Review: NARS Small Dome Brush #12

NARS Small Dome Brush #12

I love NARS makeup, and I love brushes. So... NARS brush it is. :D I am also in serious need of small eye brushes so this definitely captured my attention. 

NARS #12 brush is a small small with not too much resistance. But it's not too flimsy either. The bristles are natural hair, and tapered at the tip. The brush keeps its shape very well. It is rather small eye brush. I added on a pic with other brushes for size reference. :)

The brush is not dense enough to blend out dark crease colors. They are best used for precise but soft application of crease color or outer V. They are actually small enough to focus application in outer V on my Asian eyes. 

So those are facts/what it does best. Here comes my gripe with the brush. Brush feels well built. I will give it that. But I absolutely hate the bristles. Usually, I just deal with eye brushes that are a bit pokey. This one actually made me go "Ow!!!!!!!!!" when I tried to use this. First of all, it's not soft. Second of all, I could see several bristles that were about 5 times thicker than other ones and would not bend. I was pretty sure that those were responsible for poking my lids badly. I had to give it micro-haircut. I cut several out. When I inspected them in my hands, I could tell they definitely do not belong in a makeup brush. One of them actually was sooo thick and resistant that it springed out of my hands when I held them between my fingers laterally and applied little bit of pressure. It feels much better that I cut those out. 

I have seen a lot of good reviews about this brush, so bristle conditions may have been an odd one. Regardless, I wasn't too happy that I had to cut bristles out of an eye brush that costs 27 dollars. From trying out several brushes, I know that one bad brush is not enough to hate the entire brush line but this wasn't a good first impression. I still suggest looking into this because there are mostly positive reviews for this brush. It would have been a positive review from me as well if ridiculously thick, pokey strands weren't there. Especially, it's hard to find very small eye brushes. Isn't it?? I hope this helps, and here are some detailed pictures. 

NARS Small Dome Brush #12

Sigma E25, NARS Small Dome Brush, Mac 239

NARS Small dome Brush, MAC 239

Rating: C+