S5523BBk Eye Shadow Brush

Hakuhodo S5523BBk Eye Shadow Brush ($24.00) is a flat, medium-sized eye brush that has nearly the same width from base to edge with a subtle rounding a few millimeters before the edge. It is made out of goat and horse hairs, and the brush head is 16.90mm in length, 10.90mm in width, and 6.20mm in depth with a total length of 15.15cm.

The brush was much denser than the goat version of the same style and lacks the give of the goat version that makes it excellent for blending and diffusing out color. I struggled to find ways to use this effectively, as it just seemed to drag color around too quickly or harshly rather than getting a more gradient-like blend. When I tried using it to deposit color into the crease, it did a good job of initially laying down the color, but it did not blend it out well, so I had to reach for another tool for that purpose. I had the best luck using it to blend out cream eyeshadows, where the firmer, denser brush made more sense. I did not find it worked that well for applying brow bone color or blending out eyeshadows after they have been packed on--it was adequate but the same shape but in goat hair does a significantly better job all-around.

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