The Ultimate Tulip Brush: Hakuhodo B103BkSL

Friday, May 16, 2014

For quite a few months now, I've been enamored with the idea of having a large tulip shaped face brush. I adore my Hakuhodo J5521(whoops, revised link to review here) but I fancied myself something a bit bigger. There aren't too many out there on the market, I can think of only two others; Sedona Lace makes one and the Sigma F25. The Hakuhodo B103BkSL certainly was on the pricier side of the spectrum but I found that I absolutely loved using it.

The brush is dense and the good quality black goat hairs are thicker yet still very soft. The shape of the brush is a robust young tulip, not yet swollen to a full bloom. The hairs have a very satisfying degree of bounce, you can use just the soft tip of the tulip to flick contour color onto the sides of your nose or half the head to deposit blush on the apples of your cheeks. Even still, you could use the sides of the brush to sweep setting powder upon the entirety of the face. It's a very versatile brush, there are definitely some days when I'm pressed for time that I use this single brush to apply blush, contour and setting powder (brushing it lightly on a microfiber towel to clean it in between colors).

I've experience only a couple of shed hairs with this larger brush head. When washing with tepid water, it did bleed a tiny bit of dye - a bit of grey water not excessive loss of color.

At $72 (purchased here), I know the price is very steep and well beyond what even makeup lovers acknowledge as reasonably priced for a single brush, so it would absurd for me to insist that it is a must have item. However if you happen to be splurging on yourself, the B103BkSL is definitely not a bad way to go!

P.S.: Apparently Hakuhodo has started to print the names of each brush on the handles! Old stock won't have it though. Now if only they didn't fade immediately...

Product featured was purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.