Recently I got to help out Jessica Guthrie, from Jessica Guthrie Photography, with a Japan inspired photo shoot. I had so much fun doing this shoot. The look was barely there makeup. I love how the photos came out. All of the ladies look so beautiful. 

Photos were done by Jessica Guthrie Photography. Hair was done by Victoria Walters. Makeup was done by myself, of course. 

I am have seperated my review of the vegan Pirouette Professional Gold 18pc set into two parts. There are a lot of photos, so I figured it would make it a bit more manageable to read. The first part of the review that covered the big brushes can be found here. 

I have been using this brush set for a couple months now, and (aside from two) I have been loving them. They are super soft, way softer than I thought any synthetic hair brushes could be.  For those that are wondering why I believe vegan brushes are a must or why I chose Pirouette Professional brushes read here first.  Pirouette Professionals also has a great page showing why vegan brushes are important and why you should choose them here.  

Please ignore the fact that I am long overdue for a manicure and the little fuzzies that are stuck to the brushes, I didn't notice until after I uploaded the pictures. :-)

Lets jump right in and talk about the smaller brushes in the set. These include: P06 Highlighting Brush, P07 Medium Shadow Brush, P08 Short Shader Brush, P09 Flat Definer Brush, P10 Detailing Brush. P11 Blending Brush, P12 Small Shadow Brush, P13 Dome Brush, P14 Angle Brush, P15 Tapered Blending Brush, P16 Precision Line Brush, P17 Lash and Brow Comb, and P18 Lip Brush. All brushes, like the entire set, have vegan bristles, which mean they are not derived from animal hair and are made from 100% Taklon fibers which is synthetic. 

For my review I am not going to go in numerical order.  I have paired the brushes together so that you can really get a good idea of their size in comparison with one another. I am writing about how I use them, which may or may not necessarily be their intended use.  When it comes to makeup brushes you really should use the brushes how you feel most comfortable.  The thing I really like about these brushes is that since they are all synthetic they all can be used with powders, liquids, and/or creams.  You do not have to worry about ruining a certain brush just because you want to use it with a liquid instead of a powder, like you would with an animal hair brush. 

First up are the P08 Short Shader brush and the P10 Detailing Brush. Both are dense and flat which allows you to have control over where you are placing your color. As opposed to a fluffier blending brush, with these brushes you are able place more product onto your eye allowing you to have a more pigmented outcome.  I chose to put these two together because although they look very similar, there are some differences that you may not notice unless you are viewing them side by side. 

The P08 Short Shader Brush is a bit larger and fluffier than the P10 Detailing Brush.  I like to use it to apply eye lid primer as well as a base eye shadow or under brow highlight.  It also works well to apply eye lid color for those who are lucky enough to have a lot of eye lid space. 

The P10 Detailing Brush is smaller, and a bit more dense than the P08 Short Shader.  It is awesome to use for spot concealing any acne spots or pigmentation on your skin.  It is also good for placing any creams or pigment right where you need it to go. This is great if you have smaller eyes, or a hooded eyelid like and you want to get the color on your lid as close to the lash line as possible. 

If you have a larger area to conceal, such as melasma, the brush I like to use is the P06 Highliting Brush. This brush is also uh-may-zing for highlighting and contouring with a concealer.  To use a concealer as a highlight youwant to use one that is a couple shades lighter than your skin tone. To contour, use a concealer that is a couple shades darker. I like to use the P05 Cream Foundation Brush when I want to be very precise with the highlight and contour, and then use the P06 Highlighting Brush to buff im circular motions and blend it in.  I will also use the P06 Highlighting Brush by itself for highlighting and contouring when I want a more subtle effect. While I do a subtle contour on myself almost everyday, I am not a fan of an intense contour, especially for the daytime.  You want your skin to look natural and polished, not overdone. 

I chose to compare the P06 Highlighting Brush with the P07 Medium Shadow Brush mostly because they look the most similar. The P07 Medium Shadow Brush is most similar to the P08 Short Shader Brush though. 

The bristles on the P07 Medium Shadow brush are a bit fluffier and not quite as dense as the Highlighting Brush or the Short Shader Brush.  This brush is ideal for placing eye shadow over larger areas of the eye. For example, applying a light shadow under the brow, or a medium to light shadow to blend out the crease color. 

I also like this brush for applying a more detailed highlight to areas like right above the brow, or above the lip.  I actually prefer it over the P06 Highlighting Brush for applying a powder highlight to smaller areas. Since the brush hairs are not as dense you are able to apply the product more sparingly.  

