I am pretty true to my makeup brushes. I don’t often try new ones and the ones I use, I have usually used for years. Makeup brushes can also be expensive, but if you take proper care of them, they can last a life time. It is one of those areas where most people will tell you to invest in when you start your makeup journey. But as expensive as makeup brushes can get, lo and behold, there is always a company that will come out with a cheaper dupe. That is the case with this brush set that I found at my local Action. They are a clear dupe for the very expensive Artis brushes that had been intriguing me since I saw them. So how do they work? 
Your Makeup Brush Collection | Artis brush dupe
What confused me most about this set of brushes is that there is no obvious branding. As far as I can tell the brand is called Your Makeup Brush, but that is not confirmed anywhere on the packaging. These three brushes are only available as a set and retail for €2.95 for the set. That is right: you pay roughly €1 per brush. To compare: Artis brushes retail for around €50 for one single brush if it’s a smaller brush. The larger foundation brushes can cost as much as €120. I don’t know about you but €3 really doesn’t sound so bad for giving something a whirl right?
The Packaging
Now I am not going to lie. For €3, you don’t get a whole lot in terms of packaging. This packaging looks cheap and so do the brushes themselves. The brush handles are of a cheaply made plastic that bends ever so slightly. So I am very curious to see how long these will last. It’s true that with makeup brushes you often get what you pay for, but that doesn’t mean that cheap brushes cannot be any good. Case in point: these brushes. While the handles and packaging are cheap, the brush hairs themselves are super soft and densely packed.
Large Oval Shaped Brush
According to the packaging this is the large oval shaped brush which should be perfect for applying foundation, shape & contour, blush, highlight and bronzer. According to the company, there isn’t anything this brush can’t do and I have to disagree with that. This is a very dense brush which is why the first time I picked this up my first thought was: liquid and cream product. I think that if you use this with powders it would just become one big mess.
So I have been using this for foundation. And the verdict? It’s my favorite brush in this set and ever since I started using this I haven’t been using anything else for my foundation. That’s right, I have shelved my Sigma F82 Round Kabuki brush, Real Techniques Buffing Brush and Beauty Blender for the time being. That’s how much I like this. This brush gives a quick and easy application that looks even and blended, but is not streaky at all. A good feat for a €1 brush!
Medium Oval Shaped Brush
The second brush in the set is a smaller version of the large foundation brush. According to the packaging this would be good for contouring, highlighting and concealer. For cream contour or highlight I’d say this might work. However, just like the foundation brush, this thing will not work with powders. It is simply too dense, even though I feel that this brush is not as dense as its larger version.
My favorite way to use this? To blend out concealer. Just like the foundation brush, this brush gives a flawless finish and is much quicker than my usual brushes. My two other favorites for blending out concealer are the Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush and Real Techniques Setting Brush. But this beats both of those brushes hands down. Again, my concealer goes on easily and with no effort at all.
Small Straight Shaped Brush
There is only one brush in this set that I don’t use and it’s this one! I tried using it once or twice, but I don’t have any use for this. The box says it can be used for precision eye make up, brows and concealer but I find this brush too flimsy and too thick to do any of that. There are too many hairs to for instance use this for eyeliner and the bristles are too bendy to really do anything for my brows. It’s too narrow for concealer to suit my tastes. This might work if you want a very defined cream contour or if you are into contouring your nose, but for my personal makeup tastes, this brush simply doesn’t fit the bill.
The Quality
Whatever money went into making these brushes all went into the brush hairs and not so much the packaging or the brush handles. As you can see the hairs on these brushes are quite long and dense. The cut on my concealer brush was a bit uneven, but for the most part these brushes are cut nice and evenly. I have cleaned them once so far and experienced no shedding or loose hairs at all. The only test I have not been able to do yet is whether these will stand the test of time. I have no clue whether these will last a few years or a few months. Only time will tell.
The Conclusion
I am usually very skeptical of super cheap makeup, because hardly anything I try is usually any good. This is a very pleasant exception to that rule. I have used these brushes for weeks now and am not yet ready to switch up my brush game. To show you how I use the two brushes I love, I am hoping to film a makeup tutorial soon. So stay tuned for that!
Have you used these types of brushes yourself?