Real Techniques Bold Metals Dupes {REVIEW}

Yes yes, I have seen review posts on the dupes of the Real Techniques Bold Metals Collection floating around the bloggernet recently but I was so pleased with this set that I just had to post my own review on them.

Don’t look at this as a comparison between the real Bold Metals Collection and these knock-offs though as I have only used the original set and I do not own them. Hence I don’t think I have enough knowledge to do a full comparison. Instead this is a review on these ‘metal make-up brushes’ (technically they should not be referred to as RT brushes at all in this post).

I have seen this set all over eBay and Aliexpress for crazy cheap in comparison to the original brushes. You obviously cannot compare the quality at all but for a cheapie brush set they are really really great. For the record, the actual Bold Metals collection will set you back almost R2600. Okaaay then…

You buy each of the Bold Metals brushes seperately but you can buy the entire dupe collection as one set. This wasn’t the cheapest option available; I paid R300 and you can get them for around R140 if you bide your time.

The set consists of a Flat Contouring brush, an Arched Powder brush, Triangle Foundation brush, Oval eyeshadow brush, a Pointed Crease brush, an Angled Liner brush and a Tapered Blush brush.

I am way more a fan of face and finish brushes than eye brushes and it turns out that these are not really the kind of eyeshadow brushes that I gravitate towards anyway, here is why:

Oval Eyeshadow Brush & Pointed Crease Brush: Whilst being really great, considering the price, the bristles on both these brushes are too dense. I prefer super soft and supple bristles which make blending your eyeshadow easy as anything. Granted, the Pointed Crease brush packs a punch when it picks up the shadow on the brush but it just doesn’t blend the way I like.

Angled Liner brush: I prefer super thin and tapered bristles when applying liner, so this isn’t a great one for me. But it is so preeeettty…

Flat Contouring brush: All the reviews on the original Bold Metals Flat Contouring brush rate that this brush might be the best of the bunch. It could be because these are knock offs but this is horrendous for contouring. It applies contour in a harsh and almost jagged line and the density of the bristles doesn’t allow the brush to properly blend. It applies fine but cannot be blended properly and who wants to reach for two brushes when you could use one for two purposes. It does, however, work gorgeously for foundation application.

Arched Powder brush: Absolutely fabulous brush. I can’t even imagine how fabulous the real brush must be! Apparently the arched dome shape of the bristles makes the powder application more precise but I really don’t see how that would make such a huge difference..

Triangle Foundation brush: Again, super awesome brush. And again, it claims that the “refined artistry cuts” offers a higher application performance for the ultimate foundation application but, even though the end result is great, my Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge achieves the same result in the areas where the Bold Metals is meant to excel.

Tapered Blush Brush: Again, this brush is meant to be specially cut for a flawless application. It does apply very nicely – but I can’t say if it applies that much better than any other great blush brush.

Again, I cannot say much for the quality compared to the original Bold Metals but I am happy to say that all of these brushes stayed pretty much perfect upon washing them. I have read some reviews on the dupe set claiming that the brushes did not all retain their shape without brush guards so I am assuming that my set was purchased from a more reputable seller (of all the fake sellers out there, of course).

You can see below that the fake sets have a few loose and random longer than usual bristles which the original set would most certainly not have. Other than that, there was almost no shedding and the shapes stayed as they originally came.