For quite a while I had told myself I needed some good eye brushes, and for Christmas I received MAC's Tartan Tale's Brush set for eyes. It came with a long Tartan Themed bag (which i love!!) to put your makeup in etc but i've seen people use it as a clutch and 5 mini brushes (only the handles were the miniature part).
Brush sets from MAC are great because a single brush has a ridiculously high price tag attached to it (180ttd avg), but with the sets you get the same great quality...obv for less :D
It came with:
Mascara brush (204SE).
Small Concealer Brush (194SE).
Angled Eyeliner Brush (266SE).
Angled Eyeshadow brush/contour (275SE).
Blending Brush (224SE).
[Note all these brushes are available full sized/long handled in MAC stores]
I don't use the 204 brush very often, except when i need to comb my brows upwards to stop the hairs from drooping down and when the mascara i'm using happens to clump.I can't say much about it other than it seems like any other.
The 266 is great!!! It's sturdy but soft. It's not very thick so it's extremely easy to glide on a thin, precise line when using my gel liner. It's fab!! I was using one from Sacha and it was thick and started to fray out in a few months so all i could draw on was a thick line (which may not always be the look i'm going for).
This brush makes it sooo easy to apply the gel liner and it's not a problem (for me) that it's thin because i can just make the thin thicker by going it over. I also have had no shedding problems when cleaning or applying. Love it!!
The 275 is such a lovely brush. I had originally wanted a crease brush with a small domed shape but this does the trick!! It's not a dense brush but it picks up and applies eyeshadow really well. Owing to its shape it's very easy to draw and shade your outer 'V' as well as get into your crease (and stay in your crease)! It's wonderfully soft but not flimsy and holds its shape very well. I have had no shedding so far so that's another plus!!
The 194 is a small concealer brush. It's great for applying concealer under the eyes and on small spots. The only problem i have when i use this (with my liquid concealer) is that you can't really stipple with it so sometimes your concealer may go on streaky or you can see where exactly the brush passed. I personally use this to APPLY to the areas as it's great for that owing to it's size and shape, and i use either my hand or the 224 brush to blend in etc. It doesn't shed and is all in all a great brush :)
The 224 brush I reallly realllly like. It serves a dual purpose for me. I use it to blend out my eyeshadow where there are any harsh lines and apply eyeshadow to highlight my brow bone. I also use it to apply concealer. When i don't use the 194 to apply concealer, I use this brush. Just dip it and then spot it onto the places that need concealing. It's great for stippling and blending out the concealer on your nose and under your eyes as it sort of buffs out the appearance making it look completely natural! No more brush stroke lines! So far, only ONE hair fell out from the brush but after that no more have come out during cleaning. It's another great brush :) An essential i would say!
Ok I know the title says great tools for eyes, specifically MAC, but I just thought i would include 1 more brush. This one is for the face and is not a MAC brush. I picked this little brush up in CVS for about $5usd and I LOVE it. It wouldn't make sense to put this single brush in a separate post.
It's a lovely little kabuki brush from Studio 35. It's soft but slightly dense and is absolutely great for buffing on powder & applying blush and bronzer. This brush picks up soooooo much, so it's advisable that you tap off the excess and apply with a somewhat soft touch (it all depends on the amount of powder/blush/bronzer you want). It's SO CUTE and is great for traveling. I take it with me everywhere and it fits easily into my makeup bag. The only problem I have is that it sheds. Not excessively, but now and then I would have a brush hair on my cheek after applying bronzer.
