Chikuhodo Brushes Part V (A Little Dab into Makeup)

Are you sick of brushes yet? ^.^ I purposely held onto this post because I figured there were back to back brush posts in February. Anyway, every year there are limited edition brush sets released for the holidays, and Chikuhodo had 2 gorgeous Noel Collection sets, Etoile and Neige.
The Etoile set went for $275-300 depends on your source. It came with a full gray squirrel powder brush, a goat and gray squirrel mixed cheek brush, 2 Canadian squirrel eye shadow brushes L and S, a water badger eyebrow brush, a weasel lip brush, and a gold carrying case.

The Neige set went for $135-150 and came with a powder, cheek, and an eye shadow brush M, all in undyed sokoho goat hair, with a silver carriage case. Can you guess which I bought? ^.^

***Stock photos from Chikuhodo Japan and Beautylish.com.
Overall, I'm very happy with this set. I love the gorgeous metallic royal blue handles with silver stars decorations. The blue really brings out the brightness of the hair. And even though the hair is sokoho, it feels just as soft as saikoho. Comparing side by side, I can tell the saikoho brush is just a tad softer, but not much.

The silver carrying case I don't much care for, because it feels rather stiff, especially that clear flap over the bristles and I don't like the thought of mushing them at all. I already have my own travel brush rolls anyway, which reminds me I haven't posted about them yet. Ack, I never even took pictures!!! Will do whenever I have time.

- Powder brush: this is basically a smaller version of the Takumi T1, both brush heads having the same shape and crown, only the Takumi T-1 is twice as big and softer, as it's saikoho hair.

- Cheek brush: this cheek brush is a slightly bigger version of the Koyudo BP016. Again, both brush heads have the same shape, only Chikuhodo is wider at the base and thicker on the sides, and thus a fluffier brush than the BP016.