I Figured Out The ELF Large Stipple Brush ;) Total Quick-Fix!! Three AWESOME Tricks!!!

This review is extremely enthusiastic.  I promise you I am in NO way affiliated with ELF and that I take pride in giving honest reviews!!!  I am just in awe by how well this product worked for me after I gave it this quick-fix.  It not only made it a decent brush, but the brush became an irreplaceable staple in my collection!!  Severely out-did my expectations...I can't wait to show you the tricks I discovered!!

To those of you who opened your ELF package, took out the large stipple brush, and then were dismayed to find out how loose and flimsy the hairs were, I'm hoping you didn't throw it in the trash.  If you did, prepare to be disappointed!!  Pull it out from where-ever you stuffed it!!!  I'm about to totally change your opinion on this thing.

But first--go grab a small hair-tie or rubber band!!!

(pictured: ELF Stipple Brush, the larger version, and ELF Mineral Glow Powder)

I used a small, regular, pink hair-tie and just secured it around the wooden end of the brush 5 times.  I then slid it up the wooden part until the hair-tie was around the bristles!! :)

This made the brush firm enough to apply makeup without the bristles spreading out too much and causing brush marks.  They stay together enough now to actually do the job they are supposed to do--stipple!!

Trick 1: Use It With Foundation
To test out the brush, I first used it to apply Revlon's 24 Hour ColorStay Foundation, the original kind, not the whipped (which I don't care for as much).  Oh my god.  I absolutely love the application of the foundation with this stipple brush.  I poured some of the foundation onto the back of my hand, dabbed the ELF Stipple Brush into it, and then stippled my cheeks, nose, undereyes, the entire face, just buy patting the brush onto my skin at a 90 degree angle and lightly bouncing it against my skin where I wanted coverage.

The application looks FLAWLESS.  There are no brush marks at all and it just looks so wonderful!!!  I couldn't be more thrilled with the application of this, it's my new favorite foundation brush.  It's definitely better than my Meijer-brand beauty blender, which was what I was using to apply the foundation previously!!  It's also better at applying this particular foundation than my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush.  And while I can't compare to the Sigma F80 yet, I honestly think that the application looks so flawless, that I don't see how it could possibly get any better.  Highly impressed!!! (Note that I did not use the foundation to cover up the blemish on my chin--I rarely cover up blemishes because I feel it's healthier for my skin and makes them go away faster).


Trick 2: Use It To Apply Blush
Now I have heard a lot about the power of using ELF's Small Stipple Brush to apply very pigmented blushes.  And I've used it a great deal for this purpose, having no superior option.  But I have one complaint about it, used in that format.  It's so small that you really have to work at blending out what little you put on your cheek, and because of this, you have to work hard not to have little spots on your cheek that appear to have more blush than other spots.

ELF's Small Stipple Brush has been such a raved about option for blush, I thought it was only natural that I give the large one a try, now that it's in working order!!  I grabbed the Wet N Wild Color Icon Blush in Heather Silk because this is a blush I have never, ever worn in public due to the deep pigmentation and how fair my skin is.  I knew that with the small stipple brush, this blush didn't work at all for me.  But what about the large?  I tried it, and was so pleasantly surprised.
After lightly dipping the brush in the blush and tapping off excess powder (like I would the small stipple brush), the concentration of blush is light and evenly spread out--there are no dense, concentrated areas of blush that are hard to blend. .

I can actually apply this blush extremely quickly, which was a very pleasant surprise.  It took me all of ten seconds to do my blush, and it was blended and even-looking, when before, with the small stipple brush, it took a solid minute of full-concentration to application and blending.

I can finally wear this blush now.  Above are the results thus-far in the process.  Please don't mind my eyeshadow, I found an old The Icing Eyeshadow Palette from when I was in Highschool in the back of my closet, and I was smearing colors on my eyes half-hazardly to check out the pigmentation and texture.  Haha :)

Tricks 3 and 3.5: (My Absolute FAVORITE Trick) Use A Stipple Brush To Apply Loose Powder!!!
For the final trick, I'm SO EXCITED to share!!!  I usually use the large container of Elf Mineral Booster in sheer, (with 4 tablespoons of baby powder mixed in, trick 3.5** because I am very pale and without it, it's too dark for my complexion--the baby powder actually improves the texture and appearance in my opinion as well!), for all over my face, applied with a big pink powder puff, because I've found that that was the application that looked the smoothest and most natural on my face, more natural than any brush I've ever used, including Bare Minerals, The ELF Complexion Brush, and many more.  I've also used Elf's Glow Powder in Shimmer with the powder puff, both with and without baby powder mixed in and found that the application of it didn't look nearly as smooth as the mineral booster.

