Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Loveybelle Brushes Review: Eclipse Brush Set

LoveyBelle is a Singaporean brand of makeup brushes, and since I've been away from my blog while I was travelling and just generally busy at work, I figure, I'd better get around to reviewing this huge set of brushes, and clearing my "to review" pile a little! These are all part of the Eclipse Brush set, except the odd brush with the wooden handle rather than the black ones - that's also a LoveyBelle brush but not part of the set. It just made its way into the photos. Oops!


Loveybelle Eclipse Brush Set: 12 brushes to cover all your brush needs!

So all that (sans one brush) is part of a single set. You get a whole bunch of brushes (and Loveybelle is kind enough to list out each brush as well as bristle type) for all your brush needs. Seriously. There are face brushes, eye brushes, lip brushes, lining brushes, buffing and blending brushes...I think Loveybelle has pretty much covered it all. The set has 6 eye brushes and 6 face ones. Let's take a further look!

My favourite are the face brushes, because I use powder a lot and blush is probably my favourite makeup item. As far as face brushes are concerned, you get a Tapered Face Brush (Natural & Synthetic Hair), Powder Brush (Taklon Hair), Angled Brush (Taklon Hair), Foundation / concealer (High Quality Synthetic Hair), Angled Foundation Brush (High Quality Synthetic Hair), and a Buffer Brush (Taklon Hair). Nevermind that there are only 5 brushes in the below photo - evidently one got left out by accident. Oops! I'm missing the Angled Brush (Taklon Hair), which you can see in this Instagram photo I posted.

LoveyBelle Eclipse Face Brushes Set
Loveybelle Eclipse Set Face Brushes (minus one)

The face brushes are generally good, and three types of bristles are featured here. First are the duo-coloured bristles which make up most of the brushes are Taklon hair. These are of decent quality, especially for the price. They're slightly softer than my Real Techniques brush bristles, but perhaps not as soft as a super high-end $$$ range, like the new MUFE ones. But I'd still say they are good, and soft with a good sway but not too much, and for the price, they really are quite worth it. Other fibers are a mix of natural and synthetic, such as the Tapered Brush, and these feel fairly soft as well - again, they're not the softest in the bunch (but then again, I own a $$$ Hakuhodo brush so I wouldn't expect it to compare), but neither are they the roughest. They're just fine. Lastly, some of the brushes also have synthetic hair (concealer and foundation brush). These are actually quite stiff and don't have much sway, especially compared to some of my other foundation brush. On the plus side, they seem to soak up less liquid than other types of synthetic bristles. My favourites are the Buffer Brush (first from left), which has received many raves, and also the Tapered Brush (second from right).

I thought I'd do a few quick comparisons, since I might as well make use of that huge stash of brushes I have lying around. Gotta put those to good use right? Below, some powder brushes I have.

LoveyBelle Zoeva Hakuhodo Eclipse Powder Brush
Powder Brush comparisons: Loveybelle, Zoeva, and Hakuhodo

The brushes featured are a mix of synthetic and natural bristles, so it's tough to compare exactly, but generally the LoveyBelle Powder Brush has the roughest bristles, followed by the Zoeva 101 Luxe Definer Brush, and then the Loveybelle Eclipse Powder Brush, and finally, the softest being the $$$ Hakuhodo Kokutan Blush Brush S. In terms of bristle density and shape, the Loveybelle one has a rather "floppy" shape, especially compared to the Zoeva 101 and the Loveybelle Powder Brush. So when you use it on your face, the bristles have a nice give and sway, and feel nice and soft.

LoveyBelle Zoeva Hakuhodo Eclipse Powder Brush (2)
Powder Brush comparisons: Loveybelle, Zoeva, and Hakuhodo

The LoveyBelle Buffer Brush also has a somewhat similar shape to a couple of my other brushes, so I thought I'd show them side by side. The Loveybelle Buffer Brush is the only one that's fully synthetic, while the Stila #21 Brush is made of goat hair, and the MAC #187 is made of mixed bristles.

