Beauty Product Reviews

Misunderstood Brush!

I felt compelled to write a review for this brush after seeing the low rating it's been getting! I have loved this brush since I got it a few months ago, so wanted to share some love!

First off, I think Beautylish is misrepresenting this brush by stating in the tag line it's a foundation brush—the original iteration of this brush WAS mainly designed to be used with foundation, but this second version is primarily designed for cream blush/bronzer application.

I use this brush mainly for cream blush/bronzer. I also use it with very lightweight and sheerly layered liquid foundations. The synthetic bristles are very soft and flexible, so if you use this brush with thicker foundations, this brush doesn't have the strength to spread those across the skin properly. With light layers of concealer or foundation, this buffs the product into the skin beautifully. It takes a little more buffing then I am used to with other brushes, but the extra work gives an airbrushed finish. If you're someone that ONLY wants sheer foundation/concealer application, this brush has a better chance of working for you. If you like medium coverage or more, this probably isn't the brush for you.

This brush sheers down cheek colors and allows you to build pigmentation in light, thin layers. This is great if you feel like you tend to overestimate how much product you need, which I tend to do with concealer/foundation and blush. Or, if you just like a very natural application of cream/liquid products, I think this brush is absolutely worth considering.

The bundling of the brush has a dense base of shorter goat hair with longer nylon bristles that are very soft, very fine, and flexible. I was really impressed with the softness—I have the Wayne Goss Anniversary 2 foundation brush, and this one from Sonia G is much softer despite also being a duo-fiber design.

The nylon hairs are bundled like a traditional stippling brush, so less dense and wispy at the tips, but the dense bundling of the goat hair bristles provides a bit of structure and mild strength when blending. Since the longer hairs are more sparsely bundled and are so flexible, it can take more time to blend products that you apply to the face first, then blend with the brush. For this reason, I tend to tap the brush into my cream products first, then stipple and buff the product onto my skin. This allows me to get sheer washes of color that look natural and seamless.

My favorite use for this brush is for cream bronzer and cream blush. I no longer have the dilemma of underblending, then overblending, then reapplying my cheek colors only to find I've overapplied my cheek color. I've also found that this brush prevents patchiness. An example: the Fenty cream cheek blushes and bronzers, on me, tend to apply patchy, but since using this brush, I haven't had any blending issues.

Overall I love this brush. I have other brushes from her Sky (Face and Eye), Pro (Face and Eye), and Fundamental series, but this is the first Sonia G brush that's significantly changed how my makeup applies, and I now understand the hype.

I hope this review helps you decide if this brush is the right one for you!

Medium Density Multi Tasker

The Worker Fan is a beautifully crafted brush, just wasn't quite what I expected/desired out of a fan brush from Sonia G (because I've always known them to be dense). I thought it would be a bit denser, when in actuality it has a moderate density that picks up a decent amount of product, but I didn't find that it diffused/buffed out product enough considering how much product the fibers would pick up. For this reason, I think this brush would be an appropriate option for less pigmented products. I've used this brush for contour, bronzer and highlight, and in swiping motions, circular buffing motions, and turning the brush sideways to use the wide face of the brush to buff out lines. I actually really enjoyed this brush for quick and efficient highlighter application (Hourglass Metallic Strobe palette), but I like the apply my highlighter close to my eyes, and the type of goat hair used on this brush isn't appropriate for that. For contour, I use a pigmented product, and I felt this brush lacked the density to buff out the harsh line of my contour. Same thing for bronzer--I felt that this brush laid the product down in a line on the face and it was difficult to diffuse that line. If you are looking for chiseled lines without much dispersion though, you may like this brush. Lastly, if you have sensitive skin or skin that is easily agitated with perpendicular brush movement, I'm not sure Hakutotsuho is the best fiber option for you--I find it to be sensitizing on my cheeks.