The P13 Dome Brush and P12 Small Shadow Brush look very similar online, but in person you can tell they are different. They are similar in feel and denseness, but the P13 Dome Brush is more rounded as opposed to the P12 Small Shadow Brush which is flatter and more like a paddle shape.

The P13 Dome Brush is ideal for applying color to the outer corner of the eyelid where you want the color to be the most pigmented. I also like to use it with a light shimmery color on the inner corner of the eye to give a highlight and make the eyes appear bigger and brighter. 

With the P13 Dome brush you apply the pigment with the tip of the brush, and you want to do it in either a very small circular motion or in a "windshield wiper" type of movement. 

With the P12 Small Shadow Brush, on the other hand, you want to apply the pigment with the flatter side of the brush.  It works best by pressing the color into the eye. This brush works better for for applying colors more softly than the P10 Detailing Brush because the bristles are not packed as densely.  It is a good basic makeup brush to have, and usually everyone starts their brush collection with a brush like this.  

I also like to use this brush to blend out corner eye shadow as well. I like that it is dense yet flexible enough to blend the color, but it is very small so I am able to keep the color precise and controlled. 

I mentioned that in the set there are two brushes that I am not too thrilled with. The two brushes I referred to are the P11 Blending Brush and the P15 Tapered Blending Brush. 

For years I have used the original Laura Mercier Ponytail Brush.  It is an amazing blending brush that almost had a bit of a point on the end, instead of being rounded like most other blending brushes. The only problem (other than it being made from animal hair) is that this particular brush isn't made in the same shape it used to be.  At some point, a few years ago, it changed and is now a more rounded blending brush as well.

To me these brushes do not feel quite as soft as the other brushes in the set.  I will say though, they are VERY similar to the MAC 217 Blending Brush and 244 Tapered Blending Brush.  If you want a vegan version of these two MAC brushes, then you will like the similar brushes by Pirouette Professional.   

The P11 Blending Brush is a bit smaller, with a flatter top than the P15 Tapered Blending Brush.  This makes it better for blending out areas such as the corner of the eye, your eyelid and your crease. You want to use a small circular motion with this brush, as it will help buff the colors out.

The P15 Tapered Bleding Brush has a bit more of a rounded top and it is nice to use to blend out cream eye shadows. It feels almost a bit sturdier than the P11 Blending Brush. 

I would love to see a brush made by Pirouette Proffesionals that is similar to either one of these brushes but that has more of a point to it. That would make it the ideal blending brush for me.   

The P16 Precision Lining Brush is great for eyeliner. It works well with gel, liquids and cake liners.  It would be a bit more difficult to use it with a powder liner, unless you wet the bristles or have a very pigmented powder.  Not every eye shadow is meant to be used this way, so I would double check first before wetting your shadow.  I love defining the eyes with eyeliner for everyday, without it looking heavy. I love that you can use this brush to create a very thin line right along the lashes and also use it to create a more dramatic winged cat eye effect.

I have compared the P16 Precision Lining Brush to the P14 Angle Brush so that you can see the thickness of it.  A lot of people tend to use an angled brush for eyeliner, but unless you want a very thick line I would personally stck with using the P16 Precision Lining Brush. 

These two brushes are the P14 Angle Brush and the P09 Flat Definer Brush. While you can use them for eyeliner, I wouldn't recommend it unless you want a thicker line. I think both of these brushes work best for eyebrows.  You can use these with either eyebrow powder or eyebrow gel. 

I also like to use the P09 Flat Definer Brush to apply eyeshadow as eyeliner underneath the eye,  Instead of using a dark pencil in your waterline, which can look harsh and close in your eyes, use this brush with a bit of shadow and smudge it under your bottom lash line. This will give you a soft yet defined effect, and make your eyes appear bigger.

Here are a couple more angles to show the P14 Angle Brush up close. 

One tool that I use every time I do my makeup is the P 17 Lash and Brow Comb. Eyebrows frame your eyes and can really enhance any makeup look.

The P17 Lash and Brow Comb is essential for great brows.  You can use it to brush you brow hairs up and out of  place. After applying your brow product use this brush to comb it through so that it blends and looks natural.  You can also spritz a bit of hairspray onto your brush and comb it through as a finishing touch to keep your brows in place.

Not only for use with eyebrows, the P17 Lash and Brow Brush doubles as a brush for your lashes as well. You can use it to de-tangle and de-clump your lashes after mascara. Take the brush and place it on top of your lashes and rotate it up and back.  This will help de-clump your mascara as well as to reinforce the curl in your lashes.  If you want to achieve a really nice curl make sure to use an eyelash curler before you apply your mascara.  Be careful not to have it touch your lid as you rotate it, or else you may end up smudging mascara onto your eyeshadow. This can be very frustrating to remove.

