Maychiri's Thoughts: Brush set

Essence Wish Upon a Star Brush Duo Review

April 05, 2024

One brush set that’s starstruck and ready for the festive season! This is the Essence Wish Upon a Star Brush Duo, variant 01/Secret Wishes On Shooting Stars (this is the only variant anyways)!

I really couldn’t miss out on this brush set! Essence brushes are mostly fantastic, so, with that level of trust, I knew I probably couldn’t go wrong with this set. This set was part of the Wish Upon a Star LE, which was a Christmas LE with designs and colours that were so perfect for December! Everything sparkly and starry... it really makes you want to wish upon a shooting star! So is this set – look how sparkly the two brushes are! I nearly missed it, though! My local Müller sells out Essence LEs like hotcakes – it’s a real miracle I was able to find this set! A... Christmas miracle, perhaps? Well, now that I have it, let’s see how good it is!

Packaging: even though it is just your ordinary cardboard packaging, it’s really pretty! Essence made sure that it fits the theme of this LE, so it’s dark blue like the night sky, and has golden text, golden like the stars in the night sky! Also, stars everywhere! This is so adorable! You’ve got so many stars that you could wish upon here! Information about this brush set is in the back. The front has a nice plastic window that allows you to see the brushes inside – but no touching! I really like this, it keeps the brushes clean! A very sturdy and very pretty packaging, I love it!

The highlighter brush

This brush set contains only two brushes, but it’s two always useful brushes: one highlighter brush and one eyeshadow shader brush. Maybe it’s a bit odd to mix-and-match one face and one eye brush, but this is actually an interesting choice. With the eyeshadow shader you can add some shimmery champagne eyeshadow, and with the highlighter brush you can make yourself sparkle like a real star. Clever!

The eyeshadow shader brush

The two brushes share the same design, which is very festive and really pretty! They are both dusted with gold dust, which looks like stardust! Sparkly and perfect for the festive season! I love the gradient of the gold shimmer on the handle, it slowly tapers off, so it really looks like the brushes have been dipped in stardust! Gorgeous! The brushes are extremely lightweight, this, of course, makes them comfortable to use. Both have a solid gold ferrule, that’s so glamorous! The combination of the solid gold ferrule with the stardust-speckled handle makes the brushes look much more expensive than they were, truly! The brush head has pure white hairs. Lovely as they may be, they are easily stained, so wash the brushes often! Truly a gorgeous design, I cannot stop looking at the brushes, they’re just so pretty! In terms of quality, both brushes have a high level of quality, with no loose parts. The hairs (which are synthetic) are similarly high quality: no fraying or fall-out, and they aren’t very shiny either. Awesome!

The first brush I will be taking a look at is the larger of the two: a highlighter brush!

The hairs on this brush are sooo soft! Omg, it’s like the softest plushie! It’s soft when you swirl, swipe or tap with the brush! In fact, it may be the softest when you tap! It’s so luxuriously soft, and feels extremely nice on skin! The shape of this brush is ideal for highlighters; it is a classic tapered highlighter brush that makes it easy to precisely highlight the high points of the face.

This brush picks up a ton of pigment! Like, actually too much! So I have to be careful how I highlight with it if I don’t want to be glowing. It applies pigment very richly, so be careful how much pressure you apply if you want to have subtle highlighting. It’s also super precise thanks to the tapered shape, so it’s easy to highlight smaller areas such as the cupid’s bow or the tip of the nose. And it also blends pigments excellently!

This brush is incredibly easy to use, and I love to use it! I often reach for it when I need a highlighter brush because I know it’s going to give me fantastic results!

Washing: oh it’s magnificently easy to wash! It doesn’t absorb shampoo, so rinsing it out only takes like 30 seconds. The pure white hairs stay in perfect condition after a wash, the same shape, no fall-out and, it seems, no yellow discolouration at the base.

All in all, what a terrific brush! Essence rarely have flop brushes, so I’m not surprised that this one is this good. But it’s really, really great! The hairs are super soft and feel sooo comfortable on the skin, and the brush applies highlighters so well and so easily that it’s child’s play! Like, I can be done highlighting within a minute with this brush because highlighter always looks excellent from the moment I apply it with this brush – even chunkier, more difficult to blend highlighter! This brush blends so easily, and it doesn’t usually overblend, so highlighters always look amazing! And me, I like to have intense highlighting, so I positively adore this brush because it can give me that intensity in so little time! And it’s always going to look naturally applied and buffed into the skin! Such a fantastic brush – I cannot stress this enough! Wow! I adore it!

