Love for Brushes

[AMK721]

I'm developing a love for brushes of all kinds.  I bought a few higher end brushes and they are amazing.  They are incredibly soft and my makeup glides on like a dream.  There are so many interesting shapes. I am really interested in creating a beautiful brush collection.  Show your brushes and share any cleaning and storage tips and let us know which ones are your favorites.

[KNC24]

@TraceyEB I’m glad to have found my people. Lol

[TraceyEB]

@KNC24 , you're in good company!! 🤫

[loveyall]

I am loving my 50.5 Sephora Travel Brush. I have a small face, and it is great for powders! It is fluffy and light. SEPHORA COLLECTION - PRO Mini Flawless Light Powder Brush #50.5.

[tastelikewater]

I FINALLY treated myself to nicer brushes, and decided on Hakuhodo. Their website is overwhelming, but I settled on 3: J142, J5523, and J242. I think I need to watch a video on how to use them to their fullest potential, but so far so good!

Goat hair bristles are new to me. Will sweeping the brushes through the Vera Mona Color Switch be enough in between washes? I'm a little paranoid about them staining, as they're white. 

[Mochapj]

@tastelikewater  I usually use a microfibre towel to wipe off any excess pigment between washes

[tastelikewater]

@Mochapj Thank you! How often do you wash your goat hair brushes? I'm seeing a lot of different information out there, anywhere from every other use to every three weeks.

[Anonymous]

I normally wash my brushes, as in a deep clean, I do that once a month. I use the Beautyblender Shampoo or the BeautyBlender Bar Soap, it takes out everything. I also use a daily brush cleaner to clean the brushes I use to keep them clean and sanitary for each use. I normally use the MAC Brush cleaner. 

[Mochapj]

@tastelikewater   I designate one day a month, on average to washing my brushes. However, I have a pretty large brush stash so I’m not using the same 2-3 brushes every day. I create little ‘kits’ from my stash of the shapes of brushes I tend to use and will use each ‘kit’ for a week to 10 days before grabbing a new clean one from my stash. Between washes I use a colour switch and microfibre towel to wipe off the bristles. Then at the end of the month I just gather all the dirty kits and wash them at once.

goat hair is fairly resilient so you could probably get away with washing them 1-2x month, however it’s worth noting that the more frequently you wash any natural hair, the chances of the lifespan of the brush decreasing does rise due to the agitation, humidity getting into the glue, etc. The only natural hair I wouldn’t recommend washing that frequently is squirrel, because it’s very delicate.

i wouldn’t recommend washing any natural hair after every other use, unless you were going to add the extra steps of keeping your brush hairs conditioned as well.

[tastelikewater]

@Mochapj So very helpful, thank you!

[Kim888]

Has anyone tried Rephr brushes? I've been hearing a couple of youtubers talk about the brand - they are a Japanese luxury brush company but I guess sometimes you can get cheap/free brushes to test because they send out their prototypes for feedback. Anyways I've been stalking the website for a bit to see if I could get a protype and a cheek brush was available - It was $10 for the brush and $10 for shipping. It seems really nice so far - the bristles feel very quality and soft and the brush itself feels really well made. I would compare it to a Wayne Goss Goat hair brush

[TraceyEB]

@Kim888, hi, rephr is a Canadian company that seems to design brushes through feedback received by those who agree to test the prototypes and send in their feedback. @Mochapj has some of their brushes and provides feedback on the design of certain brushes. She has posted a review on her IG account. I also saw a review by Angie Di Battista, Canadian MUA, which is directed to makeup professionals and is very thorough.

[Mochapj]

@Kim888  I posted back in December that I'd picked up one of their sets of non-prototype brushes.

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/Love-for-Brushes/m-p/4395493/highlight/true#M115248

I've since picked up a few of the prototypes as well. They're decent quality overall but I have had some fairly significant shedding from a few of the brushes I have.

[Kim888]

@Mochapj oh cool I think I missed that post! I haven't been using it long enough to see any shedding yet but I'll look out for that!

[Mochapj]

@Kim888  no worries!

The shedding was mostly from the angled cheek 04 and the original blender 07. I expect some shedding with all new brushes but this was more than I normally experience. All the other brushes I have from them are really nice quality and have held up well, though.

[Kim888]

@Mochapj  Interesting - I think it'll seem like more to me either way because most of my brushes are synthetic. I had picked up a few months ago from tj maxx a kevynn aucoin one and I was definitely surprised by the shedding/different care required. 

[danielledanielle]

FYI: Some of them are OOS, but there are some Sephora Collection brushes recently added to the sale section.  These are still there.  I love the no. 92 despite its grandiose size.  I have the 67 and it's great for cleaning the eyebrow.  Just picked up the 66 and a back up fan.

SEPHORA COLLECTION PRO Featherweight Fan Brush #92

SEPHORA COLLECTION PRO Press Full Coverage Complexion Brush #66

SEPHORA COLLECTION PRO Press Full Coverage Precision Brush #67

[KNC24]

Question for my brush lovers. Do you guys wash your natural hair brushes before first use

[danielledanielle]

I didn't either, but I only have three and got the other two recently. On one I used that Sephora daily cleanser on it, and a tissue. Then I try to wash them as little as possible, like 6wks-2m.

[KNC24]

@WinglessOne @SportyGirly125 thanks for the response. I have some natural hair brushes that I don’t want to ruin so I haven’t used them. I don’t wanna ruin them.  I need a washing routine before I really work them. 

[WinglessOne]

I used to use different brush cleaners (heh, one was just a hair shampoo) on different types of brushes. Now I use the same cleaner and between-wash sprays for all my brushes. I wash them all with Beautyblender blendercleanser® solid Lavender and have yet to ruin a brush. Between washes, I use either BeautySoClean spray or SEPHORA COLLECTION - Dry Clean Instant Dry Brush Cleaner Spray.

The only variable now is wash frequency, based on brush delicacy. Here’s my general routine: 

Squirrel hair: Wash once a month. After each use, gently wipe back and forth on a microfiber towel to remove excess product. Use between-washings spray as needed. My Chikuhodo Z-4 is my primary powder blush brush, so I use one of those cleaner sprays on it once every one or two weeks. I prefer the Sephora dry spray for squirrel brushes.

Goat hair: At a minimum, wash after every other use. Between washings, use a cleaner spray. Anything used with a cream product (concealer, cream blush, cream eyeshadow, etc.) gets washed after use. 

Synthetic hair: Wash after each use, unless I get lazy and wash after every other use (using between-washings spray as needed). 

After washing, I dry all my brushes in brush guards that let me stand brushes upside down on my bathroom counter (I usually lean them against a wall or my acrylic drawer stack). 

I keep dirty brushes in a container stuck to my bathroom mirror, right above my sink. This encourages me to wash them before that container gets full. 😄 

[KNC24]

@WinglessOne thank you for such a detailed routine. I took a screenshot so I can use it as reference material until I memorize it