The P18 Lip Brush is great for travel.  It is detachable  and you are able to carry it along with you without worrying that your lip color with get all over your purse. If you ever have the problem of being unable to fit everything you need into a small purse or clutch, one trick you should do is to apply a bit of your lip color onto the tip of the brush, close the lid onto it,  and only toss it into your small bag.  This works well if you are only going to need a quick touch up of lip color, say after dinner. Apply a bit of alcohol to a q-tip to clean it afterwards. 

Though not it's intended use, I also like to use this brush to apply gel eyeliner.  I like that it is thicker and more sturdy that the P16 Precision Liner Brush, but not as big as the P14 Angled Brush.

The set comes with a vegan leather brush pouch.  It did have a plastic funky kind of smell at first, but after airing it out for a couple days it went away.  I keep my brushes in a cup container, but I like having the option of storing it in a pouch when I travel.

While this Gold Collection set covers a lot of basic brushes, there are a few brushes that are missing for me.  As I mentioned earlier I would love to see a Pirouette Professionals come out with a more tapered blending brush as well small smudge brush, and thinner versions of their P16 Precision Liner Brush and P14 Angled Brush. 

Overall though, this brush set surpassed my expectations for a synthetic brush set. The brushes are good quality at a ridiculously good price. I would definitely recommend them to anyone, and I am most likely going to be purchasing another set eventually, as I like to have doubles of all my brushes in my kit, Click here to visit their site and check them out for yourself.

I hope this review was helpful in making your decision to switch to vegan brushes, Pirouette Professional brushes, or even offering you a better understanding of how to use similar brushes you already have. 

If you have any other questions about brushes I would love to help you out, please contact me or comment.

***I am in no way affiliated with this company, and have purchased these brushes with my own money. I am sharing my thoughts because I love reading reviews (positive AND negative) before purchasing a product.***

I am going to seperate my review of the vegan Pirouette Professional Gold 18pc set into two parts. There are a lot of photos, so I figured It would make it a bit more manageable to read. The first part of the review will cover the big brushes. 

I have been using this brush set for a couple months now, and (aside from two) I have been loving them. They are super soft, way softer than I thought any synthetic hair brushes could be.  For those that are wondering why I believe vegan brushes are a must or why I chose Pirouette Professional brushes read here first.  Pirouette Professionals also has a great page showing why vegan brushes are important and why you should choose them here.  

Please ignore the fact that I am long overdue for a manicure and the little fuzzies that are stuck to the brushes, I didn't notice until after I uploaded the pictures. :-)

Here are the five big brushes that are included in the set from left to right: P01 fan brush (probably my favorite in the set, but shh don't tell the others), P04 Blush Brush, P03 Duo Fiber Stippling Brush, P05 Cream Foundation Brush, and P02 Powder Brush. All five brushes, like the entire set, have vegan bristles, which mean they are not derived from animal hair and are made from 100% Taklon fibers which is synthetic. 

First up is my favorite brush in the collection the P01 fan brush.  This brush is the biggest, fluffiest, softest fan brush I have ever felt. I love to apply bronzer with it.  It perfectly applies it right where I need it.  All you need to do is swipe the brush into your bronzer (always make sure to tap off the extra so that it does not go on too heavy) and, while angling the brush to go with the contours of your face, apply it to where the sun would naturally kiss your face.  This would be the top of your forehead, your cheekbones, and the top of your nose.  Don't forget to also add just a bit to your lower jaw line and blend down into your neck.  You don't want over do it with your bronzer, you simply want to give your skin a subtle sun kissed look.

You can use this brush if you want a more contoured and highlighted effect, but I prefer to use the P06 Highlighting brush for that. (That brush will be in the part 2 of the review. 

I mean look at the thickness on the fan brush, va-va-voom! And seriously, it is silky smooth, I could just sit and brush it over my face all day. But I don't, That would be weird, and I'm pretty sure people would look at me funny. Except for my toddler, he loves to run it all over his face too. Not something I like him doing, but hey who can blame him.

Next up it the P02 powder brush.

The P02 powder brush is a big fluffy brush. Use this brush to apply any powder product,  such as foundation or bronzer to a large area of your face. 

When used with a foundation powder it will provide you with a medium to sheer coverage.  By buffing the product into the skin you can achieve an airbrushed effect.  

