Zoeva Brushes: Top Picks & Skip It’s

Zoeva has been my favourite brand when it comes to makeup brushes from day one. My first ever brush set was from Zoeva and I still regularly buy their brushes. I just think that the quality is incredible, they get their shapes right and they last me for years and years. And in addition to all of that good stuff, they are also pretty affordable! What’s not to love about them?! Because I have collected so many Zoeva brushes throughout the year, I thought it might be fun to share some of my Zoeva favourites and skip it’s with you guys. This might help you out when brush shopping. So, if you’re interested in finding out which brushes I think are definitely worth it and which ones aren’t, make sure you continue reading this post!

The first two brushes are actually the same. Since I use Zoeva brushes so often, I do have quite a few duplicates of my very favourites. This is the Zoeva 227 (Luxe) Soft Definer brush. The black one isn’t called ‘luxe’ and the pink one is. That’s because the black one is rather old and they updated all of their brushes to ‘luxe’ these days. I’m honestly not sure whether or not this makes any difference in terms of quality or shape or anything like that, but to me there’s no difference at all. Both brushes look the same to the naked eye, they are just as soft and they both work really well for me.

The thing I like so much about the Zoeva 227 Soft Definer is its shape. It does look kind of similar to the famous MAC 217, but in my opinion it’s even better. It’s a bit fluffier and thicker than the MAC one. It’s perfect for applying anything in a blended way into the crease. I love using this brush to apply my transition shade for example. Or to fade out a colour that’s sitting in the crease. It’s just great for all that kind of action.

This brush could be used to apply shadow all over the lid as well, just like you can with the MAC 217. However,  I do think that this brush is a tiny little bit too big for that. But well, it all depends on your personal preferences, right?!

Next up are some more crease brushes I really love from Zoeva. The first three are all Zoeva 221 Luxe Soft Crease brushes. These are the best in the bizz if you ask me. They are the perfect, traditional blending brush. They are fluffy, they are soft and they have the exact right amount of hairs. They aren’t too dense, but they aren’t very thin either. They’re the perfect balance. I really love using these three brushes to fade out the edges of my eyeshadow. They work great for that.

The other brush I love very dearly is the Zoeva 229 Eye Finish Brush. This looks very similar to my new MAC 286S Duo Fibre Tapered Brush that I reviewed yesterday. Somehow I never hear anyone talk or see anyone using the Eye Finish from Zoeva, but it really does deserve some credit. It’s a duo fibre crease brush and it’s amazing for blending out your eyeshadow. It’s way better at it than any other brush is. It’s super quick and effective.

Since mine is pretty old it has become a little stiff and thin, but when you get a fresh one it will be a lot more fluffy and thick. Nowadays I use my MAC one just because mine has gotten so old, but trust me, the Zoeva one is absolutely incredible!

Moving on to some eyeshadow brushes. These are the Zoeva 234 Luxe Smokey Shader Brushes. These are your traditional eyeshadow brushes which work great for applying eyeshadow all over the lid. I think having a couple of brushes like this one is essential in any brush collection. I use eyeshadow everyday when I’m wearing makeup, so I couldn’t live without a couple of the Smokey Shaders.

What I love about them is that they have the exact right size for applying shadow to your entire lid. They aren’t too big, but they aren’t too small either. Just the right size. They are also the best balance between stiff and fluffy. The black one is pretty old so and therefore from the non-luxe range, and that one is a bit more stiff. However, the other two are nice and fluffy, but not in a blending brush fluffy kind of way. If that does make any sense at all.

I really think that these three brushes are unbeatable. Looking at the price you pay I’m really impressed by the fact that these are so well made. It’s not just the quality, it’s also the shape of the brush. The shape is so important and Zoeva did get it exactly right.

Next up are two types of brushes I really love using in my crease. The first one are the pink and rose gold ones on the left. These are the Zoeva 230 Luxe Pencil Brushes. These are tiny little pencil brushes that are great for any detail work you want to get done in the crease area. I love how they are nice and pointy but also short. The point isn’t too fluffy and that’s great. This way it allows you to have a lot of control. I personally love using these brushes for applying a darker colour into the outer ‘V’ of my eyelid or to apply a pop of colour in that area.

