Following the incredible success of the Real Techniques range of beauty brushes from none other than YouTube beauty gurus Sam & Nic Chapman (of Pixiwoo fame), the pair then went on to create and launch the Bold Metals Collection, a more luxe range of makeup brushes — finally available here in Canada. Made with ultra-soft tapered synthetic bristles and with handles that are longer, weighter, and come in varying metallic hues, there are only 7 brushes in this collection that are further divided into 3 groups, all colour coded for convenience: face (gold), eyes (silver), and finishing (rose gold).
Each brush comes individually sold and packaged in a transparent acrylic box with a barcode on the back that can be scanned (you need the app for this part) to view Sam & Nic demonstrating some tips and techniques on using these brushes. They may be few in number, but after having played with these brushes for several weeks now, I’ve come to appreciate the diverse and numerous ways each can be used … thus making them quite versatile indeed (which also offsets the higher price tag).
Other Real Techniques brushes previously reviewed:
Real Techniques | Bold Metals Collection
Real Techniques | Bold Metals Collection
Real Techniques | Bold Metals Collection
100 Arched Powder (CAN $36.00) | This is a large domed brush that works beautifully with all face powders (loose, pressed, cream-to-powder). I really love that for a large-headed brush, the bristles lean more on the dense than floppy side, offering more control and precision but still able to smoothly diffuse product, all depending on how much you load up your brush. Excellent for applying bronzer as well, in particular when the brush is turned on its side to help reach smaller areas of the face. Bonus: the Arched Powder brush can also work for blush, preferably for a light dusting across the cheeks.
Real Techniques | 100 Arched Powder brush
101 Triangle Foundation (CAN $34.00) | This may be the only brush of the lot that I’m still on the fence about; meant to be used to apply foundation, the brush bears a triangular-shaped head (I’ve never come across this shape before) to help with not only spreading your foundation easily across the skin, but also designed to be able to fit smaller contours and areas of the face (in particular, around the nose). One thing that holds me back with the Triangle Foundation brush, is that I found the bristles a tad too long for my personal preference, as well as a lot rougher than the rest of the collection (and interestingly enough, I rarely see either Sam or Nic using this brush in their videos. Curious, that …)
Real Techniques | 101 Triangle Foundation brush
200 Oval Shadow (CAN $23.00) | As far as eyeshadow brushes go, the head of this brush is quite large and I wasn’t sure if I could comfortably work with it (those with small, narrow, and/or hooded lids will definitely have issues), but surprisingly it works well not only in applying a large expanse of colour quickly, but the bristles have a wonderful density to them – being neither too long nor floppy – to help buff and diffuse eyeshadow. This large rounded size also makes the Oval Shadow an excellent brush for spot highlighting (upper cheekbones, cupid’s both, brow bone).
Real Techniques | 200 Oval Shadow brush
201 Pointed Crease (CAN $23.00) | One again, this brush leans towards the large side of things and using it on the eyelids can pose challenges for those with small, narrow, or hooded lids. This brush is excellent for creating definition i.e.: a smokey eye, in particular for smudging/blending at the outer corner of the eye. In order to use the Pointed Crease brush along the actual crease, your safest bet is to once again stay along the outer portion of the eye – unless you happen to have much more space to work with that I do. Bonus: this brush can also perform double duty to help buff concealer into the skin.
Real Techniques | 201 Pointed Crease brush
202 Angled Liner (CAN $23.00) | The angled tip on this brush works beautifully in creating a precision line – in particular when used with cream and/or gel eyeliners, and even powdered shades can benefit from a more detailed treatment when the Angled Liner brush is used dampened; used dry with powders, will provide a softer tone. Bonus: makes an excellent brow brush as well, especially when used with powdered shades.
Real Techniques | 202 Angled Liner brush
300 Tapered Blush (CAN $34.00) | How gorgeous is this brush? From the rose-gold handle to the ‘blushing’ bristles, I reach for this lovely all the time. As the name says (PS: the caption in the photo should have read ‘Blush’ and not ‘Brush’. Sigh.), this makes a stellar blush brush and can be used to swirl colour onto the apples of the cheeks, or swept up towards the temples for a more editorial look. For those with smaller faces/features, this is also a wonderful bronzer brush – and can even perform triple duty for highlighter application — albeit on larger expanses of skin and not for detailed work.
Real Techniques | 300 Tapered Brush
301 Flat Contour (CAN $36.00) | The last brush in the collection, I have been loving using the Flat Contour brush to work contouring products into my skin (and due to the nature of the bristles, you get amazing results regardless of whether you use it with creams or powders), as well as working with cream blushes; the flattened top not only helps everything blend in like a dream, leaving no demarcation lines, but buffs the product into the skin for a totally seamless finish. Love!
Real Techniques | 301 Flat Contour brush
Owning a fairly substantial collection of makeup brushes (a major obsession of mine, you might say), I’ve always felt that investing in quality brushes makes all the difference in the world as far as your completed look goes, and even though some can run in the triple digits for just one brush (guilty of owning several in that range), what sets the Real Techniques brushes apart are the fact that they actually deliver results without breaking the bank. That being said, the Bold Metals Collection is definitely more expensive than the regular range, but even these prices are still low compared to many other brands (MAC, Make Up For Ever, NARS, to name but a few) and well worth looking into – whether your a novice brush collector, or a bonafide addict like yours truly.
*As someone who has gifted makeup brushes to many friends and family, trust me when I say that these also make a FAB gift idea, and with Christmas around the corner … need I say more?
The Real Techniques Bold Metals Collection are available through select London Drugs across Canada, or online via www.farleyco.ca
Press samples kindly provided for my unbiased consideration
