Japanese Brush Collabs

Three years ago I had no idea that Japanese makeup brushes existed, or why I’d want them. It seems Hakuhodo is a gateway drug, though, because one order and I was hooked. They started trickling into the mainstream US market a couple years ago when the Wayne Goss brush line launched, and then Beautylish added Chikuhodo to their brand lineup. Now Hakuhodo and Chikuhodo are both jumping in feet first with exclusive collaboration collections.

(photo by ChicDabbling, who graciously allowed me to repost her photo)

I’m not sure if it’s been officially announced yet, but ChicDabbling has posted some sneak peek photos of the upcoming Hakuhodo x Sephora Pro line that showed up at the Makeup Show in NYC. I can’t find any stock photos yet, so head over to her blog for a sec to drool over the pretty pictures. According to the post (and rumors on the Sephora forums), they’ll drop in July and be priced 20-30% higher than the regular Sephora Pro line. That would put the eye brushes in the $20-30 range, and face brushes at maybe $40-50. Keep in mind I’m guessing really hard here. The big difference between the collaboration and the regular Hakuhodo lineup is the materials – this one’s going to be all synthetic. I don’t have any real experience with Hakuhodo’s synthetic brushes (other than the J214R, which is a duo-fiber) so I’ll be interested to see how it is. I don’t usually go for synthetic bristles, but I’m willing to make an exception for this. Update 6/28: You can now sign up for notifications here.

What’s really giving me grabby hands is the Chikuhodo x Beautylish brush set, which there is some official information for. It’s called the Sakura Collection (for obvious reasons, when you look at the photo) – they look like they’d go perfectly with the super-fancy MK-2. The set launches on Beautylish on July 2nd. You can still sign up for early access here – if you put a credit card on file in your account you’ll be able to order by text or phone starting next week. According to some folks who went to the Dallas preview event, the powder brush is a squirrel/goat blend, the cheek and two larger eye brushes are grey squirrel, and the tiny pencil brush I’m not sure about. No pricing info as of now. Their sets can run pretty pricey, but the comments on trendmood1’s instagram imply they’ll be at a slightly lower price point. Part of me doesn’t even care how much they cost (the rest of me doesn’t want to be sleeping on the couch though)! Like their limited-edition holiday sets I expect these won’t be available for individual purchase.

If you have any brush gossip you should spill it in the comments!