Good timing to receive a restock!! The Cranes Over Mt Fuji brush holder is a Limited Edition item that launched end 2020. We received so many messages asking for a restock of this brush holder, so we placed an order for a few more pieces and it will come back for the very last time on March 25th. This is the very last chance to get it should you wish to π

These are the brushes on the way, I am crossing my fingers that they arrive very soon! They were planned to arrive on time for the Beautylish Gift Card event and they should have been there already but we are not in control of logistics specially when it comes to customs!
Smudger One
Smudger Two
Builder One
Builder Two
Worker One
Worker Two
Base One
Sculpt One
Sculpt Two
Sculpt Four
Mini Cheek
The other brushes are still in production, sadly they won’t restock with this delivery.
My Beautylish recommendations
As you may know, this Gift Card event is the opportunity to earn a $20 digital gift card for every $100 spent. This event will end at 11:59pm PT on March 28th, 2021.

As I am building my shopping list for the Beautylish Gift Card event, I have some wishlist items and favs to repurchase and also some recommendations I would love to share with you. Do you have any purchases planned!
Let’s start with my fav miscellaneous items and end talking about brushes! Beautylish carries quite a few of my favorite brands, I won’t be able to list them all so I am going to pick what I use the most on a very regular basis, tools or products that are part of my daily or weekly routine. I do use make-up on a daily basis but my looks are often subtle, emphasizing on the eyes is what I love and where I need the most help!
Care…

In the most used items that I need to mention, is the Suwada Mirror Leather Case Set Large. I had this nail clipper in my mind for a long time but only pulled the trigger last year in July, I used some credit from a past Gift Card event to help with my purchase. It’s quite expensive ($155) but this has become the best investment of 2020 in terms of cost per use.
When I was pregnant, I kept kicking my toe(s) pretty bad against chairs or anything on my way. I didn’t pay much attention but this repeated trauma caused some damage on one of my toes. At first I thought I had an issue on my nail but doctors told me all was good, no infections but hitting the toe was the reason of my nail not growing properly. I had to work on the aesthetics and I doubt it will ever grow properly again. It’s pretty damaged and looks awful (won’t go into details), but this nail clipper allows me to make it look like it’s almost normal and it doesn’t hurt!! I cannot use a file or a different nail clipper, it just doesn’t work and hurts a lot. This Suwada is surgically precise, I did not know that a nail clipper could be so life changing, seriously. You do need to be careful because it’s so sharp that it will cut through anything! Stay focused π
If you have a similar issue or nails that are difficult to prep, this is a tool you should try. Of course, if you don’t have any issues this is also amazing! I adore sneakers but I will be thrilled to finally be able to wear my pretty sandals this summer!
Today Beautylish carry more clippers from Suwada but at the time it was the only one available and I am so so happy that I got it!
Clean…

They have amazing serums, toners or treatments at an incredible price point, this may be a good opportunity to try them if you haven’t already. The item I use the most from Good Molecules is their microfiber Facial Cleansing Mitts and the Cleansing balm, I don’t necessarily use them together.
I need to order at least 6 more mitts! I have many towels and use a lot of make-up remover pads that are washable, but the reason I love these in particular is because they are super soft and flexible, I can go around the nose and the ears easily and without irritation. They are reusable up to 200x and mine have been washed quite a bit and doing strong!

Also if you need to add a small purchase to get to the 100$, think about the mitts!!
Beautylish carries the BeautysoClean products, they can’t ship this brand worldwide and that is quite sad for me because I use these products a lot. If you can order them, these are excellent to sanitize brushes, make-up, and that is very important!
I also love to use the Beautyblender, Blendercleanser solid soap for the brushes, specially the mini versions as I can carry them easily with me. When I travel – I know this will happen again- I buy brushes and of course, I want to wash them and use them immediately already during my trip! π
Foundation…
If you have very dry skin and you struggle with dry patches or can’t usually wear foundation, maybe you should give the Natasha Denona Face Glow Foundation a try, it works wonders on my awful dry skin.
Of course skincare is the first thing to get right, but if you have very dry skin and struggle to find a foundation that is comfortable to wear, this is an amazing foundation to use. I have 5 backups since this is my holy grail and I am quite scared that it gets discontinued or out of stock – which happened to me often when I wanted to repurchase. I wear shade 40 which is close to a Mac NW20-25 for reference.
Eyes…
I love Natasha Denona shadows so much. Even the bold shimmers! I use them strategically with smaller brushes so I can play more comfortably with the placement. If I find a shimmer too strong, I layer a matte or satin on top, this tones down the shine and gives more dimension to the mattes, they look stunning.
She is going to discontinue the Mono shadows so I have to order the ones that I hit pan on if they are still available.
On my eyes, I use Natasha Denona and Surratt the most, often the neutral shadows but I will add some pop of colour since the rest of my face is often subtle.
I find Surratt shadows more gently buildable in intensity, while Denona might be full impact on first swipe, well, it depends on the shadows π Both will deliver elegant results and both will also be able to deliver a gorgeous bold look. The benefit of Surratt shadows is that even when he releases a color that is not suitable for me, for example Cuivre (copper), once applied it actually surprisingly works, they have a timeless elegance.

