I am very happy to tell you that the first Beta version of the brush database is now online, it’s meant for those of you who need more details on makeup brushes or accessories, with comparison pictures and searching possibilities. I know how hard it is to chose the right tools, this is not the solution but hopefully, a bit of help to have a closer look.
There are near to 300 items listed for now, solely based on the brushes I own, that’s also why I can share more details about them, because I use them. It’s not yet complete, some items still need to be finalized, it will evolve, more brushes will be added little by little and more details or attributes will be activated. As you can imagine it is very time consuming and time is a luxury we cannot buy so I’ll have to be patient and do it one step at a time… but it’s a start.
I am not affiliated with these Companies and my preferences do not represent the whole beauty community, although I am a collector I am not only seeking for unique and expensive luxury brushes but also for very useful tools of affordable quality, within my collection you will see from the most expensive brushes to the most interesting value for money. I also don’t own all the brushes in the market and there are brands that are still unknown to me (thank God!). In the near future you will be able to leave your own review on each item if you wish, just trying to fix the bug that doesn’t allow me to open that feature right now but as soon as this will be available I’ll inform you in the Forum, there is a dedicated section where we can have discussions around the Temple and where I will be able to inform you when I have fresh news for you.
If you click on the above image you will be linked to the “Brush Temple” you can read some info in the Temple homepage on how it works but it should be pretty simple and straightforward, should you have any questions, remarks, observations, requests, etc… you are very welcome to access the dedicated topic on the Forum to discuss ^_^ You can also leave a comment here or send me a private message via the Contact Me form also accessible on the Temple.
With Love,
Sonia
54 comments
I can’t find the databse 🙁 the image just links up to the jpg file.
Nevermind! I saw the link in the side bar! Thank you Sonia! I’m sososos excited about this (if you haven’t noticed by my gratuitous use of exclamations marks).
😀 Thank you for the info!! have fun Angela! I hope you love it!
love, love , love!!! Thank you for all that you do here Sonia.
Thank you Michelle 🙂 it’s my pleasure!
Merry Christmas to you Sonia! Love the Brush Temple, so much fun!
Thank you Mandy 🙂 and all the same to you my dear!
Merry Christmas Sonia!! Once again you have blown my mind. The new section is fantabulous! I have to go thru and savour each brush in it. 😀
Thank you Bea! Pheww I am glad you like it! You should do the same with nail polish by the way 😉
I was fine until yesterday but then just when I had to publish it I started to feel super nervous … Hopefully it will be fun for you all 🙂
It will get better but I just need more time. It was a difficult challenge, I had to start over so many many times that I nearly lost my mind but I am still here, brush overdose though 😀 😀 😀
You have OUTDONE yourself girl!! BRAVO!!!! Looooove the “BT” 🙂
I def belong to the “Collector” and “Hard to find” category 🙂
Glad to hear u end up loving the
FU-SHIKADEN 🙂
Many kisses to ALL of you and a HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! May ALL our brush-wishes come true in the New Year!!!
Thank you Melissa!!
you are the reason why I have so many fun brushes today, keep on the research! PLIZZZ 😀
Sure I am loving the FU-Shikaden, a lot! I am relieved I decided to go for the big powder as well, so unique and useful.
We’ll see if they come true… I’ll tell you soon 😉
My very warm Wishes to you too!
Amazing work, Sonia! I can’t wait to spend more time exploring… especially “The Seventh Heaven” page. Thanks for the amazing Christmas present, lol!
Thank youuu, so happy that you like it Jill 🙂 big hugs to you <3
Merry Xmas to Sonia and you all lovely ladies!
Have been distracted lately but found your golden temple today, it’s better than anything a reader can expect from an independent blogger, you have done a beautiful job.
Hi Gladys! welcome back and thank you, wishing you all the very best too 🙂
Sonia, Congratulations on the launch of this absolutely mind-blowing accomplishment! I cannot believe the incredible detail provided in a format that is so easy to use and entertaining as well. Just when I thought you’ve done it it all, you continue to raise the bar and do even more amazing work. I am in awe. Although I have a lot of brushes and thought I didn’t need anymore, I want to read everything to make sure I haven’t missed out on something special. Thank you for the lovely Christmas present!
Thank you a thousand times! when I read your comments I realize how lucky I am to share it with you all. Your feedbacks are the most wonderful present I could have wished for! <3
Hi Sonia, just wanted to update you and let you know how helpful the Brush Temple is, particularly the ratings and links to past reviews and where to purchase.
