Review of Zoeva Brushes

Hello guys! Today it's Jazz, and I thought I'd do a little review on my Zoeva brushes. 

So I bought these from the Zoeva website, and they were the Complete Professional Set (click for link) which retail at 105 Euro, which is about £80 (I can't remember how much it was plus shipping, sorry!) and I definitely think they are worth every penny. They're made from both natural and synthetic hairs, and have now also released a vegan set of brushes, which I think I'll definitely be looking into. I really enjoy how soft the brushes feel, I always find thats it quite important that the brushes are softer and especially with face brushes, as it's much easier to blend a product than with something that is more dense. 

From left to right: 235 Contour Shader | 142 Concealer Buffer | 110 Face Shape | 128 Cream Cheek | 102 Silk Finish | 104 Buffer | 106 Powder

Face Brushes

So here I'm going to list and explain the brushes I reach for the most, and some that I perhaps don't and why.

235 Contour Shader - This brush is the only brush I have, and will probably ever use for contouring my nose! It's perfect because it doesn't pick up too much product, as the brush itself isn't dense. So you never end up with that obvious contouring line, because that's never the look we're going for gals! I find that this brush works well with powder contouring kits. Although I've never tried it with a cream based one, I'm sure it would be easy to blend out because as I said, the brush doesn't pick up too much product. 

142 Concealer Buffer - I use this brush to map out my liquid concealer when I'm using it to contour. I particularly reach for this as I find it small enough to really shape the face and create the thin line of highlight on my nose. I sometime use this to buff my concealer out also.

110 Face Shape - This has been my go to recently when buffing out the highlighted areas of my face! This brush is actually quite dense so I find it blends liquids out quite well. 

128 Cream Cheek - My all time favourite brush for contouring my cheeks with a bronzer. This brush is actually angled, which works better to really find the hollows of your cheeks as I find it almost moulds to your face every time you use it. It works to create a natural contour as it doesn't pick up a lot of product, similar to the contour shader. I have used it with both a powder and a cream contour and it works well with both!

102 Silk Finish - Is a foundation brush. I don't use this to directly apply my foundation, but it is my secret weapon with regards to the finish of my foundation. After I've used a beauty blender to apply my foundation, I go back in with this brush to buff out my foundation, buffing in circular motions. It makes your skin look airbrushed, I promise!

104 Buffer - Now I don't really enjoy using this brush… I don't know if it's because I'm using it incorrectly, but I find it doesn't really serve its purpose of buffing, but I think I'm going to give it another go and maybe use it to bronze and buff that out instead.

106 Powder - I love this brush if I want a really mattified look, and is good at that because it picks up a hell of a lot of product, however these days I'm really loving a dewy finish, so I don't really reach for this as a setting powder brush much.

From left to right: 227 Luxe Soft Definer | 231 Luxe Petit Crease | 234 Luxe Smoky Shader | 228 Luxe Crease | 317 Wing Liner | 223 Petit Eye Blender | 322 Brow Line

Eye Brushes

227 Luxe Soft Definer - I use this to create a cut crease, or to really go in with my transition colour to define my eye and create whatever shape I want it to be. It picks up a decent amount of product and is a lovely brush to keep at my side if I ever need a clean brush to blend product out with.

231 Luxe Petit Crease - This brush packs on product and is a really good brush to deepen the crease with. I find that it can be a little difficult to blend with though, so I keep a clean brush handy to do the job for me. (Usually the 227)

234 Luxe Smoky Shader - I use this brush mostly to pack on product on my lid, usually glitter products because I bloody love glitter!! It holds quite a bit of product on the brush itself, and

228 Luxe Crease - I know that this is supposed to be used in your crease, however I find that I prefer using it to sweep shadow all over my eye as a base, as it's slightly too large for my crease? Or I have found myself using it as a blending brush to blend my crease into my transition.

  

317 Wing Liner - Perfect in every way. That is all. Best with gel liners.

  

223 Petit Eye Blender - AKA the pencil brush! Used for highlighting my inner corners and to blend shadows in my lower lash liner/waterline.

  

322 Brow Line - This brush is quite dense, so is best used for people who prefer their brows to look super dark and drawn in, as it packs on A LOT of product. It draws and blends out the perfect shape however, so I really do recommend this as anybody's go to brow brush.

Soooo thats my final review of my Zoeva brushes. I give them a solid 8.5/10. Best for those who would like a kit that contains brushes that can be used for almost every aspect of your face!

