I've been an avid follower of Wayne Goss' Youtube channel for the longest time. He was among the early beauty channels in the YT community and I was immediately drawn to his real approach toward the industry. His short, bite-sized videos pack a whole lot of information that still remains relevant today.
I still remember, to this day, the first time he announced his line of brushes. At the time, I was so young and couldn't afford expensive makeup brushes. It was only when I ventured into freelance makeup artistry, where I knew Wayne's brushes would be a solid foundation to my personal kit and professional kit. I knew they were made of utmost quality and boy was I right.
In light of his new release of 'The Synthetics' collection, I've chosen to breakdown some of my favourite brushes from 'The Collection'. This collection has served me well and I tend to gravitate towards these brushes than some of my newer purchases. They are extremely versatile and will last you a lifetime.
No. 2 (Tapered Highlight/Blush Brush)
Bristle: Blue Squirrel. Because of the blue squirrel hair, the brush picks up very little product which is perfect when you want to add just a little bit of colour.
Blendability: This is a dream of a brush to apply. The shape is perfect for adding a soft highlight, blending out a harsh contour and applying a flush of rouge. Due to its shape, it diffuses powders beautifully. Like other Japanese crafted brushes, they are made like calligraphy brushes, so the harder the pressure the more blending ability you get. This is my usual go-to for soft contours and highlight.
Washability: Easy, the hairs are not as porous as goat and so just need gentle wash with light soap.
Best Used For: Powders, highlight, blush, and setting faces. Don't use creams with this one as it doesn't pick up much and is not stiff enough to blend it out.
No. 14 (Cheek Brush)
Bristle: Goat Hair
Blendability: I love love love this brush! Similar to my Hakuhodo cheek brush review, this one is another loosely packed brush that is meant to create a soft wash of colour. It has enough hairs to apply blush in the most foolproof manner. With more bressure, comes softer blending. This is my go-to for blush as I have a tendency to put too much or too little. It's the goldilocks of my brushes.
Washability: Easy.
Best Used For: Highlighting and blush. Can be used to do a very soft contour and bronze.
No. 3 (Fluffy Blending Brush)
Bristle: Blue Squirrel
Blendability: High. Ok, so we all love a fluffy eyeshadow blending brush and this one is no exception in my collection. It is extremely soft and allows me to perfectly blend eyeshadow edges with ease. The softer bristle means that the product doesn't move as fast as a stiffer bristle, meaning I have more control over the blend. The density is perfect for this very reason. Sometimes I find brushes don't have enough hairs and they end up just moving the shadow/cream back and forth.
Washability: Easy.
Best Used For: Setting under the eyes, precise highlight, blending eyeshadow, and applying eyeshadow.
No. 8 (Eyeliner Brush)
Bristle: Sable
Blendability: Low-None. This one is revolutionary. I know Hakuhodo have had these kinds of brushes for a while but I love Wayne's take on the short eyeliner brush. His idea is to use the square shape as a stamp for your eyeliner where you can stamp along the lash line with ease. It works amazingly well for this very technique. Gel, pencil, powder, you name it, they work with all mediums. The one thing I had to get used to was the shape. Unlike angled brushes, where you drag across the lid, this one goes on a bit thicker as you drag. So, I had to control both my pressure and technique in order to get a precise line.
Washability: Fairly easy considering I've used a whole bunch of long wearing liners with the brush.
Best Used For: Eyeliner.
No. 5 (Pencil Brush)
Bristle: Blue Squirrel
Blendability: Medium. This brush is on the smaller end of pencil brushes. It is made with extremely soft blue squirrel hairs that allow it to have a fairly good blend. Not one that is really soft, instead it gives you a precise application and blend. I tend to use this on my clients with sensitive eyes as the bristle remains soft but allows me to blend perfectly. This one is particularly great on smaller eyes or monolid eyes as they don’t blend too high and add just the right amount of definition to enhance the eye shape.
Washability: Easy
Best Used For: Smoking out the lower lash line/upper lash line, inner corner work.
No. 7 (Lip Brush/Eye Smudger)
Bristle: Sable
Blendability: Low. He labelled this as his lip brush but I tend to use this for precise liner/blending under the lash line. It's still really soft despite it's high density, making it perfect for blending out liners and dark shadows. I have used this for lips and find it a bit too small. Great for a precise red lip, not so good for an everyday one as the coverage isn't as big.
Washability: Moderately Easy.
Best Used For: Lower lash line work and lips.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading this post. If you liked what you read, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment below. This will be the last of my brush series. I’ll be returning to it with some more brands soon!