Brush Works HD Luxurious Oval Brush Set: Fave or Faff?

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If you haven’t seen or heard about oval brushes you must have been under a rock! They blew up on Instagram and have been highly coveted after ever since, but ‘that’ infamous brand came with a fairly hefty price tag.

I was intrigued and as more dupe type brushes were released I really wanted to know what the hype was about so I jumped at the chance to test Brush Works HD Luxurious Oval Brush Set, and they kindly sent me the full set.

I hadn’t seen or heard of Brush Works previously so I was super happy to dive in. Brush Works claim

• ‘Create flawless HD make-up’
• Soft as Velvet
• Can be used with liquid and powders.
• ‘up to 10 x as many brush fibres as regular brushes’

The set comprises five brushes for face and five brushes for detail work e.g. eyes etc. They have a super handy crib sheet on the back of the box that says what each brush can work for and they are really versatile, each of the brushes can be used in any way you want.

I figured the best way to test these is to do a full face of makeup so enough chit chat let’s hop in…

Brush Works HD Luxurious Oval Brush Set  – Foundation: Large Oval 8

First thing first these are incredibly soft, like silly soft. I found that this hugged the contours of my face. It didn’t drag the product or go on patchy. The only one down side was that it did create some minor streaking, but I can overlook this.

Colour Corrector and Concealer: Domed Round, Flat Round and Oval 3

I really struggle with using brushes under my eyes so this is more a personal preference for me than the actual brushes. The products did blend, but I have very sensitive and thin undereye skin so for me it is not my preferred method of application. However, I did find the Domed Round super useful for applying colour corrector in the most inner part of my eye.

Powder: Large Oval 10

I was really worried that this was going to drag over my skin and lift up the foundation underneath as I typically stipple with a dense brush. However, the way you hold these brushes you are more inclined to sweep, and it applied beautifully. Love this brush.

Contour and Bronzer: Oval 6 and Large Oval 10

Both brushes are great for contouring and bronzing. In hindsight, I wish I had used the Oval 3 for my contour so I could have more precision, but that’s what this is all about, trial and error. Again, the Large Oval 10 was a success, blended my bronzer wonderfully and great for getting into the hairline for a seamless finish. (I felt like it was worth mentioned that my contour was cream and bronzer was powder).

Highlight: Oval 3

Another success, applied my powder highlighter and blended like a dream. As I am getting fine lines around this area I like to buff and diffuse the highlight around the edges to avoid a harsh line and this worked fantastically.

Blush: Oval 4

This wasn’t great, it was too precise and as it was so dense it caused a lot of pigment to transfer on to the skin (and I love blush but even this was a bit much for me). I think I’ll be sticking to a fluffy tapered brush for applying my blush.

Eyes: Flat Round, Domed Round and Detail 1

I really hate to sound so negative, but these didn’t work for me.  I used the Flat Round to apply my crease colour and outer v, Domed Round for lid and Detail 1 to apply shadow to the lash line. These are not scratchy in any way, I just found that it densely applied the colour to the lid/crease and it was then hard to blend as these are (in my opinion) designed for a precise application. If you are using a cream shadow and hate using your fingers then I would recommend the Domed Round brush.

Eyebrows: Detail 3

This was again just fine, I think this is better used for people with bigger brows.

Lips: Domed Round

I didn’t mind this too much; I would say it sheers out the colour quite considerably and it isn’t the easiest to get a precise line, but if you wanted to create an ombre or diffused effect then this is the tool for you.

My overall thoughts…

I think the face brushes are a hit. Happily, I really liked these and if you are interested and the price point works for you then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I haven’t tried the super expensive brand so I can’t compare. The detail / eye brushes are a pass. I like to be able to diffuse my eyeshadow colour and these brushes don’t lend to that technique.

These brushes are fun, that goes without saying and I loved experimenting with the different sizes and styles; but as I mentioned before there is a learning curve with the Oval Brushes.

I hope this helped.

Love

Tazitea xo