posted by Just Nice Things on Japonesque, Make-Up, Personal grooming

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Much as I love my make-up, I probably love my brushes just as much as they enable me to create the looks I love to do. It’s always a bit of a trauma buying brushes – what if they work? What if they don’t? How easy are they to clean? Will they pack the powder on OK? Argh, first world problems maybe, but stressful nonetheless.

I was really happy to be approached by Japonesque recently, a brand that specialises in luxury and high-end make-up brushes. I don’t always subscribe to the fact that brushes have to break the bank (indeed, I have some ELF brushes that have a very welcome place in my collection) but I’ve heard such good things about Japonesque that I was keen to try these out.

Founded over 20 years ago, Japonesque design and produce brushes and tools for the professional make-up artist, and have recently started rolling their range out to the average bedroom make-up artist (ie, me and you). The brushes come in three sets: Mineral (designed for use with loose mineral pigments), Pro Long Handled, and Travel Short Handled, the latter of which I was sent a few to review.

A mix of both synthetic and natural hair brushes, these absolutely ooze quality. The packaging is nice and clean. Let’s take a look in more detail, shall we?

I could not live without a good powder brush. I use  a mineral foundation that requires swirling on with a good fluffy but sturdy brush. This is ideal, and the short handle gives good manoeuverabilty.

Another key item in my brush arsenal is a fluffy eyeshadow brush. As you know, I wear a lot of Nars shadows, and often they can be tricky to apply, requiring a patting technique, or patting them on, rather than using a traditional sweeping motion. This type of brush is ideal. Seen here next to a normal ELF brush, you can see how compact the travel versions are.

A recent discovery for me is the mini angled brush. These days I’m wearing a lot less liquid eyeliner than I used to do, preferring to wear a wet line of one of my favourite eyeshadows, and smudging  it out a little. This brush is ideal for such purposes.

I’ve never really used liquid foundation (always been a bit scared of it) but I have a couple of samples that I really need to try, and get reviewed on here. Now at last I have the appropriate tool to get the stuff on my face! This looks like a very well made and quality brush that I am very much looking forward to using.

Finally, we have a lip brush (the photo of which appears to have been eaten by WordPress – I’ll add it back in when I can). A retractable lip brush. However, this is way cooler than the average screw-down brush – this one kind of snaps shut, in a James Bond kind of way. Far more hygienic, and definitely impressive when you get it out of your bag. Having a brush like this is making me want to break out some of my lipstick collection.

I was expecting the price tag on these to be absolutely enormous. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they start at around £8.95 for the lip brush, and average about £13.00 for the rest of the brushes. Really impressive. OK, so they aren’t as cheap as your average high street brushes, but a good brush will last, last and last, and I believe in this case, you always get back what you put in.

What do you think? Will these be on your Christmas list? If so, check out Boots, one of Japonesque’s official UK retailers.

Helen

*PR samples*

Tags: Japonesque