4 Advice to Choose a FUYI Brush

When you are looking for the best of the best it takes time and money to find the perfect brush just for you. This post is a roundup of what I consider to be the best or most interesting foundation brushes available to us, I will show you a few pictures, share my own experience with them and also some guidelines in order to help you find the perfect foundation brush just for you.

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Foundation application is probably the most complex step of a makeup application, probably the most feared too ! If we go for it, better get it right, we cannot just simply copy someone else&#;s make up routine, we have to find our very own and as we go along feel what&#;s right or wrong and fine tune the process. You won&#;t necessarily need brushes for that, not all the foundations are meant to be applied with them like the Armani Fusion for example. But that&#;s another story. Don&#;t please don&#;t do this at home, you don&#;t need a hundred brushes to do your foundation, it is just a passion of mine to collect beautiful makeup brushes.

Some foundation brushes are more efficient than others but at the end it will be a matter of following your own preferences and taste. I will show you some of mine which include :

• Stippling brushes
• Mineral foundation brushes
• Flat, semi-flat, round brushes

My life does not depend on foundation application but I do love it, I think there is an intriguing and experimental process behind achieving a great application of foundation, it can be fun and it can sometimes be depressing ! My curiosity and my delicate dry skin motivated me to research for the best foundation brushes and the best way to apply it. You&#;ll see that it got a bit out of control (again), but I hope that at least my lack of control will benefit you, help you compare the options and guide you in your own research.

There aren&#;t that many foundation lovers around me, when I ask them why they hate foundation they say: &#;I don&#;t want to feel it&#; or &#;I don&#;t want to see it&#; or &#;foundation brushes are too rough&#;.

I am not saying that it&#;s necessary to go through this step, absolutely not, but if the reason why you don&#;t apply it is just because of those reasons be aware that today you can apply foundation and still look natural and fresh and for the tools, don&#;t worry, there is probably the right one just for you.

I don&#;t often use mineral foundation and I don&#;t often go for more than medium coverage. My needs are those of a woman in her 40&#;s with extreme dry and sensitive skin who aims for a fresh glowy complexion. Depending on the days I can barely stand to apply make up at all so I need the most efficient tools : the best results possible, in the fewer strokes !

I have tried to pick different types of foundation brushes to guide you in your selection, each one with its own qualities and characteristics, they can really differ in shape, material and it will be up to you to find the one that fits your personal requirements. I don&#;t have an answer for every situation, if I did, I would not be working in IT !!! Believe me, I wouldn&#;t.

They can be made of natural bristles, a mix of synthetic and natural hair or only synthetic bristles, so many options are available today and many of them are very good. Do not consider my opinions as expert advice, I will simply share what I think about them and why I love them&#; or not.

If you are starting

First you want to identify what your profile is (oily, dry, sensitive skin), then what coverage and finish you desire. If you already found a foundation product that is matching what your skin needs, now you can start looking for the right tools. You may think that brushes are very expensive and that the investment may not be worth it, I don&#;t know about you but I wasted a lot of money on foundation products that didn&#;t work for me just because I didn&#;t have the appropriate tools to apply them. I am not saying that brushes will solve all your problems but they definitely will make your life easier, the application more pleasant and they may even save you money in the end.

Targeting a brush adapted to your profile

Many brush companies will not recommend you goat brushes if your skin is dry and sensitive, they will direct you towards synthetic or stippling brushes. They are right but I still found many full goat brushes that are soft enough for me to use on my very dry skin and I have absolute no problem at all. Basically if your skin is sensitive, it shouldn&#;t be moving around when applying foundation with your brush, it should not feel &#;molested&#;, on the other hand using a too soft brush will require many more strokes to blend and you may want to avoid that too since it may also irritate your skin at the end. The right balance would be a brush that is soft enough but still has efficient blending power. I have got some here.

Below, a synthetic brush vs a goat brush, if you want my honest opinion, this synthetic fun brush looks great and has thickness to it, which should be a good thing. It&#;s not a terrible brush but these two are a world apart.

