Brush reviews - E.L.F. and Zoeva

OK so recently I decided that I need to beef my brush collection up a bit.  My little sister went on a bit of a MAC brush splurge, and I noticed that her eye shadow especially was going on so much better with a decent brush. 

I'm a strong believer in tools being really important for make-up application but I definitely concentrate far too much on my face brush collection - I have about three different foundation brushes (my Real Techniques Expert Face brush is hands down the best), an array of blusher/bronzer brushes, but probably the most pathetic collection of eye shadow brushes.  My boyfriend bought me two MAC 219 pencil brushes, and I keep one for lighter colours and one for darker colours - but I feel I needed a bit more of a blending type jobby.

I did a lot of research online, and two brush ranges that kept popping up were Zoeva and E.L.F. (Eyes Lips Face).

I purchased some Zoeva ones first, then buckled and bought some E.L.F. ones too as they are sooo cheap.

ZOEVA

Zoeva is a German make-up brand, and the only place I could get the brushes was direct from the Zoeva website at www.zoeva-shop.de . Only bummer with this is the £7 postage cost. Ouch. They've only been going since 2009 and they're brushes aren't massively well-known.  I couldn't find them on any other major make-up websites etc, but they did seem to be causing a bit of a stir in the blogging world as a cheap MAC alternative.

The brushes I went for were the 142 concealer buffer, 227 soft definer and the 315 fine liner.  My little sister bought the 230 pencil brush.

When they arrived, they did get me a little excited, as they were all boxed up with tissue paper like proper expensive brushes (which, they aren't). Each brush came in a clear plastic sleeve, in its own black and pink zip-top soft-plastic bag, labelled up with the brush type.  So cute!  And totally unexpected seeing as they were only around a fiver.

142 concealer buffer £6.50

I have seen a few people using concealer brushes on youtube tutorials, and was intrigued because one of the few things I hate about doing my make-up is patting my concealer in with my finger.  Drives. Me. Mad.  So the brush seemed a good one to try.  Having said that, I've gone back to the finger-patting.  This brush is really soft, very densely packed and with the white tips it looks a dead ringer for the MAC brushes. I found the brush blended my concealer too much though, exactly the same as if I used my foundation brush to blend it.  I do think concealer needs some stippling action to keep it high coverage.  I'm going to wash this brush out though, and use it for my eyeshadow as I think it will work well.  It has such a nice densely packed 'bulb' type brush head, and although I didn't like it for my concealer, I think I'd have reached the same conclusion from a mega expensive concealer brush.  Concealer and brushes apparently just don't work for me.

 

 

227 Soft Definer £5.00

 

The Soft Definer brush is meant to be a dupe for the MAC 217, and at £13 less than the MAC version, I was realllllyyyyy hoping this would work.  My younger sister has the MAC 217 so we were able to do a bit of a comparison between the Zoeva one and the MAC one, and I can honestly say there was barely any difference.  The MAC one probably takes the edge with regard to softness, but the Zoeva one is still very, very soft.  It has the same kind of density of bristles, the same length, the same spread etc.  I really like this brush, it applies eyeshadow with ease and packs the colour on well.  It is also excellent at blending colour out evenly.  I probably wouldn't bother to waste money on the more expensive MAC version as this does the job perfectly fine.  At a fiver, it's a bargain and I'm definitely going to buy some more to build up my eyeshadow brush collection.

 

 



315 Fine liner £5.00

Save the best till last for definite.  I am literally in. love. with. this. brush.

Regular readers of my blog will know I swear by the Topshop eyeliner brush for my gel eyeliner application.  I had no intention of buying a new eyeliner brush till I saw this on the website and was massively intrigued by the shape of the brush and the way it was bent at the end.  It was only a fiver (so £1 more than the Topshop one) so I thought I'd give it a punt.  And oh my god I flipping love it.  The bend genuinely makes it easier to apply the eyeliner as  you can get right in there, close to your lash line, without the handle getting in the way.  The actual brush tip is tapered to such a fine point, that you can apply a mega thin line of gel eyeliner, and when you have small eyes like me, you need a nice fine line.  It is definitely the thinnest eyeliner brush I have come across before.  I've used it religiously since I bought it and it isn't splaying yet at all - in fact I'm not sure it will as it is so thin there aren't many bristles to actually splay.  I wouldn't go back to using a generic eyeliner brush, I am so sold on this.  It does take some getting used to due to the thin application - I actually think it is harder to get an even line because the brush is so thin you have to build up the line and this can lead to issues with even-ness.  With a thicker brush you just go for the line and the thickness tends to hide any imperfections.  But once you get the hang of it with the fine liner brush, I guarantee you won't go back.  It's an absolute little beauty.

