NEW e.l.f. Professional Eye Shadow Brush?!

Ok, maybe I got a bit dramatic with the title, but for me, it's a big deal! One of my favorite beauty vloggers, EmilyNoel83, goes on and on about e.l.f.'s Professional Eye Shadow Brush and how great it is at packing on the color, which caused me to buy it. And at a dollar, why not? Upon buying it, I discovered that it actually is a great little brush!

So, imagine my disappointment when my ferrule detached from the handle! I tried several times to wedge it back in, but it wouldn't stay. I don't have any heavy duty glue with me at college, so I figured the best thing to do would be to buy a new one while at Target. When I picked it up, I thought it looked just a bit different, but I figured it was just because I'd had mine for so long. I also picked up a blending eye brush, because Emily has also highly recommended that one as well as the crease brush (which was sold out). 

However, when I got it home, I realized that there were actually significant differences between my old eye shadow brush and the new one. I'll tell you the differences and then tell you if I think this improves the brush, lessens the quality of the brush, or doesn't really make a difference.

New brush on top, Old brush on bottom

Old brush on the left, New on the right

In my opinion, this is the most significant difference. The bristles on the new one are definitely a different material than the old one. They certainly feel synthetic. I don't think this change has made that big of an impact on the quality of the brush, but I do like that the new bristles are softer. The only negative here is that even though the bristles have changed, the new brush sheds just as bad as the old one does.

As you can also see in the picture, the bristles on the new one are much more tapered than on the old one. The old one has just the slightest taper left to right, as well as a slight taper front to back. The new one has a significant taper from right to left, as well as a significant taper front to back. On top of this, the bristles on the new one are also shorter than on the old one, and added with the taper, this makes the bristles just too short. I found myself getting more of the ferrule on my eye than the actual bristles.

Old brush on the bottom, new on the top

Another noticeable difference is that the new brush is a bit shorter. I don't think this significantly changes the quality of the brush, but I do think it's a step in the wrong direction, because with a shorter brush, I feel like it's easier for your hand to accidentally get in your way when applying eye shadow. With a longer brush, you can maneuver it different ways more efficiently.

Old brush on the left, New on the right.

As you can see, the new brush's ferrule is a bit more pinched, and the bristles are more tightly packed in there. The old brush is a little thicker, as well as being more fluffy. This, in my opinion, changes the brush quite a bit. The fluffier brush can spread out the color more easily, but the thinner brush is better at applying to a single target area.

 Overall, I think that e.l.f. has done more than just tweak their Professional Eye Shadow Brush. The new brush is completely different from the old one. Overall, I definitely prefer the old one, because I feel like it was just better overall at applying eye shadow. Looks like I'm going to have to find some glue, because I'd rather use my old brush.

I can't say much for the blending brush, but I did notice that it was marked as new, and the bristles feel the same as the new Professional Eye Shadow Brush, so there might have been other changes made as well. I'd also assume, that since these two were changed, the other brushes in the Professional line might have been changed as well, so I'd definitely watch out for that.

In my opinion, if you can find e.l.f.'s old Professional Eye Shadow brush in stores, I'd suggest you pick it up and pick up some backups, because I'm not sure how much longer they might be on shelves... if they still even are.