Cosmetics

Perfectly-contoured faces abound on Social Media. Many tutorials demonstrate where to place contour and highlight, but there is less attention on what kind tools to use to apply the makeup and how to blend it for a natural, believable finish.

A CONTOURING Brush FOR REAL PEOPLE

These extreme contouring video tutorials don’t necessarily translate to real life, where contour and highlight need to look believable and natural. Proper contouring can reshape a face, make it appear lifted and youthful, and give the visual appearance of being ten pounds thinner. Bad contouring looks at best like a weird smudge of dirt or a demarcation line of unfinished makeup, and at worse, it looks like a streaky, muddy, fake tan orange, possibly aged looking clown face.

Personally, I find many contour application and blending brushes to be lacking when it comes to precise placement of the contour and the ability to blend well enough to look natural, but not so blended that the defined, chiseled line is overly buffed out. So I was pleased to learn about the Devyn Marie Professional Contour Sculpting Makeup Brush. This brush has several excellent features that make precise, natural looking contouring simple and quick.

Devyn Marie Professional Contour Sculpting Makeup Brush

WHAT THE DEVYN MARIE CONTOUR SCULPTING MAKEUP BRUSH DOES

The brush is for contouring the cheekbone, but I also found it useful for contouring a defined jawline. I frequently make the mistake of applying contour powder or cream to my jawline and not blend it well enough. But the Devyn Marie brush applies just enough product to give a nice, defined tight jawline look without looking fake or overly made up and cakey. Then it blends it smoothly, so there is no tell-tale demarcation or weird orange tinge to my skin. In addition to cheekbones and jawline, it is also useful for applying a soft dusting of contouring and highlighting powder, bronzer, or shimmer to face, decolletage, and body. It can also handle cream, blush or bronzer consistencies in addition to powder contour and highlighter.

CONTOUR SCULPTING BRUSH FEATURES

Larger than the brush heads of many contour brushes, the brush dimensions are 4 x 1 x 2.2 inches. It is easy to use and grip and fits into a bag easier than a long handle brush. The bristles have a unique shape conducive to precision contour application.

HANDLE

The brush has an Ergonomic grip handle that is very easy to wield and to maneuver the brush, especially in sweeping, curved motions. There is good control of the brush and where the bristles are touching the skin due to the larger grip. The handles suitable for use in both hands, so even applying contour on your non-dominant side is much easier a task. The short handle makes it a portable tool for touchups.

BRISTLES

The densely packed bristles are firmly bundled and give a high color payoff and even powder distribution. There were also no loose bristles, even during use or after washing the brush. The bristles are soft but firm enough to deliver product exactly where you want it. So far, I have not had any shedding of bristles at all.

OF NOTE: The handle and bristles are made of animal-friendly, cruelty-free, synthetic brushes.

UNUSUAL CONTOURING SHAPE

Different from many contouring brushes you may have seen before, the Devyn Marie Contour Brush has a unique shape that fits snuggly underneath the cheekbone, just the right spot for applying contour in the hollow of the cheek. Many competitor brushes have a slanted or curved head; these do not provide a wide enough chiseled bristle surface to easy create a cheekbone contour like the Devyn Marie Contour brush does.

BRUSH CASE

I once had a $200+ high-end cheek brush that made my cheekbones look exceptionally sculpted, but the bristles soon became misshapen even though I stored it within its’ cardboard box. The Devyn Marie Contour Brush has a clear hard plastic case that surrounds the brush and snaps closed tightly and securely to keep the bristles from getting crushed or bent. A case that snaps shut and protects the brush and keeps it standing upright, even after washing – is something that I wish all makeup brushes had. I like that I can carry it in my bag for travel and touchups and without worrying about damaging the bristles. A trick I like to do is to load the brush with some powder, shake off the excess, and pack the brush in the case in my bag, for when I need a quick touch up on the go.

HOW TO USE THE DEVYN MARIE PROFESSIONAL CONTOUR SCULPTING MAKEUP BRUSH

NOSE CONTOUR

Starting from the beginning of the brow and moving towards the tip of your nose try running it alongside your nose with bronzer on both sides.

CHEEK CONTOUR

Lay the brush in the hollow of the cheek (again starting from the back moving towards the center).

JAWLINE CONTOUR

Apply contour powder with the shorter pointed portion of the brush, blend the contour with the inverted valley portion of the blush.

RESULTS

This is a very versatile brush that applies contour precisely and blends creams and powders very well without streaking! No bristles shed while using it. I like how closely the brush hugs the cheekbone to get just underneath the bone into the hollow of the cheek; it creates a much more natural contoured look that lifts the face and looks much better than what I can achieve with a traditional flat head or slanted brush. My cheekbones look sculpted without appearing unnatural.