• This synthetic brush MUFE 108 has interesting fibers, at first they look nice, feel nice, but after you used it once, you don&#;t want to use it again without washing it before. Reminds me of a dirty kitchen cloth (sorry), absorbing quite a lot of product and getting some sorf of film around the bristles that you don&#;t necessarily like against your skin. I also find it does move my skin around too much (the bristles have a grip), in normal conditions it&#;s acceptable but I am prone to migranes and even if I don&#;t put too much pressure on it, despite the fact the bristles are very soft and don&#;t poke it still is unpleasant on my sensitive skin.
• The goat brush here is the new Chikuhodo GSN-05, at first it does not look attractive, it&#;s not white hair, looks a bit yellow-coppery, not the most attractive aspect for some but don&#;t be afraid of that, this brush is amazing in all aspects, what I want to point out is that this goat brush despite it has darker goat hair, it&#;is much more pleasant to use than the synthetic for me, more efficient, does not suck product in the bristles and does not feel like a dirty cloth on my face at all, even if I don&#;t wash it every day, still the same blending power. It does not molest my skin, I don&#;t need to put a lot of pressure to blend and it doesn&#;t poke.

Bottom line : Natural or synthetic it will depend on the brush, again it&#;s a matter of preference and also skin tolerance, some cannot use natural hair at all and some cannot use synthetic.

Targeting liquid or powder foundation 

If you have very dry skin you are less likely to use powder foundation and less likely to go for heavy coverage, in most situtations it will end patchy and not comfortable. Even with the right tools it&#;s difficult to go against these laws. When I apply a heavy coat of mineral powder foundation on my very dry skin, despite the quality of the powder foundation and the perfect brush, after just a little time my skin starts to beg for help, my wrinkles are maximized and dry patches appear all over, it ages me dramatically. Nice brushes will help but just to a certain point.  Choosing the right skincare and foundation product for your skin profile is even more important, then you can try some foundations at the counters see how they evolve on your skin throughout the day until you find the perfect one for you.

Targeting the coverage you desire

The foundation product you&#;ll use will really help deliver the coverage and finish you are looking for. In terms of brushes, the denser and flatter the brush, the more coverage it delivers. The fluffier and rounder the brush, the more flexibility you&#;ll get allowing you to start from sheer and to build up to medium. See it in action with EnKoreMakeup.

Example of round vs flat :

Targeting the finish 

The foundation product will help you a great lot if you want either a glowy or a matte finish. Then, if you are looking for an airbrushed finish, either you pick a brush that can achieve it directly in one step or you&#;ll need a two-step application, the first to apply, the second to blend/buff. There is no shame in using two different brushes and I will give you some examples where it&#;s even better : save you product, reduce the washing frequency of the blending  brush. There are many techniques and many ways to get the finish you want, if you watch youtube videos on foundation application you&#;ll get many ideas.

I always go for a &#;natural, glowy, airbrushed application&#; and I takes me 3 minutes more or less. Sometimes I powder when I really need to or when my pores are playing tricks, but it&#;s rare that I do. If you target the comfort of your skin with the right skincare you&#;ll have better chances of wearing a wider range of foundation products or finishes but you are still limited with your skin condition.

For a foundation brush to deliver an airbrushed finish it needs to be fluffy, not overly dense, not too flexible, if it&#;s very soft and too flat it will not fit that purpose. To achieve the best airbrushed finish there isn&#;t simply a better brush than the Rae Morris Radiance, of course you can get airbrushed finish with others but this one will do it faster =  less strokes. The Radiance looks perfectly flat but it isn&#;t, the controlled flexibility and placement of the hair does the job perfectly well, you don&#;t need to put too much pressure on it and that&#;s the great thing for me.

If you own this brush, my recommendation is to place the foundation roughly with a flat foundation brush before, then use this one only for finishing, it will keep it cleaner -well, less dirty- for longer, you won&#;t need to wash it as often and it will last you longer. It is insanely expensive so you better take great care of it.

Targeting the best material for you 

I have tried most of the brushes and most of the materials, I know which one is my favorite but every month I may discover new brushes and my preferences may change.

My preferences also change depending on the product I use, one brush will be great for one foundation but could be dreadful for another. The thicker the consistency of the product (the resistance to blend) the thicker the bristles have to be and the more blending power you&#;ll have to put in your application. If you can find thicker and reasonably firm goat bristles that are very soft then they are very likely to be great for foundation. When I say thick, I mean thick like a Koyudo BP013 and not thin and soft like a Tom Ford blush brush for example.

Your preferences will be based on many different aspects, some materials do not trap as much foundation inside their bristles so better for the wallet, others will make you feel like a diva during application, others will make you feel like a Michael Angelo. Honestly I have two personalities when it comes to foundation application : the rational and the utopian, they cross eventually during the same application routine. I am not totally crazy, I just love to relax and enjoy a make up application, when I have time I play it like Tim Burton when I don&#;t, I go Fast and Furious &#;

Since I have very delicate skin, most of the brushes I will show you are appropriate for dry and sensitive skin since they are very soft.