I saw that the Surratt Beyond Beige Petite Palette was available, this is a good starting point if you love neutrals.
For Denona, my favorite palette is, and will always be, the Star Palette, then the Glam but neither are available at the moment so if you want to get some Denona, have a look at the color stories and if you love bold, definitely go for it!
I am going to get the Mini Zendo, I love her mini palettes for travelling and this little combination looks absolutely stunning!
Another necessary step in my routine is eyeliner, this is the step that makes a huge difference and lasts the most. My favs are the Surratt Auto-Graphique Liner, I use Brun Riche when I am going for brown and I use the Tom Ford Eye Defining Pen (the longer applicator) when I am going for black. I just repurchased them a couple of weeks ago so I am ok for the moment π I am not an expert and my eyes are certainly not smooth but I can manage with these two!
I have bought quite a few palettes from Viseart in the recent months. I love their tiny palettes so much, they are so practical, the fact that you can depot them and switch shades with other palettes, that’s so good!

I currently use the Violette Etendu palette at least twice a week, there is one shade there that makes my heart sing. Do you remember Mac’s Vex? this was one of my favorite shades from Mac, the Wink shade in this palette reminds me a bit of Vex and I am over the moon with it!
I would love to buy the Paris Love Letter, so it goes into my cart!
Lips…
When I picked up my fav lips products to share with you, I was shocked to see that my top three were so similar!! This is the color that suits me the best, appropriate in every occasion!
The Wayne Goss High Shine Gloss in Cherry Blossom, the Surratt Lipslique in Gamine and the Koh Gen Doh in Coral!

They are similar in color but not in finish, justifies having the three! The WG is super comfortable and looks stunning on its own or over a lipstick or lip liner. The Surratt Gamine is so sexy, the shine is in between the gloss and the Koh Gen Doh Coral lip crayon. The first time I purchased this Maifanshi Lip Crayon it was in Japan, since then I have been repurchasing again and again everytime I went to Japan. Now I see it on Beautylish!! Perfect! Into cart!!
I use these three in rotation, the Koh Gen Doh when I have a more subtle eye make-up because it pops a bit more. Anyway, these three are so stunning!!
Cheeks…

The first time I discovered the Cheek to Chic First Love blush was in the Instant Look in a Palette. I loved it so much, I wished it existed in full size and it did!! and since then, this is the third that I purchase!!
It’s quite neutral but it gives my cheeks life and goes with every single look! Her blushes are so good and I have quite a few but this one is my favorite go-to.

The By Terry Sun Desire reminds me of the Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic, a bit similar in how they are packaged with that pop shade in the center, these by Terry powders are gorgeous and I actually have them all!
Another must have blush is the Coral Rose blush from Wayne Goss, the quality and quantity that you get is amazing so it’s totally worth the splurge! It’s not in stock at the moment (unless they are able to restock it for the event) but Bright Poppy is in stock, if that is your color go for it!
My only regret is that I cannot depot the WG blushes and interchange them but the product itself is beautiful and Coral Rose is in rotation with Charlotte and by Terry π My fav WG highlighter is the one in the Vivid Azalea compact, if I could play around and carry Coral Rose and the highlighter from Vivid Azalea together in the same compact, it would be awesome!!
They are having a 50% off Make-up Atelier at the moment, I think they may discontinue the brand. I love the shadows and the cream blushes!!
I bought so many at Imats as I think they are particularly stunning for dry or textured skin. They still glow but they almost apply like a powder product, if you love cream products, get these!


