Nothing to Disclose
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Hello Pretties! Just popping in with a random post about what's on my mind. Well not everything on my mind, obviously. Wouldn't want to remove ALL doubt that I'm crazy.
As you guys all know, I polish my nails. A LOT. Daily. Sometimes, when I'm swatching, multiple times a day. And I know it's "all about the bling" or the color, or finish, or glitter. But really for ME personally, I can't tell you how important brushes are. Formula of course is the number one consideration for me, but brushes run a close second, followed by color, finish and finally bottle shape.
Sure, if I really REALLY love the color, I can overlook most of that, but it had better be the best color ever if the rest isn't right.
I do lots of indies and some have it right, brush and bottle wise, and some don't. I don't know if I'm alone but PLEASE, if you are going to be so creative and so meticulous about the other stuff, do your work justice and choose the best you can afford when you do all the behind the scenes stuff like ordering brushes. Test those puppies out!
Even if your formula is great, a bad brush can negate that. (We won't even mention the Spoiled by Wet n Wild brush debacle.)
So what makes a great brush? Well, I really know nothing about brushes, but I can tell you 1) what I like and 2) that the best ones aren't always those fancy, wide, beveled ones.
So what's my favorite brush? a-England. Yep. They're not fancy. They don't have a rubberized handle. They're not flat and wide and they're not beveled. What are they then? They splay perfectly on the nail, distributing the polish perfectly and evenly and the stem holds (and allows to flow at a decent rate) the perfect amount of polish. I can dip, scrape the polish off of one side of the brush and do 4 complete nails without having to re-dip. Without too much coming down the wand, without flooding the cuticles. Granted, a lot of that is their perfect formula, but don't underestimate the brush.
All of that just to say GET THE RIGHT BRUSH? Yeah, well no one ever accused me of being a woman of few words.
I adored the Dior brushes - not the first skinny ones and not the most recent wide beveled ones - the medium flat non-beveled ones from a few years back. I like Chanel brushes. I love a-England brushes. Dandy Nails has a great brush now too. I am sure there are more out there, but I just finished swatching a bunch of polishes and finished up by putting on one of my new favorite a-Englands before heading out of the house and the difference is night and day as far as the whole polishing-your-nails experience.
So my questions for YOU are...how important is the brush to YOU? How important is the bottle shape?
As long as the bottles aren't weirdly shaped, like star-shaped or, the worst ever - Julep, then I'm okay. Julep's tall skinny bottles are awkward, easily tipped over, deceptive as far as how much polish you're getting for the money and the worst part, the wand is so long that it holds too much polish no matter what you do. It's just a mess. I feel like I need 3 hands when I use them. My personal favorite is square.
What say you?
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The brush and bottle shape make a huge impact! Square bottles are my favorite! I love A England's brush so much! Kiko's brush is my favorite though!
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree! Brushes are sooo important to the quality of a polish and whether or not ill reach for it again. A-England and revlon are my favourite brushes. The thin brush is prefect for allowing it to spread and fit neatly at your cuticle. As for bottle shape- I'm all about square or the ones CG and OPI use (although they never fit into a helmer properly lol)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the brush, not all wide ones are good. I recently purchased my first Dior polish, and so disappointed with it, brush and formula, so far from what I expected from reading all their reviews. Formula wise, I suspect I might've gotten a bad batch.
ReplyDeleteBrushes are darned important, bottle shape too. Square Hues bottles while square are just too darn big and juleps are too darn small. Love juleps polish tho.
ReplyDeleteGenerally speaking, I prefer a large, flat brush - perhaps even in an oval shape. But even so, I have to agree: A-England is my favorite. Then again, they are my favorite for everything!
ReplyDeleteSo weird. I got my first A-England and didn't like the brush so much. The brush didn't evenly distribute the polish for me. It might be user error on my part too.
