Oh hi! Today’s post is the first part of a roundup of my favorite eye makeup brushes. The other half will be posted soon, so stay tuned on my Insta. Some of these brushes are old, while some are kind of new. They’re pretty much what I use up to this day and I usually take some of them during my travels.
Eye makeup brushes for me are somewhat a challenge to choose and probably the most type of brushes I own and usually purchase. That’s because it’s hard for me to find the right size and shape of eye brushes for my small downturned hooded eyes. Every brush needs to be somewhat small and precise enough to contour my lids and further emphasize my crease. So I ended up with some trial and error before I found the ones that sort of worked for me.
For starters, I love Sephora, Sigma, and especially Make Up For Ever brushes because they have versatile small enough brushes for my needs. MUFE’s brushes are soft, well-tapered, and they pick up the eyeshadows well. Sigma also has reliable brushes that you can’t beat the price. If I need a spur-of-the-moment brush, I know Sigma’s quality won’t disappoint. Sephora has interesting and uniquely-shaped brushes that also affordable and they sometimes go on sale.
Sephora Brushes (1-2 years):
Sephora Collection PRO Shader Brush #18 ($18): A versatile small brush eye shader brush that not only packs colors on the lids, but it’s great to line the upper and lower lash line or apply highlighters on the inner crease, especially if you have smaller eyes. It can even highlight the browbones. I love that it’s soft and pretty much easy to use.
Sephora Collection PRO Domed Crease #16 (Discontinued): I bought this brush with the intention of creating or enhancing that outer V on the crease, though it serves its purpose well, it can be too thick if you have very small eyes, and you can’t get too heavy-handed on this because it can pack a punch of colors on the lids.
Sigma Brushes (2-3 years):
Sigma Small Tapered Blending Brush #E45 ($16): If you wanna do a perfectly contoured crease or a nice cut-crease, then this brush is for you. This delivers a very precise effect of achieving that long-desired crease, while the bristles are soft and pliable. Ideal for monolids, smaller eyes, and hooded eyes.
Sigma Firm Blender #E44 ($17): One of my latest Sigma purchases, I bought it because I wanted a good blending brush that can truly soften and blend any dense pigments I may have packed on my lids. This is a bit firm which is nice and each side is tapered, so I also use this for creating that outer V on the crease.
Make Up For Ever Brushes (1 year or less):
MUFE Medium Blender Brush #218 ($25): A soft blender brush that’s not only ideal for blending any cream or powder eyeshadows, it can also be used in the crease and also to highlight the browbone and inner corners of the eye. I also think that this is a great blending brush for smaller eyes, and I like that the brush is pliable enough to layer different eyeshadows on the lids.
MUFE Double-ended Shader & Smudger Brush #204 ($25): This is a longer-than-usual MUFE eye brush because it has different brushes on both ends. One is a tiny eye shader that’s great for lining the lash lines accurately, while the other end is a smudger to create a nice and seamless smokey-eye look. I bought this brush with my desperation to create a perfect Gyaru-style (or Ulzzang in Korean) eye makeup. Gyaru is a Japanese eye makeup technique that’s practiced to lengthen or enlarge the eyes. Because when you have smaller eyes, you get desperate. When you get desperate, you try to do the Gyaru eyes. When you wanna try the Gyaru eyes, you’ll need precise eye makeup brushes. When you need precise eye makeup brushes, you buy the MUFE brushes, especially in #204. Period. End of Story. Hehehe. (P.S. This is not a TV Commercial).
MUFE Medium Precision Eye Blender #216 ($25): This is kinda like a more precise version of the MUFE #218, but I think this is pretty much made to emphasize the crease of the lid and also to create a nice smokey eye look because the brush itself is quite dense yet very soft that it’s ideal for applying it along the upper and lower lash line. This is another great brush if you have smaller eyes and you’d want that smoldering look.
Final words, these brushes are nice to have and they’ve stood the test of time, at least for me. My Sephora brushes pretty much have held up to regular washes and wipes, a few bristles may have been stretched out here and there, but overall, they still work ok. The Sigma brushes are durable, reliable, and well-made as always. The MUFE brushes are more ergonomic, aesthetically-unique because the handles are made of sturdy wood, and the bristles are really soft. They also make high-quality brushes for smaller eyes.
Do you own any of these brushes? What do you like about them the most?
That’s it for now guys, stay tuned for the second part of this review.
The Sephora brushes are available at Sephora.com
Sigma Brushes are available at Amazon.com, Bloomingdale’s, Dermstore, Dillard’s, Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters & Sigma Beauty
The MUFE Brushes are also available at Sephora
Ciao!
Happy Friday,
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