more info, see Part I). The Avon cream also contains glycerin. 

The first time I used the cream, my hands were very, very dry, as you can see in the photo in Part I. After putting on the hand cream, they felt smoother and slipperier, but not immediately more moisturized. It was like having a layer of soft stuff on the surface of my skin, but underneath it was still rough and leathery. Even after a few days of use, I still didn't feel like it was soaking into my skin and improving the texture and moisturizing the deeper levels. Okay, I don't know if lotion normally does that, but it normally doesn't leave my fingertips still feeling just as shriveled and tough. I definitely didn't feel like their claims of instant soothing and healing were panning out. But maybe long term use will have a transformative, healing effect! I can be patient.

Stay tuned soon for the final result of my week(+) of testing.

Nouveau Cheap's Cheapie Awards

Her best affordable makeup/skincare products for 2012.

Reminder: 3 Zoya Polishes for $10 with code ZOYA2013

Or 3 free bottles of polish when you pay $10 s&h. However you want to look at it. Good until Jan. 13. (Previous post.)

Calm Your Tits: True & Co. $25 Credit

If you haven't tried True & Co. for bra fitting, and you're still interested, you can get a $25 for using this link to sign up until Jan. 13.

My review of this service is here. I really like it - I've finally found a bunch of bras that fit my weird tits properly and are more comfortable than I thought bras could be. Note: So far, unfortunately, their sizes only range from 32-38 and A-F.

Disclosure: This post contains my referral link. For every $25 credit someone claims, I get $20.

Scary Hair Product

Okay, so apparently don't buy Garnier Fructis Style Sleek & Shine Blow Dry Perfector. But DO read this article about it, because it is hilarious.

Review: Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream, Part I

Disclosure: I got these products free from BzzAgent.

Product Claims:

When it comes to protecting hands from the rigors of daily use, Norwegian Formula^® Hand Cream is the first choice of fishermen and manicurists alike. What makes this Neutrogena classic better than the rest?

• Just one dab repairs 7 signs of damage: dryness, chapping, splitting nails, dry cuticles, scaliness and roughness
• 2012 Good Housekeeping Seal award winner
• First hand cream to heal with concentrated glycerin
• Keeps Manicured hands looking beautiful
• Long-lasting
• Glycerin-rich
• Concentrated
• 2oz product good for 200 uses
• Available in Original and Fragrance-Free
• Suggested retail price of $4.99 per 2oz product

What I'm interested in:

• a small amount undoes skin damage and improves look and feel of nails
• extends the life of manicures
• pretty cheap at $5, though you only get a moderately sized tube for that price
• glycerin is a "skin-identical product"

I started testing this product at a particularly good time. I had just spent 10 days at home with my family, in an extremely dry climate, with very hard water, and without access to my usual hand creams. My nails and cuticles were a mess. Take a look, if you can handle it!

Thank you so much for posting about rose hip oil! I live in a part of Texas that is horribly dry, awful and windy. I've been using coconut oil on my skin for about two years now. I didn't realize how short it was falling until I started using rose hip oil instead. My face has gone from flaky and gross to soft and happy!

 barbryallen

You’re welcome! I was surprised how happy I was with it. I use it every single day. It’s great to hear from you about this, because I have combination/oily skin, and it sounds like it also works on dry skin. MAGIC.

Two Fucking Awesome Nail Polish Deals

• BOGO free Orly at Sally Beauty
• 3 free Zoya polishes when you pay $10 shipping and handling (starting Monday, Jan. 7)

More info, including the coupon codes, provided by the awesome Nouveau Cheap.

Fix Your Face: Baby Wipes

Compare the ingredients of a typical pack of sensitive skin makeup removing wet wipes and a pack of sensitive skin baby wipes. For example:

Pampers Sensitive Wipes:
Water, Glycerin, Aloe Barbandensis Leaf Juice, Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Sodium Citrate, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Benzyl Alcohol, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Benzoate, Bis PEG/PPG 16/16 Dimethicone, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Bisabolol

Olay Sensitive Wet Cleansing Cloths:
Water (Eau), Glycerin, Hexylene Glycol, Dimethicone, Dimethiconol, Butylene Glycol, DMDM Hydantoin, Polysorbate 20, Acrylates/Vinyl Isodecanoate Crosspolymer, Tocopheryl Acetate, Disodium EDTA, Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis) Leaf Juice, Sodium Hydroxide, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate

Nothing in the former that's going to hurt your face. Look up the ingredients in this Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary if you're curious (I did). The only thing to be concerned about, if you have dry skin, is the benzyl alcohol, but it is only a problem if it is among the main ingredients. In this case, it is far down on the list, which means it's not there in a major amount. You can probably find some without even that type of alcohol if you you spent 8 minutes looking for them, but I only spent 3.