Thanks for reading guys!

Jazz xox 

GreyBrowsBeauty

Hello beauties! So for a while now this blog has been inactive and well..stagnant. HOWEVER, dare I say we're back! And I say we, because now an extra beautiful face has joined me on this wonderful journey and together we make GreyBrowsBeauty.

OUR STORY

We met way back in 2013 at college, and knew right from the get go that we were destined to be each others soul mates. Fast forward two years and we're both moving to Leeds, studying the same course and at the same university! We have been in talks for months now about launching our own blog where by we will be posting old and new favourites in terms of all things makeup and skincare! We will be transitioning to Youtube very soon in order to post tutorials and chatty videos, so watch this space!

GreyBrowsBeauty is a mixture of our favourite things. The colour grey, eyebrows, and beauty..incase you hadn't already figured that out!
Thank you guys for being patient with us while we figured this out and we look forward to sharing this fabulous journey with you all!

Heres to beautiful brows, always ;)

Phoe&Jazz xox

Gallery Visit: Lee Bul

After Bruno Taut (Devotion to Drift) (2013)    

So a month ago myself and some of my friends on my college course went to visit the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, after hearing about an exhibition lead by Lee Bul. Although I live in Birmingham, I've never actually visited the Ikon Gallery myself, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity build up my portfolio and get inspired! Often when I hear about installations, I always feel mixed reactions as I'm never sure what to expect, however I'm also very intrigued as to understand the story being told behind the visual magnificence. 

This first piece has been named 'After Bruno Taut', aptly named due to the inspiration from this piece stemming from Bul's admiration for Taut's architectural glass fantasies. According to Bul, the ever so delicately placed glass beads and chains, are 'meant to interject an element of social reality into the work', alluding to the days where South Korean women were made to work in factories, creating intricate glass beaded jewellery up until the 1980s. To me the concept is fascinating, in a time where social equality was thought to be on a steady rise, with the UK enforcing equal pay rights for women in the 1970s, opposed with the East's impoverished cities whereby equality was unheard of, almost as if time had stood still there, meanwhile everywhere else in the world was moving forward. So to illustrate that through intricate sculptures and installations whilst still leaving enough room for self interpretation and guess work is to me, a work of ingenius. 

                                        

                                        

A few of these next photos are maquettes (small scale models) and drawings that I found very inspiring, mainly material-wise. I enjoyed Bul's mixed media sketches, I feel as though for every audience member they evoke different feelings, another thing I really like about the way that Lee Bul works. 

   

The story behind these precious sculptures of dogs, is that Lee Bul's dog actually passed away, and she had had him since she was very young, provoking Bul to want to recreate her dog using the only way she knew how - art. She had gone through many materials to try and achieve what she felt, the most realistic way of recreation for her. Such a thought provoking, beautiful piece of art. 

And that's pretty much it. There was a lot more that I could have shown you about Bul's work, but I can't seem to find my memory card to re upload them at this present moment in time.. Always the case! Hope you guys are inspired, and have a different view of sculpture work.. As I now do! Thanks for listening :)

Jazz x x

Barcelona: Market Stall Indulgence // Sagrada Familia Photo Diary

Top - Miss Selfridge
Skort - Zara
Cardigan - Zara
Shoes - Doc Martens
Bag - Zara

Hello Hello! So. Barcelona. This is going to be a very long post, so apologies in advance! I have no idea where on earth to start.. (the beginning, maybe?) Well, I went two thursdays ago with a group of fellow art/photography/graphics students as part of our courses, and it was mainly a very architectural based trip, as the world renowned artist Gaudi had lived and created there. 

On the first day, we arrived early-ish during the day, and were allowed to have a good roam around the main area of our stay, which was in the boulevard of La Rambla. Of course myself and my friends Tasha, Sophia and Maddie headed straight into the food market, which was truly incredible! There were fruits of every kind stacked high, litres of freshly made smoothies and juices, ice cream in every flavour imaginable, and a nachos stand!! It was so crammed, but such a lovely, colourful, buzzing atmosphere, I felt so welcome. 

I also visited the Zara store because… when in spain, right? Is that a thing now? Yeah. It is. I managed to bag the most beautiful cardigan, pictured above! I know what you're all thinking, 'You were in Spain, WHY did you buy a cardigan???' .. yeah I'm not sure either to be honest. It was pretty. And I'd lost my favourite one on the flight to Barcelona, soooo it had to be done, naturally!

