As I’ve mentioned before in a post I’ve been trying to expand my brush collection, especially my eye brushes (because I used to only have one!). So a while back I ordered 2 Hakuhodo brushes, the J5523 (a MAC 217 equivalent) and the J142. I bought both from a seller in instagram named iroiroshopu, they do Japanese cosmetics and brushes preorders for Indonesian customer. They usually open a pre-order for about two weeks, in which time we have to pay at least 50% of the total price. After the pre-order closed, they’ll ship all the pre-order stuff in one package to Indonesia and it’s expected to arrive in Indonesia in about two weeks. After that, we’ll be notified to pay the rest, and our individual package will be shipped to our door. It’s a pretty convenient way to shop for me, but for some the waiting process might be too much! Long story short, my brushes arrived back in November and I’ve been happily using it ever since! I’ve never tried the MAC 217, but the Hakuhodo J5523 is just sooooo soft! I’ve heard some people said after they tried Hakuhodo brushes, the MAC ones just doesn’t compare. So I don’t think I’ll ever be tempted to buy the MAC 217 after I had this J5523.
I received the package with a sheet of cleaning instructions. On there it’s said to gently wipe on a sheet of tissue after each usage, that way the bristles don’t get dirty as easily and we don’t need to wash it as much. So far I’ve only washed it twice, once when it first arrive and about two weeks after that. Between washes, especially if you’re using dark eye shadows, the bristles will look dirty, but if you’ve wiped it on a piece of tissue paper until all the excess shadow are gone, it will still be quite clean to use.
Shape wise, as you can see in the picture, Hakuhodo J5523 has a pinched ferrule, giving it a flatter shape compared to the round (not pinched) ferrule of the J142. This allows the J5523 to be used on it’s side to “pat” eyeshadow into the lid area. Maybe it won’t work as good as a flat shader brush if you’re trying to pack the color, but if you’re just trying to put some color into the lid it works just fine. On the other hand the round ferrule of the J142 doesn’t make it as good to use for patting eyeshadow on the lid. Both brushes have quite a fluffy tip, making it perfect for blending eyeshadow into the crease. J142 have a more pointed tip compared to the J5523, again because the J5523 have a pinched ferrule. Both of these brushes is roughly the same size, but with J142 having a more pointed tip, it allows more precision when putting a darker color on the outer corner of the eye. I personally prefer using bigger brush to blend the lid and crease color together, so I mainly use J5523 for this task. But when I want to make the eye look a bit darker, a bit smokier, I’ll use J142 to put the color on the outer corner of the eye.
Since I’m no expert in eye shadow application, these two brushes have served all my needs for eye brushes. But, being the make up addict that I am, I still want some other eye brushes, like the Bobbi Brown Eye Blender. It’s all because of Anna from Viviannadoesmakeup. She makes it seems like a very important tool for the final blend of eyeshadows! I don’t know whether or not that particular brush is available in the counters though, so I can only hope I will get it… And of course there’s the gorgeous Zoeva Rose Golden Luxury Set, which as the name suggest is very luxurious, and gorgeus. The 227 Soft Definer in that set is another MAC 217 dupe, and the whole range just seem so versatile.
So, what brushes do you use? What would you recommend to me? Do share in the comment below 🙂
Infinitely Mine 