Much Ado About Brushes

So I saw this article on Sephora's new line of makeup brushes in the Times today and felt a little tug at my heart. They just looked so much prettier and glamorous all lined up in their color-coded fabulousness than they did in the Sephora mailer I received last week.

Courtesy of The New York Times

Of course, I have no need for more than a few makeup brushes and I certainly don't need anything color-coded. This is because I have some brilliant and wonderfully cheap makeup brushes from the e.l.f studio line. These are another one of my Fantastic-Finds-of-the-Year-That-I-Failed-To-Blog-About-Sooner.

My makeup brush collection is nothing to write home about. Spending money on brushes, although a decent investment for some I'm sure, just doesn't seem right to me and is completely unnecessary for my purposes. Also, I just don't get the same thrill out of buying an expensive brush. A retractable kabuki brush from Posh is about all I ever need. Prior to the e.l.f. brushes, my meager collection included a Posh travel-set of eye makeup brushes (which I never use) and a set of Ecotools (from which I occasionally use the powder brush and lash comb before it broke).

So why did I decide to try the e.l.f studio line of brushes? Well, they are about $3.00 each and there was a massive sale at the time - that was good enough reason for me. In truth, I wanted to know what the fuss about fan brushes was all about. I've read good things about e.lf. and decided it was worth spending $15 on 5 face makeup brushes to see what happened. These are the ones I have:

Powder Brush



















Complexion Brush


















Kabuki Brush













Blush Brush


















Fan Brush



















I have to say, some of these brushes made me a bit of a convert - at least for the quality and performance of e.l.f. studio brushes. The bristles are surprisingly soft and they definitely do a great job of blending. I also like how dense the bristles are and how well they are "packed" into the handle of the brush (I don't find this with my Ecotools brush, and find it harder to control).

The fan brush probably isn't the same quality as high-end brushes in terms of use, but I do see the difference in using this versus a regular powder or blush brush, especially for certain blushes. The look of NARS Taos blush (a very bright and pigmented blush) is definitely more natural with a fan brush versus any other kind of brush. In fact, the only brush I'm not terribly impressed with in this bunch is the blush brush, so I'm glad that I have this as well. The blush brush is rather small and narrow, and I think it works better for more natural and/or contouring blushes/bronzers/powders. I like using either this or the powder brush with more neutral blushes like NARS Lovejoy since they give more definition and can pack on more color.

I use the Kabuki brush all the time (more than my Posh kabuki) for both face powder and even blush. Since it's the biggest brush, I prefer it to the powder brush. I actually use the powder brush or complexion brush more for blending (i.e., when I'm wearing more makeup, which is rare). The complexion brush is rather neat for for this since it has a flat top - kind of cool. Makes you feel like you have some specially-designed, expensive brush that you can find creative uses for when otherwise, you would never think to use such a thing.

Overall, I'm happy enough with these brushes to get rid of the others, but I keep the Eco-Tools because it's still good quality, and the Posh retractable kabuki is good for the handbag. If you'd like to have some good brushes on hand, don't want to spend a lot of money, and don't wear too much makeup anyway, the e.l.f studio line is definitely the way to go.