Let’s talk brushes
Well, there aren’t many brushes in my cart but that’s because either I have bought or received the ones that were on my radar, or they are currently out of stock.
Beautylish carry a lot of Japanese brands and that’s really cool! So happy that they carry mine too π
I could mention a thousand brushes but I just picked a few for this post, otherwise this will take me too long and the event will be over by the time I finish! However, if you have any questions or if I can help you, do let me know in the comments!

The Hachiko Kabuki Brush is the brush I was the most excited to see available during the Gift Card event but I see that it’s out of stock again. If this brush comes back in stock and you are a Fude lover, just run and get it. Everything about this brush is extraordinary, the craftsmanship, the quality of the materials, the performance, the story. It’s stunning. When it launched I bought one for me and one to gift my friend and introduce her to more unique Japanese Fude, she was delighted.

Yano Series Brush 09 Flat Blending is still my favorite brush from the Beautylish Yano collection. If you love this flatish blending type of brushes, this one stands out, I find it more beautifully bundled and more versatile versus similar shaped brushes.
Of course we need to talk about Mr Goss, you know how much I love Wayne and his brushes! To pick just a couple breaks my heart!
The brush that I find the most interesting is the Artist Brush Large. Everything is on point, he nailed it with every spec. Density, size, this is the most versatile a powder brush could be.
Then, his Air-Brush is another stunner, if you don’t have it already, it’s a great time to consider it. 35$ for that brush is very affordable for the quality and for its craftsmanship.
All the face and eye brushes he released are superb, it’s difficult to go wrong. Probably the one I use the most is the Wayne Goss 04, one of the most effortless crease brushes!
With regards to Surratt, his brush range is mind-blowing. Expensive but even if you own most of Kumano’s Fude, you’ll see that these are different. For example, the Highlight Brush is a candle shape brush but a versatile type of candle shape, not too tight so the application can still be diffused, not too long so you still have quite a lot of strength at the top. What stands out to me with Surratt is how well his brushes pair with the formulas or finishes of his powder products. Very well done!
The Medium Classic Shadow Brush is also a brush I would recommend you to get if you can still find it in stock, it’s just phenomenal.
The Chikuhodo Z series are still my favorite series from Chikuhodo. If I had to pick just one brush from these series it would be the Z-9, that’s for sure, it sounds like I am really obsessed with that brush but I am, even though the entire Z series are simply stunning. If you want something mighty for everyday blush, the Z-4 is the one to go for. I remember using the Z-8 much more than the Z-4 because the bigger size fitted bronzer and blush application better for me. Chikuhodo have cheaper alternatives in their range that are also incredibly good so we don’t need to actually hit the Z-series level to get something exceptional.
The Chikuhodo GSN series are workhorses, designed in collaboration with make-up artists and they are more on the functional and durable side if you compare them to the Z series. A wonderful brush -with an exceptional price- is the GSN-9 eye shadow, if you don’t have this one yet, it’s a great brush to consider now!
My advice -if you want to upgrade your brush collection – is to start with the brushes that you use the most. Usually, a great blender is the first brush to go for as blending is extremely important – and what usually takes the most time. Then check how to fill the blanks in your collection, or what type of brushes you use the most and start with those.
I have a couple of Rae Morris brushes in my cart, the 6.5 angle eye blender and the 8.5 creme shadow shader. These are the two brushes that I am the most interested in and that I don’t own today.
Actually, if you love beauty related books, try her Makeup Masterclass book. Every single time that someone comes here to see me, they grab this book in my brush room and they can’t stop reading it. Even those who aren’t interested in make-up, they see it, grab it and then they can’t stop talking about it. π
I see that Koyudo have new series “Casual Series C-” which seem to be now their starting series (in terms of cost), I haven’t tried these and I wonder if they will be replacing the BP series in the near future. I will ask them in the morning tomorrow.
The Koyudo Premium series are little gems, usually a mix of goat and squirrel, the Koyudo Yoshiki series might be my favorite since they are saikoho goat and this is my favorite material ever. Then some interesting series are the Koyudo Kakishibuzome, they are less soft than the Yoshiki for example because they are sokoho (a lower grade of goat than saikoho) but they are very unique as they are dyed with a special traditional technique inherited from their Heian era. UPDATE: the Kakishibuzome are actually saikoho since I asked Koyudo to confirm, mine feels less soft than my other Koyudo saikoho brushes like the Yoshiki that I own but just slightly.
