Obviously, by looking at my vanity, there’s no such thing as too many brushes. Budget to luxury- there’s something about these tools that makes them totally desirable. I know I’m always on the hunt to find new, unique makeup brushes and I recently have been playing with these SOHO Professional Makeup Brushes ($6.99 USD to $19.99 USD), hoping to find a few new favourites.

These brushes are available at mass retailers like Wal-Mart and CVS, and are fairly gentle on the wallet (most of them anyways… getting into $20 for a brush in my opinion isn’t so gentle anymore).  They have a huge range of brushes for both face and eyes, and a couple of them stood out to me with their interesting and unique cuts.  They are made of both synthetic and natural hair fibers, and I love how the brand has created how-to videos for each brush so you know exactly how to use them.

SOHO Professional Makeup Brushes

SOHO Professional Makeup Brushes

The 'ergonomic handle'

One thing that really stood out to me about the line is the “ergonomic handle”… basically a triangular-shaped section on the handle with contours to fit nicely in your fingers. It almost reminds me of those pencil cushions I used to use back in grade school to prevent getting calluses on my fingers.

Overall, I find the synthetic fiber brushes to be much more soft, resilient and enjoyable to use. Many of the natural-haired bristle brushes became scratchy with extended use, and didn’t dry so nicely after washing.  Both of these characteristics are very common to brushes in the same budget category, especially those sold at mass retailers.

These brushes really follow along the same guidelines that I usually recommend- save money with synthetic brushes and splurge on natural hair brushes. Synthetic fibers brushes are usually pretty fool-proof, so you can go with a budget brand like SOHO for them… but I’d save my pennies and splurge on natural hair bristles from higher-end brands like MAC or Bdellium Tools.

A few brushes that stood out to me in particular that I liked are the Smudge Brush (I like the angled tip), Angled Eyeliner Brush (the bristles are shorter than usual, so I have more control), Concealer Brush (works really well for blending concealer and being precise) and Highlighter Brush (really a duo fiber brush, so it has many uses). The Brow Groomer Brushis also super handy if you’re looking for a brow/lash tool like this one.

SOHO All Over Eyeshadow Brush

SOHO Small Shader Brush

SOHO Angled Blender Brush

SOHO Crease Brush

SOHO Angled Eyeliner Brush

SOHO Eyeliner Brush

SOHO Smudge Brush

SOHO Brow Groomer Brush

SOHO Powder Brush

SOHO Highlighter Brush

SOHO Blush Brush

SOHO Contour Blush Brush

SOHO Foundation Brush

SOHO Concealer Brush

SOHO Kabuki Brush

Summary

• Price: $6.99 USD to $19.99 USD (check out full price list here)
• Availability: Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreens, Target
• Selection: 15 Brushes (all shown here)
• Overall: Comparable to other mass budget makeup brushes- the synthetic ones are definitely a lot more resilient and easy to use than the natural hair ones, which I found to get quite scratchy after repeated use.  This is usually the case for brushes like these, so if you’re looking for some budget brushes- check out the synthetic ones for sure.
• Rating: A- (for synthetic brushes), B- (for natural hair brushes)