MBB’s “Fresh Friday” series takes a look at new beauty brands (and venerable O.G. brands that are new to me). Let’s discover new makeup!
One of the issue I’ve had with some synthetic makeup brushes is how stiff their bristles are, but that is not a prob for the brushes I’ve tried from aDesign, a new makeup brush line exclusive to Amazon. The angled buffing brush, for one, is so soft that it feels like you’re getting kitten kisses. Sometimes I’ll sit at my desk just rubbing it all over my face. If soft is what you want, soft is what you’ll get with these cruelty-free vegan brushes.
The line is the beauty brainchild of Anisa Telwar Kaicker of Anisa International (Forbes recently gave them a shout-out as one of the best small companies of 2018). Incidentally, Anisa makes brushes for some of the biggest beauty brands out there (Estée Lauder, NARS, Sephora, MAC, Hourglas, La mer and Laura Mercier, to name a few), so I guess it’s safe to say they know brushes.
The new aDesign line has 30 brushes, which are sold in sets of two brushes each. The sets range from $14 on the lower end (for a pair of eye brushes, which breaks down to $7 a brush = not bad!) to $34 on the higher end (for two face brushes). The brushes are lightweight with medium-length handles, and they feel a lot like It Cosmetics brushes in my hand.
How do you choose which set to get? Well, they’re categorized by function. For example, the Eye Power Duo ($14) is all about smoky eyes and comes with two eye brushes for applying and blending cream or powder shadows for smoky looks.
Two of the face brush kits caught my attention… Check out the $20 Detail Face Duo and the $30 Buff Duo. The Detail Face Duo lays down a deliciously sheer layer of foundation or concealer, and you know me… I’d rather apply less base than more. I also like the Buff Duo, which I use between base layers to polish and buff the product. The bristles leave behind an airbrushed effect, which looks very natural.
I’ve also tried a few of the eye brushes… I think they’re just OK. They’re super soft (YES) and fine for blending and applying creams, but for some reason, they don’t pick up powder particles as well creams (maybe that should be obvious), so my powder eyeshadows end up applying sheer.
Don’t get me wrong — I think sheer eyeshadow can look great, but I feel like I have to use more product than usual with the eye brushes.
If you’re curious, you can find the entire aDesign brush line (exclusively) at Amazon.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. TGIFFFFFFFFF! 😂
Happy Friday! Ugh, brushes. So many little details involved in getting exactly what you want. We spent a lot of time at brush manufacturers and their suppliers in China. It’s really eye-opening to see the processes involved in making any makeup brush. Everything is incredibly manual. Anyway, when I’m not testing different styles, I generally only use the oval, toothbrush brush for my blush. I love the dense, soft bristles. 🙂 I hope you all have a fab weekend, that Connor is still loving “school” and the weather is nice!
Hi Kim!
That’s so cool that you were able to tour the manufacturers and suppliers in China. Were you also able to do any traveling for fun while you were there?
Hello! No, sadly not. We did get to take a morning to visit the Tian Tan Buddha when we got to Hong Kong, though. I wasn’t able to do that the first time I went so I was pretty committed to making it there this time. 🙂
Have you used this brand before? I have some brushes from this line that I’ve had for 15+ years. I use them almost everyday and they are as good today as when I bought them.
Wondering if the new release has the same quality as the old ones.
Hi Jan,
As far as I’m aware this is a completely new line. 🙂
Just FYI, Amazon has an initiative for suppliers to create exclusive brands. This can either be new brands, developed for Amazon’s exclusive sale, or the revitalization of old/dead brands that will now be sold exclusively through them. So, it’s possible that this brush brand is an old/dead one that’s been revived for this initiative. I think it’s especially nice for smaller brands that had been pushed out by the big guys with all the retail consolidation. It gives them another chance and, potentially, a much bigger audience. 🙂
I also have several Adesign brushes from 10+ years ago — but the ones I have are made of natural hair. I use the powder brush to apply powder foundation. I remember being sad when the website closed down, it seemed like the company went under. So I am happy to see them back in the game!