MINI ESSENTIALS – THE EYE SET

In October 2025, we introduced the Mini Essentials Special Edition #1 brushes which featured new mini lacquered handles. The next Mini Essentials, Mini Essentials Special Edition #2 is also currently being launched with the same handles (I’m covering these in a separate article). These brushes, as special editions, cannot currently be reproduced or restocked unfortunately.

With the growing demand for short-handle brushes, we’re excited to introduce the Mini Essentials Eye brushes featuring mini lacquered handles – the target is for these to be and remain permanent additions to our collection.

We aim to have 8 permanent brushes in this Mini Essentials series: 4 face brushes and 4 eye brushes. The permanent face brushes will be released in 2026, around Spring or Summer. The 4 permanent eye brushes that we are presenting today will be available starting on the 18th of November 2025 on Beautylish. They will be sold as a set and also individually.

We all hope you will love their ergonomics, their aesthetics, that you will enjoy how they perform and that you will reach for them everyday!

THE HANDLES

Short handles let us get closer to the mirror, a big bonus for many of us! They’re also super easy to pack and carry around. For some, the shorter handles simply feel more comfortable to hold. It’s clear that interest in short-handle brushes has been growing steadily for many different reasons.
I really wanted to create a fun little set that perfectly complements the previous Mini Keyaki Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 collections, that would be just as special, but that we could keep in the permanent collection.

All these mini handles require the same level of effort, time, and craftsmanship as our long handles. They go through the exact same process, crafted by the same artisans, using the same lacquers and finishes as our standard-length brushes- like the PRO or the Fusion series.

If you are familiar with the Mini Keyaki brushes already, we use the same tools to shape these handles but instead of keyaki, these lacquered handles are crafted with maple wood. The handles for the Mini Keyaki brushes and these Mini Essentials all have the same shape and length.

It depends on the type of ferrule and the brush but in average, there is a 35mm difference between the mini handles and the standard handles.

Here is a side by side of two Minis versus two standard size handles – the Blender Pro beside the Soft Blender, the Target Builder beside the Builder Pro.

THE BRUSHES

The four brushes in this set have been designed for our everyday essential tasks and to perfectly complement the Mini Keyaki Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 brushes. These eye brushes feature a pencil brush, a laydown brush, a compact crease and a soft tapered blender. They are all bundled with brown dyed saikoho goat bristles, they are very soft and very reliable.

I wanted these Mini Essentials to be effortless to use at any skill level, the bristles move smoothly but with purpose which makes them easy to handle but also fun to use. I hope I have managed to make them exciting essentials to have at home and also effective companions to have on the go.

– THE DEFINER –

The Definer is a small pencil brush with a slightly rounded tip.

The bristles are 6.5mm long. It’s dense but it has enough movement to flex and glide softly along the lashline.

This design stabilizes the tip, allowing for increased pressure when we wish to achieve a bolder application, a better product pickup or to smudge a more difficult formula.

I have received many requests for a pencil brush with a shorter handle, I believe this design offers the most versatile and practical solution, perfect when one brush needs to handle a variety of situations.
I truly hope you’ll love this little Definer and that its size and shape are exactly what you’ve been waiting for.

PURPOSE AND FUNCTIONALITY

The Definer can be used to add definition along the lash line, to smudge or to place a shadow in the inner corner.
It can be a fantastic companion for our eye pencils to even out their application, or depending on the formula, we can also paint the tip of the brush with the pencil to transfer the product onto the lash line with more softness.
It can be used with all formulas, powders and creams.

I was inspired by the functionality of the little sponge tips that we find in our eye pencils. These sponge tips attached onto the pencils can be useful, but they are often a little too firm. They may weaken the intensity of the pigment and dull the beautiful shade of the pencil, so I’d rather use a pencil brush that can handle that task with more care.

I use eye pencils of different formulas every day, either aiming for a dramatic bold application, or for a thin application that will serve as a base for a powder shadow. This Definer helps me to perfect the pencil application by smoothing the edges, or extending the placement with precision.

COMPARISONS

This side by side will show you the size difference in comparison to other pencils – just in case you have them for reference.
The Definer is a smaller version of the Pencil Pro, with a size in between the Pencil S and the Pencil Pro.

– THE TARGET BUILDER –

The Target Builder is a small laydown brush designed for precise placement on the mobile lid.
Including a laydown brush was truly essential, and it has also been highly requested.
Just like the Definer pencil, this design was the most versatile and practical choice for a laydown brush, especially when just one has to fit most situations.
This Target Builder is wonderful to build the placement on the mobile lid and for quick fix or touch ups. This is what inspired this narrower design – to do target touch-ups, should we need to, without disrupting other sections of the mobile lid.

PURPOSE AND FUNCTIONALITY

The bristles are 10mm long, it’s a narrow brush and this allows us to work in sections — inner, center, and outer lid. It’s quite thick and dense, with a stable tip that we can use to define or blend a lash line application.

This is the kind of laydown brush that allows us to work across different formulas, with powder and cream products even though the bristles are dyed. It’s not a floppy, weak brush but it’s supple, I still recommend you to be gentle, wipe it gently after each use and wash it when you can so that the cream residue doesn’t alter its performance or weaken the bristles.

COMPARISONS

The ferrule of the Target Builder is not too pinched, I wanted to keep this thickness and proportions as it gives support to the tip and this also gives us options in terms of how we want to use it.

