Real Techniques starter set brush review

Real Techniques starter ser is a set of eye brushes which comes in a handy pouch which can protect the brushes while travelling and can be folded in half to make a convenient brush stand.

The set consists of 5 eye brushes: base shadow brush, deluxe crease brush, accent brush, eyeliner brush and a brow brush. The bristles are made of  a synthetic material called taklon and the handles are made of purple metallic aluminium. 

I have mixed feelings about these brushes. They look kind of cool with their purple handles, they don't shed hairs, return to their initial shapes after washing are soft and fluffy. Unfortunately most of them are unfit for the purposes they are meant for, but quite surprisingly they filled in a gap in my brush collection. So let's have a look at them one by one:

DELUXE CREASE BRUSH

Deluxe Crease Brush is a large domed, slightly flattened fluffy brush. It's very soft and pleasant to use but it's far too big to apply shadows in the crease. It does a better job as a blending brush but in my opinion it makes a wonderful concealer brush to apply concealer under my eyes (actually it's not my idea, Pixiwoos themselves use it for this purpose). It is just the right size to fit under my eyes, and distributes the concealer so delicately and effortlessly. Absolutely perfect!

BASE SHADOW BRUSH

The Base Shadow Brush is smaller and flatter than the crease brush, but it's similarly soft and fluffy. It's also tapered  in shape. I like my shader brushes to be flat and relatively firm as they minimise fallout and allow me to pack eyeshadow by gently patting it on the lid. This brush is quite all right, especially when you want a sheerer wash of colour, but for me it makes a lovely crease and blending brush. The pointed tip picks the shadow and the fluffy bristles distribute the colour nicely in the crease. It is also very good for precise blending jobs on smaller eyelids, like mine. I love this brush!

BROW BRUSH

The Brow Brush is the right size, shape, density, bristle type and everything would be perfect if it simply wasn't so thick. I have small, sparse, lightly coloured brows and it doesn't really do the trick. I mean, you can make it work and if it's your real starter kit you may not realise that there's something wrong with it. I have a couple brow brushes and with some of them doing my brows requires less effort. But if your brows are rather thick you might love this brush dearly.

ACCENT BRUSH

The Accent Brush is tiny. And I don't mean the bristles but the handle. It's barely wider in diamerer than a matchstick and it hardly weighs anything. It fits a hand of a 5-year-old much better than mine. The bristles are short and quite stiff. As far as detail brushes go I prefer pencil brushes, these small flat ones don't seem to work that well. This brush is all right but it's far from being indispensible, I wouldn't include such a brush in a starter kit for sure. 

I'm trying to find another use for this brush, perhaps a lip brush?

PIXEL-POINT EYELINER BRUSH

The name of the Pixel-Point Eyeliner Brush suggests quite the opposite of what the brush itself represents. This brush has long, stiff bristles, which is good, but it's far too fat. Being at least 4mm in diameter and even wider at the tip it'll never draw a fine line. I think Samantha realizes it as well cause she's launched another, much thinner eyeliner brush, sold individually.

In sometimes use it when I want to go for a more dramatic look, but most of the time this brush is useless. 

And again, the handle is so tiny that it looks almost fragile.

 I use this brush to line my lips precisely with my red lipsticks to produce a crisp, sharp edge and generally as a lip brush. 

All in all, the Real Techniques starter kit brushes are very decent, medium quality brushes. They sometimes don't do the job they are meant for but you can easily find other uses for them. If I could buy them separately I'd definitely go for the Deluxe Crease Brush and the Base Shadow Brush as I feel they are a good addition to my collection but I'd definitely skip the eyeliner, brow and accent brushes.

Disclaimer: I bought the product 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.