Studio (flat) Contouring Brush

10 Reviews

1. 

   chicOil9

   Reply

   I started experimenting more with contour early in the year, with NYX HD blush in Taupe, and now contour is a daily thing for me. The perfect combo I have settled on for applying and blending contour is to first apply the contour under each cheekbone with the e.l.f. Studio flat contour brush, and then I blend it out under my cheekbones, as well as around temples, forehead and jawline with the Wet n Wild angled contour brush. I find I just couldn’t get the initial contour application precise enough with a fluffier contour brush for it to resemble a proper shadow. The e.l.f. flat contour brush is so stiff, I can basically draw a line with the contour in my cheekbone hollows, so that when I blend it out with the softer angled brush, it truly resembles a shadow. So this brush plays a small part, but a very important one.

   That said: the e.l.f. brush is really not well made. It sheds hair, and I’ve found from gently squeezing soapy water out of the brush while washing – which is kind of unavoidable to properly wash a brush – the outer bristles have wound up further out of the brush, and the center brushes are further back where the outer bristles used to be. I expect that eventually these outer hairs are just going to come out.

   The brush is still usable for the time being, but when it stops being so, I will try to find a brush that is virtually identical, but better quality. I’m not mad at this brush, because it’s cheap, and because now I know from buying it that this sort of shape is a necessity for me to properly apply contour. But I won’t repurchase this exact brush.

2. 

   solemnGnu2

   Reply

   I love using this brush to contour. It applies my bronzer at the right spots. I also use it to do some nose contour too. The bristle is soft and feels nice when I use it. It’s also very affordable.

3. 

   debonairCrane7

   Reply

   The quality of this brush is excellent. However, it’s not for me. It’s a bit too wide IMO… and I don’t have a small face. Sure you can use the edge of the brush but I feel like that defeats the point of having the brush shaped this way. I think I’d be down with this if it was just a tiny bit narrower with the same stiffness. I think the stiffness is on point because it’s not too flimsy or stiff… I just never use this because it’s too wide

4. 

   emptyHeron3

   Reply

   I was looking for the RT flat contour brush, but my local drugstore was sold out of it, saw this one from e.l.f and decided to buy it even though I’m not a big fan of them. I figured 6 bucks was pretty cheap to take a gamble with, and I’m really glad I did cuz I LOVE this brush!! Dense bristles, feels so friggin soft when I brush it across my skin. The shape of this brush wedges underneath my cheekbones so effortlessly, I feel like a real pro when I carve out those cheekbones. I can use it on my forehead/hairline fairly well, but it’s too big to contour my small nose. This brush’s quality reminds me of a much higher quality brush, ranks up there with Sephora Pro brushes. I’ve had it for a month now and it has shed 2 hairs, which isn’t bad at all. Very impressed with it, and I just may try a few more e.l.f. studio brushes.

5. 

   madClam5

   Reply

   I must be a rare breed; I hate this brush. I used the ELF angled blush brush for my bronzer and contour prior to this brush – and I’m going back to it. This brush is HARD AS A ROCK for my face. Everyone else seems to say that it’s super soft – I beg to differ. This is so short and dense that when I try to use it for contour on my cheekbones, it feels like it’s literally scraping the foundation off my face. I’m pretty sure it does because the tip looks like it’s coated in my foundation! Because it’s so short and dense (and stiff) the contour line it applies is so streaky, so literal (using powder bronzer) that if I try to turn it the long way to blend the line, it just makes it worse. My boyfriend was like, “What’s that red line on your face?” Yeah. It’s just too harsh of a brush for me.

   I hate this brush and am returning it and going back to the Angled Blush Brush. Same idea, but so much more softer and allows you to blend contour/bronzer so much better. Ugh. Waste of $6.00.

6. 

   sincereMallard4

   Reply

   I see a lot of reveiws saying this brush did terrible for distributing bronzer but I don’t believe that it was designed for that purpose. I love this brush, it’s perfect for contouring, one dip into my powder picks up the perfect amount and lightly flicking up upwards from under my cheek bones does the trick. My only issue was 2 rogue hairs that came loose after the first wash. I noticed very little bleeding when I washed it, but the water has run clear of dye since. It takes some getting used to, but once you figure out how to blend with it, it’s really a brush shape to have in your arsenal.