– THE COMPACT CREASE –

The Compact Crease is a compact little brush but the bristles that are 12mm long still have ease and movement. Its surface is rather flat because it was designed to work as a mini buffer for the eye area.

PURPOSE AND FUNCTIONALITY

The FACE ONE (today called the BUFFER PRO) was the brush I was most excited to create when I had the opportunity to work on my own designs and in some ways, it is also the inspiration behind this Compact Crease.

Buffer brushes have always been my weakness, and when I finally had the chance to create my own, the FACE ONE (today called the BUFFER PRO) was the one I couldn’t wait to bring to life. Just like the BUFFER PRO perfects the face, the COMPACT CREASE brings that same polished, seamless finish to the eyes.

The compact and non-tapered shape of this crease brush can seem a little unusual for a crease brush, but hopefully once you start playing with it, you’ll realize how fun and handy it turns out to be. It’s not a big brush so we still have precision and there is movement in the bristles so it won’t heavily stamp the product.

Instead of approaching the crease perpendicularly, if you adapt the angle, it will allow you to work by sections. For example work only on the transition area without touching the mobile lid, this allows you to build or blend the transition shades without messing with the placement on the mobile lid.

This is such a great brush to pair with a mini handle because it’s so useful on the go. If we need to quickly touch up a placement that has creased, with this brush we can just make those creases easily disappear, smooth and refresh the application super easily.

Just like the Definer and the Target Builder, this design is what I thought was the most practical choice for a crease brush on the go, a crease brush that would actually cover different needs and situations. Most of the times we may just need to refresh the crease, or we may just want a brush that is powerful to build, blend, buff, or fix, but that still has a nice flow in the bristles and a soft feel on the skin.

COMPARISONS

The Compact Crease is similar in bristle length and ferrule diameter to the Summer Koi Smooth Blender, the shape is a little different.

Working with natural bristles—especially when the bristles are so short, dense and dyed—makes it really tricky to craft surgically identical brushes, even within the same production batch.
We usually agree on a tolerance margin with the artisans ahead of time, based on the complexity, bristle type and other factors.
I know that this brush was not easy for the artisans, but I am so happy to share that I have several of this Compact Crease brush and they are all absolutely wonderful!

– THE SOFT BLENDER –

The SOFT BLENDER is the biggest eye brush in this set. The bristles are 18mm long, it tapers to comfortably hug the eye area. This brush has density, but the bristles flex and flow easily from side to side.

To complete the functionality of the Definer, Target Builder, and Compact Crease in this Mini Essentials Eye set, I wanted a larger brush that could cover the entire eye area while still offering control with the blending or placement along the crease.

The Soft Blender is just that—soft yet substantial, with a tapered shape and a dense core that gives the tip excellent support. If you want a more polished blend, the Compact Crease is the ideal alternative.

PURPOSE AND FUNCTIONALITY

This brush makes it so easy to sweep shadow across the entire lid, we can also angle it to focus on the upper lid, or target the outer crease, it depends on your eye shape and the space you have available.

It’s also great for placing powder or brightening specific areas —like the inner corners of the eyes, under the eyes, along the sides of the nose, or around the nose area.

I also thought that this design will nicely complement the previous eye brushes currently in the Mini Keyaki Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 sets.

COMPARISONS

The Traditions Kakishibu T8 is a similar type of brush, both with saikoho goat bristles but they showcase a different dye and it’s not the same batch of bristles to start with, also not the same tools used to make them. It’s similar, but it’s not the same. The Soft Blender should feel a little more directional in comparison.

Here is the Soft Blender besides the Blender Pro, the Jumbo Blender and the Traditions T3, this is to give you a better idea of its size.

The Blender Pro is shaped like a fluffy crease brush but it’s quite determined, it will cover a larger area while the Soft Blender will work within a smaller perimeter with a softer blend.
The Jumbo Blender is the strongest blending brush here, it has more density and less movement in comparison to the Soft Blender.
The Traditions T3 has more strength and firmness right at its surface and works within a smaller perimeter, with less movement in the bristles in comparison to the Soft Blender.

If you want to boost the intensity with more control, or diffuse within a smaller perimeter: Traditions T3
If you want to blend with same intensity on a bigger perimeter: Blender Pro
If you want to heavily build the intensity on a large area or quickly buff or fix something: Jumbo Blender
If you want to softly build or blend a placement all over the eye area or gently targeting the crease or the upper lid area or, depending on the space available, the outer v: Soft Blender

MINI ESSENTIALS EYE VS MINI KEYAKI VOL. 1 AND VOL. 2

These Mini Essentials brushes were designed for everyday use and to be relevant companions on the go. I wanted them to complement the functionality of the two previous Mini Keyaki sets so that if you already own some of the Mini Keyaki, you will not have a duplicate with these Mini Essentials.

We will do the same exercise for the permanent Mini Essentials Face brushes that will be released next year and that will join these series. They will be effective workhorses for everyday use and on the go, also complementing the functionality of the current Mini Keyaki face brushes.

SPECS AND PRICING

AVAILABILITY

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post! I always aim to share enough details about the brushes without making it overwhelming, so if I missed anything, or you have any questions, please feel free to reach out in the comments!

These four Mini Essentials Eye brushes will be available on Beautylish starting on the 18th of Nov 2025 at 10am PT, at the same time as the Mini Essentials Special Edition #2.