Japonesque Make-Up Brushes

Japonesque recently launched their range of travel brushes at Boots and a select few of their other brushes at John Lewis.  I am a total fascist when it comes to make-up brushes as they need to really perform to make my regular use cups.  Just to give you an idea, I have 3 small drawers of brushes that I keep for occasional use, one small drawer where I keep brushes that I’ll ‘probably’ never use but don’t want to throw out just yet, and 3 cups on my main dressing table where I keep brushes I use regularly, separated into brushes for eyes, powder brushes and base brushes.

I genuinely believe that the right brush can make the biggest difference to any make-up item and I don’t see any point in spending large amounts of make-up if you’re going to apply it with a poorly-made applicator.  So I was thrilled to get the opportunity to try out some of Japonesque’s brushes and I’ve put them in order starting with my favourite.

Natural Pro Blush Brush (324)

I’ve been on a constant hunt for the perfect blush brush and have come close but never really got there….until now.

This brush is so incredibly soft and picks up the perfect amount of blush that allows the application to build at the rate you want it to.  It’s just as perfect for blending blush down as it is for building it up.

This is my absolute go-to blush brush and I have a Mac blush brush that feels so tough in comparison, so it’s safe to say I’ll be sticking with this one for the foreseeable future.

It’s priced at £27 and available here.

Natural Pro Powder Brush (333)

I’m not sure my pictures do justice to the massive size of this brush, it really is absolutely huge!

It’s the perfect soft and fluffy powder brush that I currently use for setting my make-up with pressed powder.

However, the size of this would make it ideal for applying body powder and as it’s bristles are plentiful without being dense, it would be virtually impossible to achieve a caked-on finish with this.

Just as the Blush Brush above picks up the right amount of product, so does this.

It’s priced at £28 and available here.

Natural Mineral Make-up Brush (663)

I have several brushes I use for applying mineral powder but I find this to be firstly the easiest to use, and secondly the one that gives the best finish.

For some reason, a lot of mineral brushes are so incredibly dense that they pick up a wad of powder that no bashing against the side of the container will reduce.

There’s truly a pattern forming here, but this is yet another Japonesque brush that picks up the perfect amount of product.

It also buffs the powder into the skin really well without caking it on and, as with all Japonesque brushes, it’s incredibly soft.

It’s priced at £19.50 and available here.

Synthetic Concealer/Foundation Brush (660)

This is a small, travel-sized, angled brush that you can use to apply foundation or concealer.

I’ve only used it to apply concealer (I think it would take a while to apply a full face of foundation with this!) although I have used it for removing foundation from sample pots which it’s surprisingly handy for.

I wouldn’t say I’ve had a huge amount of use for it as it’s fine for application, but not ideal for blending and if you use as much concealer as me, it would take too long to work this in to the skin.

I do think it’s good for blending under eye concealer, but it’s really only a brush I use if I’m in a hurry.

It’s priced at £15.50 and available here.

Synthetic Pro Angled Foundation Brush (314)

This is the least favourite of the brushes I received, mainly because it’s less of a stand out brush than the others, but then again I feel there’s only so much that can be done with a foundation brush.

The fact that it’s angled does make it easy to get into various nooks and crannies.

However, I don’t think it blends the foundation too well and the bristles aren’t as soft as I’m used to in foundation brushes, although this is mainly due to the fact that it’s synthetic.

I’m more of a fan of natural brushes but this is a good basic foundation brush that is well made and easily cleaned.

It’s priced £19 at and available here.

In conclusion, I’m definitely a fan of Japonesque brushes as I feel they are generally well made and their range is really impressive as they also offer palettes, eye lash curlers and combs on top of the extensive brush collections.  They’re not cheap, but I do believe that with these you’re paying for quality and longevity so they’re fantastic investment brushes that are firm favourites in my daily make-up routine.  Japonesque brushes are available now at Boots and John Lewis, both in-store and online.

*PR samples