I love makeup brushes, I've had some of my favourites for nigh on decades, but it's always good to take a look at some new ones and see if they help with your application. Personally, I believe that you should spend what you can afford on your brushes - there are good ones at all price points - and, if you look after your brushes, they'll last for years.
I have brushes in my collection that have cost anything from £1.50 to almost £50 (I like to shop around), and when the opportunity came up to take a look over a range of brushes designed by Kate Lyon - who makes brushes for both Elizabeth Arden and Green People - I had to say yes. Especially when I discovered that the brushes have been made with affordability in mind - they range in price from £4 to £13! I was sent the selection of brushes you see above, No 5, 10, 11, 14 and 15. You can see the entire range here
As you can probably make out, these are very long handled brushes, personally - being the cack-handed muppet that I am - I generally prefer a shorter-handed brush, but I was surprised at how well balanced these feel in use. They meant I had to stand slightly further away from my mirror than usual, but, as these are professional brushes designed for makeup artists, then that wouldn't actually matter all that much.
I'll have a look at the brushes in number order:
5) Shadow Brush: (goat) wide and flat, it's good for packing on shadow all over the mobile lid, it's great for colour washes, particularly if you're using cheaper, slightly less pigmented eyeshadows. We all have those shadows that we find impossible to get onto a softer brush, and as goat hair is slightly firmer (coarser) than the traditional sable, this is a good brush for hard shadows. But, as goat is coarse, some of you might find this a little scratchier-feeling on the skin than a softer brush. It's also, surprisingly, good at picking up loose shadows with minimal fall-out. Costs £10.
10) Liner Brush: (sable) I'll be honest, I don't like this style of liner brush, I find them too soft, and far too thin for me to be able to do my signature "packed it on like Amy Winehouse with a slightly steadier hand" looks, but this is still a nice brush if you're slightly less cack-handed than am I. Because I mostly tend to use powder as an eyeliner (both on the waterline and on the lid), I prefer a flatter, slightly firmer and straighter-edged brush. Costs £6.
11) Spoolie: (nylon) I looked at this, and wondered just if I was going to get any use out of it whatsoever, but I was pleasantly surprised! I use this for grooming my eyebrows (constantly forgetting to use it before photographing my FotDs, of course), and occasionally brushing out lumpy, clumpy mascara. The bristles aren't too tightly packed, which means it's very good for de-clumping and doesn't remove anything you've already applied, which is handy! Cost £5.
14) Blush: (goat) I like this brush a lot. Again, it's a coarser brush than you might be used to previously, but as already discussed, it's great for less pigmented, or harder powders. I like the angle it's been cut at, as this means you can use it for both blush and contouring purposes. The bristles are wide-spread and fluffy, so you don't get a streaky application, it's probably the brush I've used most out of this collection. Cost £13.
14) Shadow: (sable) I'm used to thicker, wider shadow brushes than this, but I find this brush wonderful for applying, and blending out my more heavily pigmented or dark shades of eyeshadow. Oftentimes when I've been complimented on my blending technique (it does happen!), it's been after I've used this brush. It's very soft and silky feeling on the skin, and lends itself well to more precise application requiring a lot of blending. You can use it as a wide lipbrush too, or for concealer application, very versatile! Cost £6.50.
So there you have it, I think this is a great range of versatile and useful brushes at a really good price point - you can also buy the entire range (as outlined here) for £90, which is an almost unbelievable bargain for brushes of this quality. Kate also produces a range of vegan (no animal hair) brushes, which I think is great for those who find animal hair brushes objectionable.
Take a look at the Pro Makeup Brush website here.
The Fine Print: Brushes were sent direct from the owner of the company, no PRs were harmed, or indeed, involved in the creation of this review. Links in this post are not affiliate links, they're just there for informational purposes, because I'm nice like that, even if I don't wash brushes before I take pics for reviews.
