Make Expert Smokey Eye Brush #8

Before we proceed any further, let's take a minute and beg brands and makeup brush designer to remember that eyes are SMOKY. No E necessary (while, as my friend Charleston Girl from Best Things In Beauty likes to say, "Smokey is a bear"). And, yes, the worst offender was Paula Dorf with her Smokie Eye brush (maybe that's why this excellent tool got discontinued years ago).

With that out of my system, Make Expert Smokey Eye Brush #8 (which from now on will be referred to as #8) is an excellent tool. I bought it because I'm slightly obsessed with this brush shape, and because Make #13 is such a delightful tool and needed a few friends.  Made of a synthetic and natural pony hair blend, #8 offers great spring and density while feeling soft on the lid. The shape is round and full with a tapered pointed tip that allows for precision blending and smudging. Make #8 can also do crease work, outer v and highlighting the inner corner.



Compared to other smoky eye and smudging brushes, you can see that Make #8 holds it own.  If you have smaller eyes Hakuhodo B533 might be a better fit, as would the very precise though floppier Laura Mercier Smoky Eye brush (see? Laura can spell). Sephora #29 is chunkier and perhaps a little firmer, but works very similarly. I'd say that it's a matter of preference or lid size, but the two are interchangeable.

Make Expert Smokey Eye Brush #8 ($24) is  is available at select Barneys locations, barneys.com, and directly from the company's website, weseebeauty.com, where 33.3% of each purchase will directly benefit the WE SEE BEAUTY Foundation, a non-profit organization that funds women-led co-ops in the US.