Sephora Face Complexion Brush Review

** This post was written by Fiona. She no longer blogs for Swatch And Learn. However, Mary still continues to blog and will be happy to reply to your comment. **

For months, I’ve wanted the Clarisonic Skincare Brush. But what if I don’t like it? That’s a whole lot of $$ down the drain. So I decided to first try the Sephora Face Complexion Brush, a manual version of the expensive electronic one. I don’t know what I had hoped. Whether I love it or hate it, wouldn’t it just make me want the Clarisonic one more?

The Sephora brush was definitely worth the buy for me, but not for the reasons you might think…

Claims: BUSTED

X Gently exfoliates
√ Leaves face fresh, clean & soft
X Gently massages & invigorates skin

Key Notes

Name: Sephora Face Complexion Brush
Amount: 1 unit
What I Paid: $7 (CAD) – It’s $5 USD online
Colors Available: Clear, Fuchsia
Where to Buy: Sephora – in store (near their makeup brushes) & online

The Review

I like my cleanser – it’s refreshing, it softens my skin, it cleanses, and it doesn’t leave a residue. But sometimes it doesn’t get deep, deep into my pores. Aside from being such a fun tool to use, the Sephora complexion brush does deep-cleanse and exfoliate. And it leaves my skin feeling even smoother than with just the cleanser.

But I have gone back to using just the cleanser. I find the Sephora face complexion brush to be too scratchy. The bristles feel really soft on my hands, but not on my cheeks. I don’t have sensitive skin, so I was really surprised at this. Plus, I use a foaming cream cleanser, which helps to reduce a lot of the friction (I actually end up using more product because it makes the brush less rough). I don’t apply pressure when using the brush, but it is still wayyyyy too scratchy for me, to a point that I think I’m actually damaging my skin.

Aside from that, there are a couple of other things I’d change about the Sephora face brush:

Shorter bristles – Your face isn’t flat, so whenever the brush changes angles, the long bristles flick your wet cleanser EVERYWHERE.
Different and/or smaller shape – It’s really hard to cleanse around your nose.

So why was this worth the buy for me? Well, if a manual brush that lets me adjust the pressure and speed is still too scratchy for me, it makes me think that the Clarisonic brush isn’t worth it…even if they do have a sensitive brush head available. It only cost me $7 to not want to spend $150-$200. I’d say that was worth it.

Pros

Deep-cleanses
Fun to use
Clean design

Cons

Bristles too long
Ineffectively shaped
Bristles too scratchy

Final Verdict: 5/10

Five seems like a pretty high score for a product that I just busted. But hear me out here. If you’re like me and have always wanted the Clarisonic, this is a good brush to try first. Test it out and you might actually save yourself a lot of money.

Second reason: I do like to use this brush to exfoliate my forehead where it doesn’t feel rough at all.

If you do try this product, I suggest soaking the brush in water. Then put your cream/foaming cleanser on the brush head and massage it into your cheeks first. Don’t try it on skin near your eyes until you’re absolutely sure that your skin can take it.

Sephora Face Complexion Brush Pictures