MY MAKEUP BRUSH SET ($25)

You guys have probably been seeing a lot of these brushes on your IG feeds the past few weeks or months because I know have. I posted my review of the ARTIS BRUSHES and now I’m going to show you how they compare to this set. All the reviews that I’ve seen for the MY MAKEUP BRUSH SET have been overwhelmingly positive. But let’s consider that many of those people received the brushes for free in exchange for posting photos on social media (I did too but idgaf if they’re bad, imma tell ya). This is not to say that they aren’t good, I’m going to get into that later. Just remember to take everything you read with a grain of salt. Same with my reviews, just because I love or dislike something doesn’t mean your experience will be the same.

Let’s start with the deets on the MY MAKEUP BRUSH SET. They’re $25 and the shipping is $4.95. I think that’s pretty on par with the prices you’ll find on ebay and Amazon. I’m sure you could find them for cheaper but probably not that much. One thing to note, they arrived in padded envelop and were wrapped in a drawstring bag. Some of the other sets come in a big fancy box, which makes their shipping costs much higher. Personally I don’t need a big ass box to taking up space. I much prefer sleeker packaging but others might like having a box for storage. 

One thing that annoys me about these brushes… on their website they have the price listed as $355 with a line through it and then $25 written next it. Obviously this a commonly used marketing strategy but it’s one that annoys me to no end. I think the ARTIS 10 brush set retails for that price and whether they’re worth it is another story. But these aren’t ARTIS brushes and aren’t worth a fraction of that amount.

I realize that the ARTIS BRUSHES aren’t in most people’s budgets so I’m going to give you the full run down on how the two sets compare and whether I think you should buy them or save your money!

I own 7 out of the 11 ARTIS BRUSHES so I’m working with what I have. Also the dupe brushes don’t have numbers but I assigned some for the sake of convenience. In this post we’ll be doing 2 comparisons.
OVAL 7 VS DUPE 9 AND 8- there are 2 larger ARTIS brushes that I don’t have (10 and 8) and 1 larger dupe brush. As you can see here the ARTIS has a longer handle and a different shape. It’s actually oval whereas the dupes are more circular. If you look at the pic on the bottom right, you can that the ARTIS is flat and the dupes are curved.
OVAL 6 VS DUPE 7- again the ARTIS has a longer handle. Now look at the top 2 pics on the right. In the middle one you can see that these brushes are shaped more similarly. However the dupe is beginning to lose it shape after 1 washing. On the next pic over, notice how the head of the dupe brush lies on the counter while the ARTIS is evaluated. The necks of ARTIS brushes are angled to fit the contours of the face.
In general the ARTIS brushes are made of much stronger material (some kind of resin also used to make car parts) and the dupes are a much more flimsy plastic. The ARTIS bristles  gently glide over skin whereas the dupes feel more rough. As I mentioned in my ARTIS review back in May, every aspect of these brushes was well thought out and executed. The small touches like the angle of the handles might not seem noticeable but do make a significant difference in the ease of application.
That being said the ARTIS brushes are ridiculously expensive and while the dupe brushes are of a lower quality, these larger brushes can do the same thing as the ARTIS. So for the average consumer, I think the dupes are a better alternative than the ARTIS. Now for most of us weirdos that have social media accounts dedicated to makeup, I’d say it’s worth saving for the ARTIS. You could get either the 6 or 7 and do your whole face (primer, foundation, powder etc) with just the one brush. But if you can’t justify spending $55- $60 on a brush, the dupes will do just fine.

CIRCLE 1 AND CIRCLE 1R: I use the CIRCLE 1 for lipstick and concealer. The CIRCLE 1R (rounded tip) can be used for lipstick and concealer too but I like it for eye makeup. Particularly halo eyes. The angle of the handle allows you to apply color with precision especially to the inner corner of the eye. If you look at the left photo of the middle row, you’ll see the dupes have much shorter handles. Now look at the top left photo. The ARTIS brushes are tilted back whereas the dupes are straight. These small details make a big difference when it comes to application. The bristles of the ARTIS brushes are shorter and have a wider circumference. They’re also much more stiff. The dupe bristles are longer and have a smaller circumference and they’re much more flexible. It’s much easier and more effective to use a stiff brush for concealer and lipstick.
OVAL 3 AND 4: I use these 2 brushes for undereye concealer and eye makeup. The dupe set doesn’t have anything comparable to the OVAL 3 (I use this one mainly for eyeshadow) so I’ll only be comparing the OVAL 4. If you look at the middle right photo, once again, the ARTIS handles are much longer. The bristles of the dupe are of similar length but the head of the brush is wider. Now look at the bottom photo. Do you see how fuzzy the dupe brush is? It’s only been washed one time and it’s already like it. One of the best features of the ARTIS brushes is that they don’t absorb product like a traditional brush. All that frizz on the dupe brush is going to trap concealer and the application won’t be seamless.
I think these dupe brushes can do the same thing as the ARTIS. But they aren’t going to perform as well because the design is lacking and the materials are inexpensive. As before I think they’re fine for most people but for girls like myself and most of you, the ARTIS are worth the splurge. Good makeup brushes are an investment and the ARTIS brushes will last you for years and years. 

Alright guys let’s wrap up this comparison, shall we? We’ve already looked at the OVAL and CIRCLE brushes and now all that’s left are the LINEAR. I only have the LINEAR 1. I didn’t get the other two because they’re wider and I didn’t think that I’d use them. I use the LINEAR 1 for cleaning up my eyebrows with concealer, applying brow pomade and powder and for my lower lash line. And I’m sure you could use it for nose contouring, if you’re into that stuff. 

If you look at the top photo, you can see how long the bristles of the dupes are. They’re also flimsy. In the middle pic you can see that the ARTIS is a good bit longer. On the right and bottom photos you can see that the dupes bristles are all over the place. I’ve never even used those brushes and they’re already misshapen. I can’t think of anything that I could possibly use these 3 brushes for. The fibers are just way too long and don’t have the stiffness you need in a liner or brow brush, IMO.
The left photo isn’t relevant to performance but I thought I’d point out that there’s misspellings on 2 of brushes (fundation and blushser, and I included the one that says nose shadow because I thought it funny). I didn’t receive any paperwork with the set but I think it’s safe to say that they were made in China and minimal thought went into their execution and design. I also couldn’t find any information about the materials except for synthetic (no shit) but my guess is nylon. 

Also worth mentioning, I had the ARTIS brushes first and got the dupes later for comparison. I think this affected my objectivity. Had I tried these brushes without having used the ARTIS for months, I might have thought they were good. 

To summarize, I’d say the average person should skip ARTIS and get the dupes but I’d pass on the set and get a 1 or 2 of the individual oval brushes because the smaller ones aren’t good. However if you’re serious about your makeup game, I’d say ARTIS all the way. But maybe try one the dupes first. These brushes aren’t for everyone and you want to be sure that you like them before making the investment. One last thing…

Speaking of oval brushes… I recently got these babies in the mail from @opvlashes! I can do a more comprehensive review if anyone is interested in purchasing them. But I can tell you now that they’re different from their original set of oval brushes and from the set that I just reviewed. The two main changes that I can see without using them is that there’s a huge oval brush (which I guess is supposed to be a dupe for the OVAL 10 but I don’t have the ARTIS version) and a tiny oval which is comparable to the OVAL 3. None of the dupe sets that I’ve seen have anything similar to those 2 brushes. As for quality and performance and I’ll have to get back to you!