Low budget stippling brushes: E.L.F. vs Inglot



Stipple brushes: E.L.F. and Inglot on 1cm x 1cm grid



Left: Inglot, right: E.L.F.

Today I want to compare two stippling brushes: Inglot and E.L.F.  While both can be classified as cheap dupes for MAC brushes, their price differs substantially, E.L.F. retails for £3.50 and Inglot for around £11. When I received my E.L.F. brush I was highly disappointed at first. This often happens when you order online without having a chance to actually see and touch the product. I had read a number of enthusiastic reviews and watched some presentations on YouTube describing it as a perfect foundation brush as well as useful for highly pigmented blush (to use it sparsely).  The brush turned out to be useless in both cases. The bristles, described by the reviewers as incredibly soft, are not dense enough to pick enough liquid and far too whimsy blend. With pressed powder it didn't work at all, the bristles are made of smooth, glossy, sort of waxy fibre which simply doesn't pick powders at all (of course this is not the use of the brush, silly me to have believed such nonsense). I hope you can see what I mean in the pictures.



E.L.F. : the bristles are soft and glossy



Inglot: the bristles are clearly made of two different fibres



So, desperate to find a decent stippling brush, I went to my local Inglot store to try theirs. And I must say this was a hit. This is a real duo fibre brush with long and sparse white bristles meant to apply a tiny amount of the product and quite harsh and sturdy black fibres which are supposed to hold the white ones upright while stippling or blending. E.L.F. consists of bristles of different colour and length but the texture is the same. Inglot is three times more expensive than E.L.F. , but it does the trick. I think you still may call it an affordable brush, a similar MAC brush would cost around £30. 

 

E.L.F. and NARS Amour



 

You really need to swirl heavily to pick the right amount of product 






This is by no means a critical review of the  E.L.F. brush. It is an irreplaceable tool when applying cream blush, eg. MAC Cremeblend. With a product of harder consistency than liquid foundation it works wonders. The sparse bristles prevent me from looking like a clown and blend the product really well. Also the size of the brush matches the size of the pan perfectly.



E.L.F. and MAC Cremeblend Blush in Something Special



Yes, a prefect match!



So all in all both brushes are really good quality, none of them sheds or loses shape after washing, the handles are comfortable, their length adequate. They are simply meant for different uses.

Disclaimer: I bought the products myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.