My Real Techniques Collection

it's hard to believe that before these beauties came into my life, my make-up brush collection solely consisted of a foundation brush, blusher brush, contour and eyeshadow brush, costing me no more than £10 in total! 

now any of you will know i'm a little bargain hunter, and some of you may be amazed to find that i didn't pay full price for one of these brushes, but there are so many bargains out there if you take the time to look. i thought today, i'd take you through my collection so far, which only actually started 2 months ago, so i think i've done pretty well. i've split it into three sections - the core collection, the duo-fiber collection and individual brushes. also, i apologise that some of the brushes are dirty - they'd all just been washed, so just my everyday brushes were dirty!

 oo1. Core Collection

the core collection was the first lot of brushed that i picked up, and it consists of the buffing brush, contour brush, pointed foundation brush and detailer brush. this sets RRP is £21.99, but a little while back Amazon had all the Real Techniques brushes on offer and i managed to pick this up for just £13.99 and then get a further 5% NUS discount - bargain! the buffing brush i don't use quite so much, i'll either use it for touching up my foundation to get a more even base, or very occasionally with bronzer for an all over glow. there are so many bristles to this one too, so it's great for full coverage. the contour brush i use for bronzer, blusher and highlighter on and around my cheeks, and of course, for general contouring, and the shape of this is perfect for that job and really picks up the cheekbones. i haven't actually used the pointed foundation brush yet, mainly because it's a lot smaller than i was expecting it to be. the detailer brush i've used for eyeshadow - the bristles are really dense and are great for precision application. 

oo2. Duo-Fiber Collection

i actually bought these before they were released in the UK from an American website iHerb.com. They were already selling the set for $19.99, which is an absolute bargain compared to the UK RRP of £23.99, but they also had an offer on which meant a further $4 off, so i paid just $15.99 which works out at just £10.50!!!! unbelievable, right?! these have only very recently turned up from the States, so haven't had much of a chance to use them yet. in all honesty, i'm not too sure what i'll use the face brush for just yet, but my oh my, these are the absolute softest brushes i have ever felt in my life - so soft, that when they arrived i just sat stroking my face with them. the contour brush has replaced the regular RT contour brush, there's just something i prefer about it a little more, but i just keep the regular one in my travel make-up bag now. i've still not got round to using the eye brush, purely because i rarely wear eyeshadow, but i plan on using this as a blending brush as it's super soft, and not as dense as my other eye brushes. iHerb are still selling these at $19.99 (£13) and even with the express delivery option, this is cheaper than nipping down to Boots!

oo3. Individual brushes

some brushes i have bought individually too. the powder brush i also picked up from iHerb. it retails on there for $9.99 (£6.50) and again had a further $2 off, so cost me just £5.25, less than half of Boots' £12.99. if you are looking to get some Real Techniques brushes, honestly check out iHerb as their prices are surely unbeatable?! obviously i use this one for my powder, and i love how big the head of the brush is (oo-er!) as it takes just a little product to cover the whole face evenly. the expert face brush i picked up in my Amazon order for £9.99 with 5% student discount, so not quite full brush. this one i don't use very much and picked this one up due to it being the one i'd heard be talked about the most by bloggers, i just use it for foundation application every now and then, but again, the head is so dense so great for even coverage. the stippling brush was also from Amazon for just £7.99 with 5% off, so considerably less again than £11.99 in Boots. this is my go-to brush for foundation application - it really works it into the skin for even, flawless application!

so there we have my little Real Techniques collection. Considering theres over £80 worth of brushes here, i'm super impressed that i've got them all for just over £45 is amazing. it just shows that if you have a look around and wait for bargains, you WILL save yourself a hell of a lot of money.

do any of you guys recommend any other RT brushes that i need to keep an eye out for?

also, don't forget to enter my 100 follower giveaway here to win a £75 fashion and beauty bundle!