Rating: 9.5/10

Now, the second – and much smaller – brush! This is a classic eyeshadow shader brush.

The hairs aren’t very shiny, and they look pretty high quality. But there is one hair that is way longer than the others (ngl, it’s annoying me). The hairs are super soft, but they also feel firm (the hairs are quite short after all). It doesn’t feel hard though, so it’s still very pleasant to use. The shape is very good for applying eyeshadows onto the eyelid as it’s dense and small.

Indeed, this brush is excellent! At least for applying eyeshadows, because it’s far too dense to be able to blend at all. It could be used to smudge, but it’s really best for simply applying pigments. And that’s not a bad thing – I’d rather it be excellent at just one job than be mediocre at multiple ones! It picks up a huge amount of pigment, so much that it often causes eyeshadows to have fall-out from how much it picks up! This is awesome!

It ensures that you get maximum pigmentation from the eyeshadow you’re using. It applies it incredibly evenly and quite precisely, which makes it suitable to be used for smokey eye looks. It’s precise enough to add definition in the outer V or the crease easily, without it looking too smudgy. It’s so fun to use! And it makes creating even more complex looks a breeze! Just be sure to have a spare blending brush at hand!

Washing: as easy as can be! Since it doesn’t absorb shampoo it is super easy to rinse it all out and have a perfectly clean brush! There’s no fall-out or fraying after a wash and it keeps its shape. However, like with many Essence brushes that have pure white hairs, there may be some slight discolouration at the base post-wash; this is likely the glue seeping down, but don’t worry, it doesn’t seem to cause any problems.

I’ve already washed this brush multiple times and this discolouration didn’t seem to do a thing.

All in all, oh wow, this is such a fantastic brush! Essence eyeshadow shader brushes are usually incredible, so I’m not surprised that this one is too, but I am certainly glad! The hairs are very soft, so it’s suitable for sensitive eyes. The brush picks up a ton of pigment, ensuring that the colours are as vivid as possible. But it doesn’t make it look cakey, as it spreads the eyeshadow so well that it looks silky on eyelids. It’s also so precise that it can define the crease easily, without it being very smudgy. Or you can use it to smoke out the eyes, it will look really, really good! The only thing this brush cannot do is blend but that’s okay, because it’s not meant to blend anyways. I love this brush so much – it’s so fun and easy to use, and it always makes eyeshadows look great, even unruly ones!

Rating: 9/10

Oh yeah, this set is fabulous! Not only is it strikingly gorgeous with the stardust-speckled design and the pure white hairs, it is also incredible in terms of functionality. See, both brushes are very high-quality, as they apply pigments so well that they rival much more expensive brushes! Both brushes apply pigments richly and evenly, and both are excellent for their respective purposes. The highlighter brush is amazing at highlighting, and you can easily add just a bit of shine or go full glam and shine like the full Moon! The eyeshadow shader brush makes sure your eyeshadow is at peak intensity of pigmentation, and it applies it evenly across the eyelid. Both are incredibly fun and easy to use, so they’d be great brushes for a beginner or someone who doesn’t yet have a lot of brushes! I have plenty of brushes yet I still routinely reach for this highlighter brush specifically! It’s just that good! What can I say – Essence really know how to make kickass brushes! It’s such a shame, though, that it’s a limited edition set... at least I was able to get it, which was a real miracle in and of itself! But my wishes came true, and I was able to get this set. I highly recommend this set, if you manage to somehow find it somewhere still!

Rating (overall): 9/10

Would buy again? YES

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Brush set

H&M Eye Brush Kit Review

November 02, 2023

The only item for today, but it is an interesting one! This is the H&M Eye Brush Kit!

I bought this brush set on a whim, when I was still trying to buy at least one brush from as many brands as I could. This lead me to H&M; I debated whether to get a single brush or a brush set, but, seeing as I hadn’t yet known what their brushes are like I didn’t want to risk it. Eyeshadow brushes are the safest option I feel like, so I decided to get that. Besides, they’re cute and come with a small protective pouch (and a chain to hang them somewhere)! Plus, seems they’re limited edition! Interesting! So how good is this set, as the first brushes I got from H&M? Let’s see!