General rules, more or less true

• Flat synthetic brushes : deliver sheer coverage, (may) trap less product, (may be) gentle with delicate and dry skin, tend to leave a streaky application that often needs to be perfected with a finishing brush.
• Small brushes : for a whole face application it takes time, effort but will be able to work more in a dimensional way, allowing you to precisely apply different shades of foundation depending on where you want to enhance the highlight or the contour.
• Rounded goat brushes : strong blending power, apply foundation faster, do not often need an additional finishing step.
• Stippling brushes : extremely gentle with the skin and deliver a flawless and glowy finish. 

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How I started with foundation

A few years ago, I first started applying foundation with the Sigma F80 for liquid and the Bare Escentuals for powder. I have used them for years before I even started using anything else, I was quite happy with them until I got older and the Sigma was not delivering the finish I wanted which had to be more flattering and lightweight. The Bare Escentuals was great and I have even went through several pots of mineral foundation but one day I just couldn&#;t use this brush anymore, it had become too rough and nasty and the ferrule broke.

From the Sigma F80 I went to the Louise Young LY34, it was a fail, it wasn&#;t delivering the airbrushed application I was looking for. I then switched to the Real Techniques stippling brush that I found better for my needs, the coverage was spot on, the application is quite easy but even though the bristles aren&#;t rough, they weren&#;t soft enough for a daily application. That&#;s why I kept on searching for options.

Then I found the Shu Uemura 18, it was great but just too small. It was taking me ages to apply my foundation. Kept on searching for other options and I found the Tom Ford 02, it was insanely soft but using it everyday was not the best option, I had to wash it so often that I decided I would only use it for contour cream or cream blush, but it&#;s good for both foundation and cream blush. Then I found the Chikuhodo and Koyudo that are similar to the Shu, but they are the same size so I was facing the same issue with the speed of application. Then came the Koyudo Fu-pa02 ! Imagine when you are looking for a bigger option and you get this Koyudo you just squeek with emotion.

Today, my very top favorite application of liquid foundation is done with either a combination of two brushes, a flat one to place the foundation and a buffing one to give it an airbrushed finish, or to use one that does both the placement and finishing like the Chikuhodo GSN 05 :

Liquid foundation

There are many that I really love to use and experiment with :

• Koyudo Fu-Pa02

  : is soft, firm, very large, extremely pleasant to use and efficient with so many foundations. The best thing to do (again) is to place and roughly spread your foundation with a flat brush (concealer or foundation) and then use this to blend, you will save money and washes.

• Tom Ford 02

  : soft and very pleasant to use but a shame to use on a daily basis. More appropriate for more liquid foundations than thicker ones. Similiar in size than the Chikuhodo GSN-05 but the GSN will work better with a wider range of foundation textures, from very liquid to quite thick.

• Tanseido YGQ 17

  : it&#;s a bit too floppy to use with foundation, avoid thicker ones. Better for more liquidy foundations or tinted moisturizers. Very soft, the bristles are a bit thicker than their usual white goat blush brushes but I&#;d rather preferred if it was denser. A good brush for liquid or cream blush though.

• Chikuhodo GSN 05

  : it&#;s a work horse, doesn&#;t poke, works with all the foundations I tried.

• Artisan and Artist LQ-11

  : same as the GSN 05, but I don&#;t know if this one is still available.

• Shu Uemura 18

  : nice little brush, as I said before quite small for the full face.

• Koyudo BP014

  : same as the Chikuhodo and Shu but if I had to keep one it would be the BP014, it is more pleasant on the skin.

• Chikuhodo G-10

  : same as the Koyudo and the Shu.

• Takeda (flat)

  : I bought these two Takeda in Japan, in the TAU boutique in Ginza, there is no specific name, no number on the brushes and I could not find them on their website, if you know what they are and can let us know I would appreciate&#; Anyway, they are not that amazing but they are different and I was in my research mode. I really didn&#;t like this flat one at first, I am not blown away by the quality of the hair and the bundle of the head &#; but &#; some time ago I was playing with it, used my cream foundation and then I dip this brush into Mac MSF medium plus and applied on top, it was absolutely freaking perfect. When I pair this brush with both liquid and mineral application it is particularly beautiful. Patting the recently stained hair from blending the liquid foundation on Mac Msf powder and finishing the buffing like that did a great job ! Maybe it is supposed to be used wet with powder ? I am afraid I don&#;t know yet but I will try to spray some water and dip it on MSF for science &#;

• Taketa (round)

  : I bought it in the Tau boutique, don&#;t remember the price and actually it looks terrible and doesn&#;t feel great. I don&#;t understand the shape of the head, it doesn&#;t feel nice, too firm and not that pleasant. I still have to find a way to use it but so far I have not been very lucky with it.

