Shout-out to San Francisco, my former home, and the current home of ESUM Cosmetics, an as-yet under-the-radar Bay Area beauty brand.
ESUM has been around for about 10 years, but I just recently discovered them. They have a line of brushes and makeup pencils made for industry pros and makeup enthusiasts.
I really like their specialty eye brushes, which range in price from $18-58.
They have these precision eye brushes with small, unusually shaped (but useful!) brush heads, so, for instance, if you only have a little lid space, or you don’t have a deep crease (like, if you’ve got slightly hooded eyes like I do), they’re fab for blending and applying eyeshadow, and for fine detail work.
I’ve been all about the W36 and T37, both of which have a smaller-than-usual angled brush head, so they’re awfully handy when I have to blend in a small space, like in the outer or inner v, or when I want to keep my eyeshadow low and tight on the crease.
I’ve also tried a couple of their workhorse tapered blending brushes, namely the medium size G34 (which is slightly smaller than a MAC 224) and the small S33, which excel at placing and blending shadow exactly where you want it to go.
Along with their brushes, ESUM also sells a small selection of makeup pencil — a few dual-ended lip liners and eyeliners (silky and long-wearing, they feel a lot like the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-Ons), and a handful of skinny twist-up brow pencils (they’re similar to the awesome NARS ones).
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