Essential Eyeshadow Brushes 2: The Collection

If you read my last post you'll have some background about the products I'm about to recommend and why, but if not don't worry!

So you want to do fabulous eyeshadow looks right? Well here're the tools I'd recommend based on what you want:

I want one eyeshadow brush that I can do it all (almost) with!

On a budget?

Get the Real Techniques eye shading brush:

Pros:
Inexpensive
Great quality (soft, no shedding)
Great for both packing on shadow and blending
Synthetic bristles (for you vegans)
Smaller head for precision/smaller lid space
Can handle some abuse without the bristles deforming (perfect for on-the-go)

Cons:
Too small for a quick 'all over lid' sweep coverage
Not great for use with cream eyeshadow

Overall verdict:
The superman of the brush world, better suited for getting your crease perfect than giving a smooth wash of all over colour. Great for a no-frills intermediate look, I love that I don't feel the need to baby it so it gets a lot more use. I often do full looks with just this brush. Buy it, you'll love it, and if you don't send it to me and I'll send some love right back.

Want a treat or are you building the below collection?

Get a Mac 239

Pros:
Baby soft
Amazing quality - sources say these babies can last 10+ years
Packs on colour like nobody's business
Great for a simple sweep of all over colour
Looks classy as F
You're one brush into the perfect 3 brush set!

Cons:
Natural bristles (sorry goat advocates/vegans)
A tad pricey
Doesn't handle precision particularly well as the head is rather large
White bristles stain easily (although this could be a pro for telling you when it needs a wash)

Mac runner up: 217

I know a lot of people would choose this as their 'one' brush but I find it far to imprecise for anything other than a general colour wash or blending.


I want a core collection I can conquer the eyeshadow world with!

Mac 239, 217 and 219 (purchased in that order if you're on a budget)

• Use the 239 to pack or sweep colour onto your lid
• Use 217 to blend the edges into a soft gradient
• Use 219 for precision detailing like lining and crease

These brushes all have the same overall pros and cons:

Pros:
Baby soft
Fantastic quality
Looks classy as F
Amazing technical ability

Cons:
Natural bristles (sorry goat advocates/vegans)
A tad pricey
White bristles stain easily (although this could be a pro for telling you when it needs a wash)
Bristle deformation (217 in particular has a tendency to splay out)

Minimal splaying, but this brush is only two weeks old and treated like a princess

And remember: wash your brushes often!

I wash powder product brushes once a week with a wipe down on tissue paper after every use (hence why my brushes are a little colourful - I do a weekend wash). Cream and liquid brushes get a wet wipe down after every use and a shampoo every other day. When I had acne I washed my foundation brush after every use to keep the inflammatory bacteria count down.

I recommend Johnson's baby shampoo as an effective but gentle cleanser (important for natural fibre brushes).


Saskia X

PrettyTrivialities@gmail.com

Essential Eye Makeup Brushes 1: Quality and Brands

Let's talk about eyeshadow brushes shall we? I used to think the result was 90% in the product (eyeshadow) but have since learned that tools can actually take about 50% of the credit! So let's get our tools basics down:

Yup, it looks like I'm picking my nose; nope, my camera refused to not focus on my face

I love good quality products and will nearly always advocate quality over quantity, but sometimes you have to weigh quality vs cost - this is normally my largest internal debate "is it worth it?". Here's a brief overview of different 'levels' of brushes going by price using the market dominating brands as an example:

A cheap brush (ELF/store brand) is about £3-4, an inexpensive ('low end' doesn't seem fitting somehow) brush (EcoTools/Real Techniques) is double that at £6-8, a mid end (MAC/Sigma) brush is again about double its previous counter part at £16-18 and a high end brush (Hakuhodo) is double that again at £32++. The regularity of this pattern pleases me!

Elf < Ecotools < Real Techniques < Sigma < Mac < Hakuhodo

Anyway, disclaimer: I know nothing about super high end brushes - I have literally never touched a Hakuuhodo brush, so I'm just going to skip those. I do however have some experience in Bobbi Brown brushes which are in the awkward price range of between mid and high end, so I'm going to use those as my bench mark 'high' end brushes: they're awful. Bobbi Brown make awful overpriced brushes, I dislike them so much I can't even be bothered to go into more depth than: I have a full eye set (as a gift) that I've touched exactly once and a foundation brush that is put to shame in every way by its EcoTools counterpart. For shame Bobbi, for shame.

Crap quality AND overpriced

So where do I draw the line between quality and cost? It's a toss between 'low' and mid end - it's not hard to justify the small price jump between a cheap brush and an inexpensive one (just a single Starbucks coffee) and because cheap brushes are well, cheap and tacky quality I tend to skip those entirely. And then the jump between mid and high end brushes is frankly absurd to me - maybe I could justify it for one brush one time, but to build a collection at that price point is so far out of a budget I would consider reasonable at any point in my life.

So let's focus on EcoTools/Real Techniques vs Mac/Sigma:

ET and RT both make nice synthetic bristled brushes that are soft, aesthetically pleasing and never shed. Overall, whatever (eyeshadow) brushes you get from either brand will be nice, soft, good quality brushes but without fantastic technical and specified abilities.

Unwashed RT eye shading brush from the front and side

M.A.C. is a brand created and targeted to makeup artists (Makeup Artists Cosmetics duh) thus their brushes are obviously better quality and are handmade in Japan - reports of brushes lasting 10+ years are common - and much more specified, thus this is where you want to go when you're itching to advance from that basic smokey eye. Mac brushes are a mix between natural (animal hair) and synthetic bristles, with the type of hair (horse, goat, badger etc) varying by type of brush.

Also unwashed Mac 239, 217 and 219 brushes

Sigma doesn't boast professional quality like Mac or as high a price tag. They also used to be rather shameless about creating Mac copies (even using the same number naming system), however their brushes are very highly reviewed particularly their 12 piece synthetic sets (which I have my eye on for Christmas), I can't personally recommend them but if you're looking for a one stop face and eye brush set that's better than drugstore but maybe not professional level check them out.

Mrs. Bunny Essential Kit - photo from SigmaBeauty.com

So what eyeshadow brushes do I use and love? These ones:

Their grubbiness is evidence of their recent use

I'll dissect what their different uses are and the various pros and ons of each in my next brush post.


Saskia X


PrettyTrivialities@gmail.com