Well, I have two full containers of the Glow Powder, and unfortunately, they are the same size as the large version of the mineral booster!  I decided that since I thought the texture of this powder was sub-par, I would definitely notice if there were a smoother or harsher application when applied with the stipple brush.  It was sort of a gamble, but I wanted to try it!!  Just like the blush, I dab the brush in just a little bit (this time using the cap of the product), and then tap off the excess.

So, so shocked.  The powder looks incredible.  Now I feel like I am cheating on the Mineral Booster!!  This is absolutely my new way to apply powder.  It's the smoothest application of powder I've had to date.  No cakiness at all...just natural!  I don't know if you guys can tell from the pictures, but I think the biggest change that I can see from the photographs, is my nose.  My nose is very oily, and makeup loves to break up and cake up if I don't set it quickly enough.  In the first picture, you can see that there is makeup on it breaking down, but in the second picture, it just looks smooth and matte.

This brush that I was on the brink of throwing in the trash, has now become one of my favorite makeup brushes, all thanks to a hair-tie.

I hope this post was useful to you!!!  Have you ever had any makeup items that you thought weren't so great, but then you re-purposed them and they became favorites?  Please share!!!

Sorry I look so crazy!  Hope you will give this a try, regardless!! :)  I know you will be pleasantly surprised.

PS:  Tried out a different hair-style today!!  It kind of reminds me of the 50's, which is an era I love to re-invent :)

Take care and have a wonderful week :)


Oh PS: I've got highlighter all over that spot above my eyebrows on my forehead HAHA.  That's why the powder didn't cover it.  I was just messing around with different things I was finding today!!!

The Basket of Beauty Intro!!!

So if you think this is going to be that beauty blog, where the girl posts every photo of herself looking like a glamour shot with impeccable makeup and appearing to only do normal things... Maybe to attract more audience to the mystique?  I honestly don't really get it.  But if you want that...

Ya came to the wrong place.

Course I will still have some glamour shots, because that's fun too. It is makeup after all.


This blog will be reviews, tips, and tutorials on how to do makeup, what to use, different techniques, etc., etc.




I don't really care how you do it, I don't care if you screw it up, I do all the time.  Sometimes, stuff like this happens:

That's me thinking I look really dope, but all the makeup melted off my nose.  Combo skin girl!!  I deal with some of the problems of both an oily skin person and a dry skin person, so I do understand more skin issues than I think someone with just dry or just oily skin would.  (By the way, if you are in a bind, use a paintbrush or makeup brush and apply some milk of magnesia to the places that get oily.  Then wipe it away after it dries into a mask with a wet washcloth and apply your makeup as normal.  Works like a charm.  I rarely have to powder when I do this.  Don't put it on any skin that gets dry, if by accident you do, quickly remove it with a wet washcloth and moisturize it afterward.)

No claims of perfection here, but I do have some awesome tips, if I do say so myself, that can help you out, regardless of who you are or who you claim to be :) (haha thinking of the people with straight-up glamour shots again).


I've gone out in public with stripes on my nose, clown cheeks, and had an amazing time regardless.  I've also embarrassed the crap out of myself.  Learning to do things the right way requires an adequate amount of mistakes.  It also requires some bravery.  So if you're having any issues, feel free to give me some TMI and I'll try to help you out in the next blog.  Actually just tell me about anything!! :)  I promise I am NOT judgmental :)


Wanted to base the blog off the phrase, "Basket of Crazy" :)  Because I think normal is boring!!!  Let's be different.  Let's be whoever we want to be, whether that's barely any makeup at all, no makeup, a full face of it, whatever.  I want to have fun with this, I don't want to be so technical and modelesque or I'll never enjoy it.  Life doesn't effing work that way, don't you agree?  And because products are kind of crazy and all over the place, here is where you can look at it all in one place, one little basket of beauty :)  So that's my blog!!!  LOL I hope you like it.  Let's please not take ourselves too seriously :)  It's makeup!