The other two brushes, the ones on the right side, are the 231 Luxe Petit Crease Brushes. These are some of the first brushes I ever fell in love with from Zoeva. These are definitely my holy grail when it comes to brushes that I use to apply shadow into the crease. They have the exact right size for that. They allow you to really get in there and also to spread the shadow all over the area you want to with such ease.

I do have to say that somehow the older one I have is a lot thinner than the new 231 Luxe Petit Crease. I don’t know if that’s just because it’s very old or because they re-shaped it. But either way, they work great. I do think the thinner one is a bit nicer, but the other one works fine as well.

Moving on to the brushes I would skip if I were shopping for brushes at Zoeva. The brushes I think are ‘skip-it’s’ aren’t that because the quality is bad. Not at all. I actually think that Zoeva is very consistent when it comes to the quality of their brushes and I think that all of their brushes are just fine. The brushes I’m showing you and am about to show you categorise as ‘skip-it’s’ for me because I think that they don’t really have a real function or because I think they don’t do what they should do really well.

Okay, without further ado, let’s talk about the brushes I would skip. The first one being the Zoeva 142 Concealer Buffer. This is a brush that comes in literally every Zoeva brush set I ever buy and I am sick of it. It’s a brush that seemed pretty okay when I got my first one, but I never actually use it. The brush feels really dense and stiff and it’s a lot thicker than your regular eye-brush. Therefore it should seem great for applying concealer.

However, aside from the fact that I don’t like applying concealer using a brush, I don’t think this shape and density of brush works really well for this purpose. I think it’s way too dense to blend it in a natural and good looking way. It just feels so uncomfortable using this brush for buffing in your concealer and I don’t know what else to do with this brush.

The next brush I would actually skip is the Zoeva 110 Face Shape Brush. I once got this because I thought this was going to be a brush I’d end up using all of the time, but I was dead wrong to be honest. I think I have used this brush a total of five times in my life and I’ve had it for over five years now. I just don’t gravitate towards it and I don’t think it’s an easy brush to use.

The main purpose of this brush is applying or blending contour products. Well, you can do that with it, but you will end up with a very streaky and way too obvious looking contour. The brush is quite small and therefore it’s just a pain to blend your contour with it. You can apply it with this brush, but I think it’s way easier to use a more fluffy brush so you won’t end up having to blend your contour for six and a half years afterwards.

I have used this brush once for applying foundation and I do like it a lot more for that purpose. It’s a little small for using it to apply foundation all over the face, but it does give you lots of precision and control. However, I have a lot more other brushes that I prefer for that purpose, and therefore this brush is practically unused.

Next up are two more brushes I hardly ever use. The first one being the Zoeva 223 Petit Eye Blender. I don’t get why anyone would see this brush as an eye blender because it isn’t. How are you supposed to blend anything with such a dense, stiff and small brush. You might be able to spot conceal with it, but blending actual eyeshadow is nearly impossible with this brush.

I have used this brush to apply some shades into the outer part of my eye lid back in the day, and it does work fine for that purpose, but I don’t prefer using this brush for those purposes. I much more prefer using those 230 Luxe Pencil Brushes for that. They have a better shape and way more precision than this one does.

The other brush in this picture that I just don’t love and never use is the Zoeva 235 Contour Shader. What on earth is this supposed to be?! Back in the day I used to like angled shadow brushes like this one to apply shadow into my inner corner. However, this brush is actually really thick and not flexible enough to do that in a proper way. And aside from that purpose, I really have no clue what on earth I should do with this brush. I’ve used it for concealer once and it still has stains from that and it didn’t work really well.

The last brush I would skip is the Zoeva 322 Brow Line brush. This is another brush that makes me confused. What was the thought behind this brush? Who came up with it? The shape of this brush is just really odd. It’s a pretty thick, really short and super stiff brush. It’s way too thick to allow you to have enough control while applying your brow powder or brow pomade and I think it’s way too dense too. It picks up way too much product and will leave you behind with thick and heavy brows. Nope, this isn’t it for me.

With that being said I think I’ve guided you through all of my favourites and skip it’s from Zoeva. There are a lot of Zoeva brushes I love, more than the ones I don’t, but I think it’s helpful to share the ones I think are useless too. 

Anyway, long story short: thank you guys so much for reading today’s post and be sure to let me know which (Zoeva) brushes you really like and which ones you don’t!