One of my Happy Birthday presents to myself involved a trip to the makeup aisles in Target. I picked up another Eyeshadow C Brush (which I love hard, in the face), and a couple of e.l.f. Studio Blush brushes. I nabbed one for blush, and one for bronzer, color coding them so I wouldn’t mix them up and wind up getting funky-face (which isn’t hard, when you’re starting with one. OH BURN. Wait… *cries*)

Light-hearted self-deprecation aside, I’ve been using these brushes for a few months now, and I have a few words on them. Let’s do this.

As with most Studio blushes, these puppies were just $3 a pop. The handles are nice, thick, and solid black. The bristles are very soft, forming a flattened head with a gently rounded tip. Or at least, this is how it should be. My bronzer brush (the yellow one), is less rounded and more tapered. I knew this was a mis-cut, and it doesn’t surprise me, as e.l.f. doesn’t have the best quality control in the world (especially in the Essentials line). But I picked it up on purpose because I figured the angle would be good for achieving a good contour.

That… was a bit of a mistake. It does work well at putting down the colour in a very defined way, but the personally appointed “bronzer” brush has recently started shedding like mad. I have to pluck it every other time I use it, else I wind up with a very strange looking beard. You know, the kind where the dude is so proud of his three freaking chin hairs that he refuses to shave them until they’re over a half inch long? While I’m amused by this thought, it’s not really a good thing. I’m not having a shedding problem with the other brush at all, which I reckon suggests that the “bronzer” brush wasn’t just badly cut, it was badly made in general.

Rogue shedder aside, the blush brush works very well for its intended use. It’s not too tightly packed, meaning that it’s a bit harder to over-do your blush application. If you like high-impact color, this brush probably won’t be a friend to you, but it’s rather perfect for my desires.

Would I buy this again? Despite the weird pubescent beard issue with the “bronzer” brush, I probably would. I knew I was buying a bum brush, so it’s just my fault that it turned out to be trouble-on-a-stick. I’d definitely recommend – for myself and interested parties – checking the cut and quality in-person before you purchase.

Living in a small apartment has its pros and cons. Pro? It’s cheap. Con? There’s just not a lot of space. Flat surfaces are in limited supply, so if you need a place to put something, you have to get a little creative. As much as I’d love to DIY myself a little brush holder with colourful beads and girly goodness, the standard “put your brushes in a cup” solution just won’t work here. So what’s a girl to do?

She can just suck it. With suction cups, of course.

All along the side of our rather giant-sized bathroom mirror are four suction-cup solutions: three toothbrush holders ($3.99 @ Kohl’s), and one kitchen brush holder up at the top (purchased at Garden Ridge). The top brush holder was just the right size to hold my beefy ceramic hairbrush without squishing the bristles. The top toothbrush holder houses all my eye brushes, and the next one down is all face brushes. The bottom one is actually for the toothbrush, along with other random things like hair sticks (which double as mixing sticks for foundation).

What if you don’t have a giant mirror to work with? As long as you’ve got wall space for a picture frame, you’re still good to go! Just pick out a nice frame, put in a photo or a creative collage to match the decor of your bathroom or bedroom, and stick your suction solutions on there. Easy peasy!

Now that I have a few moments to sit down and attempt to write something cohesive, we’ll get part two of the e.l.f. brush review out of the way. Our previous entry focused on the e.l.f. Studio brushes — which run $3 each at Target stores and on eyeslipsface.com. These black-handled beauties are simply stunning for the price you pay, and well worth the shipping cost if you don’t live near a Target.

It is important, however, to not confuse the Studio brushes and the Essentials brushes. Despite being sold by the same company, they are very, very different. Essentials brushes roll in at $1 each, and are easily distinguishable by their white handles and silver rims. There are a good variety to pick up from this line, from your basic eyeshadow applicator brush, to more “advanced” shapes such as a flat-liner brush, and a blending brush. I decided to try the flat eyeliner brush, along with the foundation and concealer brush.

The first thing I noticed about the foundation brush was its weight… or rather, the lack of it.  This brush feels extremely light and cheap in the hand, which is something I just don’t want in a foundation brush. I want a brush with enough weight to help in controlling itself, to keep me from getting too heavy-handed in my application. And as expected, the first time I tried using this, my foundation was extremely streaky, because I had to learn to compensate for the weight issue.  After a few more tries, I finally got the hang of it using it without being a streaky mess… but I want a brush that works with me, not against me.  The bristles themselves are soft and flexible, but… if I am to be perfectly honest, they felt like a cheap paintbrush. As far as this foundation brush goes, I feel I would have been better off walking into Michael’s and picking up a giant value-pack of brushes. I would be getting the same quality for a fraction of the cost.

