Bare Escentuals Full Coverage Kabuki Brush--scratchy

from the BE website:
(http://store.bareescentuals.com/)


Buff on bareMinerals fast and flawlessly with the firm, full, luxuriously soft tapers of this wonderfully plush brush that gives full, perfectly controlled application in record time.
Use with bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation for full coverage.

Price: $28

My experience:

I'm glad that my BE reseller bundled this brush with other BE stuff, i would not buy this alone.  This brush is not synthetic and they use goat hair.  That doesn't really bother me but I do prefer synthetic and "cruelty free" products.  What does bother me is that handle is chrome so it's sorta a fingerprint magnet.  The diameter of the bottom handle is a tad small for my taste.  So I end up bunching up my fingers near the brim where the bristles begin.  I also need to do that to bunch up the bristles more closely together. 

The bristles are not as dense as the leslie blodgett would like to make it out to be.  My body shop kabuki brush's bristles is way more densely packed together than this BE kabuki brush.  Because it's not as densely packed as my body shop kabuki, I need to buff my foundation longer than I have to when I use my body shop kabuki brush.  This BE kabuki brush also picks up in bigger chunks (either that or i don't see the powder on the bristles or the bristles themselves evenly distributed enough so i think that there is more foundation on one side of it and not on the whole "circle/bundle of bristles"), so I have to spread out the foundation/mineral veil more on my face for an even finish.  So that "perfectly controlled application in record time" is not possible for me while using this BE kabuki brush!

The BE kabuki brush also had a weird old plastic or rubbery smell that was also present in my elf face brush.  I had to wash the BE kabuki two times with shampoo and conditioner to get some of the smell out.  This thing also sheds.  I thought I had gotten the few hairs that were bound to shed while washing it, but after it had dried and while i'm using it, it still sheds here and there.  My body shop kabuki brush has not shed a single bristle, whether while using or while washing. 

The bristles are scratchy, it's probably because of the stray hairs that are taller than the rest of the bunch the same stray hairs that are threatening to shed.  I don't break out easily, only at a certain time of the month (hormones and all), so I'm not afraid of breaking out because of a scratchy brush, it's just annoying especially when I hit the softer skin under my eyes.

The brand name scratches/smudges off, too.  I've only had this a month, washed it just twice since i've owned it and it's already missing a few letters on the brand name.  It's quite possible that I got a bad one, or this one slipped their quality inspectors.  Which sucks.

Overall I only use this while I'm drying my body shop kabuki brush.  It's not worth US$10 let alone $28.  People should only get this if they were forced upon it like in a BE sampler or starter kit, but this brush should not be bought individually there are more quality brushes out there like the body shop kabuki brush and the everyday minerals flat top brush.