Oh waw… there is a lot to chose from! Did you pick anything??
Going to check out my cart π
5 comments
Hi Sonia! Do you have a favorite concealer brush thatβs available from beautylish?
HI Elizabeth, do you like a concealer brush that is flat shaped or do you prefer something fluffy and more rounded? thank you!!
Hi Sonia! I always recommend that my friends try your brushes during the gift card event, so it’s great to hear some might be coming back in stock. I find the Worker Three and Smudger Two to be absolute eye essentials.
The Kakushibuzome brushes are very interesting, CDJapan, Fude Beauty and the Koyudo website lists them as Saikoho and it’s only Beautylish that refers to them as Sokoho. If they are not as soft as the Yoshiki (which I really enjoy!) I’m wondering whether that’s really because of lower hair grade or because the dye affects the hairs in some way.
Have you tried the fan brush from the Koyudo Premium series or the Clean Apothecary brush soap? The former looks so good for powder foundation and the latter, well, a grapefruit scent sounds yummy but I’m concerned that the formula might damage natural hair bristles like some of the cheaper Korean brush soaps tend to do.
Hi Kia,
thank you so much !! <3
Very interesting what you said about the Koyudo Kakushibuzome brushes! I have contacted Koyudo and they confirmed it was saikoho. Mine feels indeed less soft than the saikoho of the other series I own from Koyudo. But it could be several reasons, to obtain saikoho they mix bristles from different batches so that the quality is the most consistent possible across all of the batches of the same series, sometimes there is a little difference so this can impact it a bit. Also the dye often gives the bristles a more thicker or "rougher" feel, if you compare the same brush (dyed vs undyed version), the dyed one will appear denser and more firm and often this is the result of the cuticles being altered - but this is something I actually appreciate because it gives the brush more power while remaining soft (it will feel softer than an undyed lower grade will feel in comparison).
We love soft brushes but often soft brushes won't do the very best job at blending. If you dye saikoho bristles, you get usually the softness of saikoho but the efficiency of sokoho or hakutotsuho which is ideal and that's the main reason why I love to dye the brushes that are in my collection π
I haven't tried that fan brush yet, for powder foundation... hmmm it depends on your technique, this is more like a finishing powder brush to apply a veil of powder with the sides, I don't think you can easily buff the foundation but that's just my feeling. Also for contouring or highlight this is quite a nice type of brush! The Clean Apothecary I may have tried it... but I don't want to say if I am not sure 100%. I used quite a few different soaps with similar type of formulas and I did not notice any damage, however, when I see that the soap leaves residue or that I cannot easily remove all the soap residue, then I just won't use it again and this happened with a lot of the soaps I tried. Leaving residue inside the bristles or not rinsing properly it's going to damage the brushes and the performance will decrease. I did not try any Korean soaps so I don't really know π
I hope this helps and thank you so much for your kind comment!! take care and stay safe!! <3
Thank you for your kind and insightful reply! So interesting! It’s like having a peek behind the scenes. Mixing batches for consistency makes perfect sense, it’s an extra layer of quality control that I hadn’t considered before. That’s true about soft brushes, I learned that the hard way back when I was first getting into fude and thought squirrel was the end all be all material I do appreciate the ability of dyed bristles to grip product better while not sacrificing so much softness.
Currently I enjoy your Smooth Buffer to both apply and really work product into the skin. I was thinking perhaps sweeping with the mixed bristle fan might speed along the initial application, mostly because the Three powder foundation released last year includes a similarly shaped but slimmer brush inside the compact and everyone had been raving about that one. You’re right though, it looks nice and plush in the stock photo but I’m not sure if it’s quite plush enough to buff with. You might have to end up using a separate brush to buff, which is fine but not ideal on a busy morning
Not rinsing clear is a problem Or sometimes soaps will be too harsh and bristles will be noticeably pokier and more brittle after washing. That was a sad day for that poor brush. Oh well, I don’t like to take risks when it comes to brush care, so I guess it’s back to the good old beautyblender solid for me. Thanks for taking the time to chat, it was lovely talking to you!