Nars brushes – 12 Small Dome and 13 Large Dome

Even if I have many crease brushes, I always reach for the same ones over and over again, my favorites are the Tom Ford 13, the Louise Young 38 family, Hakuhodo and recently added to my favorites, the Trish 29. These two brushes were calling my name and I was intrigued to finally try Nars eyeshadow brushes.

Both Nars 12 and 13 brushes are made of squirrel hair as per Nars description, they are soft yet firm, pointy yet wide enough to allow a precise but non-streaky application. If you have both, these two together are the perfect combination and crease multipurpose to place – define – blend.

Nars 13 Large Dome

Hair length measures 1.8 cm, base of the ferrule measures 0.5cm, the widest point of the head is 1,2 cm wide and that’s were the layers of hair start, that’s approx 1cm from the base of the ferrule and the layers are consistent all the way till the point. The brush is dense and I cannot see any quality flaws. Still, it’s an expensive brush : 32.50 Gbp, but I am pleasantly surprised with the result.

You can see by their shapes that some are wider or more pointy, it depends on what result you want to achieve, if you want more precision, more blending capabilities, etc…
I tend to choose the LY for precision, the Nars for blending, the Trish for a windshield wiper type of application (in the very center of the crease)…

When I work with a light-medium crease color I use a larger, less pointy crease brush, if I want to work with darker shades, I will use the LY the Mac 226 or even better, the smaller Nars 12.

If I had to choose only one, that would be the Tom Ford, probably my favorite of all because it really feels like the most luxurious, I love how it’s dense, soft and tapered, but now that I have the Nars, I use both as much.

Even though I can blend the eyeshadow application with the Nars 13, I always finish the blending with the Hakuhodo B214, with the B214 I blend but also press the powder more into the skin, the look looses a little bit of definition but I feel it lasts longer and it’s more appropriate for the office.

Nars 12 small dome

The hair length is 1.3cm, base of the ferrule 0.4cm, costs 22 Gbp. It’s very well shaped, one little hair in the center is longer than the others though 🙂 but other than that, I am impressed with the quality and even more with its precision and blending abilities ! It picks a lot of product, a lot but not too much, I have to tap the excess off but I always do that, it’s made of squirrel hair but these Nars bristles pick a bit more product than the softest Hakuhodo.

Some time ago I realized that I wasn’t using the right brush to apply my dark crease color, I was also bringing the dark shadow too close to the inner of the crease, and not enough defining in the outer v, I was also covering too much of my crease with a medium-dark shadow. With this kind of small crease brushes I can create a more gradient shading and make my eyes appear less hooded, more lifted. When I started using small crease brushes, I could see a big difference. The dark shadow was placed exactly where I wanted it to be, then I just had to blend.

I don’t know if this is going to be a  HG because recently I have been ordering extraordinary brushes and the competition is really tight but when I will upload my new favorite brushes, this one is certainly going to be in there.

The Louise Young 38b is also a gem and a must-have.
The Rae Morris is a bit too small for that same purpose but not a bad brush. I like when I have something in my hand that is balanced, feels heavy and gives me more control, I find the handles of her smallest brushes too light and sometimes too thin, it’s also a matter of preference.
The Hakuhodo is also a very pointy brush, absolutely heavenly soft.

Maybe you can see the wild hair in the close up picture 🙂

Bottom line : I probably will have to rewrite a post with my new favorite brushes because I have just started discovering many new fantastic brushes over the past few weeks ! These are great brushes and must-haves…