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Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket, LY38 Tapered Shadow, LY38B Tapered Shadow Brushes Reviews & Photos

Louise Young Crease Brushes
Louise Young Crease Brushes

Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush ($18.00) is a very small, tapered, slightly dome-shaped brush made out of natural hair. It’s very stubby and squat. The brush head is 6mm in length, 3mm in width, and 3mm in thickness. It had a total length of 178mm with a round, metal ferrule. I like this brush for smudging out eyeliner or applying eyeshadow on the inner corner or along the lash lines. I wish it was slightly more domed and less tapered, because the tapered point can sometimes be felt against the skin when you’re using it, but it isn’t too dense or too sparse, and it has a moderate amount of give, which makes it nice for smudging. It is smaller overall compared to MAC 219.

Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush ($28.00) is a medium-sized, tapered crease brush made out of natural hair. The brush head is14.6mm in length, 5.5mm in width, and 5.5mm in thickness. It had a total length of 193 mm with a round, metal ferrule. It is more tapered than domed, so it is particularly nice for those with deeper creases or for someone who wants a more precise color application. I find the more domed, rounded crease brushes to be a bit easier to blend and diffuse color with, but more tapered styles to be great for initial application. It’s soft against the eye lid and area, and it retains its shape well. It is a much softer version of MAC 226 (although, the shape of the 226 varies a lot between batches).

Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush ($24.00) is a slimmer version of the LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush, so it’s a slimmer tapered crease brush with a noticeably tapered edge (not rounded). There is also a 38A version, which I don’t have, but you can view here, which is in-between the width of the LY38 and LY38B. The brush head is 14mm in length, 4mm in width, and 4mm in thickness. It had a total length of 189mm with a round, metal ferrule. It is less dense and has more spring/give than the LY38, in addition to it being a narrower brush. It still has soft bristles that fit into the contour of the eye socket for more precise crease color application. It also works well for diffusing color from the outer corner towards the middle lid. My personal preference is for the LY38, as it fits my eye shape/application style better, but both are nice brushes and I really like that the same style is available in multiple sizes.  The one downside I noticed about the LY38B is that it seems to have more splayed bristles than the LY38–it doesn’t seem as well cut.

Louise Young has a fantastic brush overview on her website–it is a good way to see size of brush heads from one brush to another. In the states, Nordstrom carries some of her brushes, but the line is much larger per her site. I’ve had mine for almost nine months now, and I haven’t had any issues with them; all of them have retained their shape, are easy to clean, haven’t shed or bled dye, and haven’t gotten rougher over time.

LY13 Mini Socket Brush

PPermanent. $18.00.
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LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush

PPermanent. $28.00.
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LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush

PPermanent. $24.00.
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Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush
Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush

Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush
Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush

Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush
Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush

Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush
Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush

Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush
Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush

Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush
Louise Young LY13 Mini Socket Brush

Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38 Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush

Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush
Louise Young LY38B Tapered Shadow Brush

31 Comments

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Dusty Avatar

I adore these brushes! I love how the crease brushes from LY come is sizes that are so close to one another but slightly different. You can find one that’s juuuuuust right.

Helene Avatar

I don’t have any LY brushes. I like the look of the Mini Socket brush. I do have similar ones though. I have heard good things about the brushes, maybe I should check the web site. Not maybe, of course I will 🙂

Tabi Avatar

I also have the LY13 and really love it for smudging eyeliner or applying eyeshadow on top of liner (waterline or lash line). I had the LY38B and another Louise Young brush, but had to return both because they were a bit scratchy and hurt to use. I really wanted to love them, though!

Instead of the LY38B, I’ve been using the S142/S146 from Hakuhodo, and they’re amazing!

Tabi Avatar

It was the LY39 domed shadow brush. I wanted something to lay down color other than the MAC 239. Recently, I’ve been using the Wayne Goss 18 brush for this, which has been wonderful. =)

pePear Avatar

I have LY20(super fan),LY34(super foundation) of this brand and I really love them, dense, big and fluffy the brush head is. brush roll too! It’s come in a size I need not big but not small! 😉 Did you try out another products of LY like eyeshadows,concealers?look nice but I’m still hesitate to buy it

Ryou Avatar

I usually like them shorter, about 12-15cm for eye brushes is ideal for me, both for storage and the whole getting-close-to-the-mirror-without-poking-my-eyes-out part.

For personal application, I’d definitely take stumpy, very short brushes anytime over very long ones. I’d only ever use long-handled brushes when I’m doing someone else’s make-up, but even then not very much, since my dominant hand has a very weak grip due to injury, so shorter handled brushes tend to balance better.

Ryou Avatar

I have huge hands but my fingers aren’t particularly long, so shorter brushes balance really well in my hands. Then there’s the thing about my thumb being near-useless, of course.

I just got the realization that the reason why I prefer shorter brushes in the past year or so may be related to the fact that my eyesight have started to deteriorate. It’s not that bad, but I spent the past year not being able to read isle signs in grocery store (I sure am glad I don’t drive). And I STILL haven’t gotten glasses yet. Oops.

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!