7. 

   finickyTruffle0

   Reply

   This is a very dense, soft, flat contouring brush. If you are looking for defined contouring this will do the job. I imagine it would be perfect along sides of the nose although I don’t have a need for that. Despite the severe line it can create if you turn the brush to use full width for blending it does the job really well. I don’t feel any tugging on the skin as another reviewer mentioned but it might be that I use a light hand when applying/blending product. I’m guessing this would also do a fantastic job of blending out cream contour as it’s just dense enough to make it easy. This brush is the same great quality as the other e.l.f. brushes I’ve come to rely on. Cleans quickly and effortlessly, solid construction, no fallout or shedding of bristles. A very nice affordable contour brush worth picking up.

8. 

   dopeyBobolink0

   Reply

   I wouldn’t recommend this brush for powder contouring, it’s too dense it almost drags your skin. I love this with cream contouring it blends the product well and it’s perfect for your cheekbones and your nose.

9. 

   alertSausage9

   Reply

   Edit:
   So I still really love this contour brush, i actually really adore how thin it is, but still soft, but this actually might be extra amazing with applying and blending cream contour products instead of powder. it worked well for me for powder anyway, but i can see how the thin-ness might be off putting and confusing to some. For powder that’s with right shape but thicker and wider in size, I highly recommend the elf Beautifully Bare Blending Brush instead. That also works super well for contouring, particularly powder bronzers. This contouring brush (studio flat contouring brush) is perfect for smaller locations (sides of nose, cream products, and sharp cheek contours).

   —

   So I took a couple years or so away from western makeup (ran into a tough run in life) but recently I felt better and got back into the swing of things by watching some youtubers enable the crap out of me. Lucky me that I got back into it right before black Friday! In any case, KathleenLights highly rated several of the new studio brushes (like the selfie ready foundation brush and the such), so when elf ran their 50% off site wide sale for black Friday, I kinda went nuts and grabbed one of each of the relatively new studio face brushes (but not the totally new stuff as those weren’t included in the sale).

   The one I was particularly excited for was this flat studio contour brush. I own a pretty dense slant blush brush that I’ve been using to contour but I find it to be a little big and difficult to not make my entire bottom half of my face muddy.

   This was $6 retail price so after the sale was only $3. The brushes that kathleenlights recommended were actually several of the other brushes, so I ended up basically purchasing the whole line. Everything arrived last night, and I couldn’t be happier – everything is so soft!

   This particular brush is relatively slim, very dense, but the dual fiber is very very soft at the same time. It allows for a very precise application to the contour lines, and small enough to get easily into my NARS Laguna mini (which my bigger slant brush was a little harder to get into). I don’t think this is much of a blending brush – I definitely like using this under my cheek bones for a more defined contour, but I think a fluffier brush is still better to blend, and to apply to my temples and hairline. But honestly I didn’t have too much trouble with using this to contour on its own, I didn’t have any blotchy application or just looking too harsh.

   What I like in particularly for this brush is that it works super well for contouring/shading the sides of my nose. I’m Asian with the usual super flat Asian nose, and previously I’m stuck with using an eyeshadow brush to try to make natural looking shadows on either side of my nose – but because of how small eyeshadow brushes are, it takes a really long time, not to mention I’ve experienced accidentally failed contouring before when my shadow lines didn’t go straight down side of my nose – ended up looking I have zero nose bridge LOL. I was incredibly surprised and pleased to find that this brush is thin enough (but not too thin) to contour the sides of my nose in just a couple of straight up and down swipes. because it’s a thin flat long brush, I don’t have to worry about making my lines not straight.

   I washed the entire line and I think one of the brushes let go of 1 fiber, but otherwise no bleeding, no shedding, the construction is absolutely solid and the brushes look so sleek and nice that I can easily mistaken them to be of much more expensive ilk. I own a bunch of brushes from elf in the past as well as from 100yen shops in japan, and the new studio brushes for face are heads and shoulders over the previous studio brushes. So much love!

10. 

    thriftyWildfowl5

    Reply

    This brush is pretty spot on. It has all the features you want in a brush!
    It’s dense and flat as it says on the box, and also super soft.
    Fits perfectly onto cheekbones to give that chiseled contour look everyone is after.
    The price is unbeatable really. Stop reading this and go get it already!

    Note: When I first got it in the mail, about 3 strands of hair shedded. But other than that, the rest of the brush hairs seem pretty intact. No other complaints 🙂