Koyudo Canadian Squirrel Blush Brush

Greetings to all the fude and makeup lovers out there! Fude means brush in Japanese, technically the old way of saying brush (calligraphy and makeup) and kyun is the onomatopoeia for the momentarily tightening of the chest caused by strong emotions. This blog will be centered on makeup and Japanese-made brushes. Do check out the fude subreddit for more information and reviews if you're interested!

First post will be showcasing the beautiful Koyudo Canadian Squirrel Blush Brush & Tom Ford's Pink Glow LE Palette. I don't have swatches for the Pink Glow palette, but I thought I'd do a review on the CS brush.

I want to start off with saying that this brush is more of a collectors piece than an everyday blush brush that you can use and throw around. Squirrel hair in general is fragile and cannot be mishandled. Canadian Squirrel hair is rare, not as rare as red squirrel hair, but still rare enough that Koyudo rarely releases with the finishing and powder brushes made of all Canadian squirrel hair. The hairs to this brush are all orange-brown until about 3/4ths of the way down. You can see the tremendous amount of work it took the Kumano fude artisans to put this piece together as the orange-brown hairs all stop at about the same place. It's perfection! 

Aesthetically speaking, the handle is made of Echizen Lacquer - wood handle with Echizen style lacquer over it and a Makie design. I love the black with the red flower and gold ferrule. The handle is quite short, comparable to the sm sized handles from Hakuhodo in Japan. 

The good thing about this brush is that it's softer than gray and blue squirrel hairs, has more resistance (spring), and blending power. It's not too soft like red squirrel and has spring to it so it allows for more blending than the rest of the types of squirrel hairs. I have yet to try any of the exorbitantly expensive and elusive white canadian squirrel brushes, but from what I've read, they are a bit softer than the cs and do a good job at layering pigments onto the skin whereas the cs is better at blending.

4/11/23 edit: it has become less soft after owning it for many years. I believe the conditioner washed off completely and now it feels less soft than red, gray, blue, and White Canadian squirrel.

I would rank the squirrel hairs for blending power in this order: Canadian squirrel, pine squirrel, gray squirrel, blue squirrel, and red squirrel. 

Suqqu Cheek, Koyudo Red Squirrel Square Handle Blush Brush (ver. 3 I believe), Chikuhodo RRC-2

Performance-wise, the cs does take a few times of dipping back into the blush pan to get my desired level of pigmentation to show when compared to a goat or goat and squirrel mixed brush. I noticed it did apply my blush a little patchy when compared to the Hakuhodo B505 (goat and squirrel mix). Squirrel isn't the best for blending in my opinion, but it may also be due to the shape of the brush itself this time around. The head is flat, which doesn't allow for buffing power. When compared to something like the Suqqu cheek brush, it does pick up product and blends better. 

The brush is not very dense but it isn't floppy like the Suqqu cheek either. It will snap back immediately if you try to push the hairs on one side and let go. It will, however, apply blush precisely.

Koyudo CS, Hakhodo J110, Hakuhodo B505, Wayne Goss Air-brush, Hakuhodo K008, Hakuhodo S110, Chikuhodo Z-4

In the photo above, I have laid it out to compare with some of my other flat shaped blush brushes. 

The Hakuhodo J110 ($54) and S110 ($89; same brush head, different handles) taper outwards more and are fluffier. They are great for applying any type of blush (soft, hard, sheer, medium, and heavily pigmented) effortlessly. I typically use the white goat blush brushes like the Chikuhodo Takumi T-4 and J110 when I'm in a rush and need to get out of the house asap.

Hakuhodo J110, S110

The dyed Hakuhodo B505 ($88), which I thought would be too big for blush is actually not bad size-wise. It's pretty soft when you touch it with your hands due to the squirrel mixed in, but it does feel a little prickly when used on the face. My skin is super sensitive, so I have a lower threshold for facial pain. Those of you with non-sensitive skin would love this brush for both blush and powder. It does a great job at blending blush due to the goat hairs. I tried one side with B505 and the other with the Koyudo CS blush brush and the B505 was not patchy at all. Keep in mind that the goat and squirrel mix will give you a lighter application compared to a brush made completely out of goat hair. 

Hakuhodo B505, Hourglass Radiant Magenta Blush

The limited edition Wayne Goss Air-brush ($35, WB AB from here on out) is made out of blue squirrel hair and is softer than the J110, S110, and B505. It's around the same softness as the Koyudo cs brush, but the cs feels more elastic. This is not a brush I would generally use for blush because it has absolutely no blending power. In order for it to work properly, you can use my preferred application method for flat and oval brushes: pat three times across the cheek and sweep. It's marketed as a "buffing brush" but it doesn't buff well at all due to the shape. A flat squirrel brush like this is best for setting under eye concealer, powdering small areas of the face, and maybe blurring out harsh lines if you rub it across your face enough. You sweep with this shape. I tried contouring and blending out with it and it took a lot more effort than if I had used a brush shape and hairs more suitable for that kind of work. It's a nice brush to have for petting, but not a necessity. I wouldn't compare it to the Suqqu cheek at all as the Suqqu has an oval ferrule while the WG has a flat pinched one. For reference, the WG AB and Chikuhodo Z-4 are below.

WG AB, Chikuhodo Z-4

WG AB, Chikuhodo Z-4

The Hakuhodo K008 ($57) is made out of pine squirrel and is surprisingly pretty soft! Pine squirrel is not known for its softness, usually people associate it with being the roughest out of all the squirrel hairs. The K008 is the closest brush I have to the Koyudo cs, with the head shapes being very similar, give or take an inch for length. I would dare say the softness is comparable to the Koyudo cs, but has a little less spring to it. I tried this for setting under eye concealer and blush, and it performed well for powder, but for blush it laid the pigment down and then didn't blend out easily. Just left the pigment right where I placed it after being applied and looked like there was a line (similar to how the CS applies). It took some elbow grease to blend the blush out.

Koyudo CS, Hakuhodo K008

Hakuhodo K008, Koyudo CS

Chikuhodo Z-4 ($61.20) is another close brush that I forgot I had. Mine doesn't have a perfect taper, it's lopsided and 3D shaped as you can see, but it still does a good job at blending blush out. If anything, I'd say it resembles the WG AB but without the pinched ferrule and is denser,  which means that it does a way better job at blush than the WG AB. It's a great brush for powdering smaller areas of the face as well. 

WG AB, Chikuhodo Z-4

Overall, the Koyudo cs blush brush ($111.94) is a nice collectors piece to ogle at and display, is sold on CDJapan without being limited edition (for now), and is the best type of squirrel hair I've tried for blush.

4/11/23 edit: I prefer White Canadian squirrel for the softness and gray and red squirrel for performance and finish.