Wayne Goss – The Artist Collection

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Wayne was inspired by traditional Japanese calligraphy brushes for this set, and what an insanely gorgeous set. These little treasures follow the same design as his Holiday 2016 brush, with shorter handles.

Handmade in Kumano, Japan and Limited Edition. I have just received them, they were sent to me as a gift. I quickly gave them a wash and used them, they truly are works of art!

The handles are maple wood with the traditional hook at the bottom. The silhouette is just simply gorgeous, lightweight yet well-balanced. If you are familiar with calligraphy brushes and love the look of traditional brushes, these will definitely be the finest collector piece!

The set is available on Beautylish, costs 175$ and comes with 3 brushes :

• The Artist Large (grey squirrel and saikoho goat hair)
• The Artist Medium (grey squirrel hair)
• The Artist Small (grey squirrel hair)

Since these are bundled with squirrel bristles, they are meant for use with powder products only.

They are tapered to a point, the more pressure you put on the tip, the more the bristles will splay out and cover a bigger area.

The large Artist brush is the less pointy of the three, but still softly tapered.

The Artist Large

Total length: 19cm
Hair Length: 3.9cm
Ferrule width: 1.9cm
Weight: 19g

This brush is bundled with goat (saikoho) and squirrel bristles. Goat bristles give it strength to pick up and blend with added efficiency, which I love. But what I love the most about this brush is the size, density, flexibility and airiness, well, it’s just perfect, it’s the kind of brush that won’t disappoint ever, you’ll always have a use for it, delivering amazing results.

I will use it with blush, bronzer, powder, and with any type of pigmentation. It’s the “large” brush of the set but I am tempted to say it’s more a medium to large brush, you don’t need to worry, it will be a match and it will deliver.

This type of mix is appropriate for dry and most oily skins, if the brush has absorbed too much of the excess oils or moisture in the process, wipe it gently on a cloth.

It’s so super soft so even if you have extremely sensitive skin, I doubt this brush will be an issue.

Perfectly in between the WG 00 and the WG 02 in terms of size. The Artist Large is softer than the 00 and almost the same softness as the 02 (squirrel). The airiness of the Artist almost tricks you into thinking it can be softer than the 02 but technically it’s not.

Shaquda UBU804: Grey squirrel. Offers slightly less precision in comparison to the WG Artist Large as there is more brush surface in contact with the skin, although, it is still appropriate for a structural application on the cheekbones for example. The Shaquda is also more dense, directional and firmer, hence more impact on first wipe and a heavier application but the “more” depends on your technique. I find the WG highly versatile, foolproof, it’s a brush I would reach for so much more.

Chikuhodo T-5: Saikoho goat. A bit similar in functionality but the ferrule is oval (vs round on the WG), yet almost looks like a fluffy rounded brush. The density appears quite close but the T-5 is firmer, if you want more strength to blend with the tip of the brush, the T-5 will do a faster job but not significantly different.

Surratt Highlight: Grey Squirrel. The shape is similar but the Surratt is much smaller and denser. To this date, I haven’t met a Fude lover who doesn’t love this little Surratt brush! The Surratt is an extraordinary gem, one of my top favs brushes in this category. The WG is more versatile in comparison but both are must haves, I highly recommend them.

Hakuhodo J6530: Goat and synthetic fibers. This is the most similar I found in terms of size and shape in comparison to the WG, but the Hakuhodo is more dense and firm, it can potentially “flick” too easily as it applies – which I am not a fan of. The edges of the application won’t be as diffused in comparison to an application with the WG, this is due to the synthetic blend of bristles restricting the flexibility.

The Artist Medium and Small

Medium	Small
Total length: 18cm Hair Length: 3.2cm Ferrule width: 1.25cm Weight:11g	Total length: 17.1cm Hair Length: 2.54cm Ferrule width: 1cm Weight:9g

These two little brushes are similar in shape, if you love pointy brushes, you’ll be served.

By the way, try to hold the brushes just below the two lines in the center or have a look at Beautylish recommandation “How to hold Artist brushes”.

I love these two Artist brushes for the application of contour and highlight. I can “dust” blush and play with a stacked application – I am huge fan of stacking different shades and layering finishes!

The result was beautiful and it’s easy to build the intensity and target the placement just where needed. Just keep in mind that if the product is pressed hard on the pan, you may need to put quite a lot of pressure on the tip and this may weaken the bristles and cause breakage. These brushes may be too soft to pick some products up but, on the other hand, they may allow for more gradual results when playing with bold shades.

I have been playing with these two little brushes for at least an hour straight, applying all types of make-up on the eyes and the face, wiping and cleaning in between applications.

You can also use these brushes on the eyes, I could do an entire eye look with them, with a gorgeous smoked application on the upper and lower lids. The result is not defined and sharp, but diffused and soft, I do personally need more definition around the eyes so I’ll use a little pencil brush for that.

I have very little lid space and with age it’s not getting any better, the brows are getting heavier and “falling”. My mobile lids are not smooth at all and I have a lot of medium to deep wrinkles where the shadow is meant to smoke out. Using darker shadows with very soft flexible brushes is a bit tricky as they tend to a bit too soft/gentle to work their best on my uneven skin and honestly, I need almost surgical precision now to work on my eyes with a tip that can push things around.

I use the Small Artist brush for setting the eye area or layering a first lighter shade for example, also for soft blending within the crease area. It’s nice to use brushes that don’t move the skin around, yet I do love to use brushes with more strength at the tip as I can achieve an application more even and controlled.

I have similar brushes from Chicca – these have been used quite a bit and the ferrules didn’t age that well. I truly love these pointy brushes and have been using them for detailed placement of highlight, for contour, for powdering under the eyes, all around the nose and on the entire lid.

There are so many ways you can use these brushes, I think you will easily find a task for them.

I have put them together in the picture as I think it’s useful to see these side by side.

Wayne has always been a fan of pointy brushes, for as long as I remember him so I am not surprised to see these shapes!

I have added the WG 03 in the picture to give you a better idea since it’s quite similar to the Artist Small in size but, the WG 03 has more surface at the tip, less layers and has a denser body.

My friends mentioned the Shaquda UBU823 when they saw Wayne’s brushes, but that Shaquda is much shorter, denser and firmer. My UBU823 is actually a bit too pokey for me to use, even though it is grey squirrel, it’s unfortunately not soft enough (it may only be my brush).

I have quite a lot of calligraphy brushes and store some of them vertically, it’s a beautiful display. These Fude are amazing in performance, unique and most definitely worth the splurge!