Review (5/5): Great set! I needed brush protectors and got a great cleaning mat with them!
While most people would probably purchase this for the cleaning mat and have the included brush protectors be a bonus, I got this mainly for the brush protectors and the cleaning mat was a bonus.
I have natural haired brushes - some expensive, some mid range. My mid range ones, the hairs can sometimes get kind of splayed out when they’re drying if they don’t have something holding them in place. With the MANY brush sets I’ve gotten, I have gotten tons of the brush protectors that came on the bigger brushes, but those were stretched out from being on a brush already, so I needed new ones. These are great. Since they stretch out when you put them on a brush, if you use one for a bigger sized brush, you’ll either have to always use that protector for the same brush or at least a brush of the same size. The same goes for the ones you use on smaller brushes. I only have a few brushes that need the brush protectors, so I can easily keep track of which ones go on which brushes, so it’s not a big deal for me. Before I had the brush protectors, I would take a piece of toilet paper, split it into 1 ply, and the tightly wrap that around the brush to hold the hairs in place while it dried. This worked fine, but it was a hassle to have to get the toilet paper and split it into plys. Then when it would get wet from the brush when I was trying to roll the toilet paper around the brush, it would start to rip. So, using these brush protectors is a lot less hassle! And I can just continue to reuse the same one on the same brushes, so it’s not like the toilet paper where I’d have to get a new one every time!
The brush cleaning mat is just a basic silicone brush cleaning mat. It has little suctions on the bottom so you can place it on the counter to have it hold in place while you scrub the brushes on it, which is nice so it won’t be moving around.
There’s different textures for different types of brushes. The product page states what each one is for…
The pinstripe pattern at the top between the ears is to rinse smaller brushes. (Notice this area says it’s for RINSING smaller brushes, while the heart shaped area says it’s for SCRUBBING smaller brushes).
The thick striped pattern around the ears is to “reshape big makeup brushes.” I’m not sure what reshape them means.
The 2 big dot patterns below the eyes is “suitable for blush brushes, separating oil by up and down friction.”
The small dot pattern that goes around the 2 areas of big dot pattern is suitable for cleaning eyeshadow brushes.
The I-shaped area on the left side of the body is suitable for cleaning concealer and eyeshadow brushes.
The heart shaped areas in the middle of the body is for scrubbing small brushes. Notice this area says it’s for SCRUBBING smaller brushes, while the pinstripe pattern at the top between the ears says it’s for RINSING smaller brushes).
The U-shaped area on the right side of the body is suitable for cleaning concealer and eyeshadow brushes.
Personally, I don’t really notice if one area cleans brushes better than other areas. I tend to use the ones that have bigger, higher up grooves, like the heart shaped area for scrubbing brushes that have foundation and concealer in them. I find these really get in there and clean out the liquid foundation/concealer well. Any of the smaller areas work well for my eyeshadow brushes.
Overall, I think this is a great little set. You get the cleaning mat which is a good size with many different areas and has the suction cups on the bottom that can hold it in place. Plus you get the brush protection nets, which is nice. So, I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for both or even just one!