After hours of study, I ordered the Koyudo Fupa 14 as it seems to be a real winner appearing in several categories (although I rarely use powder foundation…but I might now 🙂 ). I also gave away good but not outstanding brushes that I don’t use often (your ratings informed me or confirmed my feelings about them). Lastly, I contacted Chikuhodo with intent to upgrade with a few more luxury face and cheek brushes. I thought I was done with acquisition but I guess not!
I’m really pleased with the editing I’ve done. It feels good to keep only what I love and I am again excited to add in a few treasures!
Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. Much love, aloha, and best wishes for a beautiful 2014!!
Fantastic! Thank you 😀
Still working on it but I hope it will get even more clear.
You can’t go wrong with the Koyudo Fu-pa14, it pure love and efficiency in the same brush. Please let me know what you decided to go for and I really hope you will be happy with them all 🙂
Thank you for the wishes, all the very same to you <3
My Fupa 14 arrived today and it is the most beautiful brush ever! The hair is perfectly shaped and soft and resilient and the matte gold ferrule divine…it picks up powder foundation and magically deposits it all. I am absolutely stunned! This is my favorite Koyudo, second is the Red Squirrel. Still not loving my slightly stinky White Mushroom and not using my liquid foundation Fupas much (prefer fingers)….but this one is a true gem…what a deal for 6,000 yen…I cannot believe it. I love the little handle, easier to handle than my Hakuhodo medium Saikoho kinoko brush and softer and slightly less dense which makes it feel heavenly! Thank you, Sonia…finally, the perfect powder foundation brush!
I agree the Fu-pa14 is a masterpiece, I had to order the white handle one a few days ago because it will get used a lot, specially in spring and summer. For those who are really into mineral foundation this is a godsend.
I am sad that your white mushroom is not good, I wonder if they changed something in the manufacture … mine is the most stunning thing 🙁
Oh I agree!!! The Fu Pa 14 is hands down my FAVORITE brush!!!
Sonia,
Congratulations on launching the brush temple! Although this is a big step and you do not get paid for your contributions to the makeup and brush community, someday I feel you will be the person who hopefully gets paid to test out new brushes! They do it with beauty gurus on Youtube for makeup, why not for you? A Youtube channel would do wonders! Although I know you are quite busy with other obligations…SMT is growing fast and with such passion, I hope it can continue to reward you as it already has with meeting so many great people and traveling to Japan.
I know you get enough reward by helping people (as do I with teaching a martial art, and it is never about the money), but I hope you can turn this passion into a job, if that is what you wish!
It will be awesome to continue to watch SMT grow!
Merry Christmas
Myra
Thank you Myra, you are kind and amazing! it’s not always that smooth to enter the world of blog-testing, specially for brushes. I hope someone is reading you and who knows, maybe miracles happen ?? 🙂
My brother is a martial-art teacher too 🙂 and he turned his passion into his daily job, did you too or is it just for passion ? what do you do ?
thank you again, you are a real sweetheart!
PS : I have removed the post and I am updating all the images… I will put it online as soon as I finish so that I avoid confusion, I appreciate you telling me, I have been quite awfully busy (sick and more…) so it took a lot of effort to do things 🙁
Aww, I appreciate your kind words too. I teach Shobudo Jujitsu, an Okinawan martial art. I started my own class at a local community college this past February and get paid hourly, but it is not my full time gig. I am a Physical Therapist Assistant also.
It brings me such joy to learn Shobudo, teach it and try to get better. I have 4 students right now and they are amazing. I used to be the only woman training for almost 4 years in our Association, last year I started teaching and am happy to be bringing more women up through the ranks. Somehow, I feel like it is my responsiblility and obligation to teach the art and yet, particularly help more women into Shobudo as well. To be frank, it is a dying martial art, and I am determined with a small group of others, to not let it die.
There is a nice website by Morton Sensei if you google it, he is one of 3 Americans to ever learn the art. I learned from Banks Sensei, who trained in Japan at the end of the 60s. One of the three. I did not get to meet Soke Nakazato before he died (our founder), but I did meet his son when he came from Japan last year and it was a true honor. I imagine it might have been on scale with you meeting so many wonderful people at the manufacturing sites. 🙂
Ramble, ramble! Lol
My husband and I plan to move to Japan this upcoming year. He is an engineer and we want to live there for at least 2 years. While there, I’d like to study another martial art, if I don’t end up in Okinawa. I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket though. I feel like I need to be as proficient as possible, and then continue to teach when I come back.
The details of moving are not concrete but we are determined to make it happen. Once I put my mind to something, there is no stopping me! I would love to visit Kumano to go brush shopping also. 🙂 That is on my to-do list for sure!
