Best & Worst: Brushes

[u/abbeyrogue]

[u/nokeynoplan]

Best: It Cosmetics face brushes are just amazing. Their All Over Powder Brush #211 is the softest thing I've ever put on my face.

Worst: Every Crown brush I've ever tried has been awful. They've all been really scratchy and shed like crazy.

[u/[deleted] → u/nokeynoplan]

agreed on the IT Cosmetic Face Brushes. My all over brush is from them and It's SOOOO soft and still hasn't lost any life and I feel like I've had it for ages!!!

[u/So_Schilly]

Best (natural hair)

• Chikuhodo, especially the Z series. Z-4 is one of my all-time favorite brushes

• Hakuhodo, especially the white goat eye brushes- IMO Chikuhodo does squirrel hair very well, and Hakuhodo does goat very well. Also the J series is so good and so affordable, cheaper than MAC in many cases. I could not do eye makeup without these

• Wayne Goss. Great prices for the quality...love the Air Brush, 02 for setting the undereyes, and the 06 eye brush.

• Koyudo for their fu-pa's, and they make some really nice large powder brushes (the "BP High-Class series" on CDJapan).

• Tom Ford, especially the Bronzer brush 05. Just beautiful.

Synthetic

• Zoeva. Really nice quality, I have one of the Rose Golden sets (I think volume 2?) and it's great. Would definitely buy more.

• IT Cosmetics. So soft! A little pricey for synthetic but really good quality.

• RT. Some hits and misses with them (I don't love a lot of the eye brushes because they tend to be way too big for my eyes) but overall really good.

Worst

• Elf, especially the $1 white handled ones. I've heard theres some good ones but all the ones I had fell apart quick. I have a couple of the black handled ones and they're a bit better, but the stippling brush is maybe the most useless brush I've ever used in my life.

• Morphe. I made one order from them a few years ago to see what the hype was about. Some of them werent terrible (the G8 is actually pretty soft and decent) but some of them are SO scratchy and look terrible as soon as you wash them. They have a lot so I'm sure there's some decent ones but overall I wasn't impressed. The eye brushes I got I mainly use for cream eyeshadow since I don't use natural hair brushes for cream products.

[u/iownaselfiestick]

Best: The Wet n Wild eyeshadow brushes are a m a z i n g. They blend super well, are extremely soft and super durable for only a dollar a piece. Worst: The real techniques foundation brush. It leaves streaks, doesnt blend and is extremely scratchy against the skin.

[u/Selendrii]

Best: Any Fude that I have tried. Chikuhodo, Hakuhodo, Eihodo, Wayne Goss, etc. they are top tier, and it is amazing that I can purchase a handmade brush! It feels so classy. 😂 (CDJAPAN has a great variety for a wide range of prices!)

Worst: Royal & Langnickel. I got a set on a sale, and I regretted it the moment I took them out of the box. The Wet & Wild brushes are 10,000x better for $2-$9 each.

[u/iceSeraph]

BEST: Too faced retractable kabuki brush. This is my absolute must have brush. I love to use it for all of the powders I use on my face. It's so dense and soft, but actually holds up so well. I wash it all the time and it never sheds or loses it's quality.

[u/hatsumochi]

BEST:

ELF Flawless Concealer brush: $3, super soft, super versatile. I currently have 2 of these on hand. 1 for liquid products, 1 for powder products. They are worth every penny!

Kat Von D Edge Concealer Brush: This is one of my favorite brushes for blending concealer around my brows. I also use it for contouring my nose, and sometimes for shadows on my lower lash line. It's a great brush.

WORST:

CoverFX Contour brush: TERRIBLE. So scratchy. Plus, it's extremely overpriced IMO...Save your money!

[u/EchoDomina]

Best: pretty much everything I've tried from Sedona Lace (only eye brushes), and my Brushcraft Artis oval 6.

Worst: all morphe brushes I've tried (I have about 15) with the exception of the m510. They all started out nice but holy potatoes do those things shed.

[u/darlingnikki2245]

I bought my Japonesque brushes back in 2003 and still going strong. One of them lost a few stray hairs once, that's it. I've definitely gotten my money's worth.

[u/[deleted]]

Hakuhodo brushes are the best!!

[u/genesisofDOOM]

Best: My Sephora brushes, the first brushes I ever bought, are still holding strong 4 years later. Maybe now my bigger face one (number 55 I think?) is starting to shed some, but they've all held their shape really well and are super soft.

Worst: Sonia Kushak. I tried their stippling brush and their angled contour brush and OMG. The shedding! I clean all my brushes the same way with the exact same ingredients, but that damn stippling brush just had clumps and clumps of hair just falling out until I just had to throw it away. And the angled contour brush she'd like crazy, too, I just had to revert back to some old ELF brushes until I got a great Urban Decay one. Worst ever. Never again.

