Beauty on a Budget

Icing Makeup Brushes

By Lauren Kelly, Assistant Editor

Icing stores are known for carrying affordable accessories and jewellery for teenagers and young adults. Another line of products that I don’t often hear discussed are their makeup brushes.

Last Christmas, I purchased Icing’s Duo Smokey Eye brush for $7.25 because I was hunting for an affordable gel liner brush. Although I’d given up on other brushes fairly quickly, I’ve used this brush almost every day since. It picks up product easily and delivers smooth, dark lines with very little effort on my part. My only problem with this brush is that it is fairly wide, meaning that I have to be very careful when trying to do a more subtle, thin line. As a bonus, the other end of the brush is a fantastic crease brush that I also use for every eye-shadow look.

I did some research to see if this brush was a fluke, or if the rest of the store’s brushes are as high quality. I picked up the Eye Definition Brush set, which comes with three dual ended brushes: an angled liner and brow brush, a crease and wide shadow brush, and a highlighter and concealer brush.

The angled liner is a nice, smaller alternative to the Duo Smokey one, which I’ve really liked. Both shadow brushes performed very well—the wide brush picked up pigment and deposited it on my eyelids evenly, while the crease brush blended my crease shadow out without it seeming muddy. The concealer brush has been very useful for me, as I had previously used my ring finger for lack of a brush. After using the brush, I have good coverage and my concealer is very even with no noticeable streaking.

The Eye Definition Brush Set was $14.25, and their individual brushes range from $5 to $14.25. Overall, the brushes wash easily, and I’ve never experienced any shedding or damage to the hairs, which are one hundred per cent nylon. These are a good investment for people who are looking for high quality makeup brushes, but don’t want to drop $40–70 on a Mac or Sephora one. If you’re interested in buying them, Icing stores are found at Metrotown, Coquitlam Centre, and Willowbrook Shopping Centre.