WAYNE GOSS Holiday 2015 Brush

This is the new Limited Edition Holiday 2015 brush just released by Wayne Goss, available on Beautylish website. It’s a “finishing brush”, finishing brushes are used to blend or to set your make-up with powder, very lightly, firmness and density is not usually their strength and it shouldn’t be. In general they are soft, airy, big, they should not slap amounts of powder onto your face but instead offer a lightweight placement and a blending without disturbing anything you have underneath.

They often awaken the artisan side of us, by the way we hold them and manipulate them they make us smile and we somehow look inspired and talented, a bit like an artist completing a painting, they have that power on me while playing with this final ritual and relaxing steps before coming back to reality and chaos and I don’t mind how long this process take, time could just freeze there for a while.

• Full length: 17.5cm
• Hair length: 5cm
• Width of the ferrule: 3.8cm
• Surface at the top: 5.5cm x 2.5cm  (at the widest point)

It costs 115usd, it is made with squirrel bristles and a synthetic weave (“weave”, that’s a new word now in my vocabulary). What this means is that to increase resilience and firmness the artisans add some synthetic bristles in the mix. It is very soft, if you are familiar with Hakuhodo grey/blue squirrel brushes or Chikuhodo’s, it is similar type of softness. If you want to go even softer with natural bristles it is possible, you will have to get either Saibikoho goat or red squirrel brushes but they are also way more expensive and released in very Limited Editions.

Wayne Goss – Koyudo Saibikoho and red squirrel

Two years ago I was in Hiroshima browsing for brushes, sometimes in the big malls you can find gorgeous little gems, I bought this Tauhaus finishing brush, extremely expensive (twice the price of WG) extremely soft too but in comparison to the WG, this Tauhaus is too flimsy and just to be used with setting powder, actually I cannot even use it because the head disintegrates itself when I do. It sheds like crazy and non-stop. This one was so expensive and such a fail! I had left Japan when I realized how bad it was so I could not do anything to change it. It is the most similar brush I have to the WG Holiday but in comparison the quality of the WG is so much better and since it’s more firm and dense it also becomes more versatile.

So far I had absolutely no issues with the WG and I have used it many times already, compared to similar paddle finishing brushes that I have seen during my trips this one seems more firm and thick at the surface, Christine from Temptalia  describes it as “light-to-moderate in density. It isn’t a flimsy brush, but it isn’t dense either“, that’s exactly my thoughts. For me it got better with time and usage, I love it more today than the first day I used it.

Wayne Goss and Tauhaus finishing brushes

Tauhaus (top) and Wayne Goss (bottom) finishing brushes Sideways

On the Beautylish website it says:

Use this brush to blend away harsh lines and set makeup without disturbing it.

Well, if the lines are really harsh you may need something stronger to really blend them away but I had to test it, I applied a red intense blush with a small brush, on one cheek I used the Wayne Goss to blend, what it did is that it kept the intensity of the red but the edges were more blended, still defined but more natural. Then I used the Rae Morris Radiance to blend the other cheek, the difference is that the Rae Morris diffused the blush in a more wider zone and toned down the color from red to a more pinkish color. The great news is that the WG had kept the blush in the zone where I had put it and with the hot nice shade of red. I was surprised with the result, it blends more than I thought it would and the original shade was unaltered, it requires more work than a goat brush but it’s softer and less abrasive.

I have just reviewed the Surratt Holiday brush in the previous post and actually I have the exact same thoughts about this Wayne Goss:

• I like to use it to set my base makeup or to apply a subtle glow with a finishing powder or with a bronzer
• you don’t get precision but you get a soft lightweight application… and a happy face in the process
• it’s not the first brush that I would recommend you to get from WG, in his collection there are unique treasures that I would urge you to get first (depending on your makeup routine) but they are not Limited Edition.. so if you were tempted by this soft Holiday brush, then you have to grab it now
• it’s a “holiday” brush, it totally makes a statement for a special release, the brushes that Wayne had released last year for the Holiday 2014 were more on the versatile and functional side, hence I am happy they have now entered his current range

Wayne Goss Holiday 2015 with Wayne Goss Holiday 2014:

Holiday 2014 (now available in the current range) and Holiday 2015

The Hakuhodo Kokutan LAG is goat and synthetic and costs 98$, the Hakuhodo S100 is just goat and costs 100$, they are meant to cover the same purpose but both Hakuhodo brushes splay out more and they are not as soft. There is one brush from Hakuhodo that is like my Tauhaus and the Wayne Goss, the Kokutan L (also squirrel and synthetic), it costs 120$ but I don’t own it so I can’t say how similar it could be.

Hakuhodo Kokutan LAG, WG Holiday, Hakuhodo S100

I have had my Hakuhodo finishing brushes for years so they look a bit old and used today, but since I discovered this WG and given that I prefer it, I see myself reaching for the WG instead.

This brush sample has been sent to me by Beautylish.