In general, ELF has great eye brushes, but the quality of its other brushes varies wildly. I decided to try out the ELF foundation brush so I could test it out and write about it. The ELF foundation brush is a typical paddle foundation brush with yellow synthetic bristles. It has the typical aluminum ferrule and white pearlized plastic handle of the ELF essentials brush line. The overall construction is a little flimsy, but it’s functional and hasn’t fallen apart on me yet.
What I was most disappointed by was that the brushes were not dense at all. The paddle brush is only a very thin strip of bristles that can do nothing to blend your foundation. To make matters worse, the foundation makes the bristles cling together in clumps, making blending even more impossible. In addition, it makes the brush uncomfortable to use on the face. This is really a terrible product to use as a foundation blending brush.
However, this brush is salvaged slightly by the fact that I can use this for applying moisturizer, which is perfect because I don’t like to put my fingers in the moisturizer jar for sanitary reasons. Using this brush is a good way to keep bacteria out of the moisturizer jar. Again, the bristles of the brush bunch up so the application is still rather awkward. But because it doesn’t change the appearance of your skin, it’s quite functional. This brush could also be used for clear foundation primer for quick application, though it is really ineffectual for blending.
Overall, I’m really not impressed by the quality of this brush. It’s not even a real foundation brush, so I don’t know why ELF is actually labeling this brush and selling it as such. The quality of the bristles aren’t that great and can be kind of scratchy on the face sometimes, which is often irritating for more sensitive skin. While this product is only $1, I would not recommend you getting it. There are better things to spend your money on.