If Olivia had a gun, she would shoot the hand that bought this brush. This is a $65 gel liner brush. Do you think I am crazy to buy this brush? If you answer yes, you are right! No one needs to buy an expensive brush for eyeliner. I certainly didn't need one. But why did I get one?
Call it curiosity and maybe a bit of stupidity but I had to find out the prestige behind Claudio Riaz brushes and I thought I would start with the ubiquitous gel liner brush. Yes, every line has one and I wanted to see the difference of this Angle Gel Liner brush ($65USD) that cost an arm and one toe!
I've had this brush for awhile and procrastinated posting a review because I couldn't make up my mind whether it was worth the purchase. The price alone makes many including me squirm. Also, a brush alone isn't going to miraculously make makeup application easy or fabulous.
As you can see, compared to a regular angle eyeliner brush, this is a somewhat huge and not to mention bulky handle brush.
The brush head is even huge!
That said, it is made out of synthetic hair that is stiff and densely packed enough for a firm application yet not hard enough to poke the delicate and sensitive lashline. The brush is not only for gel liners, it can be used for various other formulas like creams and cake ones.
Okay, here are my initial thoughts on the good of this brush. The large brush head acts as a guide for the liners. If you know in many of my tutorials on Into the Palette on eyelining, I show how the eyeliner is applied. Sometimes, it is hard to get an even application on both eyes when there really isn't a way to know how to make the initial marking. This brush does it (as you will see in the pictures below). The large brush head makes it easy to draw a winged liner.
You can see in the picture that my application wasn't the best when it came to the center part of the eye. It happens and honestly I do go over my liner again for more color saturation. But you can see how the size of it really guides the application of the winged line.
I did give this brush to my mum after I had tested it out. Eventually, she gave it back after she found out the price! But that is not the only reason. At first, she had some trouble with her eyeliner on where to put it. I told her where many times and showed her and her own habits would take over. She used this brush and finally understood where to put her liner. She gave it back because she learned how to use a regular liner brush and found it easier and quicker to use.
So what am I saying? Is it worth the $65? If I judge it by quality alone, no because I have seen better quality brushes in pro brands at lower prices. Can it be rationalized for the price? Yes, if you are really bad at eyelining and you are desperate to learn how to do a good winged liner look. A brush like this can act as a guide. But, really practicing a technique is what will make application easier. Sure, you can spend $$$ and think and hope makeup application will be easier and maybe in some cases a brush can do that. However, there are cheaper ways to achieve this than buying an expensive brush. Or maybe, this brush should be cheaper so EVERYONE can learn. I honestly don't think a brush like this has to be sold only at one exclusive department store chain. Makeup enthusiast are everywhere and a brush like this should be affordable for everyone to use. Am I crazy to buy this brush, yes but I do it so you readers know what I honestly think!
Next post: Stay tuned for the $95 brush!