For 5 bucks, you can either get 20-30 face wipes or 64+ baby wipes. I have used the Pampers Sensitive Wipes, and they leave my skin soft and clean. They do an excellent job of removing makeup. The texture is soft and thick. Think about it: if they're sensitive enough for a baby's ass, they're going to be safe for your face. Worth trying.

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.

Nail polish storage: Melmer

I finally got a "Melmer," as the nail polish people call the 3 Drawer Organizer Cube from Michaels. It's the perfect size for storing bottles of polish. I just finished assembling mine, and now I am dying to transfer everything into it, but someone is sleeping in my bedroom, so I can't just yet. Fuck. Here's what my collection looks like now:

Anyway, all of the craft storage is 50% off right now at Michaels, so it's a good time to nab one of these babies, if you're a hoarder like me. Really, you should never pay full price for one, since Michaels almost always has coupons for 40-50% off one item. Check in their weekly ads.

Fix your Face: e.l.f. Makeup Brushes (and a sweet deal)

From today until Jan. 7, you can get the 11-piece Studio Brush Collection for $2.13 with a $20.13 purchase from e.l.f. using the code BRUSH2013. That's cheaper than the regular cost of just one of these brushes alone. The regular price of the set is $30 (basically, you get one brush and the case free, normally).

Here are some things I have recommended in the past that you buy (or don't buy) from e.l.f. to get you to that $21 threshold.

Good:

• Essential Concealer Brush (for cuticles)
• Studio Lip Lock Pencil
• Studio Cream Liner (more)
• Nail Polish
• Studio Eyebrow Kit

Bad:

• Studio Waterproof Eyeliner Crayon

And another list of the goods and the bads (not half price anymore).

It'll be worth it, because those brushes are damned good. Soft, thick, just wonderful. They also come in a nice case for travel that is big enough to also hold other brushes and eyeliners, etc. Here is what I think of each brush in the set, and what I use them for (often not what they're designed for).

• Eyeshadow 'C' Brush: I use this to apply lighter shades to my lid and browbone. Anywhere I need to cover a wider area.
• Complexion Brush: This is the perfect blush brush. It's big and fluffy, so you get a natural application. Make sure to use a light touch and tap off excess powder before you apply, because the thick bristles will pick up a lot of color.
• Small Smudge Brush: This is what I use to fill in my eyebrows with NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Auburn/Red. It's ideal if you like a more natural shape with rounded edges. If you like a more dramatic eyebrow with sharp corners, the Small Angled Brush below might work better for you.
• Small Angled Brush: This is one whose perfect use I haven't discovered yet, though I think it would work well for applying gel eyeliner or eyebrow powder.
• Small Precision Brush: This brush is exactly what you need if you have problems applying eyeliner pencil neatly. You can just draw a messy, uneven line and then use this tiny, stiff brush to smooth out the edges and blend it toward your lashline. You can't fucking lose.
• Fan Brush: Okay, I'm still working on this one too. I guess you're supposed to use it to dust away particles on eye makeup that have fallen on to your cheeks. I usually just use a sponge or my big fluffy powder brush (not from e.l.f.) to do that. Other ideas, anyone?
• Flat Top Powder Brush: This is a really lovely quality brush. It's so dense and soft that it almost feels like a powder puff. I haven't used it much yet, since I have an old brush that I prefer for applying pressed powder. This is supposed to be great for getting your foundation blended smoothly (explanation here from Makeup Withdrawal).
• Angled Foundation Brush: I don't wear foundation very often, but this seems to do the trick for applying it.
• Concealer Brush: I don't use this one too often yet, since I already have an under-eye concealer brush, but this will make a good replacement some day.
• Blush Brush: Personally, I think this is too small for blush, but it's perfect for contouring. I use Wet N Wild Color Icon Bronzer Pressed Powder in Goddess, which is a good matte contouring powder for pale skin. You might still be able to get it on clearance at CVS (link above only for informational purposes - you should not have to pay $7 for that shit!).
• Contouring Brush: Nice, multipurpose eyeshadow brush.

Another good e.l.f. brush not listed above:

• Studio Retractable Lip Brush: It's a pointy brush with a fine tip that is ideal for lining lips. And the retractable mechanism is just fun: you put the lid on the other end and it lengthens the handle and pushes the brush out. Plus it keeps the brush from attracting lint. And cat hair. Ahem.

So there you go. These are phenomenal brushes for beginners or the makeup obsessed alike. Get them while they're cheap (if you wait a while, they will be on sale again. Maybe not this cheap, though.)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.