While you can use it for bronzer or blush, I personally think it is too big for that purpose.  You want to use brushes that are a bit smaller, and that offer more control over where you are placing your product, like the blush brush or my beloved fan brush. I also do not recommend using this brush for your finishing powder. I think a powder puff works best for setting your makeup. You do not want to dust a layer of powder onto your skin, you want to press a small amount of powder into your skin so that it sets it, and it gives it a natural skin texture.

My favorite use for this brush is to lightly swirl it (without any product) over the entire face after the makeup is done being applied.  This way it softly blends the blush, bronzer and powder together so that you do not look streaky. It is also a good way to blend whatever is on your jawline into your neck. You want someone to compliment you on how well your skin looks, not your makeup. If you have streaky makeup it will look fake, where as if it is well blended it will appear much more natural. 

You can also apply your powder as well as your liquid foundation with the P03 stippling brush. 

As you can tell from the photo the stippling brush has two colors. The white fibers are longer and the black are shorter.  What this allows you to do is really buff a liquid into your skin and give you a flawless finish. 

This brush works best with thinner foundations, such as a tinted moisturizer, liquid or an airbrush foundation.  I use an airbrush foundation on clients with this brush and the result is amazing. 

To get the best result with this brush do not put a few drops of your chosen foundation directly onto the brush. Once you go to apply your foundation it will go on heavy and very streaky. You will then need to put more work into buffing it out than you should have to. Instead, make sure to have a little palette handy (stainless steel ones work great and they are super easy to clean). Pump a few drops of foundation onto the palette and work your brush into it, coating it evenly.  Now you are ready to apply it to your face. Buff your foundation into your skin with circular movements.

This brush is also great to use with a liquid or cream bronzer.  You can apply a sheer amount, the same way I described for your foundation, to the your forehead, cheeks, and nose.   If you are wearing a lower cut top apply a bit of bronzer to give your decolletage to give yourself a more sun kissed look without the damaging effects from the sun.  

Since we are talking about foundation I am going to skip over the P04 blush brush and talk about the P05 cream foundation brush.

The P05 cream foundation brush works better than the stippling brush for thicker foundations such as full coverage liquids or creams. 

I've always likes to use a sponge or my fingers for when doing my personal makeup.  With a sponge you can press your foundation into your skin, giving you a very natural skin like texture.  If you have uneven skin texture, this can also help to even it out a bit too.The only downfall to sponges is that they tend to soak up product and they are super hard to get fully clean. I like the P05 brush because I am able to get the same results that I do with my sponge, but with a brush.

For the best results with this brush you are going to want to use a palette again with a bit of your foundation.  Press the brush into the foundation and work it in so that it is evenly coated on the brush. Here is a difference in what I do versus what I know most other makeup artists do with their foundation brush: instead of swiping it around your face, press it in where you need it as if you are using a sponge.  Since the brush is soft and flat, it will give you good coverage and leave you with a skin like texture.  You won't look heavy or cake.  After you have applied your foundation with this technique if you still feel like you need to blend a bit more use your clean P03 stippling brush and buff your foundation until you are satisfied.  Your foundation should melt into your skin and look airbrushed on.

This brush can be used, in the same way, with concealer if you have a large area to cover. Although my favorite brush in the set to use for a large area that needs concealer is actually the P06 highlighting brush.

Another way to utilize this brush is to apply cream cheek color with it. A good rule to remember if you are going to use a cream cheek color is that it should go after your liquids/cream but before any powders. 

Now that we have foundations out of the way let's jump back to the P04 blush brush.

The P04 blush brush is almost identical to the P02 powder brush, except that it a smaller version.

This brush works great to apply powder blush.  I love it because, like the fan brush and powder brush, it is super soft and fluffy.  It it the perfect size to apply your blush right to the apple of your cheeks. 

You can also use the P04 blush brush to apply bronzer and shimmer to your face. 

I was worried that since this is a synthetic brush that it would not pick up enough pigment from the blush, but I have been happily surprised how much pigment it actually picks up.  I would never know that this was a synthetic brush if I was comparing it side by side to an animal brush.  It applies the color so effortlessly.

I feel like the large brushes alone in the Pirouette Professional set are such a great value.  An animal hair powder brush alone can cost you upwards of $50, so the fact that you get these five plus 13 (!) more for under $140 blows my mind. 

I hope this review was helpful in making your decision to switch to vegan brushes, Pirouette Professional brushes, or even offering you a better understanding of how to use similar brushes you already have. Stay tuned for part II of the review to come soon! 

***I am in no way affiliated with this company, and have purchased these brushes with my own money. I am sharing my thoughts because I love reading reviews (positive AND negative) before purchasing a product.***