Some Gorgeous Christmas Pressie Ideas From Japonesque

When I was a little girl if anyone had suggested that I would be super excited at the prospect of receiving make up brushes  for Christmas than I would never have believed them. Age has done it's thing though and I've grown up and my wishlist has changed beyond recognition - I no longer want a toy post office, or yet more cuddly toys I want something well, pretty and sensible. I've recently discovered a range of  beauty tools and accessories that fits this bill perfectly and that are aesthetically pleasing and useful.

Founded way back in 1984 Japonesque are one of the biggest manufacturers of make up brushes, and beauty accessories in the world. Their products are used by leading make up artists in the film, television and fashion industries and now their available to beauty fiends like me :) A little while ago now I sent a couple of Japonesque's newest and most eye catching products to try out on behalf of Japonesque and HQ Hair.

The Safari Chic Collection 

What can I say about this collection apart from WOW. This has to be one of the most talked about ranges in the blogosphere for a long, long time. What's so exciting about make up brushes and beauty tools? I hear your cry, well see for yourself..

The range comprises of the Safari Chic Brush Set and the Safari Chic Bronzer Brush. The brush set comes packaged in an animal print designed micro fibre case. 

In the kit you get a powder brush, a shadow brush and a crease brush. All the brushes in this kit are made from a specially designed and coloured synthetic materials that are completely animal friendly. The brushes have black handles, and the brush hairs are in an amazing white, with a black and tan animal print design.

The Safari Chic Brush Set retails at around £28 from HQ Hair and various other Japonesque stockists

The Safari Chic collection is a brushed based collection and contains just one other item, the famous Safari Chic Bronzer Brush. I was lucky to receive one of these in the post, first of all look at the packaging, I'm not sure if this is how you would receive yours from HQ Hair but I *almost* didn't want to unwrap it.

I have to say though I'm glad that I did though, the brush comes safely hygienically packaged in a clear plastic box.

The brush itself is just the right size for bronzer, highlighter or even for loose powder. It has a quite squat in shape and has a short black handle with the Japonesque logo printed on in white.

It quite a dense brush but it isn't too stiff and you can easily mould the brush into a variety of shapes using your fingers.

The synthetic hairs are super, super soft in fact, when I took this brush out the packaging I couldn't stop stroking it. This kabuki like the brush set is characterised by white, black and tan bristles, which give a quirky animal print effect. I was a little bit worried about the colours running in the brush when it was washed but I needn't have worried it washed really well, with barely no shedding and no colour run, and it dried to be just as soft as it was before.

I've predominantly used this brush for both highlighter and bronzer (including with this bronzer here) and I have to say I love it. It feels gorgeous on the skin, and it a really easy brush to use, and to maintain. If your looking for a quirky present or even a stocking filler for the young and funky lady in your life, or even for a lady whose young at heart this collection and this product could be something to consider. The Safari Chic Bronzer Brush retails at around £19.50 from Japonesque stockists including HQ Hair

Pink

I'm a little late to this one in all honesty but unfortunately breast cancer doesn't just happen in October. Earlier this year Japonesque launched a range of pink products, where $1 from every purchase is taken at source and is donated to breast cancer awareness. The range includes all sorts of lovely gift ideas or just essentials for yourself  all of which you can purchase various retail outlets including HQ Hair, including the Japonesque Pink Manicure Kit at £20 which is packaged a pink leather pouch and contains all the stainless steel tools that you need for that perfect manicure or pedicure.

Also featuring in the range is the beautiful Japonesque Brow Kit, which includes everything you need for the perfect eyebrow including eyebrow stencils, precision tweezers, brow powders, brow wax and brow gel all contained in a pink clutch bag for only £21.00

These are just some of the products in Japonesque's Pink range but the range also contains two different types of eyelash curlers, the Japonesque Heated Mini Lash Curler for £12.50, and the ones that I was kindly sent, the Japonesque Pink Go Curl Pocket Eyelash Curlers.

Up until this year I always saw curling my eyelashes as just to much effort, but it's something I do now almost every time that I wear make up, it really does make that much of a difference. Despite owning a few different models my curler of choice has been one of the traditional metal style ones, but the Go Curl is unlike everything I'd ever seen.

It cute, it dinky, and it's pink. This curler is made from a pink and clear plastic and it comes complete with a white rubber curling pad, you also get a spare pad cleverly concealed in the base of the curler.

At first glance I wasn't 100% sure how to use this, but then I saw the fold out spring loaded handle on the back of the curler - clever and it makes the curlers even smaller :)

There was no problem with the grip of theses curlers they did the job surprisingly well for their size. My one issue was that I found it quite hard to actually see the lashes in the curler so I did nick my eyelids once or twice, being plastic though this wasn't particularly painful. Another benefit of plastic curlers is that you can heat them gently with a hairdryer to increase the strength of the curl. I haven't tried with this set but I've done it in the plastic curlers it's a definite no no with metal ones though so don't even try it! There is no better way then showing how effective an eyelash curler is then some before and after pics - these are my bare lashes, you can tell that because I have some white eyelashes sob!

Before

After

Before 

After 

Before 

After 

You can definitely see a difference can't you. I don't the curl is quite as tight as it is with metal curlers but I have to say for the size I'm pretty impressed with these. They would great for travel or for your on the go make up bag,and the colour is pretty cute too. The Japonesque Go Curl Eyelash Curler retails at around £10  from HQ Hair and other stockists. 

I have to say I've been really impressed with the products I've seen and tried from Japonesque. Anyone of these gifts would make a great Christmas present or even as a stocking filler. I definitely want to try some more Japonesque products, in fact I've already acquired a few already including some of the nail polish, and lip conditioner swabs which I will be reviewing shortly and of course this mini Japonesque Professional Concealer Brush that I picked up from a Boots clearance stand for just £2.00

Just a word of advice if you see this brush floating around definitely consider buying it. The hairs are soft but the brush is firm and I've found it invaluable for blending concealer and even for blending cream eye colours and eye bases - bargain!

Have you tried any Japonesque products? or do you have any recommendations? Please let me know in the comments xx

(The Japonesque Safari Chic Bronzing Brush And The Japonesque Pink Go Curl Pocket Eyelash Curlers Were Both Provided For Review / Promotional Purposes)