Review: Real Techniques On Location Travel Essentials Brush Kit

If you read other beauty blogs aside from this one, then there's a very good chance that you've visited the fabulous blog Pixiwoo. So I probably don't have to tell you that Samantha Chapman, one of the beauties behind Pixiwoo, has her own line of makeup brushes which are available at Ulta. The name of the brand is Real Techniques, and recently I was sent the above kit for review. It's been a while since I've tried any brushes outside of my old standbys (EcoTools and e.l.f.) so I was excited to give these a whirl!

 Real Techniques On Location Travel Essentials

(retail: $15.99)

Looking on the Ulta website, this kit has an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars and 20 reviews.

As you can see, the brushes in this kit are made with taklon bristles (aka synthetic fibers). I love love love taklon brushes so I was really excited to see that. 

As per the photo above, you get three brushes and a "panoramic case" which doubles as a stand (more on that in a bit).

Here's what the kit looks like when open:

As you can see, the elastic band runs along the left side of the case as well, so there's room for additional brushes:

 

And here's what it looks like closed:

The case has a velcro closure (see above), and there's a little tag that tells you how you can convert the case into a stand.

Here's what the case looks like when folded into a stand (frontal view and aerial view):

On to the brushes!

Makeup brushes are so subjective, so I could never tell you whether or not I think you need any of these particular brushes. But what I can tell you is how they performed for me personally, so here's a quick summary:

Multi-Task Brush

The box states that the Multi-Task Brush can be used for powder, blush or bronzer. For me, it's too big for blush (the head of this brush is more than double the size of my e.l.f. blush brush) but I do love it for powder. The bristles are quite dense, and it's a very soft brush against my skin (comparable in softness to my EcoTools powder brush). I find that it picks up my loose powder easily and distributes is evenly as well. 

 Essential Foundation Brush

I have not used this brush for liquid foundation (as you know, I'm usually a powder foundation gal) but I HAVE used it to apply concealer and wow, I love it for that. I find that the head of this brush fits perfectly in the inside corner of my eye and under-eye area. It's just so easy to use, and I love how it blends my concealer. It's super soft as well.

Dome Shadow Brush

I love this brush for blending my shadow. I think it's a bit too fluffy for shadow application, but for blending? It's fantastic. So soft and effortless to use. 

I have washed all three of these brushes a total of three times now, and I have to tell you that I have not lost ONE bristle (well, at least not that I can see!). All three brushes wash easily and dry fairly quickly as well (obviously the powder brush is going to take a bit longer to dry than the other two, but if you wash your brushes at night, all three should be nice and dry by morning, no problem.)

FINAL VERDICT: For $15.99 at Ulta, I think this is a nice basic kit that contains brushes you could easily use every single day. My only gripe is that, for a travel kit, I'd like to see an actual blush brush included because a smaller blush brush is essential for me when I'm traveling. But other than that, I think these brushes are of fantastic quality and worth the price-tag.

Do you own any Real Techniques brushes? If so, how do you like them?

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.