Why I Decluttered the Artis Oval 8 and Review of Artis Brushes

For a while there, Artis brushes were really hyped. They were just so odd looking, which is in part where I think a lot of the curiosity originated, at least for me. The idea behind them is that traditional makeup brushes were designed for makeup artists' use on other people, not so much for a person to apply makeup onto their own face. And the Artis brushes were the answer to that—a makeup brush designed to be used on oneself. 

I bought three of these brushes: Oval 8, Oval 4, and Linear 1. 

I chose these brushes carefully. Truthfully, I wanted the Oval 7, but it was sold out for ages and I just didn't feel like waiting around for it. The Oval 8 also had excellent reviews, with some people preferring it over the Oval 7, so I decided that would be a great buy for me. I purchased Oval 8 primarily for liquid foundations, and I figured I would try powder foundations with it as well. 

My concealer always looked terrible no matter which product I used or method of application, so I purchased the Oval 4 thinking it would be great for smoothing concealer over that delicate area. 

Finally, I wanted to dabble in applying eyeshadow as liner to be upper lash line, so I purchased the Linear 1. 

Having to do it over again, I would have not have purchased these brushes. I absolutely in no way think they are worth the money. 

Let's start with the Oval 8:

At $65, this was the biggest waste of money for me. I'll start by saying that every review I read said that these were the softest bristles imaginable. So I was expecting the equivalent of cashmere bristles. I thought it would feel luxurious sliding across my face. I was expecting incredible softness. 

And that just was not my experience with any of these brushes. The bristles feel very synthetic and almost like plastic. They weren't harsh or spiky, but they certainly were not what I was expecting in terms of softness. The brushes were also significantly lighter than I thought they would be, which was a major disappointment considering the price. They are made of plastic, not metal like they appear, and the white part of the handle is a rubberized material. With the Oval 8 especially, I felt like the brush head was going to snap off during application because of the flimsiness of the neck handle. 

Something else I experienced that was contrary to all other reviews was that product sunk deeply into this brush. All other reviewers mentioned that they were able to use less product—and that was my experience as well—and that the brush did not eat product. Mine absolutely ate product. 

Finally, and this was the clincher for me in deciding to get rid of it, it was an absolute nightmare to wash. I probably used a third of a bottle of cleanser on this just trying to get two days' worth of product out of it. I had to scrub at the bristles, literally digging my fingers into the head of the brush, just to get some (not even all!) product out. 

At that point, I realized it was not the brush for me and I was never going to use it, so I decluttered it. 

In terms of how the Oval 8 performed, it gave my skin a nice application that I preferred over my fingers. It didn't really leave brush strokes behind, which was also nice. I tried it with loose powder, but that didn't really work since the brush just ate up the product. Because of this, the brush really wasn't a multi-tasker for me, which was disappointing. 

Since decluttering this brush, I finally bit the bullet and bought a Beauty Blender:

And, I have to say, I prefer everything about the Beauty Blender over the Oval 8 brush. The application is nicer, it's soft and blends seamlessly, my foundation always looks great, and it's significantly easier to clean. It also makes my concealer look amazing, but I'll get to that in a moment. 

I never wanted to shell out the cash for the Beauty Blender because $20 is a ton to pay for a sponge that needs to be replaced every few months. And while I still think that's true and hate the cost of it, I prefer this over the Oval 8. 

Next was the Oval 4:

At $45, this was my second-biggest waste of money. In fact, this might actually be the biggest waste of money because $45 is an insane amount of money for a brush that small. I purchased this brush for concealer, and it failed massively at application. My concealer and under eyes had never looked worse than when I used this brush. It was streaky, entirely and obviously. I had to pat the concealer in with my finger every time I tried to use this brush because it looked that bad. 

But I have chosen to keep this brush, just not for concealer. When desperately trying to figure out if I could salvage this purchase and make it work in any way, I found that it worked fantastically for MAC Pant Pots and Maybelline Color Tattoos. Now, to be clear, this is an enormous waste of product. The brush eats so much of the cream shadow that I have to dip into the product significantly more than if I was just using my fingers. But, I really hate applying cream shadow with my fingers and don't find applying it with a flat brush to be much better. I really enjoyed the application with the Oval 4 brush and did not find that it tugged at my eyelid (as I read in some reviews). 

Considering how much it cost, however, I don't think I would have purchased this brush for $45 just to apply cream shadows. 

Finally, I purchased the Linear 1:

At $35, this was also a colossal waste of money. I bought this brush because I wanted to experiment with using eyeshadow as liner on my upper lash line. I have always been a liquid liner user, and I just apply a very thin line to the base of my lashes. I don't do thick or winged eyeliner, though I like how it looks on other people. For me, I just want to give the illusion that my lashes are darker and fuller than they actually are. 

This brush worked terribly for me on my upper lash line. I could not get anywhere near a precise line, and the design of the brush was very clunky. Each time I tied to apply shadow eyeliner with this, it looked so bad that I had to wash off my entire eye look. 

However, it works fine for applying eyeshadow onto the lower lash line, which is why I have kept it. I have never invested in a good pencil brush (though it is on my list of things to buy), but I like to apply shadow to my lower lash line every day. 

I typically use the ESUM G09 Extra Small Liner Brush from Muse Beauty Pro:

And most of the time I reach for this over the Linear 1. At $18, this is a much better value and tool. However, I like to have more than one option of brushes, so it sometimes comes in handy to have the Linear 1 brush. 

One final note, the Artis brushes in the "Elite Mirror" range pictured here, get filthy. Each week when I give all my brushes a deep clean, I have to also wash the handles on the Artis brushes because they collect powder and look terrible. 

Overall, this is a negative review. I think these brushes are immensely overpriced and overhyped. Yes, they do perform to some extent, but I find traditional makeup brushes to be far superior to these. This is a complete regret purchase for me and is absolutely not something I would recommend to other people. There are tools that perform much better at significantly lower prices. But this was a valuable experience for me in my quest to be a smart, conscious shopper. I'm disappointed that I found no negative reviews of these products that could have helped me in making my decision, but I have a hard time believing I'm alone in my disappointment with Artis brushes. So, if you've been on the fence about investing into these brushes, I personally recommend saving your money.