I am not sure if Illamasqua counters in the UAE had brushes before, i’ve shopped several times there and i’ve never seen them on display non the sellers “convinced” me to buy them, so it might or might not be available before, but they are definitely available now.
I love makeup brushes, and adding more to my brush collection wont do any harm since i always use them, and i tend to get lazy to clean them so i switch to other clean ones, so having extra clean brushes is always a good idea.
I always prefer natural animal hair because it is truly soft on the skin and they are always the best, but Illamasqua are “cruelty-free” and their brushes are made of synthetic hairs, they are not as soft as the natural hairs but still i was amazed by them, i even feel comfortable using the powder/blush brushes on my skin, and this is not surprise since they are “hypoallergenic“, meaning they dont cause an allergic reaction and suitable for all skin types.
All the brushes come in black color even the handles and have an Illamasqua stamp only without a name or number which makes it a bit confusing, the names were only labeled on the packaging. I will have to label them myself to know exactly how Illamasqua name and define them.
Regarding prices, they are somehow pricey and close to MAC pricing, but the brush collection isnt that big so it wasnt a problem buying most of them, i only left few which i will definitely buy later.
I threw away all the labeling thinking i learnt them by heart and let me try and guess what brushes i have :p, anyways as you can see the brushes come in black from head o toe, no name or number just the Illamasqua stamp on the bottom of the handle, the top brush is the blush brush but i use it to powder my face, its not too big as a regular powder brush and not small as the blush brush which gives me the perfect control to powder my face. The brush below is the angled blush brush, i believe there were two angled brushes, ones is for contouring and the other is for blush, i think i am bit confused and dont know which one i got.
Here is a close up photo on how the brushes look like, the blush brush is a bit long and rounded on top and as i said before makes it perfect to powder my face, the other angled one i use for blushers and it is flat and angled, a bit weird since i always use puffy angled brushed for the blushes.
Those are the three eye brushes, the one on top is a flat eyeshadow brush, the one in the middle is a fluffy blending brush a bit small for blending but i like to use it to define and blend the crease area. The below brush is a highlighting brush but i like to use it to powder on top of the concealer area, the size is perfect for it.
This is a close up picture for the brushes i mentioned before, see the difference in sizes between the highlight and blending brush, and as you can see the bristles of all three brushes are a bit longer than MAC and Sigma brushes, they are more like MAC 224 and Sigma E40 when it comes to their length.
Those are the last two brushes i got from Illamasqua, the one on top is an angled brush, this one is a multi use brush, you can use it to apply eyeshadow as a liner or you can use it to apply gel liner which i mostly prefer and use it to refill your eyebrows. The lower brush is a very thin liner brush that i dont think i have ever seen before in another brand and correct me if i am wrong, this brush makes the thinnest eyeliner line.
Here is a close up of the two brushes, i just realized the focus isnt clear here on the fine eye liner brush but you will know exactly how fine it is once you see it in real.
The fine liner brush comes with a cover which makes it perfect to put inside the makeup bag without making a mess just like a lip brush.
You can see here how fine the eyeliner brush is, and you will be amazed once you see it in reality, i like using this brush to draw a very thin eyeliner without winging it out, just to give more depth to the make up look, sometimes the eye looks bare without black line and sometimes i feel adding a black line will look too much for the look so this is perfect just to line the upper lash line.
Illamasqua counters are available in Abu Dhabi at Areej-Marina Mall, Dubai at Bloomingdales-The Dubai Mall, and Harvey Nichols at Mall of the Emirates, a new store will open soon also at The Dubai Mall.