Posh Brushes – My research and my review

Hi Bellas,

I’ve recently been on a hunt to find affordable, high quality brushes. Many of you have seen my detailed posts on my current brush collection as well as my Michaels’ Loew-Cornell brush picks.

Over the last couple of weeks, one particular company caught my eye—Posh Brushes. I remember reading a review of these brushes on Asian Beauty Blog, but didn’t think much of it. However, after reading through the hundreds of entries on Posh Brushes on specktra I decided that these brushes were worth a try. I went to the website and found that they are a little bit pricey. I had heard that these brushes can be found in random grocery stores and shops around the country for a far more discounted rate. I found mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond!

Have you ever shopped online and filled your shopping cart with so many items that you feel guilty and just X out of the entire window? This was me! I wanted so many of their brushes that my order kept growing till I was at nearly $200! Fortunately I was able to exert some self control and decided to hold off.

A few brushes in particular caught my eyes:

Posh Blunt Cut Blending Brush $20:
Perfect for blending small areas. The flat-end brush design will evenly blend powder for a perfect finish. Use with mineral or pressed powder.
--I’ve never seen a brush with a shape and density like this one. Doesn’t it look cool? But kinda pricey…


Posh White Angle Blush Brush$12
The angled bristle design provides ultimate control in blush application for a glowing, natural look.
-–Holy Crap! This looks just like my MAC 168. The MAC one is the ONLY brush I use for my face contouring…I really need a second dupe for clients!


Posh 5 Piece Mini Brush Kit w/Zip Purse $25
This mini travel brush kit includes a powder brush, purse foundation, conceal & touch up duo brush, brow & eyeliner duo brush, smokey & angle eye shadow duo brush in a zippered travel purse. Perfect for the woman on the go!
--I really need a set of brushes that I can travel with…and that doesn’t mean the 15 must-have brushes I usually bring with me. This set seemed perfect because it contained all the essentials.



Posh Smoky Eye Brush$8
Ideal for creating smoky, sultry eyes.
-—Hmmm, a smokey eye brush? Now this seems interesting…almost like a chunkier version of my MAC 219.



Posh Brow Brush $8
Perfect for maintaining your brows shape for a neat, clean appearance.
--I’ve been looking for an affordable brow brush for the longest time! I hate using my 3 inch mini brow brushes, but they’re the only ones I’ve found work. This brush looks like it has the stiffness and length to wear I can comfortably use on my clients.


Posh Eyeliner Duo Brush$12
The perfect set of brushes for precise eyeliner application.
--Now this looks interesting…an eyeliner brush that has a rounded tip?


Posh Firm Control Powder Brush$20
The angled bristle design provides ultimate control in powder application. --This could be another contour brush alternate…the word Firm really makes it seem good.


Posh Cosmetic Brush & Accessories Make-Up Set
The Posh brush and accessory kit represents the best of the best… 16 make-up brushes, a brush wrap, a brush caddy, 44 assorted foam wedges, sponges and cosmetic applicators, a duo pencil sharpener, gel face mask and a bonus Plump'Up Lip gloss.
-For $89.99 this is the monster haul from posh…kinda makes you want to get it just because it seems to have EVERYTHING…


So these were my lemmings…by chance I decided to check out Bed, Bath, & Beyond. If you didn’t know, this store has a HUGE selection of cosmetic and hair products. They have drugstore as well as high end brands and accessories. It’s like a mini-ulta in there. And we all know they always have coupons. Fortunately, my suspicions were correct. They did have them there! It took me over half an hour just browsing through the brushes and weighing my options. I’m on a tight budget because of the move and my BF was definitely giving me his look, you know the “I know you’re not trying to buy MORE makeup look”. In the end, I settled on the 5 piece travel piece set. This was $11.99. That’s more than half the price listed online of $25! And if I hadn’t forgotten my 20% off coupon, it would have been $9.58! Now that’s pretty darn good.

I was really tickled my how cute this set was. The set comes in a see through bag so you can see all the brushes in there. They come in a little zip brush holder and some of the brushes are doubled ended so they offer even more functionality.


Includes the following:
1) powder brush
2) foundation brush
3) smokey & angle eye duo
4) fine conceal & touch up
5) brow & eyeliner
6) zip purse

And the case zips up so tiny that it can fit into the palm of your hand! Talk about great for travel!

The size is about the length of a MAC shadestick


Whenever you get new brushes, it’s a MUST that you wash them first. Who knows where that brush has been before? I went ahead and used brush cleaner and was sad to notice that a few brush hairs immediately fell off from my powder brush.

However, after washing the brushes afterwards in shampoo, I was relieved to notice that there was no additional shedding and bleeding. It’s normal if a few bristles come off.

Normally, I don’t like double ended brushes because one end always gets smashed up when it’s being stored. However, I don’t mind it with this travel case. The brushes are help by an elastic in the middle, leaving room on both ends. Smashing is not really a problem in this case.

When I tried the brushes I thought they were pretty good quality. I wish the set included a blending brush like the 222 or 217…but I’ve found this is usually not the case in travel brush sets. :( I used these brushes a few times…one of which is in my upcoming “how to line your eyes with liquid eyeliner” video. Overall, I’m pretty pleased. They aren’t of the same quality of MAC brushes, even though it seems there are some good dupes in there. However, I would definitely recommend them. The quality outshines the price. The only thing that alarmed me was that one of the double edged brushes had an incident where one half of the ferrule detached from the middle leaving two brushes instead of one! I was able to stick it back in…but I guess they aren’t firmly attached and clamped in the center. Still, I can let that go.

Here are my thoughts on each product in the set:
zip purse- too cute! I love how it’s so tiny. Just be careful to tuck all the bristles of the brush in to prevent the zipper from catching.

powder brush- this works pretty well…it’s tapered and just the right size for either powder or blush…I use it both for blush and my msf natural. It’s not the softest brush out there…but it’s pretty good.

foundation brush- this is a little too soft for my taste. I used it to apply my studio tech cream foundation and I had to put a little extra wrist action to use it. It’s probably better for thinner consistencies of foundation.

smokey & angle eye duo- I really like this set. The smokey brush reminds me of the essence of beauty crease brushes but shorter, wider, and more dense. It’s really good for blending out a dark crease color…I can definitely see it working well on a smokey eye. The angle brush is like the MAC 277…also good for the crease or for all over application.

fine conceal & touch up- the concealer brush is pretty tiny…so I guess it’s good for little cover-ups like a pimple or scar…but I use it as a lip brush! The touch up end looks just like the MAC 239…I use it for all over eyeshadow application.

brow & eyeliner- The brow brush is great…firm enough to really get brow shadow in there and shape the hairs. I like how the brow brush is a little thicker…I know that I, for one have dense brow hair and those thin brow brushes out there usually don’t cut it. This eyeliner brush is probably meant for gel liners like fluidline or HIP cream pot liner. The rounded tip is a little odd to me…I think I like the good old angle tip liners. The liner brush was also not as thin as I like them. I couldn't seem to get a precise line. I’ll probably test it out a little more but I’ll probably just use this as a lip brush too.

Overall, if you can find this brush set in your area…it’s a steal. The brushes are decent quality--some are okay but some are great. Check your grocery stores like Kroger, Rexall Drugstore (Canada) or Bed, Bath, and Beyond and try them yourself. If not, I have a little treat for you. Try these codes online at www.poshbrushes.com for 50% off your order. UA123 or CC123. After a certain amount you also get free shipping, woo hoo!

Till next time, ciao bellas!