Packaging: cute little protective pouch with a zip lock. It’s transparent to allow you to see the lil brushes inside. The pouch is well-made, with a good zip lock mechanism. The plastic is tough but super smooth and it isn’t easily damaged. What it is, is easy to clean, so if it becomes dirty just wipe it with a damp cloth and it will be good as new! Oh, and best thing about it, besides being so small and portable? It’s magenta pink!

This set includes 5 brushes, all for the eyes. There’s a blending brush, a large angled eyeshadow brush, a small dense eyeshadow brush, small detail brush, and an eyeliner brush. Good variety of eye brushes for most types of eye looks you could think of. I think this would make a fine gift for someone who doesn’t have a lot of eyeshadow brushes yet!

All brushes share the same design: a rose gold ferrule and handle, and white/light gray ombre hairs. It’s a gorgeous design; I like how the hairs are white at the tips but have this nice gray colour on the rest of the hairs. These brushes are mini, to make them portable, which also means that they are extremely light. As light as a feather! The build quality is very good, nothing is loose or feels badly made. The hairs are all synthetic. I like this design, it is quite pretty!

The first brush is going to be the blending brush. This is a small blending brush that’s fluffy enough. It is small, on the account of this whole set being comprised of mini brushes, but it’s not too small for the purpose it is built for. The hairs are cut evenly and looks high quality; it’s not very shiny, either.

This brush is soft enough, although it is not winning any ‘softest brush’ awards. Still, it is nicely soft, not at all scratchy or prickly. Even when tapping with it, it is not prickly. Now, being a blending brush, it is not made to apply pigments, so it struggles in that regard. It doesn’t apply pigments too evenly and richly, it’s more like a pale wash of colour. I cannot fault it for this because it was not built for this. What it was designed for is blending. And it does that quite well. Not perfectly, but very well. It doesn’t struggle to blend even the darkest of eyeshadows, although it can get a tiny bit muddy sometimes. It's easy to use and the small size, even though it is not ideal for blending out eyeshadows in general, is good if you need to blend out small areas. I think it is fairly easy to get eyeshadow to look properly blended out with this brush.

It’s super easy to wash; it does not absorb any shampoo and it only takes a short time to wash properly. There is no fall-out or fraying of the hairs after washing it.

In short, a pretty good start, no? While it is tiny, it actually blends very well, and the small size gives it an advantage in smaller areas. It’s also pretty soft! I love how easy it is to use and how good it can make eyeshadows look, although it can sometimes make it a bit muddy too. But it is a very good blending brush, nonetheless!

Rating: 7.5/10

The second brush is the large angled eyeshadow brush. This brush is definitely the largest of the bunch, although that’s not saying much when they’re all still tiny. This brush is angled to help you get a good smoked out look. The hairs aren’t very shiny; they look high quality, there isn’t a single hair out of place.

This brush is quite soft but it can get a tiny bit prickly if you tap with it. I think it’s soft enough in general, though. This is a denser brush than the previous one, so it is no surprise then that it applies pigments more richly. It applies them evenly and richly, although it is not very precise. It is best used in the crease to get a smokey wing, as it is just not precise enough for much else. Although, it is pretty good at blending pigments out. Not nearly as good as the blending brush from this set, but it is still more than usable for this purpose. It’s fairly easy to use, even on my smaller eyes.

It is just as easy to wash as the blending brush. It does not absorb any shampoo and it doesn’t take long to completely rinse it out. There’s no fall-out or fraying post-wash and it keeps its original shape.

In short, this is a pretty good brush for applying eyeshadows diffusely. The shape makes it ideal for the outer V to get a nice smoked out wing, but it is not precise enough for any kinds of graphic or precise looks. It applies pigments pretty evenly and richly, though. I tend to use it with neutral base colours to get them across my entire eyelid, before applying any darker/more intense colours. Sometimes I use it to get a smokey eye; I am satisfied with how it usually turns out, after blending. So while it is not the best ever angled eyeshadow brush, it is still pretty good.

Rating: 7/10

Now, the third brush! This is the first of the more precise brushes, this one being a more pencil-like brush. It is narrow and slightly tapered at the tip. This makes it much more precise than the previous two brushes.

