the big post about synthetic foundation brushes.

i loveloveloveloooooove to discover and try out tools for the perfect foundation application and got stuck on those with synthetic hair. i tried out some natural hair brushes (like the MAC 109, a Hakuhodo one, MAC 165 and also several flat top natural hair brushes) but found those not as suited for foundation application because of the following points:

• brushes of natural hair tend to shed short little hairs when used with liquid foundation
• they are just not as soft as synthetic brushes and are a little bit harsh when they are wet/damp and used with swirling motions on your face
• some tend to bleed dark dye and i'm afraid they could also bleed a little when are wet with liquid foundation and cause a greyish tinge on your complexion
• foundation residues build up on natural hair more than on synthetic hair.

i also tried dual fibre brushes (MAC 187 & co.) for foundation application. uhm, no. i just don't see thed need for loose synthetic fibres.
there are the stiple&swirl/only stiple/only swirl methods: but where is the advantage of the loose white fibres in comparison to a normal flat top or round synthetic brush? if you want a sheerer application, why don't just buff a little further?

so at this point of my foundation-brush-journey, i'm resting on the swirling-only method with not too densely packed, round shaped synthetic brushes with slightly flat tops. i use them to apply foundation in small circular motions, only with the tips of the brush head. so i get a thin and non-streaky, even application, quick and effective.

here are most of my brushes of this kind:

the HD-brushes by Sigma, already reviewed here. (42$ at the official Sigma website or various resellers, i won't link them as i'm not a big supporter.)

Hourglass foundation brush #2, already reviewed here. 47€, available on zuneta.com.

the infamous Sephora Collection Professionel Platinum Air Brush #55 (34$ at sephora.com, now for us german based via Hana/Mad About MAC on facebook).
the first i got to know and so for me "the mother" of this kind of round shaped rather fluffy synthetic brushes explicit for foundation application, and which revolutionized my foundation routine. i was on the hunt for dupes of this a long time, 'til somebody i knew bought the original for me on a US-vacation.

the newer hyped brush from Sephora Collection is the Professional Mineral Powder Brush #45 (26$ on sephora.com. i bought it from Hana, link above ;) )
i don't really like this brush. the hairs are too harsh in my opinion. how can you make a synthetic brush this harsh?! many love this for mineral foundation, though. so maybe the harsh hair help with working in mineral powder. but i don't use mineral foundation, so i can't see the benefits of this. also this harsh hair would cause extra microexfoliation on my dry winter skin and the finish wouldn't look good at all. i'll work with this in the summer again and will tell you if there are any improvements.

the Sigma ss190 (dupe for MAC's 190) i got in their Complete Kit. a standard paddle brush. this particular one is quite thin and flexible. i don't like it for foundation at all, streaky finish, hard to get it right. i use it for concealer, primer, moisturiser or a face mask at the most.

Louise Young LY34 Super Foundation Brush became really famous thanks to the great reviews by the pixiwoo sisters on youtube, so i needed (!) to try it. it is dense like a paddle type foundation brush, but round shaped and is tapered all around to a pointed tip. so it works as a hybrid of the two types, you can do strokes and swirls with it. because it is quite big, it makes foundation application very quick and easy. i would use it to apply moisturiser or primer first so it won't absorb too much of you foundation.
it's 24£ and available at louiseyoungcosmetics.com.

Essence Blush Brush, the cheapest of all, but still one of the best (so i have about 4 or 5 of them ;) ) and the closest dupe to the Sephora #55 Air Brush i could find. you can get these for less than 3€ everywhere Essence is sold. with several limited editions, they also came in a different version with sleek white hair and pink tips. i like the initial version the best, the hair is more structured so it gets and distributes the product better.
i also find the short handles very nice and easy to use (great for all myopic!) but also nice to take it with you.
i have never tried it with powder products or particularly for blush, so i can't rate the actual function.

the Ebelin Professional Powder Brush is an additional acquisition on my hunt for the perfect dupe of the (back then) unaccessable Sephora #55 Air Brush. you can get it for 3-4€ at dm drugstores. it's of really nice quality for a drugstore brush, you have to remember this product sector is very very poorly developed in germany, especially in comparison to the US. i find it a bit too fluffy, i.e. the hairs are too long for my likings. many girls use it in its hair's whole length and are totally ok with it, but i find it better when i put a scrunchy around it to make it a bit more dense. of course i would take off the scrunchy for washings.

Cover FX #170 Pointed Foundation Brush i bought this brush immediately after i read the title of a blogpost by Emma (birdsdecoratebranches.blogspot.com), stating that this could possibly be "the best foundation brush ever" (i am so easy to get hahaha). i was lucky to find a seller on ebay who could get this brush for me at a very reasonable price (i think i paid about 24Ca$, shipping included - while it would be 30£ in the UK).
it's a small and densely packed, round shaped, very pointed brush with sleek fibres. it's like a smaller and denser version of the Louise Young brush, or a gigantic eyeliner brush ;).
i don't really love it as Emma does, but it's really something special and i don't regret buying.

the Boots No.7 Foundation Brush i was very curious to try because Lisa Eldridge, who i adore, is the creative director of the brand and often uses it. and i don't think she'd use it only for promotion purposes. luckily i found a seller on ebay who could get it for me for about 10£ plus shipping.
this brush is a paddle type brush, but it is thicker than normal brushes and makes it more comfortable to use not only in sweeping motions, but also in circular motions and creates less streaks than the Sigma ss190 i find. it is beautiful to apply cream highlighter and to blend in under-eye concealer.

and finally the Blusher Brush 1 from Illamasqua (25.50£ on illamasqua.com) which is great for liquid foundation for everybody who loves/wants to try the MAC 109 for this, but struggles with the shedding. this is way better. if you liked the 109, you'll ask yourself "why did i?" after you've tried this. a great brush, i should use it more often!
it's a round dense and soft brush with lightly structured fibres and a rather flat brush head. it's great with contour powders, too. i haven't used it for blusher, though.
the design is very sleek and the quality is outstanding. the best next to the Hourglass brush, quality-wise.