I am showing you just 4 of them on their side because they are the most uncommon :

The little Houkodou and the Koyudo Fu-pas

I love these brushes, the hair is very soft but still firm and with just enough flexibility to allow a nice flawless blending. You notice the Fu-pa05p has a synthetic side for a more smooth application of foundation, it combines a very soft application and a nice blending power with the goat side. I love to use them just like the Radiance as finishing brushes, specially the three on the left but I can also use them from A to Z. The only problem is that they get more dirty more quickly and that depending on the product you better avoid wasting too much of it.

I don&#;t experience irritated zones or flaky application but if I don&#;t use the appropriate foundation and skincare product it may happen, in those circumstances no matter what brush I use the finish will be flaky anyway. If you have oily or combination skin these are really nice brushes to use, on my &#;just moisturized&#; greasy skin they take away the excess shine but still leave some glow to the skin.

I took a picture of all the brushes, from left to right from the softest hair to the less soft. You have visual info of what type of softness to expect if you own any of these brushes :

Stippling foundation brushes

The stippling brushes are a great invention. No abbrassion and often you don&#;t need a finishing brush afterwards. They are really beautiful when they are white synthetic on white goat and now that they are made with red handles they are even more gorgeous&#; 

In this picture you can see where the goat bristles end. The lenght between the end of the goat bristles and the end of the synthetic bristles will serve as shield or &#;bumper&#; and will prevent you from putting too much pressure against your skin therefore being less abbrassive. The bigger that stippling lenght, the more gentle the application. The shorter that length the stronger the blending but that is less recommended for delicate and dry skin. 

Depending on the stippling brush I use them for different purposes, the S, J I love them specially with cream bronzers, *healthy* finishing powders or creams. They will not easily blend a hard textured foundation but they will deliver a lovely healthy finish with a more sheer application.

The G and S are more appropriate for foundations, the S has a strong blending power, personally I don&#;t use them in stippling motions but I gently swirl them without putting too much pressure, we often tend to press the brushes too hard against the skin but it&#;s often not necessary.

The J544 has more firmness and is more densely packed than the J, I love it because I can use it for the application of foundation when my skin is really sensitive, it&#;s more precise than the J, soft and with more blending power than these bigger sisters. Also good for cream blush, you will not hurt yourself with this. I love it more than the Mac 131 because the goat bristles are denser and has more blending power. Although they are both very soft, I prefer how the Hakuhodo white brushes feel on the skin. This one is a crazy brush with a high potential.

The J is denser than the Mac 188sh you see here. The J is a bit more firm than the J and since it&#;s also smaller you&#;ll get more precision, I love it for foundation when my skin is not feeling good, it feels extremely gentle and I actually use with with more liquidy and easy to blend foundations, like the Chantecaille Future skin.

I add a pic with the Mac ones in order for you to see the difference:

Thicker bristles in foundation brushes

It&#;s totally fine and extremely efficient, they just need to be soft enough, these two are. They are the best tools for the application of thicker foundations with a natural finish, also for mineral powder foundations, or cream bronzers (healthy overall application, not precise).

The Kihitsu is the best option for a replacement of the Bare Escentuals, the Koyudo BP013 is perfect for my Mac Mineralize cream foundation.

For powder bronzers I would reach more for these :

For the Chanel Bronzer Universel or the Givenchy Croisière this one :

What about flat brushes ?

I am not going to lie to you, I don&#;t like the finish, if I press too much I don&#;t like the streaky lines they leave behind and if I want to avoid that impression and press more gently, I feel like the product remains in the surface and I don&#;t like it either. I use them but I then buff with something else like the Radiance, the Fu-pa07, or the Houkodou for example.

I even got the amazing Kashoen but I have the same issue. I love the way the brush looks and the bristles feel nice but I still want to buff afterwards. It&#;s ok to leave it like that if you just give it a little bit of work but it will depend on the product and also the situation. If you work on models it&#;s nice to use flat brushes, probably if you approach them with the giant Radiance they would think their face will be brushed away in one stroke and they will freak out &#; The flat brushes will certainly also last longer than a soft goat brush, that&#;s why I think it&#;s good to have the two-step application : place with a flat, blend with a goat &#;

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There are other options of natural/synthetic brushes like the Hakuhodo G520 (weasel-synthetic) and the Evgeny (sable). Both are very soft and both are good for foundation but they will also require a bit of work&#;

The Hakuhodo G520 I still need to buff afterwards, even though you cannot see huge obvious streaky lines I still like to finish with another one. I feel like a glamorous artist when I use it, you are holding something expensive and you feel it a bit, not sure I would pay again what I paid for it but the quality is outstanding and I already found a great use for this one. The placement and blending of cream/mousse blushes and cream contour &#;Comanche style&#;, is really fantastic, you place and blend, I love the precision it allows, precision means dimension to me, and if feels really nice on the skin, pleasant and artistic.

