Furless Brushes: The Soft Vegan Wonder.

I like makeup. It’s like coloring, but on your face. And, I like makeup brushes even more. Back when I used to paint more often, I spent as much money on brushes as I did on paints, and that carried over into makeup brushes. But, being vegan presents some issues in the makeup brush world. Most high quality brushes use either animal hair (squirrel, horse, mink, etc.) or a blend of animal and synthetic. Synthetic brushes are available at the lower price points, but they are often scratch or fall apart quickly.

To add to the complexity, anyone you ask will tell you that I have a little bit of an obsessive tendency about things matching. Having bright orange brushes sitting out in my teal/aqua/blue bathroom was just not going to happen. And, I don’t like having a bunch of different colors (yeah, I know).

So, a friend mentioned an Australian company that makes vegan makeup and brushes – Furless Cosmetics – and I knew I had to check them out. Their brushes looked really interesting, so after a few days of mulling it over constantly, I decided to buy their “must have pro” brush set.

I got them last week and have been using them every day and I’m happy to report that they are all I hoped.

Appearance: These brushes are gorgeous. The blue handles are a deep color, nicely shiny and sturdy looking, but not too big. The ferules are gold (I thought they were silver from the site – a minor disappointment). The bristles look luxurious. They came in a brush roll. It’s not the most gorgeous brush role I’ve seen, but it’s very spacious. You can fit this whole set in and still have room left over.

Feel: Soft. Super soft. In fact, they are so soft that I was worried about performance (see below). The handles are very smooth and have a good weight to them. They are also long (just longer than a standard bottle of water), which may make them inappropriate for some users, but works fine for me.

Performance: One issue with synthetic brushes is that they sometimes don’t pick up enough pigment. They are so soft that the powder just slides right off. That is not an issue at all with the eye brushes in this set. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by their ability to pick up and apply color. The one brush that I have had a bit of an issue with is the slanted contour/blush brush. With harder brushes (i.e. Chanel JC), I sometimes have to pass the brush over several times to get enough pigment.

Specific brush notes:

• The fan brush is entirely too thick. I only use fan brushes to gently add a little highlighter and this brush (over half inch thick) just doesn’t really make sense for that. It’s adorable and way soft, but too thick for me.
• The blending brush has completely taken over for my MAC 217 (which I got pre-vegan). It blends well without removing the color.
• The pencil crease brush is the shiz.
• The precision brush is quite a bit like the MAC 231 that I often use for lining and works well for tightlining too.
• The lip brush in this set makes a great eyeliner brush.

In all, I’m really  happy with these brushes. My daughters each got one of the lip glosses, and they are pleased with theirs as well (one did leak somewhat in transit).

Furless is having a 10% off sale right now, and if you have a blog that a review of their products would be pertinent on, you can apply for a blogger discount, which gives you a significant savings on your first purchase.

Happy shopping, vegans!