LoveyBelle MAC Stila Flat Top Powder Blush Buffer Brush
Flat Top Brush comparisons: Loveybelle, MAC, and Stila

In terms of softness, it's hard to compare because all are different materials. But I will say that the Loveybelle Buffer Brush is a lot "floppier" than the other two. You can see how the bristles just kind of sink onto the surface in the photo below, without keeping much shape. Actually, I think it's this sway in the bristles that makes it so beloved for buffing - the bristles do buff out rather than add on product to your face. I find I tend to use both the MAC and the Stila brushes for applying blush or powder to my skin, and then the Loveybelle one to buff out if my application is too heavy.

LoveyBelle MAC Stila Flat Top Powder Blush Buffer Brush (2)
Flat Top Brush comparisons: Loveybelle, MAC, and Stila

Finally for face brushes, the only vaguely similar brush I have to the Loveybelle Angled Foundation Brush is the MUFE #152 Medium Highlighter Brush, which I recently reviewed. Both are made of synthetic bristles so it's easy to compare, and the MUFE one is definitely softer. But then again it's also a lot more spendy(!).

LoveyBelle MUFE Highlighter Foundation Brush
Small Buffing Brush comparisons: Loveybelle and MUFE

Because the bristles on the Loveybelle Angled Foundation Brush are on the shorter side, I find this to be a fairly stiff brush, and blending in circular motions during appication helps to get a more diffuse effect. It's not just useful for foundation, though - I think this could work for blush as well. Between the two, I prefer Loveybelle's slanted shape, but I like MUFE's bristles better.

LoveyBelle MUFE Highlighter Foundation Brush (2)
Small Buffing Brush comparisons: Loveybelle and MUFE

Now for the eye and smaller brushes. This time I got all 6 of them in a photo! Yes, success! Below you can see the Tapered Eye Blending Brush (Taklon Hair), Dual Eye Brush (Natural Hair), Contour Brush (Taklon Hair), Flat Eye Shadow Brush (Natural Hair), Angled liner Brush (Synthetic Hair), and Lip Stick Brush (Synthetic Hair).

Generally, the bristle quality is pretty good. The bristles have natural hair, which is not exactly the softest, but perfectly fine for use (for me, I'm less picky about the softness of my eye brushes than face ones), and there is also some Taklon hair featured too, which is soft as usual.

LoveyBelle Eclipse Eye Brushes Set
Loveybelle Eclipse Brush Set Eye Brushes - got all of them this time!

I don't have very many similar brushes, (what a surprise, I know), but I thought I'd do a quick comparison between some of the eye blending brushes I have. Below, my three different types of blending brushes. Size is a factor for eye blending brushes. I love my Stila #7 for quick work, but for detail work I tend to go to my Essence of Beauty. But for a really good "soft effect" blending that doesn't get my lid colour all the way up to my browbone like the Stila can sometimes do (because of its comparatively large size), I actually really like the Loveybelle one. It's small but still able to blend well, so it's good for my small Asian eyes.

LoveyBelle Essence of Beauty Stila Crease Brush Blending
Eye Blending Brush comparisons: Loveybelle, Stila and Essence of Beauty

So all in all, would I recommend these brushes? Yup. I think the Eclipse Set is pretty worth the price - at $138 for the entire set it's about less than $15 per brush. And you get a free brush case too, with the set. I'd say the winners for me are the Buffer Brush, the Tapered Brush and the Tapered Eye Blending Brush. The Loose Powder Brush and Angled Blush Brush are also on my list of will-reach-for brushes. If you do give this a go, it's worth the price.

Recommended? Bristle Type Bristle Density Shape Softness
Yes, great value for money Mixed Generally less dense Variable Variable, generally fairly soft
The Bottom Line: The Loveybelle Eclipse Brush Set has some gems, and plenty of daily use brushes in a convenient value-for-money set.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

1 comments:

  1. Great review! They are indeed great brushes that is worth the money. I wanna try these out and see if I will feel comfy in using it.

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