ReplyDeleteI like those semi flat C-brushes, and the A England and Kiko Brushes. I prefer my bottles to be round, feels better in my hand, squares are better for storage, but i just like the curve of round bottles.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more! I love a good brush and a nice sturdy bottle! I dislike butter london bottles; they're weak; the glass isn't supportive enough. My favourite bottle and brush has to be Chanel; it's pure perfection.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I complain loudly about Butter London's craptastic brush, Nicole's hard to store bottle, Wet N' WIld Wild Shine bottles are easy to tip over and have a narrow silhouette, Pure Ice has a hard to hold square bottle, and I love the professional brushes in some polishes although they cover too much of my pinky, they are perfect for other nails.
ReplyDeleteI really like Essie's brush and bottle. I have small (narrow?) nails and find the wide brushes (OPI pro-wide, I'm looking at you!) to make it very hard for me to get clean edges. Essie's brush is nice and thin, so I can get a great look without any clean-up needed. And there's just something about their bottles that draw me in...a color I wouldn't look twice at in another brand's bottle, I find myself lusting after in the Essie bottle!
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried a-England but now I have yet another reason to do so! love the polish you are wearing :)
ReplyDeleteI like a good, solid handle and a small brush. I have small nail beds so when the brushes get bigger I have less control. A nice small, narrow brush, like butter LONDON gives me easy control and allows for my application to be flawless. I don't like square chunky handles, they have to be round and big enough to hold.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! :)
I do prefer wide flat rounded brush, but I agree that they are not always good choice. Rimmel and drugstore Essie got it right, Essence nearly nailed it, but their bottleneck is so long that after two uses I have to tip the bottle in order to reach the product (I know, that's the bottle not the brush issue, but it bothers me as one). Zoya has the brush that fits me perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big girl!!! 155 in a 5'1 medium frame but my hands are small...like size 5 and 6 small fingers so the brush in ZOYA, A-England,and Nails-inc I really like love love the OPI except my little finger needs extra clean up...for the bottles??? I HATE THE NICOLE FOR OPI...DONE
ReplyDeleteThis post really speaks my mind exactly. I have large nail bed which i think i'm blessed so I cant stand brush that are skinny aka Essie. And yes a wonky or badly shaped brush will totally ruin the love for a bottle even if its darn pretty. I just wont bother to use it anymore. Thus i love opi's, a england, zoya to name a few.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really fussed about the brush, but I do notice I use the polishes with a comfortable brush more often.
ReplyDeleteI really like Essie, OPI and Essence brushes!
My favorite brush is OPI, it has the perfect form for my nails. As for bottle form, I like square ones, like Essie, they're easiest to store.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to read this, because I find myself discussing bottle/brush shapes just as much as formula when I'm with my "Polished Ladies Club" (Yes we have a monthly meet up lol) I have medium nail beds so as long as the brush isn't raggedy *ahem Spoiled* I can work with it. Its the wand length that gets me sometimes -I agree that Julep's super long wand and narrow tipsy bottle stinks and makes me try and find a similar color in a different brand :) For me its formula that determines which brush shape I will prefer -For instance I LOVED it when KB Shimmer switched to the short flat brushes! they are perfect for glitter bombs IMO because they pick up glitter easily, help it to lay flat, yet don't pick up too much if I need to do a little dabbling to fill in spots -thus preventing flooding. (though that's also a nod to the fantastic formula!) Whew! mega wordy reply sorry!! Final note on shape preference: HATE NOPI, LOVE Zoya for looks and wand shape, though square bottles and RBL shape store best! :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's funny. When I think of brushes I generally think of what I DON'T like. I hate wide beveled brushes like the Essence brushes. I still use Essence polish but probably not as often as I would if their brushes weren't such a PITA. I also dislike OPI's brushes. I don't like any brush that doesn't allow me control of where I place the polish on my nails and "splays" too much. But I also hate really skinny skimpy brushes that require numerous strokes to cover the nail.
ReplyDelete