Laura Mercier Finishing Eye Brush

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

This review is long overdue, I purchased the Laura Mercier Finishing Eye Brush back in May of last year. I was curious about this brush because of its duofiber bristles. It's the same price as the MAC 286 ($32), so I opted for the Laura Mercier because I not tried any brushes from the brand yet and wanted to get a feel for what they were like.

According to the Laura Mercier website, the bristles are "natural" and the white is synthetic. I'm rubbish at trying to identify animal hairs so I won't even try to guess what exactly "natural" means. The synthetic bristles extend approximately 2.5mm further than the other hairs. The brush is soft, rather loose in terms of brush head density. The shape is slightly tapered, but more of a long bristled dome shape than a severe taper. The handle is lighter than MAC, even a tad bit lighter than Hakuhodo brushes of the same size.

I find this brush to be quite good at diffusing color. This is not really the sort of brush that is good for moving large amounts of shadow around for blending, but more for buffing color into a fade. The one thing that I've noticed is that it is a very one directional. That is, if you do any sort of windshield wiper motions back and forth, you may find the synthetic bristles to be a bit pokey. It's uncomfortable on the delicate eye area, so I advise to stick to outward and upward strokes instead of any circular movements.

Giorgio Armani #22, Stila #9, Hakuhodo G5522BkSL, Laura Mercier Finishing Eye Brush

Compared to other brushes of similar size and shape, I would say that the LM Finishing Eye is the one of the more rounded tapered blending brushes I have. Hakuhodo G5522BkSL is softer, finer, pointier and denser and it does it similar job though since more bristles contact the skin, it does what Finishing Eye does with less work.

My favorite use for this brush is to create what I call the lazy smoked eye. That is to say, a monochromatic look with just one dark shadow, like so:

This is L'oreal Infallible Smoldering Plum. On the left side, I've simply patted on the color to my movable lid. On the right side, I've diffused the color upwards and outwards. Since this does lessen the intensity, I would then pat more color on my lid closest to the lash line.

The finished look, with hastily smudged black liner and a swipe of mascara.

Other products worn:

Brows: Anastasia Brow Powder Duo in Granite, Essence Brow & Lash Mascara

Eyes: LORAC Behind The Scenes Eye Primer, CoverGirl LiquidLineBlast Liner in Black, CoverGirl Flame Out Mascara

Face: Dolce & Gabbana The One Luminous Foundation, Wet'n'Wild Take On The Day Powder, La Femme Heather Blush

Lips: Bite Beauty Musk

Have you tried any Laura Mercier brushes or any other duofiber eye brushes? I know Real Techniques had a LE set with one and Hakuhodo makes a few that aren't black/white but white on white bristles.

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