OVW Makeup Brushes from Shopee: Are these cheap tools actually worth your money?
I first heard rumbles about a really good AND cheap makeup brush brand available in Shopee months ago, but didn’t act on it until recently. It was more because I’ve been using pretty much the same makeup brushes in the last two years and just wanted a change! Also I’m always on the lookout for a good deal, for diamonds in the rough. And so here we are.
OVW Makeup Brushes are China-made tools that are shockingly cheap. Would you believe that I spent P790 for 17 full-sized brushes, and that’s including shipping already? I opted to buy three separate sets of the brushes: the 10 Pcs Makeup Brush set for eyes, 5 Pcs Set for the face, and the Flawless Classic Foundation and Concealer Brush. Sorry, the names are random on the website so I just rationalized it for this article.
First things first: this looks like Make Up For Ever brushes. The wooden handle with the beveled tip as well as the gunmetal ferrules look like MUFE. Are they the same thing though? I have a few MUFE brushes, not the exact same ones here, but the quality is mostly different. We’re talking 80 pesos per OVW brush vs a minimum 2,000 pesos per MUFE brush. Of course they’re not the same. MUFE brushes may also be manufactured in China but there are different levels of quality, and that’s what we pay for when we buy MUFE.
Ok on to OVW! The quality is nice - for the price. The bristles are supposedly natural goat and horse hair but I can’t tell if they are. Synthetics are quite good these days! Suffice it to say that these are dense and fluffy as needed, feel soft, and don’t scratch my skin. They deliver pigments well overall. It’s a great set of brushes for beginners who don’t want to spend a lot, and are on the exploration phase of tools.
The first wash revealed some dye running through and a few of the “natural” bristles falling off, but nothing dramatic. The face brushes developed flyaways on the side but this didn’t affect quality. It’s just less pretty.
Let me go through each set quickly:
The OVW 5 Pcs Brush Set for the face (P355 on Shopee) is a solid collection for beginners. Everything is soft and smooth and does the job well. I have several versions of these brushes already, which I prefer more, BUT omg the paddle-shaped foundation brush is a winner. A WINNER. I haven’t had a brush like it before! I use a full-coverage concealer and enjoy cream makeup as well, so this brush fills a hole in my life that I didn’t know existed. It’s excessive I know. But I mean it.
I will probably buy two more of that foundation brush as back ups. It’s only P107! This one in particular almost feels like a MUFE brush. I love the large size (it’s around 1.25 inches across) with a tapered edge so it can blend both concealer and foundation by itself. Get this if you haven’t yet, because you are missing out.
Here’s a size reference. That paddle foundation brush on the left most is the best thing ever.
The OVW Flawless Classic Foundation and Concealer Brush (P153 on Shopee) are also both excellent base brushes. They’re soft and smooth and blends out product perfectly. The bristles are dense and stiff so you get a lot of control, but the surface is super soft. See a pattern here? The “natural” hair bristles are nice but not special, but the synthetics are a fantastic bargain.
The OVW 10 Pcs Makeup Brush set for eyes (P285 on Shopee) offers a good selection of eye brushes that pick up and deposit pigments well without any pointy bristles. It has some nice selection of detail brushes for fine work that you won’t normally find in a brush set!
I find the sizes a bit off though. I have a pretty big eye area, so I normally prefer bigger brushes to work with, but I find the basic size brushes too big for my eyes already, and I find the mid-sized brushes too small. This is a Goldilocks case, yes, so it will be different per person. I’m not sure that I will continue to use most of these eye brushes as a first choice. They’re good back ups to have though.
Overall, I think that OVW Makeup Brushes are a steal. The price is too good to be true, but it delivers on quality nevertheless. Only time will tell regarding how sturdy these brushes are, but they don’t feel flimsy so I have high hopes. Let me know what you think, especially if you’ve already tried these!
