Hello All, hope you are all doing great. Hope the month has been treat you well and you are all keeping up with your resolutions?
I have been spending time with my nephew and niece and having a fun day with my niece discussing my love of Fude. She was fascinated and asked a lot of questions on my love, history of Fude and types of hair. We talked a lot about it. I also give her access to a post I was about to post up and mid reading, she gave up. Apparently, it was missing my humour and she has a preference of receiving that level of information from a video rather than my usual write up given it was mostly facts.
Given her comments, I will not be posting up that post but rather providing a link to a fude lover's guide into all things Fude. My niece loved this and she is patiently waiting for the next video to drop. So this might be more helpful than the previous scheduled post. https://www.youtube.com/@secret_world_of_fude/videos . Happy watching. You may want to subscribe to the channel. Its new but has regular drops of information.
Onto today's topic. I will try not to be "boring".
Today's post is featuring my Chikuhodo FO Series. This is one of their premium lines from the brand and they awarded themselves as the industry's first natural makeup brush made with silver fox bristles. I have no evidence otherwise, so will let them bask in their own award.
The softness of these brushes is comparable to gray squirrel, but with more resilience and strength of goat hair. The bristles are encased in an olive tinted aluminum ferrule, with maple wood. The maker's name and identifier number is engraved on the handle. You can also have these brushes engraved with your name. You can enquire prior to purchase and I am aware most websites who have these brushes for sale offer that service for free or at a nominal fee.
These brushes are by no means cheap. If you have sensitive skin or acne prone or have a preference for mineral foundations or mineral makeup, these will certainly work for you. Either way, I consider these to be luxury items that would work for everyone.
I got these for my last birthday. I did not get them via one website. I got them from Fude beauty and CDJapan. Some were cheaper with one site and another offered better exchange rate. Either way, went with where I got them at the best price.
Below are the sites I use for Fude purchases with a few observations based on my usage of these sites.
Fudebeauty.com - The website is great. Easy to navigate, great exchange rates and good customer service. However, the rewards system is not worth it, high shipping cost and high threshold to meet free shipping, items are also shipped out at a snails' pace.
https://www.cdjapan.co.jp - The website is a bit of a mess. Easiest to use when you know exactly what you are looking for and you go directly to search. Excellent shipping, customer service, rewards system and low threshold to meet free shipping.
https://store.fudejapan.com - Excellent personalised service, great shipping, lovely website but do not like how the brushes are presented on the site, so best to know exactly what you are looking for.
Beautylish.com - Good rewards, excellent shipping, website offers easy navigation but prices are the highest here. Would not recommend getting Fude from here other than Sonia G brushes because they are the only stockist of those brushes.
The core of these brushes FO-1 to FO-8 were designed and produced 2019 to 2020 while brushes FO-9 and FO-10 were from 2022.
Lets get into reviewing the actual brushes:
FO-1 - This is the original powder brush with the core set. This is a serious ball of fluff. Like putting air all over your face. Pickup of product is easy. Used this with both loose powder and pressed powder and it works well with both. It leaves you with a diffused coverage of setting/finishing powder. I have used this for bronzer as well and got the same diffused look I was hankering for.
I have no negative comments about this brush.
FO-2- This is the foundation brush of this set. While it did fluff up a bit during the initial washing, not by a lot given the bundling. While the brush head is small, it does pack a punch. Gives you an even natural coverage with no brush strokes left on your face. I have used this for liquid and powder foundations. I can say now, I will no longer be using this for liquids foundation again. Don't get me wrong it worked but using a moro-fiber towel to get the pigment off was a chore. Had to rub between the bristles. I gave up and just washed it. With powder foundation, rubbing on a micro-fibre towel worked to get the pigment mostly off and lasted 2 weeks before I washed it.
F0-3 and FO-4 - Giving a review of these 2 brushes together because, I feel these are interchangeable. You do not need both. One will suffice. They work the exact same.
If you have a preference for round brushes, FO-3 is for you. Slanted brushes? F0-4. You do not need both.
They are equally as soft as the other brushes in the series. They fluffed out great about 30% after initial wash.
I have used these for blush (prefer FO-4 for blush) and bronzer. They work well for both those activities.
I have even used the FO-3 for setting my face. I like the multi-functionality of these brushes. You cannot go astray with either one.
FO-9 - This is just a giant ball of expensive fluff. I use this for only setting/finishing my face.
Pickup is great and gives a good coverage of powder on my face. Leaves you with a diffused look.
This is seriously not necessary for everyday use. This brush does nothing special that FO-1 cannot do.
If you are a collector, go for it, if not, you seriously do not need this! I honestly thought about re-selling but decided against it. I am keeping it for now and been using it for a powder brush. I am not a fan of one trick pony brushes but this has survived against the odds.
Lets go through the eye brushes in this series:
FO-5 - I really like this brush. Looking for that singular brush that you can use for a one and done eyeshadow look. This is it! On days when I just don't want to wear eyeshadow, I use this for a mauve eye look.
Can also be used to set eyeshadow primers, lay down base colour for an eyeshadow look. So many uses. I keep reaching for this brush.
FO-6 - This is good for building pigment/colour on the outer corner of the eye (outer V). Easily picks up pigment and you can target where to deposit it given its size without messing up your previously laid down transition shade. You can also use this for placing highlight or shimmer on your brow bone.
FO-7 - This is one of those brushes that I think are made for hooded eyes. This fits into my hooded crease and I use this to build pigment in my crease. I also use this for laying shimmers on the lid.
FO-8 - Under eye brush, where are you? FO-8 raises its hand. This is so soft and does not irritate my under-eye. No watering at all. I use this to line my lower lid.
FO-10 - I got 2 of these in error and when I tried to return one, it would cost me more to return it than how much I paid to buy it in the 1st place, so I welcomed the 2nd one to my collection. This brush mimic your finger. Can be used for one and done eyeshadows as well as laying down shimmers on the eye.
Well, that is my review of the Chikuhodo FO Series. I have been using these for about four months and washed them several times. I have been enjoying them and have no regrets about them. However, I will say again, I am not a fan of buying brush sets. You will always find brushes within that set, that are not useful to your makeup style.
While I don't think, anyone needs every brush in this set, for now, I will be keeping them all and enjoying them. I may change my mind at a later date and sell off those I am not using regularly but for now, they all stay.
See you on the next post!
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