Hello!
I’m so happy to have a guest post for #operationpink on this blog – my buddy Elaine, who used to blog sometime ago, has put together an informative post on pink-themed makeup brushes. She has an eye-popping extensive brush collection and she was the one who brainwashed me and convinced me I need at least 8 Hakuhodo makeup brushes in my life (more on that soon). She has featured some luxury Japanese brands like Hakuhodo and Koyudo seeing that Hakuhodo should be (*fingers crossed) coming back to Singapore next year for the Beauty Asia Fair and Isetan will be hosting a Koyudo Brush Fair next week. Read on for more details and her opinions on the brushes.
Hello, I am Elaine, a Japanese makeup fanatic and I’m currently obsessed with makeup brushes. In celebration of the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, I am happy to be here doing a guest post here featuring pink-themed makeup brushes.
Clockwise: Chomotto Highlighter ; Koyudo Face Powder C002 ; Chomotto Candlelight Powder ; Chomotto Angled Cheek and Powder ; Chomotto Angled Powder
Let’s take a look at some of my favourite brushes, starting off with the Koyudo brushes. Koyudo brushes can be bought online at Cool Japan Now.
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Koyudo Fu-Pa 02
Hair Type: Baby Goat (Chest)
Hair Length: 2.7cm
Price: ¥3505
Koyudo Fu-Pa 02 is a very densely packed and the width is a good size for applying and blending liquid foundation. I find blending a breeze with Fu-Pa 02. However the downside of the brush is that it had a very strong goat smell which was so overpowering that I nearly choked myself when I first used it. After 4 months of usage and constant washing, the smell has died off slightly.
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Koyudo Fu-Pa 05
Hair Type: Goat & PBT
Hair Length: 2.7cm
Price: ¥3800
Fu-pa 05 is a dual sided brush (goat and synthetic fiber) and works very well on days when I have dry skin due to dehydration. I use the side of the goat hair to apply and the fiber side to blend my foundation. It gives a very flawless & “pore-less” finish. I liked Fu-Pa 05 better as it is able to conceal my pores and it does not have a overpowering goat smell (Thank god!). There is a smaller version available too (Fu-pa 06). Personally for liquid foundation, I like the brush to be of a wider surface as it is much easier and requires lesser time to apply.
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Koyudo Fu-Pa 13
Hair Type: Goat
Hair Length: 2.7cm
Price: ¥4200
Fu-pa 13 is of a very unique shape foundation brush (with a slightly jagged side). It is definitely too small for my liking as blending foundation takes a longer time and I didn’t find it that useful when compared to my other foundation brushes. I was trying to make it work by trying on cream blushes. And definitely that was my mistake; it turned out to be a disaster.
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Koyudo Basic Powder Brush C002P
Hair Type: Goat
Hair Length: 5cm
Price: ¥3500
The Powder brush is round and the short handle make it a very travel friendly. It may not be extremely soft compared to the other powder brushes that I owned from Hakuhodo (J104 (Goat) or B002 (Blue Squirrel) ). Koyudo C-002 is a decent powder brush for applying loose powder but not a must-have.
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Koyudo Basic Cheek brush C013PLM
Hair Type: Goat
Hair Length: 3.2cm
Price: ¥1600
For the price at ¥1600, this is definitely a steal for a natural hair cheek brush from Koyudo. The cheek brush is a good size for applying blush on the apple of the cheeks and the short handle gives it a good control of the density of the color.
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Koyudo H Series H011 Finishing Brush
Hair Type: Goat
Hair Length: 2.2cm
Price: ¥5000
Absolutely in love with this flat top finishing brush, I normally use this to buff my liquid foundation for a polished look (in circular motion across the face)
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Hakuhodo 白鳳堂is a very popular brush manufacturer in Japan and has created a range of brushes in collaboration with Chomotto Beaute. Chomotto X Hakuhodo 白鳳堂 can be bought at Chomotto Beaute Webstore. You can check out here on how to use the brushes- link here.
From L-R: Angled Powder, Angled Cheek & Powder, Candlelight Powder and Highlighter
From L-R: Highlighter, Candlelight Powder, Angled Cheek and Angled Powder
Angled Powder
Hair Type: Goat
Hair Length: 2.5 to 4.5cm
Price: ¥7350
Dupe: Hakuhodo J531
This brush can be used to apply loose powder and also bronzer for contouring.
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Angled Cheek & Powder
Hair Type: Goat
Hair Length: 3 to 4.5cm
Price: ¥5775
I find this angle brush a bit too big for the cheeks and it is better to be used for powder. But I hardly reached out for this, as the larger version of the Angled Powder brush above is a much better choice in comparison for loose powder. As the goat hair is dyed black hence there is slight bleeding during wash and it doesn’t feel velvety smooth compared to the Angled Powder brush.
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Candlelight Powder
Hair Type: Goat
Hair Length: 5 cm
Price: ¥6615
The Candlelight Powder brush is a very unique shaped brush that resembles the candlelight. I like to use this for loose powder and it works well for hard-to-reach-areas like the corners of the nose.
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Highlighter
Hair type: Goat/Ash Squirrel
Hair Length: 3.2cm
Price: ¥2940
Dupe: Hakuhodo J5521
The quality of the Chomotto brushes are comparable to Hakuhodo J series, however I wouldn’t think the Chomotto X Hakuhodo brushes are must-haves as Hakuhodo J Series has a wider selection and at similar price points
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Lam Sam Yick Heart Brush (Small)
Hair Type: Goat
Price: HKD288
Lam Sam Yick (LSY) is the Taiwanese calligraphy and brush manufacturer. LSY brushes can be bought online at Lam Sam Yick Hong Kong Webstore. LSY brushes are highly-raved by Taiwanese makeup artiste and bloggers.
LSY Heart brush is a very cute heart-shaped cheek brush. It is extremely soft! (I had tried the Koyudo version of the Heart Cheek brush in Japan, it felt so stiff and rough compared to the LSY version.) I prefer to use this for less pigmented blushes as I find it tougher to control with very pigmented blushes. Once, when I had tried it with Illamasqua Beg blush, it left a “v” mark on my cheek which I had to quickly blend it off with a large powder brush.
I am happy to share that the annual Koyudo Brush Fair will be from 11-21 Oct 2013 at Isetan Scotts. I do recommend going down to check out the brushes especially the Fu-pa range.
Have a great pink October!
Love, Elaine xoxo
I hope you enjoyed Elaine’s informative post on the different pink-themed Japanese makeup brushes and I hope that this might help should you head down to the Koyudo fair this October or have the opportunity to purchase them elsewhere.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
