Saturday, August 4, 2012

Best Synthetic Brushes - Part 2

 Above are the five brushes you absolutely need in your kit. I don't mean that you specifically need these exact brushes, but you need these type of brushes. The top left can be used to apply foundation, blush (cream or powder) and to knock off loose powder from the face.  The second can be used to apply eyeshadow to the lid, or concealer under the eyes.  The third can be used to blend eyeshadow into the crease, or apply concealer under the eye.  The fourth can be used to fill in eyebrows with brow powder, apply gel, powder or cake eyeliner, and groom the brows with the spooley end.  The final is a synthetic push brush used to push liner into the lash line. It is important to note that while the brushes I have featured here are all synthetic, there may also be animal hair brushes available from that particular manufacturer, so it is important to read and know what you are getting.

 A closer look.



Below are another five brushes that are great to have, but not necessarily needed. I do, however, use this next set quite frequently. From left to right: Sephora Cream Blush Brush. I find this great for blending out stains such as Benetint. Next is a detailed concealer brush, which can also be used as a lip brush. Pictured below are ones from OCC & E.L.F..  Next are Kabuki brushes from MakeupForever & Tokidoki. Next is a smudge brush used to smudge eyeliner across the lash line, the one pictured below is from Urban Decay, and works beautifully. Last but not least is a finishing brush from BDellium Tools, I use this as the final step in makeup application to knock off any finishing powder that's left over on the face or to polish my foundation.






Here is a sampling of some of my eyeshadow blending brushes:



 Above are a large sampling of my eyeshadow blending brushes. This was by far the hardest brush to find in good quality synthetic fibers for me. I've listed them from favorite to least favorite. From left to right: Christopher Drummond (pro), Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush , Sephora Brand, Urban Decay, Tokidoki, The Body Shop, Urban Decay, E.L.F., Real Techniques Crease Brush (I find this too large to blend eyeshadow, but LOVE it for under eye concealer), Too Faced and Aveda.  The Christopher Drummond brush is hands down the best quality synthetic blending brush I have personally used. It is AMAZING.  I have two brushes from the Christopher Drummond line and they are truly stellar quality and very impressive looking. The second brush above is from Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman. This is a great synthetic dupe for the M.A.C. 217 which is nearly impossible to find. it is in fact the only synthetic I could find of its kind.  The last two are quite poor in my opinion. Nothing against Too faced. The brush is soft, but it doesn't give the proper bend for blending out eyeshadow.  The Aveda brush at the far right is awful, it is far too stiff to blend eyeshadow properly, which is a shame because some of their other brushes are quite nice. 
 My top 3 above
 A comparison of the best & worst blending brushes (side by side)
 The above picture shows the brushes that I can't live without regardless of price point.   I use these brushes nearly everyday. Also please note that I only listed Real Techniques as Beginner/Budget friendly because they are so inexpensive, but make no mistake, these are great quality brushes for personal use. Real Techniques are worlds ahead of the other two budget friendly brands I mentioned in my previous post in terms of quality.
From left: Real Techniques (this is a dupe for MAC 217), Sephora Anti Bacterial Powder Brush (pro), Christopher Drummond, Real Techniques blending brush (great for concealer under the eyes), Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil Blending brush (I use this to blend out eye pencils across the lid, such as NYX Milk Pencil), Hourglass Powder and foundation brushes are last (but not least)!  If I were to add one more brush here it would be the Christopher Drummond Air Blender Brush pictured in my previous post. It's a unique brush and applies both blush and highlighter to the cheekbone like a dream.
 In conclusion: Beginners should be buying Real Techniques (available at Ulta.com or Amazon.com), Mid level can purchase any of the brands I recommended and be good, Pros should go with Hourglass, Illamasqua or some of the Sephora brushes.  Sigma does have a vegan set called Mr. & Mrs. Bunny, but I have not tried those, I have only tried their synthetic Kabukis which are very good.

I really hope you found these posts helpful. If you know of any other quality synthetics I should try, please drop me a comment below. 




2 comments:

  1. I love ur brushes Im a vegan and im starting my brush collection ur brushes are insperation for me and ur reviews are honest and very informative thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So happy you found my post informative. My brush collection has actually grown quite a bit since I wrote this. I plan to do an updated brush post soon! Thanks for reading!

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