Best Things in Beauty : Maureen + brush weekend II: Le Métier de Beauté Brushes.

let's start into another brush weekend!
i'll begin it by reviewing my Le Métier de Beauté brushes, which i am lucky to be able to try only thanks to the fabulous and lovely Maureen.
she is a woman who lives in the states and who loves make up so she feels with everyone who is lustering for a product but doesn't have access to the brand. she is nice enough to purchase these for fellow make up lovers and send them to you since in the US there are a lot of intresting products/brands that have not made it to us. she only charges fair paypal fees, really low shipping costs and compensation. you can pay via paypal. you can contact her at mgjmj(@)comcast.net and tell her what you need, but check her livejournal page before to see the "requirements". she only does this as an act of friendship, i so much appreciate that and the idea of a community where you help each other because you share the same passion. so please appreciate that too if you want to "order" something through her because this is not a profitable service but pure kindness.
i will put her contact information on the sidebar so you can get back to it in the future.

well, i was lusting for this certain brand, Le Métier de Beauté (LMdB). a high"est" end brand that is not available around here in germany. they do incredible looking eyeshadow palettes and face products which i wanted to try for ages, and those fabulous brushes that were appealing to me in the reviews of The Non-Blonde, Visionary Beauty and Hopelessly Devoted To Makeup (btw 3 awesome blogs that should not be missing on the bloglist of everyone who loves high end- and niche brands!!!).
i'm like this, whenever i'm getting into a new brand, i would try their brushes first ;)

and this is where Maureen comes in, she ordered these for me and sent them to me real quickly. she always kept me updated about the order etc, everything was packed really safely and she even added a little EOS lip balm for me as a goodie. i'm forever thankful for that, Mari!

i went the whole hog and ordered 3 brushes: the Powder Brush, the Blush Brush and the Crease Brush. everything together was about 200$ (the brushes were 165$, but there still were shipping&handling, pp fees, tax, insurance etc. Nordstrom would charge about 40€ for international shipping + customs extra).

the brushes come in a sleek black cardboard box and a black velvet pouch. LMdB brushes have really short, travel sized handles. they all are really sturdy and substantial with black wooden handles and matte black ferrules. the brand name is printed on one side and the brush name on the opposite.

Le Métier de Beauté Powder Brush

the Powder Brush (65$) is a round bounded brush with rather flat dome shape. it's made of densely packed long goat hair so it's quite fluffy and flexible. the hairs are soft and smooth, there is no prickly feeling on the skin at all even when i stipple on my face with the brush tip.

it's a very good powder brush that not only dusts a sheer veil of powder onto your skin, but is substantial enough to work the product into your skin. i like to use it with my MAC MSFN or Laura Mercier Mineral Foundation when i want to add some coverage over my liquid foundation. it's also a faboulous bronzer brush (for example with the Chanel Bronze Rosé) and works wonderfully with the Guerlain Meteorites.

the only downside i see with goat hair brushes in general is their character of getting prickly after a few times of usage. goat hair gets stiffer when there are product residues on it, the brushes don't feel as great as freshly washed so they need to be washed more often. i wash mine after about 5 usages.

it washed fine, it lost less than 10 hairs and bled a bit of dye during the wash but has not shed while usage.

pre-wash

post-wash

comparison

MakeUpShow Powder Brush - LMdB Powder Brush - RMK Face Powder Brush - Lunasol Powder Brush

Le Métier de Beauté Blush Brush

the Blush Brush (55$) has a fluffy paddle type shape with a flat tip. it's also made of goat hair and is as soft as goat hair can get, it feels nice and smooth on the skin. the brush head is rather big, comparable to the MAC 129 but with a flatter top (and a lot softer than MAC since it contains a higher part of uncut/naturally grown hair. now i can finally separate from MAC ;)).

i use it to apply sheer or firmly pressed blushes (MAC Well Dressed and co., or also the Givenchy Blooming Fuchsias) or bronzers - it's surprisingly fabulous to apply the Chanel Bronze Universel! the shape makes it even interesting for foundation application (which is the next thing i will try it with).

it washes nicely without bleeding or shedding.

this is a really versatile brush that's so much better than my MAC blush brushes. they will find their way into the blog sale now ;)

pre-wash

post-wash

comparison

MAC 116 - Rouge Bunny Rouge Blush Brush - LMdB Blush Brush - MakeUpShow Blush Brush

Le Métier de Beauté Crease Brush

the Crease Brush (45$) is a chubby tapered round brush. it's really soft and dense, i guess it's made of squirrel hair. but unlike my other squirrel hair brushes this one lacks of flexibility, it's just very soft and the only resistance it has comes from the densely packed bristles. this may sound negative, but in fact i really like it that way. it reminds me of a softer and finer version of my beloved (and much destructed) Edward Bess Luxury Eye Brush (can you tell - i have managed to beat it even more! now it's flattened on one side because i smashed it on the table in a bout of temper :/ i definitely need a new one, and something to channel my anger. i'm just using it so often that it was the first thing in my hands at that moment hahaha). the shape also reminds me of the MAC 226, but a lot softer, denser, better (bye 226!).

this brush creates a beautiful dark but soft crease/outer corner and is a fabulous blending brush. i think this can be love.

pre-wash

post-wash

comparison

Hakuhodo S146 - Edward Bess Luxury Eye Brush - LMdB Crease Brush - MAC 226

this was quite an extensive start into the brush weekend, but there are some more great brushes to come!
what do you think of such "projects" like the brush weekends? is it something to keep or too boring/condensed for you? should i rather do the brush posts more occasionally?

and what do you think about Le Métier de Beauté? i know many of you love this brand, i'm brand-new to their products and am still awaiting some eyeshadows to arrive, but i'm sure many have not even heard of them yet. i think it's totally exciting to try such "new" niche brands and since i'm not afraid of buying cosmetic sight unseen, i hope that you can benefit from my tests!