My makeup brushes: part 2 (eye brushes)

I sincerely hope you have time now…for this is shaping up to be an eve longer post than the one I did yesterday on my face brushes (if you haven’t read it yet, and you are interested => click).

So, without further blabbing, let us begin…

The brushes here are mainly flat shader and slanted ones.

From left to right:

• Makeup Studio eyeshadow brush #15 – for those of you who do now know this, Makeup Studio is actually a Dutch cosmetic brand. They have good quality products, a bit more on the high-end, in terms of prices. But getting back to the brush…It’s a large flat shader brush. It’s very handy if you have to pack on colour on the whole lid. It picks up a good amount of product. However, due to its size it doesn’t allow all that much precise work, although it you go in with the tip of the brush into the eyeshadow, you can also line your lower lash line with this brush. I wouldn’t say this sort of brush is a must-have. I have no idea what the price of it, as I didn’t purchase it myself. I couldn’t find it online either.
• Makeup Studio eyeshadow brush #21 – unlike the previous one, this is a small shader brush. It’s made of pony hair. I absolutely love love love this brush! I had no idea before I got it, that I would need it so much. It’s really tiny, but it picks up an excellent amount of product..works really well with both e/s and pigments. I use this brush all the time! Again, apologies…no idea what the price is.
• MAC 239 flat shader brush – I assume plenty of you don’t even need me to say more. It’s one of the most popular MAC brushes, and for a good reason. The bristles are made of natural hair, very soft, and they are very densely packed. Thanks to that, this brush is amazing for packing colour on the lid with a gentle patting motion. Of course, I love it ! I bought this brush from an online store for $22 without shipping costs (because in the Netherlands it would cost me at least €25, without the shipping!).
• Hema shader brushes – the two white brushes are from a local store, Hema. They are pretty cheap, made of synthetic hair, and work so-so. They are quite stiff so you can’t pick up a lot of e/s with them, but they do work well with pigments…especially chunkier ones because you can smash them with the hard bristles. Overall, you don’t really need these brushes. A good shader brush must be thicker, with densely packed bristles…not too soft and not too stiff (like the MAC 239 and that small Makeup Studio brush)
• Slanted brushes – girls, you need slanted brushes…yes, more than one! They are extremely useful. You can line your eyes wet or dry, do your brows, draw precise lines, smudge pencil/eyeshadow/gel liner/etc, or even blend with these…What you are looking for is a thin slanted brush (I have seen thicker ones too, and those are not what works best). The first two are Chinese (they came in with a roll-up pouch I ordered on ebay), they work eh, ok. The next brush is a dual ended Catrice brush. I use the slanted part only, the liner end is useless…the bristles stick out, so there is no way you can draw a straight line with it. The slanted part is fine…I use it often. The slanted brush from The Body Shop slanted brush came in as a part of a travel set and works very well..only the short handle is a bit of a bother sometimes. But then again, I also have the Makeup Studio #22 slanted brush…very good brush! The prices vary, but you really don’t need to spend €20 on a brush like that..You should rather do that for a nice blending brush…

Which brings us to the next part:

Again, left to right:

• Makeup Geek stiff dome brush – this brush I bought a long time ago, because it was meant to be dupe for the MAC 217 which I didn’t have at the time. I will come back to the MAC 217 in a bit. It cost around $7 from the MUG website. I think they don’t even offer that same brush any more…it’s another version of it. In short, this one  does blend shadows quite ok, but it’s not a MAC 217. It’s less dense, the bristles are actually quite rough and it sheds a little.  I do, however, use it.
• The Body Shop blending brush – this brush is very soft, the bristles are quite dense and stiff, and I do like it for blending. It costs €12.
• MAC 217 brush – this is the holy grail of brushes simply because it is quite unique. I cannot lie to you…if you want a good blending brush, the best of the best…save up and get this baby! I have not come across a good, cheap dupe for it. When you blend with this brush, you hear angels singing in your ear. It is THAT awesome…and oh so soft ! I bought it online, again from rockthecatwalk, for $20.
• Kruidvat crease/blending brush – Kruidvat is the local drugstore, and since recently they have a pro brush makeup line. But this sort of brush is easy to find from other brands as well. I am pretty sure Essence has one too. These brushes are nice and soft, they go very well through the crease, and they blend too. Both this version and the Essence one, don’t cost more than €2-3. If you don’t want to spend on a MAC 217 brush and you don’t plan on doing complicated makeup, these guys are a great alternative.
• Makeup Geek small crease brush – the next brush in the list is also a MUG one, again not sure if they still offer that very same brush. It was a couple of dollars and I got it a long time ago. It’s a bit like a crease, maybe a pencil, brush but more pointy. It’s very handy for precise work, drawing the outer V, smudging, a bit of blending and applying product on the lower lash line. The bristles are a bit rough and scratchy, but I still do like this brush. It picks up quite some product. For the price, it’s worth having.
• MAC S219 – this a limited edition version of the regular MAC 219 pencil brush. It’s an ok brush, but I can achieve the same with the MUG small crease brush. It’s a bit scratchy and it sheds. I am not sure whether the quality is lower compared to the regular MAC 219 though, perhaps it is…I heard that the limited edition versions are machine cut, whereas the normal ones are hand cut…This one was also cheaper, I think $14 (vs. regular one which is about $20). Again, I got it online.
• The Body Shop Line Softener Brush – this is a spongy pointy brush which smudges liner quite well. I also use it for just drawing a fine line with e/s…I don’t remember the price any more…maybe €8,50, definitely not much more.
• the next two brushes are from Makeup Studio and Makeup Geek – liner brushes. I definitely like the Makeup Studio one better. The bristles are long, sturdy and you can draw very fine lines with it. The MUG ben liner brush had very good reviews on the website, which is why I bought it. I don’t know if I got a bad one or something, but mine has very short bristles and some of them poke out…no chance for a fine line with it! I was sort of disappointed by it. I try to use it every now and then, but I  reach for the Makeup Studio one more often. As a matter of fact, if you have an old liquid liner, you don’t even need to buy a liner brush…just recycle the one from the old liner 😉
• Makeup Studio #10 lip brush – ok, technically this is not an eye brush, but I forgot about it yesterday. I think a lip brush is very useful for any girl who likes to wear bright lipsticks. I really love applying richly pigmented lipsticks with this brush because it settles them so well into the fine lines of my lips.

Like I said, long long post…and I didn’t even include my Bdellium eye brush set, which I already discussed extensively here.

Again, I really hope that this post helps some of you in their quest for the perfect makeup brushes. What are you favourite eye brushes?

XoXo