Beauty

[Squirrel Lover]

Shanus, from your posts I understand that you are a professional makeup artist. I am hoping that you can help me. My Bobbi Brown makeup brush set is over 25 years old and the hairs are finally breaking down and falling out on my face when I use them.

I want to buy another brush set, a good one for a fair price of under $100 for the set. The BB set was over $200 at the time! But I see now that brushes are made of synthetic fibers and cost less. Can you recommend a new quality set?

[Shanus]

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@Squirrel Lover wrote:

Shanus, from your posts I understand that you are a professional makeup artist. I am hoping that you can help me. My Bobbi Brown makeup brush set is over 25 years old and the hairs are finally breaking down and falling out on my face when I use them.

I want to buy another brush set, a good one for a fair price of under $100 for the set. The BB set was over $200 at the time! But I see now that brushes are made of synthetic fibers and cost less. Can you recommend a new quality set?

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@Squirrel Lover   Many makeup brushes are changing to synthetic bristles because people want cuelty free products. The other reason is that w/ a synthetic brush, you can use it with wet or dry makeup. MAC makeup brushes have changed to synthetic, as well. I'm not sure about my other favorite Trish McEvoy brushes. If you want to stay below $100 for an entire set, maybe check Real Techniques, check Target or TJ Maxx or look online at Ulta or Sephora. A good set of brushes, like your BB ones that lasted 25 yrs., may cost more than you stated. The saying goes, "You get what you pay for". Usually, inexpensive brushes don't last long, especially if being cleaned frequently. 

[Squirrel Lover]

Thank you, Shanus.  How can I stop the natural hair brushes from shedding? My powder brush in particular is shedding badly should I throw it out?

[Dusty1]

@Squirrel Lover If your brush is shedding that badly it is time to pitch it & get a new one. It may be from age. It may be from washing the brush with something that dries out the bristles & they are breaking off.

What brushes do you use? When you say that you want a "set" of brushes? Do you like a powder brush, blush brush, flat shadow brush, blending brush, eye lining brush, lip brush, concealer brush, foundation brush...?

Or do you like just a blush, powder & basic e/s brush? 

They have so many brushes for every little detail depending on how you like to do your makeup.

[Shanus]

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@Squirrel Lover wrote:

Thank you, Shanus.  How can I stop the natural hair brushes from shedding? My powder brush in particular is shedding badly should I throw it out?

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@Squirrel Lover   Good morning. Unfortunately, once the hairs begin to shed, the brush needs to be replaced. Usually this happens when washing the brush, you got the metal part (the ferrule) wet. This loosens the glue holding the hairs in place. If your other brushes are OK, maybe just replace that one and build your set slowly of "good" brushes. 

My personal set of brushes and professional brushes are definitely not all the same brand. Some lines have a better liner brush, others a shape for foundation that I like. It's fine to have a mix of brushes. Decide which brushes you use all the time and start by replacing those.

[Squirrel Lover]

@Shanus The powder brush is the only one that this happened to. I know what is the culprit now. It was the IT CC cream. I used powder with my usual on top of it and could not get it off no matter how much I washed it (and I washed it alot). That CC cream is just bad news for me and my skin.

[laurelei]

Sigma brushes are excellent quality and reasonably priced.  They have frequent sales and if you sign up for emails, they have even better deals.  Also, BK Beauty brushes are even better IMO.  They are more expensive than Sigma but they are having a Mother's Day sale right now.  This brand is owned by Lisa J who is a You Tube influencer.  She was a MAC makeup artist and trainer and I really like her videos.