Saturday, September 15, 2012

Spotlight: 100% Pure Cosmetics Vegan Brushes

It is with great pleasure, that I am writing today's post about makeup brushes from 100% Pure Cosmetics.  If you are unfamiliar with this brand, please see more under my Synthetic Makeup Brushes Part 3- About the Brands : http://makeupmattersbylnc.blogspot.com/2012/08/synthetic-makeup-brushes-part-3-about.html post, where they are listed in my synthetic brush guide. I was first introduced to this brand through their coffee bean caffeine eye cream which works wonders on puffy under eye circles and fine lines. It's my holy grail eye cream and I don't know what I would do if they ever discontinued it. As many of you may know from my previous posts, I am on a never ending quest for good quality synthetic brushes. The brushes from 100% Pure Cosmetics came up in my search when I was looking for brushes, but I couldn't really find any personal reviews on them. I generally like to read other people's personal thoughts and reviews on products before I buy them. That is why it is with such pleasure that I am writing this post. I hope that this information is helpful to someone like myself who was looking for a more personal account of these brushes.

Here are the brushes that I have:
  • Cruelty Free Angled Brush #8 ($13): This brush is AWESOME for applying eyebrow powder and shaping your brows. This has become my go to brow brush because of the angle, size and stiffness of the bristles.You can use it to apply brow powder, brow wax or eyeliner.
  • Cruelty Free Contour Brush ($15): This is a stand out for me among the brush line. I think this is a really great blending brush, and blends eyeshadow perfectly every time. The bristles are really soft and the dome shape of the head makes it perfect for blending out harsh edges. 
  • Cruelty Free Eye Liner Brush ($9): I like this brush for gel liners.  Just dampen it with a little water, dip it into your gel liner pot and draw the perfect line of color. This brush can be used dry or wet to create different effects.  I find I use it most for applying dry powder shadow to my bottom lash line. 
  • Cruelty Free Blush Brush ($18): Another stand out brush for me, this is truly a multipurpose brush. 100% Pure Cosmetics advertises this as a vegan blush brush, but when I first got it I used it to apply liquid foundation and it gave me a beautiful airbrushed finish.  I've also used it to apply powder bronzer & blush and have found that it works equally as well for all 3 tasks. So, I think you are really getting 3 brushes in one here, because it does all 3 jobs quite well. 
  • Cruelty Free Eye Shadow Brush ($12): This is a flat shader brush perfect for packing on color to the lid. If you prefer long handle brushes, you'll love this one.
Now let's take a closer look at each brush individually. Before we do, I want to mention that although these have white bristles, they are easy to clean. When I first received these brushes, I was worried that the white bristles would get stained with product and they wouldn't look pretty when it came time to photograph them to share with you. I used them with very bold pigments including NYX Cinnamon blush, a dark bronzer, pigmented eyeshadow etc. and as you can see from this picture which was just taken, after lots of use and a few washes, they look good as new! Product came out easily with my daily brush cleaner spray, and brush shampoo, with no extra effort.

First up is the Blush Brush:


 This is a flat top kabuki style brush with a nice long handle and long Ferrell. In fact, all of the brushes in this post have quite long handles, though 100% Pure Cosmetics also makes shorter handled brushes if that's what you prefer.

 I love this picture (above) because you can really see how dense the bristles are here. The bristles are so super soft, you would never guess these brushes are synthetic. These brushes are just more proof as to why it's totally unnecessary to kill animals for brushes (or anything for that matter).

Next up is the Eyeshadow Brush:

 Note the long handle and long flat bristles. This could also double as a concealer brush.

 Above is a side view of the brush, note the flat head making it easy to also apply a small amount of color to the lower lash line using the tip of this brush.

Here is the Eyeliner Brush:
Once you wet the bristles they can be smoothed to a point and you can get a nice fine line from a potted gel liner. I also used this to apply powder eyeshadow to my lower lash line and because the bristles are so thin, you get a nice natural looking line every time.

Like the others, this brush also has a nice long white handle. 

Angled Brush #8:

This brush has a slightly angled head, with thin flat bristles and the perfect amount of firmness making it ideal for filling in brows, or lining the eyes. For me, as mentioned above, this is my go to brow brush. I think you could also use this is a lip brush, it would probably work great for applying something like the OCC Lip Tars or even gloss. As you can see most of these brushes are really multitaskers so you are getting much more than what you are paying for with each brush.

Contour Brush:

 This really is a great blending brush. I know many makeup artists who have all synthetic brushes except for the MAC 217 because quite honestly, there are not a lot of good synthetic blending brushes on the market. This synthetic blending brush really works great for blending out color, and in my personal opinion could and should replace that brush in your kit as a more cruelty free option. While the shape is not exactly the same, it is a domed brush and the density of the bristles is about the same. I really like the way this blends out color on the eye, and I've even used it to apply under eye primer and concealer.

Like the other brushes, this one has a nice long handle, and feels quite sturdy, yet comfortable in the hand.

 I've juxtaposed the bristle head with my index finger to show you size.  I think this is the perfect size for most eye shapes. I hate when companies make their blending brushes too big, not everyone has giant size eyes. This one, is just the right size!

Here is a final look at all of the brushes together:


From left to right (pictured above): Blush Brush, Contour Brush, Angled Brush, Eyeshadow Brush, Eye Liner Brush

Overall, I really like these brushes a lot. I think these are very reasonably priced for what you are getting.  It is important to note that not all synthetic brushes are created equal. I have made the mistake of purchasing brushes only to find them unusable. I've bought brushes from other companies that smell of paint or other oddities, or brushes that simply fall apart after one use.  The brushes from 100% Pure Cosmetics are sturdy, well constructed brushes. They are easy to keep clean, do not shed and have a nice long handle. 

If you are looking for a holiday gift for someone you know who likes makeup, or needs some brushes to start out her collection, this would be a great place to start without breaking the bank.These brushes are available for purchase on the company's website at:

I hope you enjoyed this review, and as always please feel free to ask questions in the comment box below.

*Note: These brushes were sent for consideration by the company. This does not in any way alter my review, all of my reviews are 100% honest. I never recommend a brush or product without using  it personally first. I do not get paid to write reviews, and only write them in hopes of helping others to make good purchasing decisions.


5 comments:

  1. The contour one looks really good, I am still on the hunt for a good synthetic blending brush! I have a bdellium tools one which is quite good, and a real techniques one too, they're not perfect though. Personally I like bristles which aren't dark as you can tell when they're clean!

    Just found you via twitter and following! I have a cruelty free blog too, I love finding others! We are rather few and far between! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you found me! What's your Twitter handle?

      Delete
    2. Thanks
      I'll introduce you to some of my amazing cruelty free friends & bloggers on Twitter

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  2. It was nice article to find vegan makeup brushes products and it was natural , organic so good it was beast product for makeups

    ReplyDelete

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