MAC 109 Small Contour Brush Photos & Review
Beauty Basics: MAC Face Brushes
Beauty Basics is a series covering basic products and tools that help to make applying your makeup easier. To view the entire series to date, be sure to visit the beauty basics, or you can view posts within the series about MAC Face Brushes.
Focus On: MAC 109 Small Contour Brush
MAC 109 Small Contour Brush ($32.00) is designed to be used to blend and contour with powder products, but this brush is quite the multi-tasker. It’s a small face brush with a rounded-dome tip, densely packed bristles. It can actually be a bit too big to contour with, depending on the where and when of your face, but I actually am fond of using this brush to blend out more emollient (e.g. liquids or creams) products, particularly foundation and blushcremes.
This works well with both cream and liquid foundations, and I prefer it to the 187. (Though, I still love the 182 for foundation overall–this comes close, and the bonus is it is easier to wash.) You can also use this to apply powder products like blush and bronzer, too. It’s easy to both apply and blend out all sorts of products, so this is definitely is a brush I’d recommend picking up–plus, it is on the lower end of the price spectrum as far as face brushes go.
How do you like to use this brush?
See close-ups…
your 109 looks so new and small! i love mine for liquid foundation. but it shreds shreds shreds. not long hairs most of the time just small short ones, which i have no idea come from where. i just ordered coastal scents’ buki on a stick so am crossing my fingers that it doesn’t shred. right now i only have one so after using it for foundation i use it for powder too and strangely it works okay c:
you should check out the brush guard for having your brushes retain their shape. You can find it at
http://www.thebrushguard.com
Thanks, Saira!
Saira, I went to the link and purchased right away! Thank you thank you thank you!!!
What do you mean by shred?
WHOOPS. i mean to say SHED. but thinking about how i only get small itsy bits of hair, maybe i can say shred too.zzzz.
Yeah, Christine – looks like you just got this brush brand new. Have you washed it yet? I just washed mine for the 1st time & even after reshaping it, it’s def not as narrow looking anymore. But i’m okay with that cause its still working like a charm.
Nope, this has been washed a few times… I just reshape it and it comes out like this?
Use a spray conditioner. This helps it not “break” into small hairs. Condition it like crazy. I did to mine, and it only shed one small hair.
hm i’m hesitant about using hair products besides shampoo and conditioner which i wash off. i’ve sensitive skin and when i go to the salon to get my hair done and my stylist sprays stuff at the end to make my hair nice and it gets on my face i always get a pimple or two that night when i wash my makeup off.
Also, for those more prone to acne, they can still condition their brushes and wash it out, rather than just spraying it 🙂
LOL! It’s not old, though it’s been used a few times and washed three or four times now. I imagine it will fluff up a bit more, but we’ll see!
Mine doesn’t seem to shed at all!
I just got this brush a couple of hours ago. Couldn’t wait to get home and try it out..even more now that I read your review! Thanks!
I hope you enjoy it, Cel! What’d you think?
I’ve had this brush for about 2 weeks now & i am really liking it, but obviously still need more time with it to try out new things. Right now I am using it to apply/blend my MSF Natural in the places on my fave where my 182 buki can’t get so good. Like, the sides of my nose, under my eyes, up into my hairline. Since the head of the brush is so nice & small, it makes this task super easy. I’m really happy that I purchased this super brush!
I definitely like having the smaller brush-head for all those nooks and crannies, too!
I just purchased this brush recently (I know, I’m late). I used it this morning with liquid foundation. I cannot believe how flawless my skin looks. Even the guys at work noticed it. I love it. Only issue I have is that it sheds a little.
YAY! I am so glad the 109 + foundation = flawless application for ya!
I love the 109 for blush, the size is perfect!
For highlighting is good too 🙂
xx
Ohh, nice! I’ve been using the 116 for blush lately, but maybe I will try the 109!
I know we all go cooky over the shedding as I def have more than one MAC brush that sheds like no other & it drives me bonkers considering i gave up my left leg for my brush collection. However, the chick at MAC said that is the downfall of hand-made brushes. No single one is identical & not every brush is able to have all the hairs placed in as tightly as the next so there is def “human” error in the making of these brushes. i guess they figure its a small price to pay for quality. She did advise not to bang the brushes against the sink or anything like that to shake product off cause it loosens the hairs in the barrel & causes more to fall out.
Don’t know if she was blowing smoke up my ass with this but it sounded feasable. Oh well…
I definitely agree that there is some variation amongst brushes! I definitely recommend exchanging your brush if you aren’t satisfied with it — let them know it’s shedding a lot and the like. It could just be that one unit or maybe it’s the brush. I own a slew of MAC brushes and none of them shed enough to cause me to worry.
I got this brush a short while ago. I heard it’s a real multi-tasker, so I tried using it with a bunch of different products. It really is a great brush! It works especially well for applying liquid foundation, contouring, highlighting, and blush.
Whew, that IS a multi-tasking brush! I am liking it for liquid foundations right now!
I love love love love my 109. My fave MAC brush.
What do you like to use it for, Sass?
I would use the brush for contouring and sometimes blush. Then I saw your video about using it with foundation. Since I have done that, I get a better look and for some reason, my skin has not been so oily as well where I have to use blotting sheets. Who would have thunk that switching brushes on applying makeup would control some the oil. =)
YAY! That’s so awesome to hear, Meghann!! I’m so happy for you 😀
This brush bleeds when i wash it and i feel like sometimes when i use it with foundation it turns the foundation grayish any suggestion??
What are you washing it with, Sarah?
baby shampoo