little white truths

If there's one thing I've noticed as I've been reviewing the brushes from this Real Techniques starter set for eyes, it's that almost everyone has said that they don't use the brushes for their intended purposes, and I completely agree with that.

Indeed, it's been quite nice to know that I'm not the only one who picks up one of these brushes and thinks 'there's no way I'm using this for that' because it makes me feel like less of a makeup dunce than I'd previously felt.

Anyhoo. This brush is no exception. I don't use it as a base shadow brush, but I do use it.


Real Techniques claims/product details:

• Applies a smooth, flawless foundation of colour 
• Designed by Samantha Chapman, makeup artist 
• Made with hand-cut synthetic taklon bristles and aluminium handles 
• RRP $45 AUD for the five-brush starter set, but do shop around (I paid about $25) 

Verdict

I do use this brush frequently, but I don't use it as my base shadow brush - it's too soft and isn't dense enough to apply my base colour.

Funnily enough, I use the Deluxe Crease Brush (reviewed here) from this set as my base shadow brush, and I use this one to soften/fade out whatever colour I've applied to the crease. Indeed, from the reviews I've read of this set, a lot of people seem to have switched the uses for these two brushes.

What's good about this one is that it has a wider side and a thinner one, and both sides are useful. I use the thinner edge to diffuse shadow along my crease, and the thicker edge to smoke it upwards and outwards. Because this brush is fluffier than the flat base brushes I own, it doesn't apply colour with strong edges so I don't need to blend as much - and that makes a time-poor lass happy ; )

The brush is quite soft and fluffy, so it won't kick up colour in the pan of your powders - but it also won't apply colour as thickly and quickly as you might want (which is why I use the crease brush for a quick sweep of base colour).

Aside from using this brush to smoke colour up and out from the crease, what I also use it for is to soften any harsh lines and buff out the edges after I've applied my shadow, and also to manage patchy application, fill in any gaps and even things up (since I almost always apply my makeup unevenly to each eye and need something like this to fix that).

In sum, this is a nice little brush and it's one of the more useful tools in the set.