Wayne Goss Brush Review: 03 & 04

Top to Bottom: Wayne Goss 04, Wayne Goss 03, Hakuhodo G5527, Hakuhodo J5523

Left to Right: Hakuhodo J5523, Wayne Goss 03, Wayne Goss 04, Hakuhodo G5527

Shadow Deposited w/ Brushes

I haven't mentioned it much (I think only once, here) but I absolutely love makeup brushes, particularly ones made in Japan. The craftsmanship really is truly outstanding and uncomparable to any other brushes I've tried. Some of my favorite brands include the following: Koyudo, Chikuhodo, Tanseido, Tom Ford, Houkodou, and Hakuhodo. So when I heard Wayne Goss of YouTube was releasing a brush line hand-crafted in Japan, I started stalking him on various social media sites for updates. Finally, this week they were released for individual sale in the USA via Beautylish (or Love Make Up for the rest of the world). Sadly, work interferes with my shopping habits and by the time I was able to go online to purchase, brushes 02 & 06 had already sold out... thankfully I was able to purchase 03 & 04.

Generalizations

They're both really nice brushes and soft enough to use comfortably on my eye. I'd say they're softer than my Hakuhodo J5523 but not as soft as the Hakuhodo G5527. Still, there's more to brushes than the softness,  some of my softest brushes aren't necessarily my favorite as I feel they deposit all the color on the first place you touch down and often times struggle to blend effectively. The handles are about the same length as my MAC eye brushes which is somewhat hard to come by in Japanese brushes (usually they're much shorter). They hair on the brushes is fairly long and flexible and of medium density. In the second picture you can kind of see there are a few hairs that kind splay out a little, especially when compared to the perfection of the G5527.

Still, they did a good job of blending. I thought it was interesting that the hair color on the 04 brush is more brown than the 03. As far as I can tell, they're both equally soft and appear to be made of the same hair but the color variance makes me wonder. In terms of weight, Goss brushes are really light (compared to the the Hakuhodo's I have pictured). 

Individual Review

03 ($32 on Beautylish): I'd say I have a medium-sized crease and this fits perfectly. It doesn't blend as strongly as a MAC 217 but sometimes that's not what I'm after. It's soft enough to push directly on your eyelid without feeling any scratchiness or the individual bristles. It's more dense and fluffy than 04 and so I prefer it for bleding. Wayne also recommended using it for the following: Applying lid color, applying crease color, blending eyeshadow, highlighting, and nose contouring. Although, I feel it really excels at applying and blending eyeshadow through the crease.

04 ($28 on Beautylish): Kind of similar to 03 but allows for more precision. It's not as fluffy but also has the same longer hair length that allows for a good amount of flexibility (still not as much as the grey squirrel brushes from Koyudo). I like this for doing more detailed crease work although it does a good job of depositing color (I'd say it does so more effectively than the 04). Wayne recommended using this brush for crease work on hooded eyes,  covering under-eye circles with powder, and for pretty much everything that the 03 brush can do.

Final Thoughts

At this point, I see myself getting more use out of the 03 but I need to spend more time with both and I'll update this post accordingly. In my honest opinion. these aren't mind-blowingly soft when compared to some other brushes (like those listed at the beginning) but they're comfortable to use, effective, multipurpose, and worth the price. I will definitely be purchasing more from the line when they become available.

Did you get any of the brushes from his line? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by!

Tags: Goss brush review 03, Wayne Goss brush review, makeup brush review, goss makeup brush review, Goss brush review 04, goss #4, goss #3