The Evgeny foundation is tiny so not much for the whole face for me, but I have another and an even better purpose for this, I have very hard to pick cream blushes like the Chicca ones (you are even supposed to use a sponge or the fingers), but this brush allows me to pick up the product nicely and apply it, it&#;s flatish at the surface, the picking of hard blushes is easier. It also feels really nice on the skin, no poking, no wasting product either.

Size comparison with the Shu 18 :

Mineral foundation 

Most of the brushes you can buy in the shops are too rough, not dense enough or they will shed like crazy. It is really worth investing in something soft, efficient and if possible beautiful !

In my hunt for the best mineral foundation brushes, this is what I believe to be some of the most impressive candidates in my collection :

• Koyudo BP013 (goat)

  : I use it for Pressed mineral powder, it has enough density and firmness to pick up harder pressed powders (like the Mac MSF) and apply flawlessly, no harsh lines, no muddyness, the blending is totally perfect and it does that without harassing my skin at all. I also use if with cream foundation in compacts (Mac mineralized cream) mostly in winter. It&#;s also a fantastic finishing brush. For softer pressed powders (like Serge Lutens for example) it will work but it&#;s better to use a less powerful brush otherwise it may pick too much product that is unnecessary.

• Kihitsu (goat)

  : Same usage as the Koyudo above but it has more flexibility so excellent with loose powders but a bit less good with cream foundations. The Koyudo feels softer on the skin but both are soft enough for me. To work efficienctly with loose powders better if the brush is not too floppy and not too soft either.

• Koyudo Fu-pa14 (squirrel/goat)

  : it&#;s a very dense brush but very soft and with medium flexibility, that&#;s for example a great brush for Serge Lutens powder foundation which is pressed but volatile and easy to buff. With any mineral foundation application you have to tap the excess off and preferably follow Bare Escentuals ritual that I love : pat, swirl and tap in a container to avoid wasting product.

• Chikuhodo Temari (goat)

  : this brush is a workhorse, it can do anything related to powder and it exceeds my expectations. It&#;s goat hair so it&#;s not as soft as the Fu-pa14 but gosh it&#;s good. I took it to Spain this summer and I was using this with all the SL products : foundation, then bronzer, then blush. Ok, blush was not applied in a precise mode but I wanted the blush to be more like a halo on top of the cheekbones and the temples for a summery easy look. It was too hot, we were always relaxing at home in the little swimming pool and if we had to go out it was not really a planned thing, the makeup routine was restricted to this brush with the SL, some mascara and lipliner/gloss, then sometimes I added eyeliner and eyeshadow for going out at night. It&#;s good for loose or for pressed powders. The BP013 is softer but this Temari is a really good mineral foundation brush and more easy to carry than the long handle one.

• Koyudo White Mushroom (goat)

  : it&#;s extremely soft, the blending power is not as strong but if you want to apply a healthy/sheer coverage with some powder or bronzer that&#;s a nice one for that. I use it when I want just a healthy looking skin or sometimes I actually like to apply a very sheer layer of liquid foundation with another brush and then with this one apply a sheer layer of mineral foundation (like the SL, soft pressed), still looks natural but it&#;s a bit more efficient against the pores than using only liquid foundation.

• Hakuhodo Kokutan Kinoko (goat)

  : it has more density than the Chikuhodo Temari, it&#;s softer too but it has a strong blending power and the application will deliver more coverage, usually the thicker the brush the heavier the coverage. It&#;s rounded but you can still use it easily in a stippling mode because the surface at the top is flat enough for that. I already mentioned that in the past but I&#;ll say it again: it has a high level of density but the way the bristles bend and adapt to your skin during the application will make you go &#;slow motion mode&#;. The Fu-pa14 and the white mushroom too but this Kokutan has just more massaging power and it makes me chill &#;

• Koyudo H005 (squirrel/goat)

  : more flexibility than the Temari, it&#;s not just &#;a kabuki&#;, it&#;s a hell of a kabuki. It&#;s fantastic for so many things, you won&#;t get heavy coverage but you will get a lovely and flawless application of anything powder. It&#;s flexible enough to not leave a harsh application and it&#;s just strong enough to blend.

