Anyway, I have my makeup brushes separated into two categories: decorative and functional. Now I know what you are thinking, shouldn't they all be functional? Actually no I bought some just because they were pretty and they are only for display. Kind of like decorative items. Don't judge me! At least these have the potential to be useful! Unlike decorative vases that hold nothing! Anyway, let me begin with my functional brushes.
Functional brushes
These ones I did buy as a set just from groupon. I don't know this brand or even if it is a real brand. It was only $20 and my mom and I decided to try it out. They look like cleaning brushes. Anyway, the bristles are surprisingly very soft and dense. The brushes actually work really well and are my most used brushes in terms of for my face. I use them for foundation, BB cream, and especially to blend any contours and concealers. I usually also bring some of these brushes when I travel.
These next set of brushes are the brand ecotools and real techniques, which I just buy from my local Ulta. Ulta often does a buy one, get one 50% off and you can really save some money if you also use their coupons. They are all different because I bought them at different times. The brushes are also very soft and pick up powders and other product really well. When I go to ulta the sales lady always tries to get me to buy the it cosmetics brushes instead but these work just fine.
These brushes are from the brand elf. The white handle ones are pretty old but the black ones are relatively new. They are also pretty cheap and work fairly well. Elf really improved its brushes because these new brushes are much softer and better quality than the old ones. The old ones are a bit rougher but still work fine for me so I haven't gotten rid of them.
These ones are hand me downs from a smashbox collection that my mom had. I really needed that foundation brush and especially that big powder brush. Although the groupon brushes did have a big brush, it wasn't all that great for doing light sweeps of powder for all over the face.
Then these are just unmarked old brushes that I don't even remember where they came from. I feel like some of them were ones that came with a product I bought in Asia.
Decorative Brushes
These were my first set of decorative brushes. I bought them a while back in college and were my first pricier set of brushes. They are the Hello Kitty brand from sephora and they even came with this cute hello kitty holder. The brushes were so soft, softer than most at that time and I didn't want to use them up too much. Although the quality of cheaper brushes has really gone up so those cheaper brushes are almost as soft as these now.
I ha been eyeing these mermaid brushes for a while now. The price fluctuated now and then but I waited until they started selling a good sized bundle for a reasonable price. I got these on amazon for $13.99 and with prime shipping they came in two days!
Getting those mermaid brushes then only made me want more mermaid brushes so I also got these short brushes. The biggest one was a freebie that came with the other set of mermaid brushes. As you can see it's noticeably bigger than the other ones. The gold one was also included in the set of rose brushes I will talk about later. Then the other two were just from ebay for $1.69 each.
These rose brushes I saw on instagram and I just wanted them. I believe they began as knock offs of the storybook cosmetics rose brushes, which are the traditional red bristles with a green stem, then they started to make the knock offs in different colors. This pink and rose gold was definitely my favorite but when I first went looking for them, they were a bit pricey. Just waited a little longer and the price eventually went down to $10.38, which I settled for. Who knows, they might be even cheaper now.
I saw these on instagram and I just had to have them. I don't know on what account though. Of course my friends told me I already had enough brushes but I said just one more and that's it. Anyway, I just searched it up on ebay and found them for $18.60 plus $1.50 shipping, which meant I could track it. They are very soft and the brushes have three different kinds of shells depending on the shape.
Of course, just one more doesn't always stop me and I had to have one more. I have had these sailor moon brush set on my watch list for so long but the price doesn't really go down. Since I had to work overtime, I decided to treat myself and buy these brushes. These brushes are pricier, costing me $26.48 plus free trackable shipping. I was surprised with the quality though when they arrived. These brushes are metal and pretty heavy and sturdy. So the price was pretty reasonable once I was able to inspect them in person.
These aren't really brushes but just a collection of some makeup sponges. I love my gudetama one and he just kinda hangs there in that bowl. The silicone sponges are so great because they are so easy to clean. You just rinse and wipe after use. It's great for lazy people like me.
So those are all my brushes. Hopefully instagram won't tempt me to buy anymore but we will see. Or who knows what the next new brush idea will come out next.Well, I guess my bank account is ready.