Best Things in Beauty : brush weekend II: Smashbox Face & Body Brush #19.

this time it's about the Smashbox #19 brush. i bought it on ebay as a BCA (Breast Cancer Awareness) - set together with the Fusion Soft Lights in Blushing Pink (that will be the matter of another post ;) ).
the brush is also available in the regular design with deep red handle in the permanent range of Smashbox and retails for 52$; i paid 67$ plus 14$ shipping for the set. a portion of the profit was initially donated to the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund of the US, i think this is a good cause.
the #19 Face and Body Brush is a huge kabuki type brush with a thick and long handle (which is pink in the BCA set ^^), it's very dense and fluffy.
the thick handle makes it a standing brush, but i find the base to be not totally even so it still jiggles around.
the brush is sturdy and washed well but needed 3-4 washes before it stopped bleeding dark dye. it only had minor shedding and doesn't shed while usage. since it's so big and dense, it needs over a day to be completely dry.
it's made with rather soft natural hair, the official site says that they used a squirrel substitute, which i think is just fine goat hair.
i've heard a lot of great reviews for this brush, how soft it was etc., but i admit that i'm not wowed by it's actual softness. it's about the same softness like my MAC 182 kabuki (maybe even a bit less), and not as soft as the MAC 181 for example. btw, the feeling is far away from real squirrel.
although it's sold together with the Blushing Pink Fusion Soft Lights, i don't find it suitable for blush or highlight application at all (--> too huge), what i would assume the Blushing Pink to be.
it could be a nice mineral foundation brush, even though i find it to be a bit weak at the center, it kind of splays out. but i'm not a mineral foundation user, so i can't really evaluate this.
to benefit from its size, it's best used as a body bronzer/highlighter brush. while i still don't have a serious function for this brush, it just stands there and is nice to look at. maybe i will try it to apply my self tanner with, i've seen an interesting video about that on youtube by MakeupByAlli.