Let's Talk - Makeup Brushes

There are so many makeup brushes out there, from so many different brands and they all range from so many different prices. Now I’ve always looked at the mac brushes and I have to say I love them, they feel so soft! But I cannot justify paying R500 per brush, which is strange because I can spend that on actual makeup any day!

I tend to stick to affordable brushes and I found that the Cala brushes are my absolute favourite. They have such a huge range of brushes, ranging from their black brushes known as the Studio Master brushes to the bamboo brushes. I own almost the whole range and love to pick up a new brush whenever I am at Dishcem.

The best thing about the Cala brushes (besides the quality, which is fantastic!) is the affordability. I have only been able to find them at Dischem and not Clicks but Dischem always has the widest range. The Cala brushes range from about R30 to R90 that is for nothing right? When I am using them it definitely doesn’t feel like I am using a R30 brush. What also sold me on these brushes is that if they should ever need to be replaced its affordable, but I can say that my brushes are holding up quite nicely, even when I don’t wash them enough….woops.

So for this blog I have decided to do a breakdown of the brushes that I have and my opinion on them.

Angled Contour Brush

When I first bought my brushes, I originally went mad and bought a set and these were one of them. This brush is incredibly soft and I feel it blends your contour really nicely, I know you’re not exactly supposed to but I have also used this brush for my highlighter and it is so nice as I find it didn’t create such a harsh line with my highlight. And I have also used this for my blush and love it; I tend to reach for it more than any blush brush. I have used baby shampoo to clean my brushes and recently I have used Isopropyl Alcohol as well to clean them and I have to say all my brushes seem to be holding up very nicely and return to their original soft state that I bought them in.

Foundation Brush

I used to use tapered foundation brushes like these all the time but I felt after only two uses it leaves my foundation very streaky. I understand that when you don’t wash a brush this is what happens but it’s impossible to wash a brush after every use and I felt that with this brush even after one use it becomes streaky very quickly. I recently tried a flat kabuki brush from Fancy Fiction and I have to say if you can get a flat brush for foundation it is much better. I don’t think I’ll rush back to reach for my tapered foundation brush.

Complexion Brush / Stippling Brush

I tend to reach for this brush when I want to dust some setting powder on my face and occasionally reach for it when I just want to very lightly dust bronzer over my skin and not necessarily create a contour but instead just a glow on my skin. This brush is amazing and super soft as well. It can be used for foundation as well but I haven’t really used it for foundation.

Powder Brush

I love this brush and when I first got it, I tended to just run it over my skin for the fun of it because of how soft it was, I only use this brush for my setting powder and not much else, but it is the best thing I could ever use.

Fan Brush

I wasn’t sold on a fan brush at first but then I ended up buying one just to try it anyway and I am very impressed. I use this brush for my highlighter and it gives me such a precise finish that its perfect for that highlighter, as well as the brush being thin, it doesn’t give you a streak halfway across your face, instead it is able to just dust your cheekbones.

Angled Eyeshadow Brush

This brush is taken from the Studio Masters collection and is an angled brush. These brushes are very nice, especially for the crease in your eye. What I like about it, is that it’s not too big, I have small eyelids and feel that my brow bone is quite hooded over my eyes, so I never tend to go much higher than my brow bone even for dramatic eyes and what I like about this brush is that it doesn’t leave a huge mess above my eyes as it can be quite precise, but is also nice and fluffy if you do want to do a dramatic eye and add more to your look.

Concealer Brush

The only time I really use this brush is just to place the concealer under my eye and to scoop some concealer on the brush; I don’t use it to blend concealer at all. This brush is nice and soft but is also stiff in my opinion. So I just use it to go in with the concealer so that it is not on my hands and then I use a beauty blender to just blend it out under my eye.

Crease Brush

This is my go to crease brush It’s so fluffy and soft and absolutely perfect. I reach for it all the time to blend out my crease, it is somewhat bigger than the angled shadow brush but not too big that it’s overpowering on your eye. Definitely a must have in my books.

Eyeshadow Brush (Bamboo Collection & Studio Master Collection)

The black eyeshadow brush comes from the Studio Master collection and I much prefer it to the bamboo Collection Eyeshadow Brush. It’s quite fat and more rounded than the bamboo collection, I just feel that it applies better and is really able to deposit that colour onto your lids. The bamboo brush is still very nice but is much thinner than the Studio Master brush and is actually longer than the Studio Master brush as well. There is nothing wrong with the bamboo brush, just the Studio Master brush is better and believe it or not, they’re the same price.

Lip Brush

I picked up this lip brush because it was a brush I didn’t have. I didn’t think I needed it or had any plan to buy it before I did because I don’t use lip brushes to apply lipstick anyway but I still went and bought it because it was a new brush but what I actually like about this brush is that I use it to clean up my lipstick lines after applying lipstick. I add a little concealer to make the lines sharper and I really like this brush. It’s nice that it’s so small and is very flexible and not stiff at all.

So there are my makeup brushes. I have a whole set from Fancy Fiction but have decided to keep this post as a Cala brush review. I hope you enjoyed this review and I will be back soon.

Kirsty

xxx