CONCLUSION

A useful contouring tool that is a cut above other contouring brushes due to its’ innovative cheek hugging design, its’ shed-free bristles, and ingenious snap closed case to keep the brush head shape safely intact even while in transit.

Where to Buy It

Find this fantastic brush at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KN1VXGA

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ABOUT THIS POST

I received this product in exchange for my unbiased review and received compensation for my time and effort. However, my experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine.

A few well-known high-end beauty brands have made the oval brush concept very popular. They look like tiny hairbrushes but have soft bristles intended for use on the face. The benefits of oval brushes are that they have excellent control due to the handle shape, they can get into tiny crevices, and there is an incredible color payout. To see if an oval brush set is for you, a good set to try is the ten brush Startreasureland Oval makeup brush set.

TIP: The key to finding an effective but reasonably priced oval brush is finding one with highly packed dense bristles.

The Startreasureland Oval makeup brush set has ten brushes with very dense and tightly packed bristles give a very smooth makeup application that starts out light a thin opaque layer you can buff out to the desired degree of sheerness.

Startreasureland Oval Makeup Brushes

COMPARING OVAL BRUSHES TO BEAUTY BLENDER SPONGES
Both have their place in a good beauty arsenal. While awesome for sheer coverage, a Beauty Blender is less helpful when seeking natural looking opaque coverage, such as on areas such as the undereye area, blemishes, imperfections, or areas that need fuller coverage. So I apply my makeup with an oval brush and blend out to the desired sheerness when needed.

COMPARING OVAL BRUSHES TO TRADITIONAL FOUNDATION & CONCEALER BRUSHES

The Startreasureland Oval makeup brush handles are ergonomic with a wide flat top and rounded easy to grip sides. They make it easy to angle around the face, so you can see what you are doing at any angle, whereas a regular foundation or concealer brush is the shape of a paint brush, allowing you to work your makeup at only one angle, which limits both visibility and blending ability.

Startreasureland Oval Makeup Brushes

HOW TO USE THE OVAL BRUSH SET

The two very large Startreasureland brushes in the set are for setting powder and foundation powder, applying makeup for body or applying powder over a large area. The second-largest can also be used to apply a face primer or even your moisturizer and sunscreen.

While each brush can accommodate any makeup, a liquid or cream texture foundation is applied with the third largest to the medium size brushes, concealer and blush with the medium to the small range (brushes 4-6), and eyeliner and eyeshadow for the smallest and round head brushes. The small round heads are also useful for lipstick, spot blemish concealer application, eyeshadow crease/contour and the thin small heads work for eyeliner, contour, and eyeshadow. I was surprised how nicely the round brush applied a dark, heavily pigmented lipstick into a nice subtle layer of sheer tint, perfect for that transitional autumn timing.

RESULTS
I was surprised by how large the foundation brush is, but when the sides are used, it draws a very defined contour line. The foundation brush maneuvers the angles of the face well. The concealer brushes (generally the 4-6 largest) get in well in the small crevices around the eye and that dark area between the nose and undereye under the brow. I love how sheer the oval brushes get foundation and concealer, even on bumpy areas.

The most important thing I found when using these brushes, is that there is very little wasted makeup. I found with some brushes and sponges, my Beauty Blender type applicators especially, that I lost a fair amount of makeup that was soaked into the sponge, even when the Sponge is used damp. These brushes just help smooth out a thin layer and buff out to your desired level of coverage without wasting much makeup. In short, what you apply to your face directly and brush out, or what you apply to your brush and brush on, is what ends up on your face. It is easy to go heavy-handed at first.

I was also surprised that the round head oval brush as a lip brush was as useful when applying lipstick. Even dark, sticky colors went on sheer and super even with no lumps or bumps. It took a few tries to get used to controlling the brush as a round tip directly on the lips instead of a side-to-side flat brush painting motion.

CONCLUSION

The Startreasureland Oval makeup brushes are useful for powders, creams and liquid makeup – whether foundation, contour, eyeshadow, highlighter, cream blush or even lipstick. This is a very handy set of brushes that are well-constructed with well packed and dense bristles. There is a great color payout, and I love how sheer foundation appears on the face, and I especially like how much control it gives when applying contour, concealer, and eyeshadow. Quality set for a good price.

Startreasureland Oval Makeup Brushes

I received this item for testing and review purposes. If you have any questions about my experience with it, leave it in the comments section below, and I’ll do my best to answer it!