Due to my background in organic cosmetics and fighting animal testing, I instantly felt an affinity with Nanshy’s ethics. “Welcome to Nanshy, the only true cruelty free makeup brushes and tools. With Nanshy you’ve never looked so smashing… Especially to animals! 100% Vegan and Cruelty Free! PETA.org approved.” What more could you ask for, right? But wait, there’s more…
The first thing that jumped out at me when I received the Masterful Collection was the sleek design. Pearlescent white handles all branded with Nanshy’s logo, secured with a silver binding and synthetic bristles. Even after working in product marketing, I’m still a sucker for packaging and the box in which Nanshy showcase their brushes fit so well with the company’s appearance.
The brushes are all synthetic which means no animal fur has been used in the process of designing, sourcing and manufacturing the brushes – meaning they’re 100% vegan and cruelty free. Synthetic bristles are also less likely to absorb the products as opposed to brushes that use animal hair. Yes, using synthetic brushes may actually reduce the amount of make-up you apply. Mad isn’t it?
After I delicately removed these beauties from their packaging, the first thing I noticed was the soft bristles meaning smooth and flawless make-up application. I was initially concerned at the density of the brushes, as I like to really work products into the skin with a dense brush. For example, Real Techniques Expert Face Brush is my go-to brush for buffing a flawless base into the skin. However, less dense and softer brushes do have the benefit of reducing the likelihood of micro-exfoliation, which can cause flaky skin – yuck! These brushes will also encourage you to build and layer make-up slowly ensuring a flawless, professional finish.
The first brush I used was Nanshy’s foundation brush, an angled palette foundation brush. Now, as I mentioned I’m biased to a denser, flat top brush and I haven’t used a foundation brush like Nanshy’s in a few years. I was pleasantly surprised. Because of the tapered design I was able to use the brush to get into every plane of the face with comfort and ease and the brush had the perfect density – allowing me to blend and build product effortlessly. These are qualities I usually struggle to find when using other palette foundation brushes.
The other face brushes in the collection include a large powder brush, a domed blush brush, a stippling brush (which is always a popular choice when applying foundation), and a contour brush. All slightly tapered allowing you to blend whilst you’re applying the product.
As the old proverb says, the eyes are the windows to the soul, so I’m always on the look out for great quality eye brushes. In the Masterful Collection you receive a shader brush to deposit colour, a blending brush (which I used to buff my concealer into the skin), a crease brush and a pencil brush (to really carve and accentuate eyes), an angled detailer brush, a liner brush and a lip brush in a metal bullet casing (great to pop in handbags for on-the-go lippy touch ups!).
I was blown away. As someone who’s eyes are easily irritated, the softer the brushes – the better. Again carefully designed and specifically tapered to blend with ease, and create a multitude of looks from sultry to striking. The final test I put these brushes to was cleaning! Nanshy had ticked all the boxes so far and I wanted to see how easy it was to clean these brushes. Using two common methods of a brush cleaner and baby shampoo, there was no shedding, they all kept their shape and even after just one use they all cleaned incredibly easily.
My initial concerns regarding density were eliminated once I started using the brushes. They’re incredibly versatile and allow you to build a look from naked skin to striking temptress. My sensitive skin never looked so calm!
The Masterful Collection retails for £49.95 along with other brushes and collections at Nanshy.com. This collection does come with a choice of handle colour too – Onyx Black or Pearlescent White.