E.L.F

Ah, and now we turn to the ELF brushes.  I've heard so much about this brand (including its brushes) on online blogs and video tutorials.  Their brushes range between £1.50-£4, and I figured if they are good then that's the kind of bargain you just can't pass up on.

I bought 2 eyeshadow brushes, 1 smudge brush, 1 small angled brush and 1 blending eye brush.  They arrived in little clear plastic sleeves in a jiffy bag and I bought them direct from ELF at www.eyeslipsface.co.uk .

I do really enjoy the way the brushes look - they mainly came in white (other than the angled eye brush) with the name of the brush in silver on the handle.  They look really high end.

But this is kind of where the love affair ended for me......


Small Angled Brush £3.75

I'm sorry, I really struggled to get a good close-up photo of the brush, but you can see which one it is from the photos above as it is the only black one.  I bought this as I needed something to apply my Smashbox eyebrow powder with, and at £3.75 it was a bargain.  But I wasn't a big fan of this brush.  The brush bristles weren't stiff and densely packed enough to give a really precise application of my brow powder.  It does work reasonably well, and I suppose for £3.75 you shouldn't expect too much, but I definitely wouldn't buy it again.  It was already splaying when it arrived and the bristles feel quite cheap.

Eyeshadow Brush £1.50

I was quite surprised by how short the bristles were for this brush, I feel like you need a bit more length to pack colour onto the whole eyelid.  I did find this applied colour evenly though, and is probably much better suited to more precise eyeshadow application, rather than all-over-eyelid colour washing.

Again, the bristles felt a tad on the cheap side for my liking, but then it was £1.50....go figure.

I wouldn't repurchase this.  I'll use it for eyeshadow application but it isn't a brilliant blender and I found the Zoeva Soft Definer to be so much more versatile.

If you're someone who does a lot of defined crease-work or likes to darken the corners of your eyes, then this could be useful.  But I just don't do complicated eye looks enough to need such a specific brush.

Smudge Brush £1.50

I bought this for applying eyeshadow under my eyes, as I have teeny tiny eyes and most brushes leave me with too thick a 'smudge'. 

Of all the brushes I bought from E.L.F. I think this is the one I will use the most.  It has mega short bristles, and is really densely packed and tapered to a slim edge.

Again, the bristles feel cheap to the touch, but because you're not doing as much blending with it, this doesn't seem to matter as much as with the other brushes.

I really liked the way this put a neat, gentle smudge of eyeshadow under my eye, or across my lashline. It's probably a bit too small for the creaseline - I'd say this is definitely a dedicated under-eye brush.  At £1.50, it's a bargain and a useful addition to any brush kit.  I've seen people use it to pack on dense eyeshadow colour to their eyelid too, but I haven't tried that out myself yet. 

Blending Eye Brush £1.50

Oh god, the Blending Eye Brush.

I literally hated this brush so much.  When it arrived I was surprised by how much it was already splaying, and with the longest bristles of all the brushes, you really notice the cheap feeling.

It did have a similar spread and density though to the MAC 217 brush so I thought I'd give it a pop.  The main issue I had with this was how much it malted and shed.  I was only gently blending my eyeshadow and the bristles were literally dropping out all over the place.  I managed to get a couple in my eye which was annoying and uncomfortable and led to much eye watering (always a pain when you're applying eye make up).  I also could feel them all over my face, they were itchy and irritating and I was constantly brushing away at my face.

You barely have to pull at the bristles and they come out in your fingers.  I'm so unimpressed with it.  It sheds, it feels cheap - I can't even tell you if it works well as I'd barely been blending for two seconds when I was like woah what's with the bristle shower!?  I know it's only £1.50 but I'd say save your pennies.