Fraulein 38 10pc Brush Set Review

Hello,
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get the chance to try out the Fraulein 38 10 piece brush set for review. I love make-up brushes and trying out new ones as I'm always playing around with new looks so I jumped at the chance. This set usually retails for 14.99€
I have to say, I have been holding out a little on posting this review however because I found the brush set to be a bit of a mixed bag and over all, rather disappointing Not terrible, but disappointing definitely.

The set comes contained in a faux leather case that zips closed which is handy for traveling, and there are three seperate pockets to store the brushes in as well as a removable mini bag in the middle which can be slipped into your handbag containing a couple of the brushes for touch ups during the day. I do find that when I transport the whole set though that the brushes work their way out of the loose pouches and are all over the place when I go to use them, for this reason, I am not a big fan of the case. It also looks a little cheap and doesn't hold its shape very well.
On to the brushes:
In this ten piece set you get a large flat brush, a domed powder brush, blush brush, foundation brush, eyeshadow brush, small shader brush, large shader brush, media shader brush, eyeliner brush and eyebrow brush.
To make things simpler I've split these into two groups; the large face brushes and the small lip and eye brushes.
First, we have the large brushes.

These are the brushes that I'm most torn on. A couple are wonderful but the others are simply awful.
The blusher brush is really lovely. The bristles are soft and the brush picks up powder well but not in a way that packs too much colour onto the face making the effect garish, I now use it every day. Likewise, the foundation brush is very effective as it is nice and dense meaning that it picks up products well and doesn't give a streaky finish. On the other hand, I have a real problem with the quality of both the large flat brush and the powder brush. The amount of shedding I have experienced is truly awful and I am left with dark black hairs all over my face every time I try to use either brush. I know this can happen with new brushes but even after two thorough washes using brush shampoo it is still a problem and they are almost un-usable. Finally in this group we have the media shader brush. I don't have any problem with this brush but I also don't really like it. It took me a while to find a use for the brush as it is a strange size that is too small to use across the whole face but too large to use on eyes or lips. I decided to use it as a cheek contour brush and it does do a fairly good job but again I have noticed a fair bit of shedding. I also have a problem with the hairs refusing to all stay pointing the right way, even after washing so its far from perfect.

Now for the small brushes.

I am a lot happier with the lip and eye brushes in this set. I use a lot of different colours around my eyes especially so I make good use of nearly all of these. In fact, the large shader brush is currently my favourite brush because it works so well, not only for shading around the eye, but also to pack a lot of colour in a very thin line (more so than the eyeliner brush...) The small shader brush works as you would expect and I have no complaints at all. The eyeliner brush is also very good at its job, but it comes with a lid to protect its bristles and keep them in shape which is a great concept... however, in practice, this doesn't work at all. The lid mis-shapes the brush no matter how hard I try to make sure that no bristles are bent back. It is simply not avoidable so I just don't use the lid. I am fairly keen on the all over shadow brush, it is a good size and it picks up product and applies very well. Unfortunately, it is another shedding culprit so I am hesitant to use it so close to my eyes which seem so great at attracting all manner of unwanted rubbish because I know I'd end up with hairs in there. Finally we have the eyebrow brush which is the only brush I haven't really used. I have tried it a couple of times but its simply too soft for what I want to use it for. It is difficult to use as the bristles are very soft and don't pick up enough product to shade my dark brows. Because it is so soft, it also likes to creep outside of my thin brows so I end up having to neaten up the lines which can be avoided by just using a brow pencil instead.

Overall:
So, like I said to begin with, this set is a rather mixed bag. I simply cannot happily recommend this kit, even to beginners because even though some of the brushes are lovely, there are other budget sets that are better all round quality.
However, what I must say is that there has clearly been a lot of thought put into the design of the brushes because they are all the perfect length to handle for their job which cannot always be said for other brands so I think that with a little work on the shedding problem, Fraulein 38 could really make this into a great, good quality set.

Annie x

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*this set was sent for review from Fraulein 38 but I have been 100% honest as always