• Hakuhodo Maple Kinoto (goat)

  : it&#;s very dense and firm, more coverage, more buffing power, soft bristles but it will deliver a more precise application since it&#;s not very flexible.

• Koyudo Fu-pa01 (goat)

  : extremely dense, heavy coverage, you can use it in a stippling mode because it doesn&#;t poke but if you have delicate skin I would recommend you a squirrel brush. I use it mostly to buff the blush harsh lines when I couldn&#;t stop myself from applying too much and if you want to buff the pores away that&#;s a great option too.

• Koyudo Deka-fu-pa (goat)

  same as above just a giant version of it.

In the next picture, I place some of them ranked by density/flexibility from left to right (the most flexible on the left), it will give you an idea of how they compare to each other:

Here they are ranked by softness of the hair, the softest on the left :

If you are looking for very soft &#;hair mass&#; type stippling brushes, the Koyudo H008 and H011 are to die for, it&#;s difficult to get any better than that but keep in mind the bristles are short and very dense.

I still haven&#;t found a way to use the Hakuhodo G543 but you see it in the pic for reference.

When I don&#;t want to bother with a lot of mineral foundation, I apply concealer where I need it (spots, marks, eyes, nose) then I use simply the Chikuhodo Z-1 or the Chikuhodo G-9 for a sheer layer of mineral foundation, as long as they are dense enough to pick up the product and firm enough to softly blend it, it will work. This type of application will be very lightweight but sometimes less is more as they say and when I know I will be standing out in the bright sunlight I prefer to avoid looking like I have any foundation on at all.

The finished application will depend on the density, the firmness, the technique, the product and the material. I don&#;t have a precise formula but roughtly :

• goat will pick up more product
• a higher density will deliver a heavier application
• stippling technique will also help deliver a more heavy coverage

Sometimes the &#;softer&#; way to go is not the better way to go, it&#;s up to your preferences and the results you need.

There are also loose bronzers but the application is similar to loose powder foundation, these are the ones I like to use with the Guerlain loose :

Synthetic brushes

When it comes to brushes, I have a bit of everything, I use synthetic brushes too but I prefer natural brushes. The Rae Morris 23 here is one that I love like crazy but that I also hate like hell because it&#;s not made anymore !! I cannot believe that, seriously, we had a great brush here (still room for handle improvement though..) but honestly I think the most sensitive people would adore something like this.

The synthetic ones that I use the most are the Real Techniques, their stippling brush is now a bit too harsh for me but I quite enjoy the Face expert, although it moves my skin a bit too much and the feeling of synthetic bristles is not the most pleasant thing for me&#; but it&#;s a great affordable brush.

The Shiseido is a bit too flat and too dense for me and although it&#;s really soft it also moves my skin too much (obviously it&#;s something I don&#;t like&#;) during application and stippling a flat mass of hair onto my face is not what I love the most, if you are looking for this kind of brush and want something that doesn&#;t poke then that&#;s perfect. As I said, it&#;s often totally linked to your own preferences and something that doesn&#;t work for me, it will certainly work for others.

In the waiting room..

These are the items that I am still trying to use. The Chanel brush here is really very soft and will not poke at all if you use it in a stippling motion, but I don&#;t use this technique and I don&#;t like to use it another way and it takes just forever to dry. Maybe one day I will use it for something, I keep on the research.

The Koyudo Fu-pa03 is too flat for me, it&#;s bigger than the Sigma F80 and denser. So far I haven&#;t played with it a lot, the feeling of a mass of synthetic hair on my skin is not my favorite thing, but it&#;s really very soft and if you use it in a stippling mode with powder you&#;ll certainly be happy with the results. It&#;s just something I don&#;t like to do with my skin condition at this moment. If you have any experience with it, please share !

The BeautyBlender&#; this is not a brush, what is it doing here ? hmmmm &#; I have been fighting with this one in order to use it and have it deliver good results. Yes I managed, it took me a while but I got it. What I found is that it doesn&#;t work well with all foundations and I have to be patient to use it. To be honest with you I feel a bit dumb when I am stippling with this and it makes me do silly faces &#; not sure why, also I have to be free of migranes because stippling is definitely the technique to use but not a technique I can afford on a daily basis. I love brushes too much also so that&#;s a bit of a challenge to make me use something else for foundation ! Still under investigation.

I found a brush with similar bristles than the Chanel in a drugstore in Japan and for much cheaper, it&#;s much smaller but it&#;s the same fibers. From Felicela and I saw them in Sasa.

