The Age Old Question : Do I invest in Makeup or in Makeup tools and brushes?

This is a wonderful mooting point to ponder over but nonetheless a concern for the self indulged and aware makeup addict. It's difficult to choose between good quality makeup products or good quality tools to apply that makeup, which is a very real issue as neither are sold in Poundland so finding a compromise can be tricky.

Nonetheless I will do my best to explain my stance on this as best as I can, and as much as I hate to admit it, my answer is not able to be a direct 'Always invest in good quality makeup over brushes' or 'Always invest in good brushes over good makeup' but I'll do my best to not give a wishy washy politicians answer.

So, I'm going to use an analogy now, and the best I can think of is soup. There is method to this I promise. Imagine you are planning to cook a tomato soup. and you have a set budget to make a batch. The money is not enough to allow you to buy the tip top rainbow dazzle organic juicy tomato's and the super duper whizzy stainless steel blender, so some strategy may have to be used, after some thought, the following options you have are:

1. Use the finest tomatoes known to man, but have no money left for a blender, so you resort to having to use a potato masher to make your soup - the result being lumpy, weird thing in a bowl that isn't really soup at all.

2. Use mid range tomatoes, and a budget blender, the motor burns out on the blender, but the soup is just fine, nothing to write home about.

3. Use the super duper whizzy stainless steel blender and tomatoes from the reduced section which have a green fuzz forming over them and an unidentifiable oozing - the result being moldy soup

I think that was rather a long winded way of getting out what I wanted to say. But ultimately it's illustrating that you'd be better off buying less makeup, and less brushes and only middle price/quality versions of both, rather than a spectacular set of brushes with crummy makeup, or splashing out on Lancome eyeshadow quads and then having to use your fingers to apply a smokey eye.
To me, there just is no one without the other, there is no investing in one and neglecting the other. If you need makeup, you need tools to apply it too.

So if someone were to say to me 'should I invest in Makeup or in brushes?' I would say, if you can only have one, save your money and invest in neither!

The best part of this whole thing, is that, we really don't need to choose anymore. We have such a lot of low-mid range choice in both products and brushes.
For super bargain makeup tools I'd recommend looking for shops on Ebay and Amazon, (check the feedback and reviews first)
or Models Own
or Eco Tools
or E.L.F

For super bargain makeup I'd recommend
MUA (The undress me palette and highlighting powder are particularly good
Sleek (Highly pigmented eyeshadows and blushers
Revlon (Top quality foundations and lip products)

Makeup shoppers on a budget (and lets face it, who isn't?) might find it useful to hop back to yesterdays post where I divulge the four, yes, just four essential brushes in every kit. I think most 'normal' makeup users can be pretty much satisfied with just those four, which makes compromising between cosmetics or tools that much easier.

Getting green and smokey!

In the daytime I like my makeup a little lighter, but at nighttime I think nothing screams glamour like a smokey eye. I usually go for browns and greys but today I took out an old January favourite from the makeup range Fashionista (read me rant about the name here ) and mixed it into this look!

Here's how I got it:
1.Primed my eyes using Bare Escentuals eye primer
2.Coated the whole eyelid in a light green shadow called 'Green Guild' from Fashionista
3.From the outer corner I dolloped a darker green called 'Envy' from Fashionista and blended it towards the inner corner of my eye to make a pretty gradient
4.Used a darker green from Sleeks Sparkle pallette- it's the same colour as christmas trees and placed that in the same place as 'Envy' but instead I blend it only across the first quarter-ish of my eye so that you can still see 'Envy' underneath and it doesn't become a muddy mess.
5.I use a matte black and run that along the crease of my eye and smoke it out with a fluffy brush
6. Using the same black eyeshadow and taking a thin eyeliner brush i run that along the upper lash line and half way along the lower- this way it's not as harsh as liquid liner and fits in with a 'smokey' look.
7. On the browbone to make a crisp contrast I uses Loreal Color Infaillable in shade 001 Time Resist White
8. Using a brow brush and and an eyeshadow in shade 'Folie' from Mac I run the colour through my brows lightly, and slowly builing up the shape and thickness I'd like
9. I finished off with a few layers of Bare Escentuals black mascara

Although nine steps is an awkward number, this look has no more steps!
So there you have it, a green smokey eye- enjoy!