I was excited for the flat eyeliner brush (bottom), because I like the idea of tapping on wet eyeshadow as a liner, rather than dragging it across with an angle brush. I imagined having so much fun with this… tapping on bright green… or blue… going to a movie… running through an open field and laughing together, what have you.  But it turns out, it’s another cheap f#%king craft store paint brush.  I have tried multiple times to get this brush to work as an eyeliner brush, but no matter how tightly you squeeze the bristles together, the brush will always be too thick to do the job it’s supposed to do.

On top, we have the concealer brush, which functions quite well in picking up and placing concealer in small, concentrated areas, so I can’t complain too much about it. The only problem I’ve had with this brush is that the head popped off as soon as I took it out of the package. Not exactly what you want to see happen, even if it was only $1.

While I would highly recommend any of the e.l.f. Studio brushes, I cannot say I would recommend the Essentials brushes by any means. Not if you’re just starting out, or if you’re on a budget, or even as a cheap travel-brush that you don’t mind losing from point A to point B.  One can say “you get what you pay for”, but I’m a bit crazy in thinking that $1 should at least buy enough glue to keep the freaking head on. Seriously, if you have $1 to spring for a brush, throw down $2 more and get a Studio brush.

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When I heard about e.l.f. brushes, which range from $1 to $3 apiece, I was keen to try them.  I’m down with inexpensive. Brushes don’t have to have a big brand stamped on the handle to be effective. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve laid hands on six different brushes from two of the three e.l.f. lines, with some very impressive results.

The first thing you should know is that there are three different lines of e.l.f. brushes: Essentials ($1 each), Mineral ($5 each), and Studio ($3 each). The Essentials brushes are white handled, Mineral are nautral, and Studio are black. I’ve only had the chance to try the Essentials and Studio lines, so those are the only ones I will review here. (However, if you have used e.l.f. Mineral brushes, feel free to comment below and add some insight!) Today, I’ll be tackling the Studio line.

Pictured above is the first e.l.f. brush I purchased, the Studio Contour Brush. I picked this up on a whim because I liked the shape: I thought it might be good for cutting a more controlled crease. I have a dirty, dirty combo of one eye being slightly deepset, and the other being hooded, so I have to set my crease colours on the edge of the socket… which can be a right bitch with the brushes I already had in my arsenal. This one has a nice domed shape, with bristles soft enough for minor blending, but tightly-packed enough to afford a precise application of colour.  It doesn’t blend as well as I hoped, but if you’re laying  a crease that doesn’t require too much blending (sticking within the same colour spectrum, up to two shades darker than the lid), it does just fine. This brush did not shed after washing, and easily held its shape. At $3, I was extremely impressed, and would most definitely buy again.

After having such a great experience with the contouring brush, I went back to target and purchased the Studio Eyeshadow “C” Brush (shown above).  I had a brush in a similar shape from a giant cheapie Wal-Mart gift set, and I absolutely loved it for its shape. Unfortunately, it was kind of scratchy and had serious shedding problems. So I chucked that one, and brought this one in. The brush head is wide and short, with a healthy tip-area for picking up a lot of product – perfect for applying colour to your lids. What I didn’t expect out of this, however, was that it would also serve as a good crease brush for me, and it blends remarkably well.  This morning, I did my eyes using just this brush. Again, no shedding after washing, and it held its shape perfectly. If you are looking to graduate from those little sponge applicators to brushes, but have no idea where to start, get this one. It’s just $3, and it does everything.  I will most definitely be picking up two or three more of these in the future.

The shape of this Studio Powder Brush just plum danged interested me. When it comes to powder brushes, I’m used to the big, domed, ultra-floofy affairs that sometimes have trouble picking up product, but do a good job at dusting powder around.  I figured a flat top brush like this would do a better job at picking up product without having to hold the bristles together. Hypothesis confirmed! This brush is full o’ bristles, so it has no trouble keeping its shape enough for a swipe over the product for heavier coverage, and the flat top can be easily bapped into a cake once or twice for lighter coverage. It doesn’t splay out in every direction when using it on the face — again, it keeps its shape well. And this little beauty is amazingly soft. I mean, soft like a bunny soft. I couldn’t keep my hands off the brush head, because it felt that nice.  I made my boyfriend try it out, and even he was impressed with how soft and silky it was (and he’s a DUDE!).  Some of the bristles did come loose after washing… all of three needed to be plucked out, so that’s definitely nothing to bark about. Plus, the brush comes with a little protector sleeve to help it hold its shape, which is an awesome little bonus. Again, this brush is only $3 at Target or eyeslipsface.com

The weight on all of these brushes are very good… not too heavy, but definitely not light like other inexpensive brushes. This means that they feel more natural in the hand, and are easy to control. All in all, I would definitely recommend the black handled studio line.  These brushes are simply amazing for the price. I wouldn’t be surprised if they increase the price of these sometime in the future, because honestly, they’re too good to be three bucks.

Have you tried the e.l.f. Studio line of brushes? What did you think?  Would you be interested in purchasing some (more)?

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