Hakuhodo favourites

Welcome to a much requested post on brushes! Although this is not a review on my entire collection, just wanted to share with you some of my most reached for Hakuhodo brushes and which products I pair them with.

Without wasting time (since this is a lengthy post) let’s get right to face brushes.

Starting with my powder brush. Koo2 (Blue Squirrel)

 

The K002 is one of the very first Hakuhodo brushes I purchased. It’s a brush of medium density, very soft and works really great with loose powders. One thing I love about the K series is that the handles are long and I find I have more control while applying, specially when a brush is used on a larger surface area like the cheeks or face.

If you look closely at the brush (below) you’ll notice the bristles are fluffed up, although when I purchased it, they were more tightly packed.. *a good thing to keep in mind when purchasing them is that they do ‘expand’ or fluff up a bit after one wash.

 

 

 

This next brush is something I keep exclusively for use with my Guerlain Météorites, the S105. Now I am not saying you need to own a separate brush to use with finishing powders, your regular powder brush will do. But this is just my preference.

So the S105 is crazy soft and has considerably low density compared to my powder brush. Reason being I don’t want a heavily saturated brush dumping a load of finishing powder on my face all in one go. I also love that the extra soft bristles add a luxurious touch to the last step of my makeup, making it almost therapeutic.

Here’s a close up of this soft little thing.

 

 

 

On to my next precious brush, yet again from Hakuhodos signature Vermillion handled S series.  S116 (Blue Squirrel)

This one is a low density flat brush with a slight point. It’s tapered end picks up product sparingly and deposits just the right amount of highlighter on the high points of your cheekbones, bridge of your nose (this is where the point comes handy). I also find the size just perfect too, great for working on smaller sections of your face.

 

So that rounds up my list of favourites for face brushes, let’s take a look at the density and formation of the bristles.

As you can see, varied density and size suited for each task. 🙂

 

For on the go touch ups my favourite is this retractable brush J601 which is made of goat hair.

 

 

Although goat hair is not as soft as blue squirrel, this brush is good enough for a quick touch up, be it blush or pressed powder. I love retractable brushes for travel since they are hygienic and don’t mingle directly with the contents of your makeup bag. Everything stays nice n clean.

Below is a little comparison between my regular powder brush and the touch up brush for your reference.

 

 

Now on to eye brushes.

I absolutely love how Hakuhodo makes a mind boggling selection of these.. from all sizes and shapes in various types of bristles! I definitely had a hard time deciding which to purchase.

So let’s start with one of my favourites, the iconic J5523 brush which is of soft goat hair. Famed for being the better sister of the Mac 217 this one is a multitasker. You can use it for packing on eyeshadow to the lid, or to blend out any harsh lines and soften the crease. It’s truly amazing. Although I took a while to add this to my stash, I am so glad I finally did.

If you buy just one Hakuhodo eye brush, i’d recommend you make it this one.

Now the other tiny brush beside it, is my highlighter brush for the eyes G5513, it is small enough to get to my tear duct without stabbing me in the eye and also works perfect with tricky eyeshadows like the one shown above where you can individually pick colours (lets say I just wanted the yellow from this pan). It’s always good to have at least two different sizes of brushes to work with 🙂 So don’t just buy one!

below is a pic which shows size, shape and density between the two.

The next brush is my HG liner brush.. actually Hakuhodo makes several of these very fine pointy brushes. I absolutely love how thin I can draw my liner with this. It’s perfect to use with my Mac Blacktrack gel liner ❤ and the tip is the ideal length (not too long that it sacrifices control).

 

Onto another lovely S series brush. S142, a must have blender brush made from the softest blue squirrel bristles. I love how flexible it is, and the soft bristles promise feather light strokes every single use. I actually use this to set my under eyes with powder. The pointy tip helps me get right under my lower lashes with minimal effort and the soft bristles are great for working on delicate under eye skin without dragging it.

 

So concluding this post, I just want to say that these are brushes that I find best suited for my needs, which may vary from yours.

Also worth noting, brush shopping is best done in person than buying them online, where you can’t really feel the softness or check flexibility/resistance. But in the event you don’t have the opportunity to, hope reviews like this prove useful! 🙂

 

Other info-

You can purchase Hakuhodo brushes online from their site, and if you are residing in Singapore there is a pop up store at Takashimaya (Beauty department- level 1) from the 27th March – 8th April. Go as early as possible so you get to see the entire range 🙂 Most of the popular brushes sell out early!

Happy shopping,

Michelle.