What style does your brother teach? That is awesome. Did he teach you while growing up together? 🙂
(Sorry if this was long and rambling!)
Myra
I see what you mean, it’s sad to see that time can have an impact on arts like this and that you feel sometimes it’s necessary to move on.
I have lived that through my brother for so many years, he had to evolve with time and adapt his school to a new art every so often, luckily he is very talented, hard-working and he has that in his blood (and also he doesn’t want to do anything else so what choice did he had ? 🙂 ) oh I send you the link by private email to his school so you can see some details about what he does 🙂
So interesting the path that you followed, I met just a few people who are as passionate as you about Martial Arts and they were captivating!
Lucky you, you will be going to Japan for 2 years ? you are going to love it and you are just at the source!! Keep in touch!
Thanks for the reply back, he must be very successful! Wow.
I plan to teach Shobudo for as long as I can and make it a lifetime thing. I probably will never stop. While in Japan, I want to learn Iaido to become better at Katana work.
Will keep in touch for sure!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Sonia!!! Wish you a fabulous year ahead! This is amazing database you created! Great job!! =)
Hi Vivian, thank you 🙂 happy you like it!!!
Dear Sonia,
I came across your blog several months back and now it became my brush wiki. You already got thousand of compliment on your blog and probably one more won’t make any difference but I still feel obligated to write and say thank you for putting your time and effort to help all the brush-ies all over the world finding her best brushes. I got my first Hakuhodo brush order about three weeks back and I understood why brushes had become your passion. My first thought when i opened my package was “should I use them or just put them on a display case so I can just look at them everyday and feel pretty.” G5521, J146, J5529 and large pointed yachiyo are my everyday brushes since. I am still searching for perfect foundation and blush brushes and I am still reading your blog every so often to compare and then adding and deleting my makeup brush wish list (which already has about 10 Hakuhodo and Koyudo brushes) Congrat on a very nice brushtemple website and thank you again for all the useful info.
Merry Christmas and happy new year from California.
^_^ look at them and feel pretty… that is an option!!!
Once you try Hakuhodo it’s difficult to use other brands that are more widely and easily available, gosh I remember my first order! this takes me back a while !
you are welcome and I wish you to get and enjoy all the brushes on your wish list !
I couldn’t resist myself. I had to stop by Hakuhodo USA in Torrance to pick up couple more J eye brushes on my way to see my mom in southern CA. I also picked up the J544. Currently i am using the Shiseido one but i think this one will help me to get ready faster. I was supposed to pick up G529 which i heard is a pretty good highlight brush but then i ended up pick up the white fan brush instead (completely off track). I’m so excited and can’t wait to try out J5522, J5523, J142 and J5533 (especially J5523 so that i can compare with my current G5523 which i also really like). Oh my dear Sonia, i love your brushtemple!!! I will need to save up for my next Koyudo purchase. Do you know if there is an equivalent of Koyudo brush for J146? I need one more similar to that J146 but i want to try at least one Koyudo eye shadow brush this time. Thank you and happy next year.
lol ok 😀 happy you enjoy it Valerie!
No, I don’t think there is a J146 within Koyudo brushes, the only similar in shape (but much smaller) that I own is this one :
http://brushtemple.sweetmakeuptemptations.com/items/show/215
The quality is outstanding so if they did a J146 with that hair and that density/firmness it would be a hit. Unfortunately there isn’t one. They have a smaller 146 but in grey squirrel and not goat.
If you had to try one get the C011 🙂
Happy New Year!!!
Oh MY GOOOOOOOSH!!
*eyes open so wide that eyeballs fall out*
*mouth opend so wide that false teeth fall out*
AMAZING, amazing. amazing!!
What a mammoth task you took on here! This will be a HUGE help & a MEGA temptation creator for beginners and brush junkies alike.
You must have a serious dose of brush OD right now?!
Merry Christmas to you dear Sonia & thank you for the wonderful Brush Temple gift.
Did you find a little brush or two under the Xmas tree this year, or are you just all brushed out for the moment?
ooooh thank you Buggsiebee!!! the idea is to contribute and help me answer the questions I receive the most because they are often the same, if that helps it will be fantastic!!
yes… I confirm… OD all the way!!! 😀
My bf gave me the Fu-shikaden for Christmas and I am working on the Kiwami … My Preciouusssss!!!! -Hmmmmmm Need to sell the bf first!!! -just kiddinnnng! – well… as long as he is bringing brushes home…. JUST KIDDINGGGGG 😀
how were your recent purchases ?