Indeed, I usually use it for precise work such as applying dark eyeshadows in the corner of the eyes or to buff in dark eyeshadows into the crease. It is small, even for a mini brush set. The hairs are evenly cut with no stray hairs at all. They are not too shiny, either. Looks pretty high quality, like the rest of the set so far. The hairs are quite soft, even when you tap with the brush.

Now yes, it is pretty small. This makes it ideal for detail work, such as adding definition to the crease or smoking out the corner of the eye. This is because it applies a very intense and even layer of pigment, much more intense than the previous two brushes. And you don’t have to press hard to get it to look so dark! However, this comes at a price: it cannot blend well at all. It can smudge relatively easily, but blending? No. To be fair, pencil brushes and similar small, dense brushes aren’t meant to blend anyway so I cannot complain about that too much. This is perhaps the brush I use most often; I love how smoky and intense eyeshadow looks with it! It’s also really easy to use!

Washing: just as easy as the previous two. Not a lot of washing needed to clean it thoroughly and it doesn’t absorb shampoo, despite being quite dense. It stays in perfect shape after a wash; no fraying or fall-out here!

In short, this might be the best brush of the set! It’s precise and small, allowing you to apply eyeshadows in the smaller areas such as the outer corner without any smudging. I love how easy it is to get dramatic, dark and defined eye looks with brush! It is also soft and it applies pigments precisely and very richly. Also, very evenly! Of course, such a dense small brush won’t be good for blending; smudging... eh, maybe. But for blending you should use the blending brush from this set. But given how good it is for any kind of like smokey eye and how easy it is to use and how precisely it applies pigment, it’s no wonder this is my favourite brush from this set!

Rating: 8/10

For the penultimate brush, we have the small detail eyeshadow brush. Unlike the previous one, this one is much flatter and a bit shorter. The brush hairs are, again, cut perfectly evenly and they appear to be high quality. These hairs a just a tiny bit more shiny than the others.

It is soft, but not as soft as the other brushes. Also, it is a fair bit prickly when you tap with it, which is uncomfortable. This shape is perfect for most detail work, such as applying eyeshadow into the inner corner or if you want to emphasise the crease for a sort-of cut crease look. It could also be used to draw smokey wings like the last brush, but this one will be ever so slightly more appropriate for this because it’s flatter.

This brush is pretty easy to use, but something about it bugs me a little bit. I don’t know why but it’s just not as good as the pencil-like brush. This brush still applies a generous amount of pigment and it is quite precise, but the pigment can be a tad uneven sometimes. It’s still intense and dramatic but not as even as I’d like it to be. Still, it’s good enough of you want to apply eyeshadow in the inner corner, and yeah, it is perfect for emphasising the crease! This is the best brush for that purpose in this set – so if you like cut creases you’ll probably end up using this brush often! It can make the crease wonderfully sharp and defined! It can also draw pretty nice wings if you want to add some drama to the outer V, but again, it’s got problems with unevenness so it won’t be as good as with the previous brush. It will be more sharply defined though! The same caveat as with the last brush is true here: it’s much too dense and packed to be able to blend. This one can smudge better than the previous one, but it still cannot blend to save its life.

Washing: once again, super easy. It doesn’t absorb shampoo and it doesn’t take long to get it to be 100% clean. Also, no fall-out or fraying or any other kind of damage post-wash.

In short, not a bad brush by any means, but I do feel like it might be the worst one in this set. It is soft but uncomfortably prickly when you tap with it, as you would to really pack on pigments. So that bothers me. As for how it is to use, it is easy to use! It applies a rich layer of pigment right where you want it but it might be a little uneven. This is the biggest problem with this brush; this unevenness can cause problems when you are doing very precise work as it’s a risk of ruining everything if you have to go back again and again just to make the layer even. But it is going to be really intense, that’s guaranteed! Of course, it cannot blend at all, such is the price you pay when you have a brush head that is dense and packed. This all means that I tend to use this brush more rarely than the others. It’s not bad, it’s just got some problems that aren’t too serious but which I may not want to faff around with. It’s great for cut creases and any look that demands your eyelid be sharply defined though!

