Illamasqua blush up brush and highlighter brush

As you know, I'm a recent contouring convert. One of the most frustrating things when you have a short face is finding brushes precise enough for the face. I did own the mac 168 brush (which I gave away to my best friend with already amazing cheek bones), but it was simply too big for my face. That's why I was very happy to find out about those two lovely illamasqua brushes.

The Illamasqua brushes are all vegan, synthetic fibers and they look very sleek with their black handle and ferule (both made out of plastic). The fibers are also the softest synthetic brush I own, especially the highlighter brush and I own quite a few by Ecotools, real techniques, elf and the infamous MAC 187. They also have the name of the brushes written in small letters in English and French. Isn't the name "pinceau élévateur" chic or what?

Illamasqua brush up brush

handle and ferule 15 cm, bristles 34mm wide

Illamasqua recommends using this brush with powder brush, but everybody seems to be using this for contour. I quite like this brush, but it's definitely a one trick pony. The bristles are super dense and cut slightly oval, great for a concave surface like the hollows of the cheeks. It works really well for that purpose. I prefer to lay down the color with this brush and blend it with another brush. It works for both powder and cream, but it's easier to work with cream because of the density of the brush.

 I have a white cat, can you tell?

This retails for 28,50 pounds, but I got it in a online promotion on Illamasqua website called build your own blusher set. You have the choice between most of their powder blushes and a choice of three of their blush brush for 35 pounds.

The highlighter brush or pinceau éclat

handle and ferule 15cm, head 2 cm at widest point

The highlighter brush is so, so soft. It's a small dense brush with an oval ferule and an oval shape. This brush is very versatile. You can use it to buff in your foundation, with powder and cream highlighter, for contouring, precise application of light pigmentation blushes etc. I prefer the Real techniques contour brush for contouring, because it is less dense. My favorite ways of using this brush is with cream and liquid highlighter and to blend my contour. We often have a collection full of blending brushes for the eyes, but nothing for precise blending on the face. I also used it with cream blush when I was traveling and it was lovely for that as well.

I can not think of any brush on the high street that is a dupe of this brush. It's smaller than the mac 109.

Overall I am super satisfied with my Illamasqua brushes. I was hesitant to pay so much for synthetic bristles, when you can get good brushes from the high street, but those brushes are definitely in a category of their own. The highlighter brush is really a must have for my shorter face shape and the brush up brush is a great and well made novelty brush for the brush lovers out there!