Inglot Makeup Brushes REVIEW

Back in ’09 I did a weekly feature on the different MAC makeup brushes and I have pretty much been them non-stop ever since. Plus I’ve added a few more to my collection. Girl’s gotta have the right tools you know!

Then INGLOT opened shop in South Africa and I’ve been so hooked on their makeup (their eye shadows are beyond awesome and their gel liner gives my favourite Bobbi Brown Gel liner a run for it’s money), I have been keen to try out their brushes to see if they were any good.

That and a lot of my readers asked me what I thought of them, and now, after trying out some of the INGLOT brushes, I can say, go ahead and get them! They are great quality and I’ll definitely be adding more of these to my kit.

So I asked Inglot’s National Trainer to pick out four of her fave Inglot brushes for use on eye makeup application and this was her top brush picks…

<< The Inglot 4SS Brush
Price – R199

This brush made from squirrel substitute and features a wooden handle. It’s best used for blending eye makeup, contouring cheeks or applying blusher to the apple of the cheeks

I’ve been using this brush mainly to blend in the base colour of my eye shadow (the lightest colour) and then again for blending over everything at the end to ensure it’s all nice and neat! It is a rather large brush, but it feels so fabulous and soft, I love using it on my eyes. When I did the makeup on some of the models before the Durban July, they all commented on how soft and great it felt!

I like the dome shape of the 4SS brush, and because I have a lot of eyelid space to work with, I found that it was perfect for me. I actually want to get one slightly smaller as well.

On the face, I like using it to apply highlighting powder just above the cheekbone for really pop-out cheeks. I used to use one of those fan-type brushes for this, but found that this brush works better and gives it a more blended, non-streaky look. For a pop of colour on the cheeks it’s also great, using the tip to apply colour and then feather it out in circular motions to blend it.

The Inglot 13P Brush >>
Price: R139

This brush is made from real pony hair and again features a wooden handle. Inglot’s National Trainer suggests using this brush to smudge liner on your bottom lash, use it for precise application of eye shadow or for layering and pressing products such as pigments.

The firm tip works wonders for applying pigments, giving them that bright, sleek, metallic shine and I found applying pigments with the tip to my lower lashes was also pretty easy with this brush. Being a firm brush, it holds a lot of the product without any noticeable fallout, which when applying pigments can become messy.

It’s also my favourite brush to use when adding a shimmer highlight to the inner corner of the eyes because it allows you to get right into the corners without messing or applying too much shimmer.

<< The Inglot 9S Brush
 R199

This brush is made from firm sable hair and best used for highlighting the brow bone, or to apply a medium tone shade on your eye lid.

It has quite long bristles, but being a firm brush,  doesn’t go all crazy and flare out when you try to apply your eye shadow – even though I do like brushes that “flare” for blending, but not for “sticking” the colour in place.

Its a nice one to use on the brow bone because you can use the edges of the brush to go into the start of the brow bone, and then use the flatter side to smooth out the highlight on the larger area.

I’ve also used it to apply my main eye shadow colour, especially when the colour is darker and I wan’t it more intense, but I use a different brush to blend out the edges because this one is better at packing on colour as apposed to blending it out.

The Inglot 10S Brush >>
Price: R179

This brush has got to be one of my faves, faves, faves! Once again the brush has a nice long wooden handle and this one is made of sable hair. It’s perfect for applying and defining the colour in the crease of the eye lid. Because it’s long with softer bristles, you can get right into the crease and blend out easily as well.

For blending in the crease I’ve been using my MAC 222 brush, but prefer the Inglot 10S brush because it helps me to define my crease a bit more as the bristles, although soft are slightly firmer.  I do like to sometimes use my 222 brush to blend over the crease to smooth it out if I’ve gone to heavy in my application.

All in all I am very impressed with Inglot’s brushes. They are great to use, good quality brushes that I would certainly recommend buying or at least trying them out if you’re considering adding brushes to your makeup kit.

I’ve used all four of these brushes a few times now and I usually wash my brushes after every application – because I like to play around with different colours – and they have not changed their shape or quality or that I’ve noticed, lost any bristles!

I don’t like using brush cleaner on my brushes in general. I find that it makes them too hard, but when you’re on a shoot there is no other option really. As much as I can, I prefer to wash my brushes with a bit of warm water and a cream or gel facial cleanser (if it’s good enough for your skin it’s good enough for my brushes) or shampoo and let them dry overnight.

How I wash my brushes

I put a bit of cleanser or shampoo in the palm of my hand, wet the bristles of the brush and then swirl it around in my palm. I usually wash each brush on it’s own, or combine the types, for example the blending brushes etc. I try not to let too much water get into the silver part of the brush, because that can loosen up the glue and and I always keep them facing downwards when washing, never turning them upside down.

After I rinse them, removing all the soap, I flick the brush in the air to release excess water, shape it and lie it flat on my windowsill (with the window cracked open) allowing the brushes to dry overnight.

Have you used any of the Inglot brushes? Comment below, let me know what you think of them…