Foundation Brushes: Ruby & Millie vs. MAC

As promised, here’s a comparison of the two brushes that I recently bought, the Ruby & Millie Foundation Brush and the MAC 190 Foundation Brush. I’m going to list the pro’s and con’s for each and then tell you which one I prefer.

Ruby & Millie Foundation brush (£11.00):


PRO'S

Soft bristles/non scratchy
Tapered end for great blending
Perfect firmness for foundation application
Gives smooth, seamless coverage
Skin looks airbrushed
Works well with light and heavier foundations
Affordable
Easily accessible in Boots stores
Re-sealable pouch to keep brush in if required
Doesn’t shed fibres
Washes well and can be easily reshaped
Doesn’t soak up too much product (possibly because of synthetic bristles)

CONS

I couldn’t think of any!

MAC 190 Foundation Brush (£25.00):

PRO'S

Washes well
Doesn’t shed any fibres
Works well with concealer for under eyes/uneven skintone
Non scratchy brush fibres

CONS

Expensive
Soaks up a lot of product
Only available online for people who don’t have access to a MAC counter
Brush itself is slightly too firm and not flexible enough
Gives a slightly ‘heavy’ look when using liquid foundation
Left a couple of streaks on jawline (spent same amount of time blending as with R & M brush)

So as you can probably tell from that comparison, it’s pretty obvious which brush I prefer and I’m delighted to say that it’s the cheaper one by Ruby & Millie. This definitely serves as proof that the most expensive brushes AREN’T always the best ones. I have been so impressed by the R & M foundation brush and what makes it almost better is that I stumbled upon it randomly (I love it when that happens). I think that makes it better because I had no expectations of the product and hadn’t read any reviews so the fact that it turned out to be a fabulous tool was just a bonus really.

After shelling out £25.00 for the MAC Brush, to find out that it wasn’t that good was a big disappointment. But, you live, you learn and next time I’m not going to assume something is good just because it’s MAC. To be honest, I really should have done my research beforehand as Makeup Alley has a lot of negative reviews of this product. I have learnt my lesson! Congratulations to Ruby & Millie though for creating a brush that is both affordable and a pleasure to use.