Tuesday 29 June 2010

Illamasqua Brush Review


Hi Everyone,
Just a quick side note on my blog pictures, they're down again at the moment again as my Photobucket bandwidth has gone, I'm upgrading to a full year account tomorrow so please bare with me :)  They'll be back soon.
A little while back Illamasqua kindly contacted me and offered to send me some brushes to try out. I made my first Illamasqua purchase a few months ago which was the Intense Lipgloss in the shade Indulge and I was beyond happy with the quality of the gloss – the pigmentation is amazing and the colour was perfect! After getting over the initial excitement I of course accepted as I had been planning on trying out Illamasqua's brushes among their other products.
As this is the first product review I'm featuring on my blog I do want to say that I wouldn't ever accept a product to review that I wouldn't be willing to purchase and try myself. Illamasqua offered to send me the brushes, not for a blog post in return for them – I just wanted to share my opinion of them.
Anyway, on to the brushes!

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Alex from Illamasqua was beyond helpful as there was a mix up with the first package sent to me, so she sent out a second which I received in 2 days. I received 3 brushes which were the Kabuki Body Brush, Blending Brush 2 and the Lip Brush. All of the brushes are synthetic so I was surprised with how soft they all are, I've cleaned them around 8 times now and have literally only lost about 3 hairs from the Kabuki, none from the others. Shedding is a major issue for me with brushes – most recently my MAC 109 began shedding horrendously when using cream or liquid products, despite taking good care of it. As for the packaging, I really do love the fact that they're a uniform glossy black colour, with the Illamasqua logo printed on each one making them look very sleek and timeless. All of the brush bristles are densely packed and are very sturdy. I've been testing out the brushes for nearly 3 weeks now and so far I'm very impressed with them.

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Kabuki Body Brush retails for £38.00
The Kabuki Body Brush was the brush I expected to use the least as it is quite large (it's the same size as the palm of my hand) but I have found myself using it whenever I apply my makeup. I've been using bronzer a lot more now it's summer and I adore this brush for blending a little bronzer across my neck, collar bones and chest for a bit of a summer glow – perfect for a night out too. It's also amazing for blending out any overly-intense bronzer or blush on the face too as it's so large it really does blend anything effortlessly, taking only a few seconds to do.

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Blending Brush 2 retails for £25.00
The Blending Brush 2 is certainly a large brush in comparison to most eye brushes, but I think that's what I like most about it. I always tend to go for a larger brush for blending just because it makes it so much easier. The brush is quite dense so it moves colour easily and seamlessly, I love this for blending out deeper crease colours and it's extremely useful for blending out a smokey eye. One other use I've found for it is for setting my under eye concealer with powder, as I lean towards having more dry skin I don't like to set my whole face with powder, just the places that need it – this is great for targeting that specific area. One thing I will say is that as this brush is so large, I can see some people not getting much use out of it - I certainly like to go for more drastic looks at times which this is ideal for.
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Lip Brush retails for £18.00
Lastly, the Lip Brush - it's safe to say that lip brushes are one of my most used as I love a bold lip. This brush isn't overly-flexible, it has a little bit of resistance which is ideal for creating a precise shape with ease.  The tip of the brush is tapered into a rounded point which is great for the cupid's bow, I've created more rounded and pointed shapes using this wish ease. It's a good size, not too small that it's going to take a good 5 minutes to apply a full lip colour and not too large that it's difficult to apply precisely.
Overall, I think the quality of the brushes definitely met my expectations of the brand. One thing I do like is how the brushes are named, rather than MAC's numbered system these are named with their reccommended purpose. As you can see from the first image they all came in soft frosted plastic cases, which I have found particularly useful for the lip brush - I don't really like throwing a lip brush into my makeup bag as it tends to get lipstick everywhere, keeping it in the protective cover not only stops the brush from being damaged but keeps my bag clean too :) I also want to add that even after washing them they have returned to their original shapes every time, without any unwanted splaying so far. I think I'll definitely be purchasing a few more brushes for myself, I've got my eye on the Blending Brush 2's baby sister - Blending Brush 1, Blusher Brush 2 and the Eye Brow brush amongst others!
 -LadyDanger
xxx

8 comments:

  1. They look and sound really great. I was actually just looking into the Illamasqua lip brush the other day!

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  2. Thanks for the review :) I haven't seen much reviews on Illamasqua brushes but I'm very interested. I'm going to London in few months and I think I want to buy some new brushes..
    It's really good that these brushes are named with their recommended purpose :) x

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  3. I'd love to try some Illamasqua products...Maybe next time

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  4. Oooooh I really fancy one of these lipbrushes. Also, AT LAST decent brushes that are named rather than numbered!!!

    www.allthelovelystuff.blogspot.com

    xxx

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  5. The blending brush 2 is great for concealer

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  6. I have the blending blush 2 and i love to use it to blend the edges of my blush or to highlight and contour :) I really love Illamasqua brushes.

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  7. I really like the look of these brushes. I too like to have what the brush is intended for on the brush. Not just a number...

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  8. I use the make-up, varnishes and the brushes and have been really pleased with everything I have bought. The quality and precision of the brushes is what makes them so good.

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