I purchased the Real Techniques Everyday Essentials Kit at Ulta last November, which included all the new brushes I’m reviewing today, as well as RT’s classic shaped original Miracle Complexion Sponge. After the sale price and additional promo code discount, this $19.99 set went down to $9.64. I couldn’t pass that up! All of the handles of the original brushes have a soft touch rubbery portion that after many years eventually became sticky and impossible to fully clean off that stickiness. I welcomed the solid new handles of the current RT brushes, but I did not realize that the head shapes were all slightly different to their original counterparts. This set includes one brush I don’t have a match for, and I don’t have the new version to compare to some of my other old real techniques brushes, but I have tested these thoroughly to determine whether or not I can still consider Real Techniques a good drugstore option for brushes.

EXPERT FACE BRUSH

This brush is intended for foundation, but I’ve also used it for blushes and bronzers. When it comes to foundation, I haven’t noticed any differences between the performance of the two. Where they start to diverge is that the original brush offers more precision because the fibers are more compact. With powder products, this is perfectly fine, but liquids and creams are by nature easier to spread too high or low already, so with the new brush I tend to accidentally place blush too far down because of its larger circumference. Typically, blushes are less opaque than bronzers, so I load up my brush in an effort to not spend ages building up a cream/liquid blush. That’s how it’s so easy for this issue to occur for blush, but not bronzer. Since I just need a tap or two into the pan of my cream bronzer, there’s less product to spread out. With less product, I’m actually able to take advantage of the fluffier head of the current brush and really work it into the contours of my cheek to get an almost airbrushed blend. The bristles of the new brush are also noticeably softer, which makes it more enjoyable to use.

So, while the old brush does have a leg up in one aspect, my holy grail cream blush brush is the Sonia G Mini Base. This removes the only reason I’d keep the old brush over the new one, so the new one is staying in my collection!

BLUSH BRUSH

Early in my makeup journey, the original blush brush used to be my favorite. It was especially great for carefully building up pigmented blushes, since it was packed at a medium density but with such long bristles that the pressure was far lighter at the tips. As my collection grew and I was purchasing more fude that could accomplish similar or better results with the softer bristles, I stopped using it.

The original brush has wavier bristles and is narrower than the new version of the blush brush. I expected to find major differences in the performances of these brushes, but the end result of each brush looks exactly the same. The only difference is the new one is softer, so the new blush brush also wins.

SETTING BRUSH

The older brush isn’t as thick and the tips come more to a point, making the original shape better at getting into the inner corners, crevices, and fitting under the eye. This brush has been the only one I’ve used to set powder under my eyes ever since I bought it. I even have an original backup brush, so I am the most particular about not wanting this brush to change. I will say that the new brush being more round and fluffy does make me have to work harder to avoid getting powder accidentally swept too high and into my eyes. I also have to angle the brush a bit awkwardly to get into certain crevices of my eye area. Other than that, the new brush is okay. It’s 85% as good, but the older one was perfection with my eye shape. For that reason, I don’t think I’ll be able to let go of my original ones just yet.

CONCEALER BRUSH (Original) vs (New) CREASE BRUSH

These are two completely different brushes, but they can accomplish similar tasks. The concealer brush has rough plastic bristles to start with, but it at least is better about not holding as much concealer within the fibers. It’s also good at getting into the contours of my eye area. The crease brush excels at getting a smooth even application, so that makes it quicker to blend out liquid products. I prefer to use the new brush with eye primer and neither brush comes anywhere near topping my Sonia G Jumbo Concealer brush for concealer application. So, I could easily get rid of the old concealer brush and still keep the new one for priming my eyes.

Although, I was intially nervous to see the changes between the shapes of the old and new brushes from Real Techniques, the new ones still get the job done well. I’m happy to be able to still recommend them as affordable synthetic brush options.

That’s all for today! Thank you for reading! And speaking of synthetic brush options, I’m not sure how long it will last, but Smashbox Brushes are 50% off today and possibly stacks with an extra 15% off with promo code SPCSMASHBOX. Big thanks to TheBeautySteal who posted it in their IG stories.

-Lili ❤