This set was a part of MAC holiday collection but why I am writing about it now? And why am I writing about it anyway? You will find that out soon.
I love brushes with good quality and I guess a girl can never have too many brushes. Do you agree with me? 😉 No matter what you think about MAC makeup you just have to agree that their brushes are amazing! But to get all brushes that you need you will have to pay a lot. And we all want to save some money, right? Pretty often MAC creates different sets of brushes and I am always tempted to buy them because they are so cheap. For e.g. 187 brush is $42.00 and here you get 5 mini brushes in a makeup bag for only $49.5
This is what this set includes and how the brushes look like:
Do-the-Trick Buff and Line Brush Set ($49.50)
- 168SE
- 187SE
- 209SE
- 219SE
- 252SE
So here is my opinion about MAC Brushes set and the comparison photo of SE brush and a “normal” one
As I said I was tempted so many times to get at least one set but all my friends told me that I shouldn’t do it because the quality is absolutely different. As you can see I didn’t listen and was hoping that they are wrong. Unfortunately they were not! Individual brushes are so much better. I don’t think that you can see it on the photo but 217 brush is made in Japan and 219SE is made in China. I could write a lot about both brushes but I will just say one thing. When I use these SE brushes they are not so soft enough as the regular brushes . Also often the fiber from them just falls out and is left right on my face!
I guess it is not only about this set and this is not only my opinion. So my advice – save some money and buy yourself individual MAC brushes. Believe me, it is a great investment and if you take a good care of your brushes they will last you forever!
I agree. The MAC 224 I have is even made in France!
I totally agree – I bought the same set and I am so disappointed in them. In particular the little white bristled eyeshadow brush and the brown bristled eyeshadow/concealer brush (can’t remember the numbers) are so horrible they actually hurt to use. Never again.
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Have you tried Sigma brushes? There’s such a hype about them and I’m so tempted to get them but I’m resisting for now 😀 LOL
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@ Claudia
I don’t have any MAC brushes made in France 🙁
@Selina
I have the same situation with 168!
@Vesna
Not yet but I want to get them! Some of my friends (I trust their opinion) love it. If I am not mistaken they ship to Europe for ~ $15.
Thanks for sharing this. I was tempted to buy this set, but then….I bought too many things from last year’s MAC Holiday Collection that I had to forego this. Now I know not to get those MAC SE brushes. Will save up to buy their individual brushes.
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I am often tempted to buy such sets but individual brushes are MUCH better! But you can get it untill you get good brushes.
i have a brush made in France its the 266 liner brush. I love it, it applies my fluid liner precisely.
Happy to hear that you like it, Christia
I just got the One of the essential brush sets from the glitter and ice collection and i must say i think lately the quality has been improved on the holiday sets because i didn’t experience any shedding and i compared the SEs with the regular sized ones and they are only a tiny bit softer, not a big difference at all…. I do prefer longer handles for face brushes though but it’s okay since these are not the bare essentials in my brush necessities (it included the 129 powder/blush brush (not a total necessity since i already have the 150&182), the 190 (also not a necessity for me coz i use powder foundation), the 275 (not really sure what it’s for but for now i find it quite nice for brow highlights and nose contouring), the 226 (nice coz it’s limited edition n not available in regular size anyway) and the 266 (probably the most useful one out of the bunch since i don’t have a mac brow/liner brush). In my case, my most essential brushes from mac are the 182,239,217,219 and 224 which are not in the set. so as long as u r not gettng the brush set to get ur essentials but only to complete ur mac brush collection, i don’t think the slight difference in the quality (at least from the one i got) wouldn’t bother u that much! Unless u got a bad batch… It’s still factory made after all… But it’s a super good deal that comes in cute handles and cases!
Hi ShoeGal86,
Thank you for such a detailed comment.