Starting a brush collection - brush 4, powder

I think the only truly necessary brush one needs is something to apply eyeshadow with. Any other product I could easily (though without any particular pleasure) apply with my fingers or with the puff or sponge provided. Applying eyeshadow with the hideous sponge-tip applicators they come with or a q-tip, is just, to me, absurd. I would forfeit wearing makeup (or at the very least, eyeshadow) all together if life would come to that. However, despite the high ranking I've bestowed upon it, it doesn't make it my favourite kind of brush, it is merely the most necessary. No, my favourite kind, the kind that haunts my aspirations and is the subject of my obsession, is a powder brush.

It was the Suqqu Face Brush that caught my gaze, hypnotized and reeled me into the luxurious world of exquisite Japanese brushes. I thought the price on Selfridges' website was a mistake the first time I googled it! But it wasn't. In fact, it's not even the most expensive brush in the world as I, for the longest time, thought it was. "I want it; I need it; I will never be able to afford it...; This is crazy, snap out of it!"- are all thoughts that went through my head for a year or so. And after about a year, I started getting more comfortable with another thought, namely "I WILL have it", and not long after is when I came up with my strategy, which I elaborate on in the first post on "Starting a brush collection." Yes, I couldn't afford the Suqqu, but I was going to make damn sure the one I did select until the day I could, would not see me compromise my expectations for quality or aesthetic in design. Of all the brushes I'll be including in my core collection (again, please refer to the first post on brushes), the majority of them are nice and functional, but the powder brush is special (people with oily or very combination skin will know why - the indescribable sensation of the satisfaction after going to town with a beautifully silky powder on your face to combat the tackiness and shine is AMAZING, which is why a huge, fluffy powder brush is to me what cats were to ancient Egyptians - divine).   

After months of research, consideration and arguing myself into a corner (because, come on, it's me), I finally had my collection narrowed down (I think. Sort of). The problem with this collection is the problem I always have with eyeshadow palettes - for example a quint - I'll like 3 colours from one, and two from another, but never the entire palette, and from there the odds sort of deteriorate. It's the same with trying to put together the right group of brushes for me. 

It's tricky to explain, but I have a list of types of brushes, and a list of brands I'd like to have, but it's not as simple as "any from either, or, oh, as long as there's one from each major player" - no. For example, I would like to have something from Chikuhodo, however, only grey squirrel or kolinsky, and only types of brushes that if made from that hair aren't insanely expensive (as in Suqqu territory which would defeat the purpose of my plan. Might as well just rob a bank now), and the reason I don't want goat or a goat blend from them, is because brushes with the same sort of hair from other companies (mainly Hakuhodo) are much, much more affordable (and since I want a little bit from everyone anyway, might as well get them there). 

I basically came to the realization that a huge, Japanese, 100% squirrel brush wasn't in the cards for me for now. But that's okay. I've read a lot of reviews that say the unbelievable softness of those brushes, though amazing to feel, isn't necessarily the most effective, and that often a blend or goat brush is more efficient, while still extremely nice. Once you factor in my particular design aesthetic, there was really only one brush I could want - the RMK Face Powder Brush. 

I ordered mine on bonboncosmetics.com (which was another reason I chose it, seemed less scary than ordering from some Japanese website). It took a pretty long time to receive it - about three weeks for it to get shipped to friends in the US (two of which it spent in a sorting facility in Hong Kong, seriously...), and then another two weeks to get to me in Europe. Another positive is that RMK brushes are made by Chikuhodo, so in a sense, I did get one of theirs (not counting the Shiseido, which they too create). Now for the negatives, and I'm taking a deep, deep breath as I do this... 

To me, the RMK Face Powder brush looks like a beautifully proportioned brush, which I can't really say about the rest of them (not even the cheek brush, the size of the brush head is smaller and it's a completely different shape as a result, which isn't by any means a bad thing, just not for me) - so really, it was the only brush I could have gotten from them, and I did. Something that made me feel very confident about my decision were comparison pictures of it, the Suqqu and the Chikuhodo Z-1, which brought to my attention that out of all of them, the RMK's brush head was actually the biggest (I could be wrong and since they're made by hand, differences in size are perfectly common), and as mentioned before, the idea of a huge, softer than soft powder brush is practically toe-curling (in an amazing way). What I was expecting is roughly three times as big as the actual brush. I have to be completely honest, I was disappointed. That would be negative number one. 

Negative number two is something I can't believe nobody's written about, considering how much effort is put into measuring and comparing brushes from every imaginable angle. This brush is shockingly light. I was genuinely shocked at how light it is. I've never held a brush in my hand that felt like if it accidentally slipped out of my hand, it would end up in the opposite end of the room. It's that light, like it's the only object in your immediate proximity that feels like it's weightless on the Moon.

It's made of some sort of metal, both the handle and ferrule. The walls of the handle feel incredibly thin and completely hollow. I guarantee very few people would be bothered by this, but for me a nice piece of product design has to have the perfect weight. It's especially observable in jewelry and dishware. If a necklace is too light, it feels cheap, if it's too heavy it feels cheap too. If a wine glass is too heavy, it feels like regular glass, if it's too light, it feels like a piece of glass may chip off the moment you place your lips on it for a sip. There's a perfect weight at which things feel expensive and well made, it's somewhere in the middle, and in perfect harmony with the rest of the dimensions.