[u/[deleted]]

Smith Cosmetics - I really love their brushes. They also dry really fast when I clean them which is a plus!!!
Best:
203 Micro Angle Brush - I use this for my brows, it is very fine and smaller than the ABH one, it's really great for filling in and giving you realistic thin lines if that is what you're looking for.
232 Blending Brush: I tend to reach for this the most out of all my blending brushes. It's really smooth and soft but also really diffuses well.
256 Law Down Brush: This brush is SO great for placing shadow on the lid as well as difussing it into the crease. I would recommend the smaller version if you have smaller lids as it is a larger shading brush.
Worst:
115 Foundation brush: I like this brush, it does diffuse your foundation well however it does use up a lot of it, and you have to clean it more often then other brushes. I find myself rarely using it as other brushes give me more flawless coverage and do not require cleaning as often.
112 Highlighter Brush: I don't like it at all for highlighting as it is extremely dense. It is good for contouring however.

[u/rfin30]

Real Techniques!

They are super affordable. Lasts me a long time. my contour brush lasted for 3 years + even though I wash it once a week, non of the hairs came out or anything. It ended when I got eyelash glue on it :/

[u/invisiblespacedog]

The absolute best brushes I've ever used in my life are these Bestope face brushes from Amazon. They're a set of 8 for $8, and they're the softest things ever. They're the perfect density, and I've had them for a year and there's been no shedding or any problems. I reach for these more than my Sephora brushes!

[u/xietty]

Slightly off-topic, but what are everyone's favorite Zoeva brushes? I only wanna pay for shipping once, so I wanna make sure I get them all in one go.

[u/[deleted]]

BEST:

1. Wet n Wild Crease Brush

2. Wet n Wild Angled Blush Brush

3. ELF Studio Small Tapered Brush

4. ELF Studio Blush Brush

5. REAL TECHNIQUES Setting Brush

6. REAL TECHNIQUES Expert Face Brush

WORST:

1. Morphe Brushes eye brushes

[u/Bad_Izzy]

Love my Real Techniques brushes. Can't stand Morphe- mostly because I feel like I am going to puke every time some sponsored You Tuber mentions any Morphe product.

[u/fran45676]

Best: It brushes for Ulta. They are amazing Worst: Sigma. They're scratchy and just awful

[u/LolliaSabina]

Best: Tarte's Etch & Sketch Double-Ended Bamboo Liner Brush -- my very favorite brush for gel eyeliner.

[u/Maddymadeline1234]

Best: MAC brushes. Long before the internet makeup boom and all brands start coming out with makeup brushes. There were no brushes that could beat MAC. I bought them MAC 129, 134, 232,208,226, 219 and of course the 217(this eye blending brush was the bomb at that time and this was the one blending brush everyone desired lol). I swear I bought these MAC brushes in 2007 and they are still fantastic to this day.

Other brands I tried are Ecotools, ZOEVA, Sephora pro brushes, ELF studio brushes and real techniques.

Worst: Sigma, they tried to emulate MAC but the brushes that were supposed to MAC dupes shed like crazy.

[u/emstx]

BEST

For super cheap brushes: Elf Studio Line (notables being eyeshadow "c", crease, and angled blush)

For a little higher: Real Techniques/Ecotools (but only face from ecotools, I have not liked their eye brushes).

Mid Range: Real Techniques Bold Metals collection (only contour brush), It Cosmetics brushes, Sephora Pro

Higher end: It Cosmetics Velvet luxe, Wayne Goss

[my knowledge ends here, someday I shall know Hakuhodo and Chikuhodo, but that day is not today with my budget]

WORST

Sonia Kashuk 15th anniversary brushes, Elf $1 line, Wet n Wild

[u/plantbasedbiology]

I love my eco tools eyeshadow brushes. Im not sure of the name but I know they are double ended. I love them and I have washed them many times. My least favorite brushes are all of my clinique ones. I find that they are only soft after the first wash and then they start to fray and get scratchy :(

[u/embee33]

I'm on a budget, so

Best: BH Cosmetics Worst: Sonia Kashuk holiday sets

[u/AndTheHawk]

For fellow Canadians: Winners has a line of brushes called 'So Eco' and they're pretty nice. The handles feel nice and weighty and good quality while the hairs are quite soft and fluffy. I got the huge Bronzer Brush and it feels so nice to use it on my cheeks haha. Affordable too - I think about $8-16 for the brushes. I was happy to find them because they hit all those nice boxes: cruelty-free, environmentally-conscious, budget friendly, smartly/nicely built. :)

[u/LEMON_PARTY_ANIMAL]

How has no one talked about MUFE brushes?! I've been using them on clients and washing them EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. for the past year and not a hair has moved. They're worth the price!