Makeup Brushes, why use them?

We use whatever tools are available for the best possible makeup application we can obtain.  Since I do MAC makeup I follow the MAC training that uses brushes for every application.  No fingers, no sponges, nothing but brushes.  Now it seems that once people get the idea that MAC is the answer to all things makeup, they want to get their own set of MAC brushes.  If you have unlimited funds, then that is easy.  However, if you are like the majority of us out there, buying MAC brushes can cause a serious strain on the budget. 

 

Since I have been inherently frugal most of my life, the addition of a set of MAC brushes to my professional tool selection was a major impact on finances.  Now that I have used them and understand the use of brushes much better, I have branched out and I try virtually any brush I can find.  If it will do as good a job as a MAC brush, then why not use it?

 

What is a brush?   The first thing to do is realize how brushes are made and from what materials.  Basically all of them have wooden or plastic handles, a metal ferrule that is crushed against the handle and the non-used end of the brush bristles, and the bristles or "hair".  Inside the ferrule is an amount of an undisclosed type of glue that holds all the individual hairs in place and forms a solid block for the ferrule to hold on to.  The hair itself can be either natural or synthetic.  some brushes have mixed hairs, some natural and some synthetic. The basic need from a brush is to be able to use it without the ahir coming out, that it holds its shape, and that you can afford to use it and discard it when it no longer works for you.

Counterfeit MAC brushes

As with everything that people covet, the Chinese have come up with the ability to imitate it.  Such is the case for MAC brushes.  I bought a set of "MAC" brushes from a Chinese supplier from eBay for $36 delivered to the U.S.  Obviously these could not be genuine, but the logo appeared to be the same. Below is a comparison I recently did when I did this write-up and showed pictures of both original and counterfeit MAC brushes.

 

MAC Cosmetic Brush comparison

Many of us consider MAC products to be the top-of-the-line. Being a MAC Pro Makeup Artist, I am always interested in finding brushes for my clients that perform as well as the genuine MAC brushes at a lower cost. As an example, retail cost on a #239 Eye Shading brush is $24.50.

Many brushes are available from many sources and I wanted to make a comparison. Artist brushes available at Michael’s, or any other artist supply store need to be compared to MAC and to other types to develop the best source at the lowest cost.

Additionally, the capabilities of each type brush must be made to justify buying from other than a top dollar source, such as MAC.

Since I am an avid eBay buyer, I searched for makeup or cosmetic brushes on eBay and have bought many different sets over the past few years in an attempt to locate the best available brush for the lowest cost. All of us need to locate the best brush that does the job for the dollar.

I began my search by purchasing typical brush sets from Chinese manufacturers offered on eBay for prices that ranged from $20 to $80 delivered to my home for sets of from 12 to 36 brushes. Each set was described as being of the "best quality, fine animal hair, squirrel, pony, badger, or synthetic". Upon receipt of the brush sets, I did a side-by-side comparison using a genuine MAC brush with most similar qualities that I had. I compared powder brushes to powder brushes and slant brushes to slant brushes. Every time I put on makeup I would try comparable brushes to my MAC brushes to see if discernable differences could be found.

Many of the brushes were very well made while a few lost their fibers or hair anytime I tried to use wet products. I did find that most of the Chinese made brushes were of an acceptable quality, they did not lose hair and were easy to clean and dried with the original shape.

A set of counterfeit MAC brushes from China recently received my biggest test. I used them side by side with MAC brushes, tying to match their intended use to a MAC brush. They were overall pretty good brushes, applying product very similarly to the MAC brushes.

Mostly, there is a physical difference between genuine MAC brushes and counterfeit and artist brushes.

This is a genuine MAC #189 brush

This is a comparable Chinese brush, note the lack of identification number?  However, the logos look remarkably similar.

Same set of brushes

General comparison of Chinese to MAC brushes. Chinese brush is the second from the top.

Brush markings, country of origin

MAC brushes are typically marked to show the country of origin, since MAC shops the world to find the most appropriate brush for the use intended. Below are stamped origin countries on genuine MAC brushes.  Note that they can come from China, France, USA, Japan and others.

 

 

Overall, the quality of brushes, regardless of country of origin, location where they were purchased, or whether they were genuine MAC brushes or not, did not really change the ability or the life of the brush.  I would say that any brush, if used appropriately and cleaned regularly, will provide more than adequate service.

 

Cleaning your brushes.

Brush cleaning solution recipes are shown below.

 

Brushes need to be cleaned.  If you are using them to do makeup on anyone other than yourself, obviously it is best to clena them between clients.  MAC artists clean their brushes routinely between clients even if it means cleaning the same brushes 5-12 times per day. 

Cleaning your brushes is simple.  The overall goal is to remove the previous colors and to sanitize the brush.  Using a commercially available or a homemade brush cleaner is the typical method. A small amount of solution is placed in a shallow dish or the palm of your hand.  The brush is submerged up to the ferrule and the brush is moved to cause the solution to penetrate the brush hairs thoroughly.  Do not soak your bush in a deep bowl of solution. It will cause the wooden handle to become wet and eventually to rot.

After the brush is wetted and the color appears to be emulsified, wipe the brush on layers of paper towels just like you are painting on them.  Brush in both directions  until no color comes off the brush.  Then repeat the process until the first brushing of the brush over the paper towel leaves no color on the paper towel.  Then rinse the brush hairs in warm water, shake as much water out of the brush as you can, and reshape the hair in the as much the original shape as you can.  then set it to dry over the lip of a sink.  Brushes usually dry in about 4-6 hours. 

 

Homemade cleaning solution recipes

Many recipes exist for thorough brush cleaning.  Most of them utilize alcohol as the sanitizing agent, but the surfactant in the detergent that is used also helps with the sanitation process. Some recipes use various other ingredients to impart a softer feel to the brushes (hair conditioner), and others use tea tree oil to give them a scent and sanitize them.

 

I have tried all of them in comparison to MAC's own commercially available brush cleaner with pretty much the same results. My favorite recipe is the first of the batch listed below.

#1.  1/2 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon of Woolite, 2 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol (70% minimum)

#2. 1/2 cup of water to teaspoon of Castile soap

#3. 1 cup warm water to 1 tablespoon of baby shampoo

#4. 1 cup of water to 1 tablespoon of liquid dishwashing solution

#5.  1 cup water to 1 tablespoon baby shampoo with 1/2 teaspoon tea tree oil

#6.  1 cup distilled water to 2 tablespoons rubbing alcohol with 1 tablespoon of baby shampoo