^^ YES THAT IS AVOCADO ICE CREAM IN THE ABOVE PHOTO ^^

Also, to those that have visited the Oasis market in Birmingham City Centre, me and Tash found it's doppelgänger in a really cute alley which we literally just happened to stumble upon! They sell pretty much everything that Oasis sells, but the jewellery was ridiculously over priced so we walked out a tad disappointed, but nevertheless.. its pretty!

We finished the day off at the Hard Rock Cafe which was lovely… reminded me of my trip to New York a few years back!

Sagrada Familia // Park Guell

On Friday we visited Sagrada Familia, a cathedral designed by Antonio Gaudi, which from the outside narrates The Nativity, The Passion, and The Glory facades. I don't think any other word apart from 'in awe' can describe my reaction to the sheer magnificence placed before me. Admittedly when I had researched Gaudi beforehand, I wasn't mad about his work and to be honest I was ready for this to not be a highlight for me.. however I was completely wrong! I couldn't understand how intricately detailed and thought out a piece of architecture could be and I still don't! One of the highlights for me was when I walked inside and the stained glass windows reflected onto the pillars.. the whole interior just glowed with a splash of colour, such a beautiful sight to be greeted with as soon as you walked in!

Who doesn't enjoy a good picture of olives? Taken by Tasha dearest!

After the lovely visit to the cathedral, we all grabbed a bite to eat before visiting Park Guell, another Gaudi exhibition! Overlooking the city, the park was perhaps one of my favourite spots in Barcelona. Although it's visited by hundreds of people every day, I can't quite get over the peace and serenity that lingers within it. It was quite a beautiful sight!

Myself and Tash even managed to bag ourselves a few rings that were being sold on make shift market stalls as we walked through the park, so we considered that a very successful day ha!

Tasha looking beautiful as ever!

After our little adventure through the park we managed to have a lovely night out on the harbour, where we enjoyed the most lovely paella I've ever eaten..unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photo of it because myself and Tash were so hungry neither of us thought of the idea haha! 

Aaaaaand that pretty much concludes the first part of my two part photo diary of Barcelona!
Hope you guys enjoyed this overly long post.. let me know what you think!

Jazz x 

LFW

Goooood morning lovelies! Apologies for the lack of blogging lately, I've been doing nothing but coursework and viewing universities (exciting, yet terrifying.)

However, this one is a very exciting post for me. Yesterday, myself and my best friend Rav went to London Fashion Weekend… yes, London. Fashion. Weekend. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was! Having recently visited universities to find out more about my course, which is Textile Design, I was so heavily inspired by graduate work, and I was craving to get out there and learn more about the fashion world.. and what better way to start, than venturing out to one of the biggest fashion festivals of the world!?

Inspired by the cool baby blues floating around this season, I threw on a PU lavender skirt from ASOS, paired with a sleeveless black turtleneck, and because it's technically autumn now and I just couldn't wait… A FUR COAT! (also from ASOS), and lastly I'd bought a pair of Dr Marten's brogues a few weeks back, which I just absolutely adore. They're kind of a two toned maroon/brown and black? 

Rav wore the most gorgeous red swing dress from Zara, which was hunted down at such a good price that everyone who asked did not believe her.. from £40, to £7!!!!!!! Yes you heard it here first. It was paired with the most beautiful, vintage looking coin necklace which I believe was from H&M, along with the heeled peep toe boots.

From Oscar de la Renta and Roberto Cavalli to Alexander Wang and Isabel Marant, this years trend show was buzzing with pastel hues, exotic prints and delicate flowing materials shaped into 
dresses, structured blazers and sharp tailoring and leather that was moulded into the most rich looking skirts and cropped trousers. My personal favourites of the show, were of course Jungle Fever and Fairy Tale Ending. Jungle fever was swimming with exotic motifs and animal prints, riddled with blues and greens and black and white tones and topped with leather, a true favourite for any print lover like myself! Fairy Tale Ending on the other hand was heavily embellished and textured, balanced with weightless materials created into gowns fit for any red carpet event. The colours that dominated in true regal style were red and black, yet tones of grey complimented and completed each look. (My favourite look being the grey cape!!)

I hope you enjoyed this little snapshot into what occurred on Sunday, 5 trains and 420 yards later after leaving Birmingham! And heres to many more fashion weeks in the near future!

Jazz x x