My Favourite e.l.f Makeup Brushes!

 As a makeup nerd, a reasonably sized brush collection is so helpful to have, but can easily start costing you a hefty amount! Enter budget brands...

 

 E.l.f, like a lot of cheaper brands, can be pretty hit or miss sometimes, but luckily I've found they really do have a few winners in their brush range and some of these are in amongst my most used
brushes!

 

The black brushes are from the 'Studio' line, which is e.l.f's more expensive range and all cost £3.50 each. The white brushes are from their regular line and all cost £1.50 each. The Studio line are synthetic Taklon bristles. No information is listed for the regular line, but I believe they are synthetic also.

 

L-R: Powder Brush, Eyeshadow Brush, Blush Brush, Eyeshadow "C" Brush

Powder Brush, £3.50

 

This is a really interesting little gem. It's basically a flat-top kabuki brush on a long handle - it's very dense and lovely and soft. I love this brush for setting my makeup with powder, especially on a shoot or for a design with greasepaints or facepaints. It's perhaps a little large for working liquid foundations into the face and it's flat shape means it's a little harder to get all into all the nooks and crannies, but if you're not sure if buffing is for you, this isn't a badly priced brush to experiment with! I imagine it would work really well with mineral makeup too. I've never used another kabuki brush as I love this one so much - the handle makes it much more appealing to me - but be warned that as it's so dense it sometimes takes a bit of effort to wash!

 

Eyeshadow Brush, £1.50

This brush is only £1.50. ONE MEASLY POUND FIDDY. And I absolutely love, love, love this brush. It's a great shape and density for placing eyeshadow on the lid and it's just fluffy enough on the edges to softly blend the colour out. It's not a blending brush and you won't be able to create a super-soft, complex look with it, but if you're in a rush or just want to apply one shadow, this will soften
out that harsh edge for you in no time. I really like this brush for beginners and have given it to friends and clients to practise with, and always take one with me when I'm travelling - I think I have 6 or 7 of these! They're not the most handsome of brushes (the white handles can get a little grubby) and they're not super soft -they're not harsh or scratchy at all but you're not going to swoon over the softness. The price is a bonus, I have to say - when e.l.f have their 50% off sales I always stock up - you can't beat a good, basic brush for 75p!

 

Sadly I have to add that I don't rate the rest of the £1.50 line I've tried, although I've not tried all of them.

 

 

Blush Brush, £3.50

This is my favourite blush brush! It's a slightly flattened, pointed shape which makes it really versatile as the tip is quite small and slim, meaning it's great for contouring or highlighting with powders as well as traditional blush application. Because it's so multi-purpose, I really like taking a couple of these with me in my kit. While the smaller size makes it good for small faces and prominent cheekbones, it's still great for blending colour out on the cheeks and is lovely and soft. If you're a fan of indie makeup, this brush is a nice size for dipping in to small blush containers without making a mess, too!

 

 Eyeshadow "C" Brush, £.3.50

A similar shape to the eyeshadow brush before, but a bit more curved, larger, and with much stiffer, less fluffy bristles. The idea of this brush is that the 'C' shape fits in nicely on the outer corner of your eye, giving you a nice neat application. Now, this greatly depends on your eye size and shape (it's a fairly large brush) as well as the look you want, but that aside, this is a really great brush for packing on eyeshadow. Again, I have several of these and love using them.

 

The reason I've added two pretty similar eyeshadow brushes in here is that I find it *so* difficult to find good, reasonably priced, simple eyeshadow brushes for just laying down eyeshadow, especially in UK drugstores. If you're stuck between the two, I'd probably say go for the £1.50 - it picks up loose eyeshadow a little better and as it's smaller it's more likely to fit your eye.

 

 

I have at *least* two of all these brushes, and have some of them for several years and they're all doing really well! While my brushes don't get as much use as a full-time makeup artist (I work on shoots and clients on the side of my full-time job) they get a LOT of use and I wash pretty much all of my brushes at least every ten days or so, so these are well tested! With the exception of
a *slightly* wobbly ferrule on my oldest of the flat-top brushes, I have never had a single issue with them - no shedding, they don't seem to get dented or scratched up and they stay lovely and soft while keeping thier shape. There are some brushes that e.l.f make that I don't rate at all, and others that I like a lot too, but these ones here? Full on love, regardless of the price point.

If you're in the U.K, you can pick these up at www.eyeslipsface.co.uk