Rating: 6.5/10

And finally, the fifth and final brush! This is a tiny eyeliner brush! It’s angled at the right angle for eyeliners and brow products. It is quite short and tiny, perhaps a bit too tiny for eyebrow powders, it’s much more appropriate for eyeliners. Or when you want to make eyeshadows look like eyeliners!

The brush hairs are cut almost perfectly evenly – except for a couple of hairs on one of the sides. They are a tiny bit frayed. This is also the shiniest of the brushes, which makes perfect sense with how smooth these hairs are! They don’t look plastic, though. It is pretty soft – especially for an eyeliner brush – but it can be a little bit prickly at times. The shape is ideal for super detailed work such as making an eyeliner wing or if you are making graphic looks. Or lining the lash line/waterline.

This brush may be tiny, but it applies pigments really well. Although it can be a bit patchy sometimes, probably because it is so tiny it just cannot pick up a ton of pigment. But because it is wicked precise, it doesn’t matter too much; after all, tracing a previously drawn line isn’t hard when the brush is so precise to begin with. It applies pigments quite intensely but it quickly runs out of pigment, so you have to go back into the pan again and again. It can get tiring after a while tbh. And don’t expect such a dense, tiny, straight-cut brush to be able to blend, because it cannot blend at all. It can only smudge, to some degree, but I cannot blame it for this. Blending really isn’t something an eyeliner brush should be able to do, in the first place! I do manage to get quite good graphic looks with this brush so obviously it is not horrible to use! Just takes a bit of time and patience!

Washing: guess what? Yep, it’s extremely easy to wash! Being the smallest it is by far the easiest one to wash of the bunch. It requires only a tiny amount of shampoo and it will make it squeaky clean in no time because it doesn’t absorb shampoo and the smooth hairs make it even easier to rinse. It stays in perfect shape after a wash, too; no fraying/fall-out.

In short, this is a pretty nice eyeliner brush! I’ve had better ones, sure, but this one is more than adequate. It is tiny enough to apply pigments super precisely, so if you are trying to do a detailed graphic look or even just a simple eyeliner flick, this brush will be able to do it no problem! But it picks up a small amount of pigment at once – probably on account of being so darn tiny. So you will have to go back into the pan to keep drawing intense lines. It’s easy to trace over the previously drawn shapes, don’t worry! Do be sure to grab a blending or smudging brush if you want to soften the line as this brush isn’t suited for blending/smudging. It’s pretty easy to use, even if you aren’t skilled! I have tried to also use it with eyebrow powder and, while the results weren’t horrendous, it is definitely far too small for this purpose. This is not the best brush of the set, but it’s certainly not the worst, either!

Rating: 7/10

I may have bought this set on a whim, but I have quickly grown to like it! The brushes are all so tiny and cute and perfect for my tiny baby hands! The level of quality is high across all the brushes; the hairs are all high quality, showing no (or almost no) signs of fraying and there is no fall-out with any of the 5 brushes. The ferrule is sturdy on all of them, too. I love their design; the rose gold handle/ferrule is a gorgeous colour and the hairs look so classy with the white-light gray gradient. Now, in more detail. Every single one of the 5 brushes is at least good, with a few being excellent. They all serve their purpose very well; the more fluffy brushes blend very well, while the denser brushes apply pigments richly and intensely. They are all soft to varying degrees, making them suitable for sensitive eyes and skin. I love this set because you truly have a brush for every purpose! Want to apply eyeshadow across the entire eyelid? Grab the angled eyeshadow brush! Want to deposit small, precise amounts of pigment in tighter areas? Grab the pencil-looking brush or the small detail eyeshadow brush! You can make any kind of eyeshadow look with this set – the possibilities are endless, only bound by the limits of your imagination and creativity! I really like to use them; in fact, I use them often because they are pretty good and very easy to use! Among them, my personal favourite would probably be the pencil brush, but they are all great, trust me! You might think that, for such a low price, you wouldn’t get brushes that are amazing, and true, they aren’t amazing per se, but they are damn close! And since you have 5 different eye brushes in this kit, it would make the perfect present for someone who doesn’t yet have a lot of eye brushes. They’ll be all set with this set! So, while this may not be the best eye brush set out there, it’s very good nonetheless, which earns them my recommendation! Price/quality ratio is very good indeed! Good first impression, H&M!

Rating (overall): 7/10

Would buy again? Maybe NO (they are a bit too tiny I think in the end)