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

Christine — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 18:00:00 +0000

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.