Unfortunatelly, I could not write about every case and situation, not only I have a problem finding free time but also because my skin is playing tricks to me at this moment, I spent some time without my usual moisturizer and it&#;s not liking it now, playing with too many foundations at this moment would be a dangerous hazard &#; But now we have the forum, don&#;t hesitate to ask for advice also over there, many of us use exceptional brushes and I am sure you can get proper advice. By the way, this week I will share 3 little posts with you before I leave on holiday (yes&#; holiday again!!! but that is an accident).  Those posts are about Kashoen, the Yojiya brushes and some new Koyudo ones &#; I am also preparing a post on &#;brush cleaning&#; but I am still performing some research and awaiting for some info.

I hope this was helpful and it gave you an idea of what kind of foundation brushes are out there ! (A lot !)

A car, a house, a dress, a watch, or even a simple a make up brush, how do you make your final decision ? Budget aside, is it rational or emotional ? When the choice is overwhelming how do you handle it ?

Some already know exactly what they want and others can afford pretty much everything they want, in those circumstances there is no obvious difficulty or frustration to deal with, but the majority just want to narrow it down to the minimum, whenever possible to the best and it&#;s totally understandable that brushes are not everybody&#;s budget top priority.

Personally I love &#;the decision making process&#; in general, I live with it, I work with it, it fascinates me and I get bored if I cannot experience it.  When it comes to brushes, specially the hunting is the most exciting part for me, that&#;s how I got here, a lot of hunting with just a pinch of self-control. I remember the very black comedy series &#;Psychoville&#;, it&#;s awful I warn you, funny but very uncomfortable, the old man in the series loves Beanie babies to the death, his purpose in life is the hunt for the most unique of them all, it takes him a while and an insane quantity of effort but finally when he finds &#;the one&#; he throws it in the ocean&#; why ??? because the hunt is what makes him even happier. Will I ever get THE brush that blows out my brains (or whatever is left) ? It already happened, many times. Did I stop ? nope. I am like an insatiable vampire, but don&#;t be afraid, I am just here to help &#;. &#;
That&#;s why I started this little blog in the first place, at least to give a useful purpose to my collection and maybe put you in the right direction when you are facing some decision making difficulties.

I receive many emails asking for recommendations, I try to reply to you the best I can but there are many things that always remain unwritten and that I need to say so I&#;ll say it here and now.  When I am asked &#;What is the best bronzer brush? What foundation brush do you recommend ?&#; How could I possible shortly reply to these questions if I don&#;t know you. I don&#;t know what products you use, what type of skin you have, what finish you are expecting, what material you prefer, what type of handles you prefer or what technique you use. Even if I try, there are chances that I don&#;t aim right. Also, I need to point out here that there is no BEST brush of all, there could be a better one for you depending on your needs but in general there are many amazing ones, each one adapted to a type of product, a type of skin and your personal preferences. Once you understand these prerequisites, you&#;ll see how difficult it is for someone to decide on your behalf.

I met many categories of brush lovers, there is :

• The Collector

  &#; will be interested by the most extreme brushes ever made and will gather the most amazing artistic creations.

• The Brushpeologist

   &#;  I think I am part of that category &#; always hunting for new treasures, but curiosity hasn&#;t yet killed anything, neither the cat, nor my passion.

• The Newcome

  r

  &#; a make up artist -or any other skilled person- who just found out that soft and beautiful brushes exist and wants to replace his old ones.

• The Beginner

  &#; who is just starting to experiment with make up and needs adapted tools.

• The Faithful and Devoted

  &#; who will stick to a brand, no matter what.

• The Purist

  &#; sticks to the same color.

• The Proficient

  &#; doesn&#;t care about the tool, just cares about the functionality and wants the best results.

• The Planner

  &#; who is slowly preparing and building his essential tools kit over the time, prioritization in mind.

• The Infected

  &#; wasn&#;t looking for brushes, got here, got infected.

• The Voyager

  &#; the one who came, built his collection, had a good time and is now exploring other fields of beauty.

• The Scientist

  &#; driven by research and result oriented with high a curiosity to experiment with products and acquire mathematical knowledge.

• The Mystified

  &#; doesn&#;t know what this fuss is all about, has no clue if he needs a brush, or what for.

• The Straightforward&#;er&#;

  &#; brush acquisition has to be a simple, fast and direct process.

