Essence of Beauty is a US-based drugstore brand, and can be found in CVS. The brand is pretty much loved for its range of brushes, but the Crease Brush Duo is definitely my favourite out of the various EOB (Essence of Beauty) brushes I've tried. The Crease Brush Duo, as the name suggests, consist of two small crease brushes in a tiny little plastic ziplock packaging:
Both brushes have black ferrules and light handles, and both brushes are marked "Crease", which I think is kind of cute. These brushes are actually smaller than your average crease brush, which I think makes them perfect for small eyes which don't have much lid space.
The larger of the two brushes is a domed brush for blending, while the smaller of the two brushes has tapered bristles resembling a pencil brush. The larger domed brush is great for blending out eyeshadow, while the smaller one is great for applying eyeshadow to tight areas, or applying eyeshadow as eyeliner, or even blending out very teeny tiny areas (like the corners of your eyes).
The brushes themselves are made of natural hair. It's not particularly awesome quality natural hair, to be honest - the bristles are a little stiffer than some other brands that have good quality bristles (e.g. Stila). However, they're pretty good for the drugstore price, and definitely comfortable to use. They're just not, you know, THE best out there.
But the quality of the bristles isn't what makes this duo so brilliant. It's the fact that the brush tips have a rounded shape, and that the bristle length and density are just perfect. The larger domed crease brush is one of my major loves right now - it has enough bristles to feel firm to the touch, allowing it to pick up and apply eyeshadow to the crease, and yet, the bristles aren't so tightly packed together that it makes blending difficult. The pencil brush is also the right length, allowing for bristle flexibility that still retains some brush firmness.
Another thing I love about these two brushes is that they're small, so they fit very nicely into the contour area of my puny little eyes. I still love my Stila #9 All Over Blending Brush, but for small or tight spaces, when the Stila brush is too big, I find the EOB brushes give a more precise application that is still blended. It's much easier blending smaller areas of eyeshadow with the EOB brushes, as the smaller brush surface mean that the risk of overblending areas you don't wish to blend is lessened.
Here are the brushes next to the Stila #9 for comparison. As you can see, they are a lot smaller, and the bristles are more tightly packed together.
So do you need this? Of course you do! If you, like me, have small puny eyes, then you need this for blending colour in your contour or crease area. If you like to do precise work with your eyeshadow, and need a brush to blend out small areas of eyeshadow, then you need this. If you find the average blending brush too large, and wish for a smaller blending brush for your eye area, then you need this. I mean, what's not to like? It's cheap, it's good, and it works a treat. My eyes are totally in love with this brush duo. It's definitey worth a shot - and if you don't like it, send it my way, because I'm looking for backups!
