I recently purchased brushes from @eyeslipsface‘s Mineral Makeup line. I got the All-over Eyeshadow Brush, Contour Brush, Blending Eye Brush, and Angled Blush Brush. Their website describes them to be:

“This antibacterial Taklon bristled brush is 100% cruelty free, luxuriously soft and can be used with wet or dry products and is ideal for e.l.f. Natural Mineral Makeup. The natural and sustainable bamboo handle fits ergonomically in your hand for comfort and precise application. The recycled Ferrule is eco-friendly for guilt free beauty. Because beautifying yourself and the world is a beautiful thing!”

I must say I’m actually a bit disappointed with these brushes. They’re $5 a piece which is more than their Essential AND Studio brushes. The bristles are pretty soft but don’t apply product amazingly (their cheaper Studio line brushes are better, in my opinion.) For the eye brushes I got, they’re all shaped about the same as my professional brushes except the feeling when you drag them over your fingertips or on your eyelids don’t feel the same. I can’t quite put my finger on how to describe it. I think these brushes remind me more of soft craft and painting brushes rather than makeup brushes.

The All-over Eyeshadow brush was probably my least favorite of the bunch. I found that I had to apply more layers of shadow in order to get the color payoff I wanted. Sweeping the brush gave you a pretty even sheer color depending on the eyeshadow you used. I would say pressing the brush on to your lid would result in better color payoff. Overall I felt that even for the price of this brush, there’s way better ones out there even from their Studio collection.

The Contour Brush, to me, is just like a large pencil brush. It’s usage is described to be for “detailed contouring and blending in the crease and corners of the eye” but maybe because I have relatively small lids and an even smaller crease area (because I’m asian) it doesn’t really work for me. I tried applying my outer corner color with my regular pencil brush and blending with the Contour brush and it seemed to do the job. It’s got a stiffer point than the Blending brush but it works.

The Blending Eye Brush was my favorite of the eye brushes I purchased. It’s the softest of the brushes and does a good job of blending. I actually found good use of it to apply my darker outer corner color as well. I like to dip it in a bit of color like a black or brown and spin the brush between my fingers on the outer corner of my eye to get a soft but opaque color (then blend out the edges of course).

The Angled Blush Brush was pretty good actually. It picked up color pretty well and distributed product evenly. Comparing it to my Essence of Beauty double ended Blush and Powder brush, I actually think this brush is better (even though it doesn’t have a powder brush side). Given my Essence of Beauty Blush and Powder brush is really old now it didn’t stand up as well as my Essence of Beauty Foundation/Concealer brush or my Eyeshadow/Blending brush. The reason I think the E.L.F. Angled Blush Brush will stand up better is because the bristles seem to be softer than the Essence of Beauty one and with good care and washing, should last you a while.

Overall I still prefer professional makeup brushes over these E.L.F. Mineral brushes any day! These brushes took time to get used to and just didn’t apply product as good as I’d hope. I’m not saying E.L.F. brushes are a no go in general though. I happen to really love a few of their Studio brushes (which I will review when I get to it :)) I do think that these brushes are not the top brushes from E.L.F. and for being brushes for Mineral makeup, I’m not quite sure how these would apply mineral makeup better than regular makeup. I would think that if these brushes aren’t AMAZING at applying regular makeup, they most likely won’t give you the greatest color payoff or the look you desire with minerals. I have not tried these brushes with mineral makeup yet but if you have let me know how it works for you.

If you’re into the cruelty-free and recycled part of the brushes I’d definitely say try these. These would probably be good brushes to use for a few months and replace and with the affordable prices you can definitely replace them as often as you want. I recommend replaces brushes especially face brushes every few months for those with acne or problem skin (bacteria lives and grows in your makeup and makeup brushes, reusing dirty brushes just spreads around the acne/problem causing bacteria).

Find these brushes and the rest of E.L.F.’s products online or at your local Target!

xo, June 🙂