Recently, eye makeup has become a sort of essential to my makeup look. I have honestly no idea where this sudden love of wearing eye shadow (almost every day) came from, but I’m not complaining. Thankfully, applying eye makeup nowadays is so much easier to do- even if you don’t have an artistic bone in your body. In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter what kind of shadow you use or what colour even, but the way to get your application right all boils down to the brushes you use.
Now, I need to stress the fact that the last thing I would really spend money on is over prices makeup brushes because I genuinely believe that there are some really excellent brands available at Clicks and Dischem (such as CALA and Eco-Tools) so there is no need to whip out R300 for a simple eye-blending brush.
Recently while having a look around in Clicks the other day, I came across this gorgeous bamboo brushes from Eco-Tools which cost R175 for all 5. The brushes are made from soft, cruelty free bristles, recycled aluminium ferrules and sleek bamboo handles which make it an absolute pleasure to use on the eye area. The set is made up of some great essential eye brushes that you would need if you were starting out in makeup and would definitely be the perfect fit for a beginners makeup bag due to their small yet efficient size. They are also not unnecessarily long and heavy like most brushes so they would most certainly fit in every persons makeup bag without damaging the bristles.
In this gorgeous multipurpose set you find a large eye brush which is great to blend shadow over the entire eye lid. It is quite big though so it does pick up a lot of pigment but works amazingly well to blend everything out again afterwards. I also find it to be quite useful to blend out concealer around the mouth and under the eyes and it also serves as a great tool to dust powder over concealed areas.
You also get an angled crease brush which is, like the large eye brush, quite large indeed. I was quite taken aback at the size of it but it works wonders in buffing out the edges in the crease and making sure that the shadow is blended properly. It also fits perfectly in the crease of the eye so you only really need two swipes to distribute the shadow.
The petite eye shading brush is also a quite nifty little thing which has so many uses! I don’t at all use it to shade the eye but rather build up color on places where you want a lot of definition, such as the inner and outer corners. I actually also find it quite useful in smudging out liner and giving your eyes a more smokey effect due to the flattened shape of the brush head. It also does a great job of highlighting under the brow bone and applying eyebrow product!
Actually, I just need to interject and mention that the names of these brushes do not at all go with what they can be used for as they are literally great for everything besides what Eco-Tools suggest that you use them for.
Anyway, my favorite brush out of the lot is the highlighting brush which I do not at all use to highlight. Instead, it is an absolutely amazing blending brush and almost reminds me of the softer side of the CALA two sided eye-brush except that its way more dense. It does such a great job at packing on shadow and gently buffing it out to create a flawless finish. Because it is shorter than a normal blending brush, you have a lot of control with regards to both how much shadow you want to apply and just how much you want to blend. Its the second brush in the picture so as you can see, its a really great size. I also find it to be really effective in blending out concealer on spots and blemishes around the face.
And finally, the smudge brush which is honestly just a fantastic spot concealer brush. Because the tip is rounded and quite small, I don’t really like using it as a smudge brush, but that’s just my personal preference. It would, I can imagine, would as a great tool to use if you are into a heavy smokey eye and use the shadow under your bottom lashes as well as it would give you good control so that you can achieve the perfect line.
All in all, I am quite loving this range and definitely think that it is such a great buy if you are looking for some cost effective eye brushes.
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Fatima