I don't often review tools unless they are hyped up and I can't think of a single brush that has been as hyped up in the last six months or so as the NARS ITA Kabuki Brush. After a number of popular beauty youtubers busted out this pricey brush last year it was hard pressed to find it on shelves anywhere. Then earlier this week I noticed the shelves of my local Sephora had added it into their Nars display. Naturally I had to have it.
So, did it live up to the hype? Is it worth the $65 CND price tag?
I was so excited to get this bad boy home and whip out the contouring powders to try it out. The brush itself is very unique and memorable in shape - rather than a typical ferrule the bristles are sandwiched between the planks of tell tale Nars rubberized finished handle. The bristles are bluntly cut, loosely packed and quite feathery in texture, but I wouldn't say it was overly soft, not like I expected it to have been for the price. Dare I say it was scratchy?
The benefit of having the lack of density I am assuming is to pick up less product and blend at the same time of application. What I found though, was that I was buffing back and forth so much to get my contour to look blended properly that I was just blending away the product itself. The bristles didn't pick up as much powder as I wanted, and because there aren't as many bristles, I felt it applied the product quite patchy if I'm honest. I imagine this brush would be good for someone who wants a strong contour, and plans on applying a lot of contouring powder and then would use this brush to blend it out at the edges. Which is great, but that isn't what it is marketed for. The brand claims "The striking silhouette of the Kabuki Ita is designed to create targeted contouring and strong, sculpted cheeks" and what I kept getting was patchy unblended colour with a slightly scratchy brush.
So funky shape aside, I personally feel like this brush needed to be much softer, denser and with rounded off edges to give off that flawlessly contoured effect. I get a better way application out of the little brush that comes in the Benefit box powders, in half the time. Just sayin. I know people love this brush like mad, but I can't help wonder if part of that has to do with the fact that it has a hefty price tag and the inner desire to need to love something that was expensive. Or it could entirely possible that the ITA brush was considerably better in previous runs, but as the demand grew some changes were made to the development of the brush. Either way I can honestly say I don't see it being worth $65 CND, and trust me when I say I wanted to love it. I think it is definitely something you want to try out for yourself before dropping the coin, and I would personally recommend purchasing from a retailer like Sephora that has an amazing return policy if you don't find it's worth the hype.
What side of the fence are you on about the Nars ITA Brush? Do you think it is worth the hype?
