On September 9, 2017, Rihanna dropped her first collection of Fenty Beauty products simultaneously in 1,600 stores across 17 countries. With 91 items in total, it's a fairly massive first drop, featuring primer, highlight and contour sticks, powder highlight, setting powder, blotting papers, a whopping 40 shades of foundation, one makeup sponge, and five makeup brushes. Five of the most gorgeous, softest, high quality makeup brushes you can get at just about any price point — though Rihanna's will only set you back $24 to $34 (before shipping).
The importance of a 40 shade range of foundation cannot be emphasized enough: That this beauty line is truly inclusive is something that's had fans especially hyped for the launch since Rihanna expressed her commitment to bringing more options for women of color via an Instagram DM. At a media preview in Brooklyn on Thursday night, Rihanna reiterated her mission, saying "You want people to appreciate the product and not feel like ‘Oh that’s cute but it only looks good on her.’"
But on top of all that, Ri blessed us with some of the most buttery brushes in the biz. There was no dire necessity for Rihanna to include well-made brushes in her debut Fenty Beauty collection. If a brush gets sub par reviews, it doesn't tend to kill the collection in the same way a crappy formula might. Just look at the immediate $14.4 million success of KKW Beauty, despite early complaints about the brush and packaging. The light pink FB brushes feel like an extra special attention to detail that sets Rihanna's line apart from other celebrity lines we've seen.
Fenty Cheek-Hugging Highlight Brush, $32, Sephora | Portable Touch Up Brush, $24, Sephora | Portable Highlighter Brush, $24, Sephora | Precision Makeup Sponge, $16, Sephora
Of the five brushes, three are specifically optimized for travel. The Portable Contour & Concealer Brush, Portable Highlighter Brush, and Portable Touch Up Brush are all about three inches long, with retractable bristles to help further prevent damage when they're tossed into a makeup bag. The bristles on these are stiff enough to really blend your Matchstix contour, but soft enough to feel luxurious on your face.
Portable Contour and Concealer Brush, $24, Sephora
The two full sized brushes, Full-Bodied Foundation and Cheek-Hugging Highlight, will likely be the softest brushes you ever touch in your entire life — and they complement the excellent foundation and powder formulas perfectly. The highlight brush has a unique shape — which Refinery29 reported was inspired by a shark tooth — that really does hug your cheekbones, making it that much easier to apply some shimmer to the exact spot you want.
Full-Bodied Foundation Brush, $34, Sephora
Last, there's the sponge. I never thought I could have so many emotions about a beige sponge. It's softer than your typical blender, with an almost velvety touch. There's a slightly bumpy texture to the squishy three-sided tool that makes it feel extra nice in your hand while helping to evenly distribute liquid formulas, especially if you wet the sponge before use. Seriously, this thing is absolutely divine.
The six Fenty Beauty makeup application tools probably won't get as much buzz as any of the makeup in the collection (again, the wide shade range absolutely deserves all the hype it's getting, and the massive selection of highly pigmented highlighters could bring even the strongest shimmer aficionado to tears) but it's a small thing that shows how much Rihanna cares about getting high quality products into the hands of her adoring fans. Especially because brushes are rarely the first thing to sell out during a launch, it feels like an extra thoughtful touch. Rihanna doesn't just want us to have pretty makeup; she wants to provide us with all the tools we need to experience it to its full potential.