Sigma brushes - synthetic face kit

i'm a huge fan of synthetic foundation brushes. so as sigma brought out their synthetic flat top kabuki ss197  as their first non-mac-copy-brush over one year ago, i bought it and used it with joy.

now they changed their numbering system (they don't refer to mac's system anymore - which truly is more irritating than useful), re-named their old plain "synthetic" attribute into a new and innovative "exclusive Sigmax filament, specially designed to apply powder and liquid products without absorption into the fibers",  created two more of this kind, and put a "HD" into the description.

of course they would also use their aggressive youtuber's/blogger's review strategy/politics on this new release, and of course people would run out and buy.  me included. but i kind of knew what i would get because i had the old version, now only in different shapes.

sigma offers the set of 3 for 42$, buying each individually would cost you 16$ each. i paid 9$ for shipping for this set and used a 10%-off coupon code that was valid at that time (i ordered on nov 21st, should've wait till black friday to get free shipping, damn it!).
it arrived on dec 3rd, which is quite ok.
it was packed as every other sigma set, in these nice and colourful synthetic bags.
i also got a travel-sized 217-dupe as a GWP, which i will also review.

now the flat top kabuki formerly known as ss197 is called prince, sorry, it's the F80.


it is dense and soft, like i would assume a synthetic brush to be - yet still not as dense as the older version.
it applies liquid foundation evenly and buffs your product in really well, because of its density. because the "NEW HD fibres" are more loose than the old plain "synthetic fibre" (haha, you have to take this with a good portion of irony!), it tugs a little less on the skin.

newbie F82 is the rounded version of its ancestor. so respectively it should be called "your average handled kabuki". i don't think i would use this totally different from the flat top one just because of its shape.

but the "Sigmax HD filaments" here are a little shorter than from the F80 (a.k.a. ss197), so it seems more dense. i predict it would tug your skin more than the F80.
i will try it with foundation and cream blushes.

second newbie is the F84 - the same game but in angled flat shape. the "filaments" are longer with this one and it appears less dense than the other 2 brushes.

i think it would be great to use with cream bronzers to contour your cheekbones.
i will use mine with my NARS Bronzer Multiple in Cap Vert. people who have the Soleil Tan de Chanel Bronze Universel would like this brush, too.

comparison pics

the round brushes compared to a MAC 109 brush head in size (as this is a popular brush, so maybe you have it and can imagine the actual size of these brushes - but they are totally different)

the F80 in comparison to other flat top kabukis, which are natural hair. the F80 is most stiff, the other ones i only use to buff foundation into the skin, but not to apply liquid or cream foundation itself. left is Hakuhodo G527 powder brush, on the right is Christian Dior powder foundation brush.

comparison of similar brushes (similar in their function+feel), the F82 is the most dense. from left to right: Essence blush brush - Illamasqua blusher brush #1 - Sigma F82 - Hakuhodo 210 blush brush round (the only one with natural hair out of this bunch) - Sephora professional mineral powder brush #45 (the most scratchy brush out of these)

the angled brush compared to Sigma ss168 (left) and MAC 168 (right). in this picture you can also see how shitty bad the ss168 looks, not only when compared to the original.

comparison of the GWP-brush:
left the old version of this GWP, in the middle the actual version, on the right side the original MAC 217.
Sigma does a good job in copying this brush, it is really useful. but i noticed the new version has not as soft bristles as the old one or the MAC, it is a tiny bit more rigid as the other ones. also the shape is less rounded. but i think it would be nicer for the crease that way.




the one negative point of these kind of very very dense brushes is: they are an a** to clean. especially when you use long wearing foundations, such as Revlon ColorStay, Shiseido Sun Protection foundation or the new MAC Pro Longwear foundation, you will find that the brushes never get really really squeaky clean. there will be a residue build-up in the center of the brush.

this is the point where i will tell you the story of my old ss197: i thought we would live happily ever after until i discovered that build-up problem with my foundation, i used Revlon's ColorStay at that time. so washing the brush, as i did everyday or every other day was a pain in the butt and took me at least 5-10 minutes in the evenings, but i had to, because the tiniest product residue in such a dense brush would make it work completely different in a negative way - it would be very hard to spread new product over your face and lead to even more skin tugging, which can't be too good for your collagens ;) .
i had to wash it 2-3 times with normal brush soap and then with shower-oil to get off the waterproof-ingredients of the foundation. afterwards 1-2 washings with soap to get the oils out.
so all this washing-nightmare ended up in my brush dying after only 3-4 months.
the glue dissolved and the whole brush head would come out of the ferrule.
now it looks like this:



why i still have this brush? because i'm lazy and i didn't want the fuss with the returning and so on, although i know that Sigma has an excellent customer service, once they even sent me 2 new brushes (ss187+ss188) without any demand as i wrote them an email complaining the bristles were too spiky after i bought their first kit. maybe i should send it back, should i? i still have 2 weeks left, until it will be 1 year after purchase ( they have a one year exchange politic ).

so what to learn from this fail?

• 1st: no more waterproof foundation with these brushes
• 2nd: no more extensive cleaning - accept a little residue build-up in the brush-center
• 3rd: if it breaks, send it back a.s.a.p.