• The Uncontrollable Enthusiast

  &#; is driven by a fierce passion and admiration and wants to get all of them ! (yep, I am here too&#;)

You may belong to one of these categories or not, or to several altogether, it&#;s just a funny way to present it &#; but the message I want to communicate is that we all have different needs, preferences, priorities, values and objectives, you have to follow your own. The complexity of our personalities has also an importance.

I love beautiful brushes but my priority is quality and results, if a brush is beautiful and can deliver, even better !

This is just a short introduction and preparation lecture if you are interested in brushes and have trouble deciding, because in the near future I am going to publish a series of posts where I&#;ll give you an overview and my recommendations by category, starting with foundation brushes, if these series are helpful, I will carry on. The idea behind those posts is not only to give you my personal recommendations but if you are willing to, share yours in the comments. It&#;s probably going to be amazingly helpful for all of us if you&#;ll share what your profile is and what foundation brush and product you use.

There is people looking for light coverage, heavy, or just targeting a younger and healthier appearance, going for runway make up looks or for long days at work, whatever your profile is you may be lost in selection and I am not going to lie to you, it&#;s fun but the selection or decision process can be painful so we&#;ll try to reduce it to an acceptable level.

How to reduce the confusion and how to make the right decision ? Well there is no secret formula, there are some helpful rules but there is also a more dark psychological side that we don&#;t necessarily control.

This is a summary of official strategic thinking advice mixed with my own rules, that could also apply to many fields of your life, but here we are just talking about make up brushes :

1. Analyse your needs

   . Identify what the problem is with your current brushes. You may have brushes that don&#;t work with your new acquired products anymore, that now deliver too much coverage for your age or that don&#;t deliver enough, that don&#;t apply the product nicely or that are too rough. For me the &#;one brush fits all&#; concept does not work. Once you know what the problem is at least you know what to look for.

2. Do your own research

   . Either in Youtube, blogs, forums, there is a lot of information out there and the most useful for me was Youtube videos. BUT, don&#;t necessarily buy anything that they (or I) say it&#;s good because it may not be for you. Beware of &#;Information Overload&#;, this is when a person doesn&#;t have yet the necessary topic knowledge or experience to process a huge load of information thrown at her. It takes time and effort but relax, the world hasn&#;t been created in a day.

3. Limit the choice

   . Unfortunately too many choices are the cause of our decision making problem today. If you already know something will not work for you, just eliminate it, don&#;t get influenced by other&#;s needs, think about yours and your own  preferences, always.

4. Accept your choice.

    &#;Best&#; is what is &#;good enough for you&#;.  If it meets your requirements, it means it&#;s meant for you. It&#;s how you feel about your choice that matters, if you are happy, it&#;s good enough!

5. Don&#;t be too scared of the outcome.

    We all make mistakes and we all change and evolve. If it&#;s a good brush it may be good for you in the future, our technique changes, the products we own change, who knows, either way, the consequences are not that long lasting, and even if it&#;s a perfect brush today, it may not be anymore tomorrow.

6. Go with your instinct and your guts, always !!!

   I can&#;t stress it enough. This is the most important rule. You may think you are making a rational or an emotional choice but in my humble opinion, all decisions are driven by emotions without us even noticing it and you are more likely to regret something you purchased rationally, than emotionally. &#;We forgive our heart more than our head&#;.

7. Have someone else choose for you

   . It&#;s also a rule if you want, and then you can thank or blame someone else &#;

8. Take your time

   . If you are still not sure, give it a night or two&#;

9. Don&#;t question your choice anymore

   . Once you went for it, stop the agony. You can go for more in the future but that choice has been done now so look at the future, not the past. &#;All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last&#; (Marcel Proust by the way&#; ).

There is another little creepy way of deciding, spend a few days imagining that you made that decision, then pause, if you are not happy, spend a few days imagining you made the other decision&#;.  &#; it&#;s difficult to imagine because without the product it&#;s not something that appears feasible but it can work.

Today I have regrets but we all learn from our mistakes, usually I don&#;t make the same mistake twice, other mistakes for sure but not the same &#;  When I buy brushes I don&#;t like to use, if the brushes are of good quality I wait. One day when I have time I take a product I don&#;t use or don&#;t like, a brush I don&#;t use, and I see if there is a possibility I can get any use at all if they are combined&#; You&#;ll see in my posts that I have a few brushes that are still in the waiting room. You also need a bit of creativity and imagination, thinking outside the box will help reduce any regret you may have.

The upcoming post about &#;How to choose your foundation brush&#; will feature 40 completely different foundation brushes, that&#;s why I wanted to warn you, if you are looking for the one for you, some decision making process may be involved  &#;

I wish you a wonderful weekend !

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit FUYI Brush.