I’m a bit brush overdosed at the moment too ;).
I am very impressed with the quality of the Chiku Noel set !!! I also love the fushia Kumanofude blush brush ( discovered by Melissa!! ) which I got from the Select Shop. Also loving the new Chiku R- C2 and the Artists Series black in 18-2. I’m such a sucker for blush brushes!
I’m also enjoying the Fu-shikaden powder brush a lot more than I was expecting. I was only planning on getting the blush brush, but added the powder one at the last minute too – just to complete the set – and I’m so happy that I did. The ferrules are perhaps a bit more blingy than I would normally go for, but they’re balanced out by the beautiful deep plum red of the handles & they’re very special in my collection – especially since Melissa went to such lengths to help us get hold of the last few available.
The Eihodo brushes I got are excellent quality & I look forward to giving them lots more attention in the new year.
the overdosis doesn’t last long on me 🙂
I am glad you enjoy all that you got, same for me, loving the Fu-Shikaden and I am scared to look at rakuten 😀 so blessed with Melissa -our agent- help !! They are like art to me these brushes, big love.
thank you for sharing this info Buggsie!
Hi Sonia –
Just spent the last couple of HOURS in your new brush temple. How utterly delightful!!! I just love it. I see some purchases in my future :o) We all appreciate your hard work to make brush buying easier for us! How lucky are we??? (very!)
SJ
Hi Stacy!! gosh did you ?? thank youuu !
but I am the lucky one because I am finally able to share my passion with you all!!!
Hi Sonia – I think there are two people that comment regularly on your blog with quite similar names. Stacy and myself (Staci-Jon all one word, but i go by SJ). Anywhoooo, in an earlier post things got confusing when earlier comments by the two of us were attributed to each other. No biggie :o) have a great new year!!! SJ
ooooooh I see now 🙂
thank you for telling me, I will check that out 😀 have a fantastic New Year too !
Thank you so much for this brush temple Sonia! I’ve already spent hours on it to!
coolcoolcool 😉 thank you Nana!
Fantastic! I have already spent a lot of time in there, but haven’t yet read it all. Well done and nice structure! Thanks 😀
A few nice to have features could be the brush name on the picture in the overview and maybe the brush picture at the top inside the record too.
Just found out that I can see the brush name when I roll the cursor over the pictures 🙂
maybe not on all of them 😀
ok thank you Jeanette 🙂 inside the record yes it’s possible but it would require a lot of additional work per brush (if I get what you mean), but who knows, maybe I find an easier way. My mind is always working on new different options.
I found one option yesterday.. we’ll see if I can add this little tiny hall tomorrow.
About the names in the pics, I was going to do it but editing each pic was not possible if I wanted to release it soon, I will update the pics as they come and make things prettier, I understand it’s easier to know which brush you are browsing when viewing the pic in full size…
Thank you Sonia 🙂 I can see that you already added the brushnames under each brush in the overviews. That is really nice 🙂
I am indulging in your temple – it is so nice to escape to brush heaven, and there is nowhere in the world other than your blog that provides this overview of so many of the worlds best makeup brushes. We owe you a huge THANK YOU for all your tremendous work!!!
Wish you all the best (incl. brushes 😉 ) in 2014! xoxoxo
yes I did 🙂
it’s my pleasure, so glad it is useful!!!
thank you Jeanette, wishing you all the best and wishing you stick here with me! 🙂
Oh, I will!
Actually I was so curious about which brushes are your top 5 (you sometimes mention one), so I tried to pick only 5 brushes myself that are absolutely essential if I were to get out of the house and do my makeup. And then I tried to pick the next top 6-10. In my top 10 were 5 brushes that I bought in 2013 as a result of your reviews. So I will most certainly stick around 😀
SONIA!!!!!! I was just able to “catch up” with all of your AMAZING work!!!!!
SPEECHLESSSSSSSS
You are truly an incredible person 🙂 Thank you so much for all of the organization of information. You do deserve to play more this year!! Also, I feel you need a US trip soon 🙂
Stacy
thank you Stacy 🙂 glad you like it!
I think my boss will send me there this year… and to Hong Kong but not sure 100% yet… cross fingers!
Imagine to have the only list that categorize brushes by softness, which ones would be the top 10 for face? and for eyes?
Hi Jess, I have modified the hall so that you can see the top picks for softness, one page for the eyes, one for the face brushes. Here :
http://brushtemple.sweetmakeuptemptations.com/exhibits/show/must-haves-audience
you can also search by softness and search for “10” in the field…