battle
Battle Of The Budget Oval Brushes | Makeup Revolution vs. Primark
Battle Of The Budget Oval Brushes | Makeup Revolution vs. Primark
Wednesday, 18 January 2017
I've seen many people rave about the Artis oval brushes for a while, but I couldn't justify spending £60 + on one of their brushes. I longed for a drugstore brand to bring something out but when Primark had upped their game and added an oval brush to their collection, I was so pleased. I would often go to my local Primark store and they never had it in stock, whether it be because they didn't actually sell it or it was just sold out all the time, and I never saw it. I started to give up looking but only visited Primark once a month. Then I saw that Makeup Revolution had released a range of oval brushes, I jumped straight to the Superdrug website. I saw that they were all out of stock but managed to swoop some a few days later. I opted to go and collect from the nearest store, the next day. I literally couldn't wait to get home to open them up. I purchased the Precision Contour set and unknowingly, bought two of the Oval Face brush (there was already one in the set).
Not long after I bought these, my sister tells me that another Primark store has the brushes. Typical. I was going to suggest to not buy them but when I saw the price (as she took a picture of them), I asked her to get them for me, because I felt like doing a review on them, against the Makeup Revolution brushes. I wanted to do a 'vs' post so that I could give my opinions on both of them, a little battle you might call it. The brushes are slightly different in size but these were the biggest and closest in size (as Makeup Revolution do have a larger brush) from both brands, trying to make it as fair as possible. I just want to make it clear that these are just my opinions on each brush.
I'm going to review different elements of both brushes and provide a summary at the end. So to kick things off, lets do the review for the Primark PS...Pro Blending Brush.
Primark
Packaging:
The packaging for the Primark brush is a very simple, rectangular, see through box, with a clear view of the brush itself. It has the collection name on the front and small details about what the brush can be used for. On the back, it has more information regarding the brush, the brand and some safety advisories. Very simple indeed.
Price:
The brush retails at £4, which is pretty good value for a makeup brush. I didn't recall seeing any kind of set so I would assume this is sold as a single brush, like their others (two slightly smaller sizes).
Durability:
When I first had a little feel of this brush, I did notice a couple of things. It seemed as though the bristles didn't have much flexibility and felt quite restricted in terms of movement. Looking from a side view, the bristles formed into a dome shape, with quite straight edges around the outside. Another thing was when I added a little bit of force near the head of the brush, it appeared to bend easily (obviously don't go bending it with full force for the fun because it probably will snap). It bended a lot on the 'neck' of the brush, so that is quite a fragile area. It's going to need some support when you're applying foundation/powder, otherwise it might be difficult to glide along the face.
Effectiveness:
To test the effectiveness of it, I applied my normal foundation using the brush. Below is my before, during and after.
Before
During
After
Summary:
It's not a bad brush. It does have it's faults but it is good value for money. It's a shame that Primark don't do a slightly bigger one, as it'll probably apply foundation a little better than the current sizes, but if you're on a budget, I would say go for it. I would just advise that you be careful when using it, as it could possibly snap if you're too vigorous when applying foundation/powder. However, for it's size, price and general performance, it'll be a good contour brush.
Overall score:
7/10
Makeup Revolution
The packaging for the Makeup Revolution brush is noticeably different, appearing a lot more decorative and bulkier. On the front, it lists the brand and the type of brush it is and going with the theme, it's in rose gold letters. Same as the Primark brush, it just has a bit more detail on the brand and brush itself.
Price:
This brush is slightly more expensive, retailing at £9.99 from Superdrug. They also sell a set of three brushes (this and two smaller brushes) which retails at £19.99, so can be worth buying the set if you are looking to use different brushes for different things (foundation, blush, contour etc.)
Durability:
Just like I did with the Primark brush, I had to feel what the brush was like to hold. Differing from the Primark brush, the bristles (even though there are more due to its size) felt like they had more room to move, where you could lightly pull your finger through them with ease. Unlike the Primark one, it appeared that the bristles on the outside were more angled. When I applied pressure to it, there was a bit of give, and it began to bend slightly just under the head of the brush. Due to this brush only bending slightly when under pressure, application of foundation/powder sound be rather easy going on the brush itself.
Effectiveness:
Once again, I applied my regular foundation to test the the effectiveness of the brush.
Before
During
After
Summary:
If you want to spend a bit more money on brushes, then I would recommend these. It does work out at better value for you to get the set of the brushes, as you will get more for your money. Although they seem to have been built a little better, I would still recommend that you just place some support on the neck of the brush, as I would be gutted if it broke.
Overall score:
9/10
So out of the two brushes, I personally prefer the Makeup Revolution one. It did feel nicer, it applied my foundation better and seems to be a little stronger. As stated before, the Primark one is a good alternative and I'm sure it does work for other people. I will still keep it in my collection and I'm quite positive that I will be able to find another use for it, but should anything happen to the Makeup Revolution brush, then Primark will do the job just fine.
Do you own any of these brushes? What do you think?
Look after yourself,