Because the brush is so light, its center of gravity is not where it should be. The Shiseido Perfect Foundation Brush is really well balanced - you hold it in your hand, and it feels like it belongs there. From what I can tell, the perfect area to place the bulk of a brush's weight is where the hand meets the ferrule. That's roughly where you'd be holding the brush and where it's in direct contact with your grip, placing the weight either left or right (or up or down, depending on how you look at it) from there, would make holding it increasingly tiring. So yes, although it's one of the more affordable brushes of that top, niche market, I'm sorry to say it doesn't feel as expensive and well made as it should for the price, in my opinion. Oh, and you know what the heaviest part of the brush is? The brush head. Yes, the heaviest part of the entire thing is a poof of fur, to give you an idea of how light it is. If you don't care about things like this, feel free to ignore this entire paragraph. I do care, and although I've gotten used to it (and by that I don't mean it's suddenly okay and I've changed my views, no, I'm just used to it, meaning the shock's worn off), I can't say I wasn't disappointed by this when I received it. 

On to negative number three. This one's tricky. I feel guilty writing this, very, very guilty. I keep talking myself out of it "No, you're imagining it, everyone else says it's such a soft and nice brush, you're crazy!", but I'm going to tell it like it is. The thing is, it really is a lovely soft brush. I was actually surprised when I went to check the facts on SMT to see which part of the brush was goat and which was grey squirrel, and it was actually the opposite of what I thought (goat all around and squirrel on the inside). The most outer layers felt so silky, I thought that was the squirrel hair. I'm so confused about my judgment of its softness. Everyone I've shown the brush has marveled at its softness, and I do too... That is, when I feel it on any other surface of my skin besides my face. This will sound crazy, but when I use it on my face the tips of the hairs feel like barbed wire. Microscopic, ultra fine and sharp barbed wire.

I don't know what to say. I've never had a brush feel this way, not even much cheaper synthetic ones. It's extremely confusing, because the length of the hair feels super nice, even on my face, but the actual tips do not. This is a legitimate negative, but something tells me it's not a permanent one. My acne medication has dried out and thinned my skin to a whole other level of fragility. For example, I have short nails, but one night I was turning off a lamp, already in bed, and in the dark smashed myself with my own thumb just above my eyebrow by accident. Again, I have short, blunt nails. It really hurt but I didn't think much of it and just fell asleep, only to wake up in the morning to the sight of myself with a bloody face and a scar. It took that little effort to slash my skin to the point of bleeding... Thus my feeling like the RMK brush is prickly may just be down to my current condition. My perception of how soft it is may and probably will change when my treatment is over. 

So those are my three major issues with the RMK Face Powder Brush. I haven't mentioned this to anyone and was being very quiet in the first weeks of using it as to not get the "I can't believe you paid so much money for it and it ain't all that" treatment. I was at the height of my mixed feelings towards it the first time I washed it, which was sort of scary. I never knew what people were talking about when saying their brushes "bleed", until I experienced it with the RMK. Oh it bled, not only that, it smelled horrible when I washed it! HORRIBLE! Like if you set fire to an acetone based dye... Oh dear. But, I have since washed it several times and both the smell and bleeding ceased around the second or third wash. Also, it lost exactly three hairs since I got it, all casualties of the first wash. I should also mention that what you use to wash it makes an enormous difference.

I have this Finnish shampoo I've deemed unusable for human hair (that's a bit harsh, a guy who doesn't care as long as it bubbles would gladly use it, and if I had a puppy, I'd give it bubble baths with it, but puppies aren't human, so I'm back to my original statement) and instead have been using it as a shower gel and to wash my makeup brushes. The first time I washed the RMK was with that shampoo, and it got clean, sort of. The toxic smell it got during the wash, which wasn't there before, sort of stuck to it for a few days afterwards. The second time I washed it, I decided to use the shampoo and conditioner I personally use - both from the Tigi Bed Head Epic Volume line. Oh my god! To say it was like brand new is an understatement. I'd say it was like a considerable improvement from what it looked like brand new. It was like flying Emirates, which is pretty snazzy to begin with, but then suddenly getting upgraded to business class. Score! I think my opinion of the brush had improved immensely by that point, and I was also getting more used to it in terms of the things that had bothered me about it. 

All in all I am happy with it. If you place as much of an importance on the physical appearance of objects as I do, this was the only brush I could have gotten. It's a matter of character and education for me and of course money. These are all very expensive things, I can only afford to get an extremely well curated selection of items, and for the price, I should have nothing negative to say about the design. But even if my budget had two additional zeros to operate with, my selection would still be very small because if I deem something "not my cup of tea" design wise, I couldn't justify the purchase, and I wouldn't want to either. Off the top of my head, based on everything I currently know, there are only three face powder brushes I could want - the RMK (yay, one third of the way there!), the Suqqu and the Chikuhodo MK-2. This is excluding blush/highlighter brushes and face brushes without traditional handles (kabukis etc). 

Along with the brush I received a sample of the RMK Make up Base and Liquid Foundation in 101, the lightest shade. It looks scary dark at first, but it's the most intriguing formula! It becomes drastically lighter once you start working it into the skin. The texture feel pretty much amazing. It's extremely light weight and soft on the skin. Unfortunately, as nice as it feels, it doesn't look nice on me. It looked dotty and dry on me, ironically this happens to me most on the t-zone (which is the oiliest, what gives?? Maybe it's more about dehydration than dryness, but I'm no expert, don't hold me to it). I got two uses out of the products and wore them together, just at home though, because it obviously doesn't work for me, which is a pity, because it really does feel very nice. If you can find a colour from the range that matches you, have normal to oily skin and don't want a huge amount of coverage, this is a truly, truly lovely foundation for you. 

RMK Makeup Base and Liquid Foundation #101.

I don't know when I'll post this, but I'm writing this on a Saturday and am possibly two days away from ordering brush five. This one will be from Japan ;).