I've been waiting for literally over a year to blog about these amazing mermaid brushes by, funnily enough, a UK-based brand named Unicorn Cosmetics. I finally got them in hand back in December, but wanted to wait until the warm weather was imminent to blog about them. The brushes themselves are incredible, but the packaging was also breathtaking.
Each brush came individually wrapped with a little charm in the shape of that particular mermaid tail. What a great little detail!
All of artwork was done by American artist Kurtis Rykovich, who created four mermaids to correspond to the brushes. Save for this interview, information about the inspiration behind his work and his partnership with Unicorn Cosmetics was non-existent, so I gathered all my courage and reached out to this artist for an exclusive Makeup Museum interview. Initially he seemed very enthusiastic and agreed to provide answers within a week, but after not hearing anything, followed by several gentle reminders via both email and IG over the course of a month, I gave up. This is why my blogging schedule got completely off track recently, as I was patiently trying to give plenty of time to accommodate him. In the end I just couldn't wait any longer. I'm incredibly disappointed, to say the least, because I'm so interested in hearing his perspective and there wasn't any other in-depth info about this collection. Guess it's just another item to add to the long list of Museum failures. And it will most likely be the last time I contact an artist. 🙁
In an effort to not be too salty about the lack of communication on his part – us Scorpios are known to hold a grudge – I'm sharing some of Rykovich's other work, which consists of (mostly female) otherworldly beings. Everything from Disney princesses and fairy tale heroines to creatures of ancient myths are represented. I also find it interesting that they all have such long lashes – you might be aware that Unicorn Cosmetics was formerly known as Unicorn Lashes and specialized in uniquely shaped, fairly elaborate false eyelash sets that resemble the ones in Rykovich's paintings. I can only wonder if the company saw Rykovich's long-lashed beauties and reached out to him.
This magical unicorn princess was used for another Unicorn Cosmetics brush set.
This one was especially created for a new Unicorn Cosmetics palette.
(images from rykovich.com and instagram)
As for the mermaid brushes, the purpose of each one is described on the back of the postcard with Rykovich's image.
We'll start with the highlighting brush that corresponds to Bubbles.
Next up is Korali (all-over powder brush).
Delphie is for blush.
Finally, there's LiLu, used for foundation and contouring.
The brush set also came with a clamshell stand for display – how cool is that?!
I also really loved seeing the evolution of the design. These images are from January 2017 through their release at the end of the year.
Overall, I'm positively in love with these brushes. We've seen mermaid tail brushes before and they're very cute, but they lack the level of detail of the Unicorn Cosmetics set. I also think Rykovich is a perfect match for Unicorn Cosmetics, given the mutual love of magical, feminine creatures that only exist in our imagination.
What do you think? Do you have a favorite?