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Yaqi brushes...the review series continues!!

Just got a second Yaqi 22mm white handled Synthetic Tuxedo. It is quite small and very portable. It has a very short loft (I think... that's the height of the bristles?). I feel like this shortened loft gives it a lot more backbone than the knot would normally? Being Synthetic, it's real soft and dries super fast.

Figure it's a great travel brush, as well as a good test lather brush (for those lathers you are just dumping anyway). Super cheap too... Just under $12 on WCS (Out of stock right now, though).

They have become two very happy members of my brush army. [emoji4]
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I feel that Yaqi is by far the leader of the pack! Their fibres are different from the others as I find them to be thicker (giving more body and substance to the knot), have “rounder” tips, giving ultra comfort on the face and their handles to me are like a semi-custom!

I was curious about the above statement though as it would seem that you are aware that Yaqi makes brushes for most artisans out there and most being the exact same specs as Yaqi's. The exceptions would be APShaveCo and TurnNShave I believe since they have Yaqi make brushes to their specs which set them apart from Yaqi. Still, the fibers are the same with mostly the APSaveCO and TurNShave knots being more dense.

With the comment about semi-custom, I was more referring to the handles. I find that I can get creative and tasteful handles from Yaqi instead of shelling out $70+ for a custom handle. In the end, even a $70+ custom handle brush will have the exact same Yaqi knot so that's never interested me.
My comment had nothing to do with semi-custom or custom handles so I'm not sure if you really read what I posted but it was about you saying that Yaqi knots are thicker/denser and had different fibers than the competitors when its been made public that Al @ APShaveCo adn Milton @ TurnNShave have some of their knots made by Yaqi but to special specs set by them... The actual fibers are exactly the same, just the density and in some cases overall loft are different.
 
My comment had nothing to do with semi-custom or custom handles so I'm not sure if you really read what I posted but it was about you saying that Yaqi knots are thicker/denser and had different fibers than the competitors when its been made public that Al @ APShaveCo adn Milton @ TurnNShave have some of their knots made by Yaqi but to special specs set by them... The actual fibers are exactly the same, just the density and in some cases overall loft are different.

I see...LOL...you had quoted me and I wasn't sure which aspect you referred to as my original comments about semi-custom was about the handles. So yes, I did indeed read your post but taking it into context with what I wrote, it could have gone either way.

I can't comment about the fibres as apshave and TurnNshave have multiple sources for their knots.
I know from use that the TurnNshave quarter moon is likely a DS knot as is the apshave flat top knots. The cashmere is Yaqi.
It's really just an educated guess as to which knot is in which brush when it comes to brush makers.
 
M

Member 113878

Just got a second Yaqi 22mm white handled Synthetic Tuxedo. It is quite small and very portable.
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Got the same in 24mm but didn't like the handle though.
The bulb at the top is not ergonomic for me.
 
Yup, I prefer my synthetics over badgers too! I'm close to 40 synthetics now with "only" 15 badger brushes and 3 boars.

You make me feel like I am doing good controlling my buying of brushes. I have sold or giving some away. I now am left with: 9 synthetics, 3 boars, and 1 badger. That should hold me for a long while, I hope.
 
It’s me…I’m back to bring you another review of Yaqi brushes. This has become a costly hobby but hey, I’ve come this far, may as well try to get ‘em all!!

Ordered from aliexpress, the parcel arrived in 12 days to India. No hassles as usual.

My order of 6 brushes arrived with 5 synthetics and 1 two band badger in an all metal handle.

Here are some pics of the brushes:

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Shedding:

No brush has shed at all. Not one! It seems the construction quality just keeps improving! This is the first time where I haven’t had even one fibre (or badger hair) shed even when the brush is brand new.

Softness:

OK, lets face it…synthetics are basically at a point where we can’t really say one is soft and another is not soft, or is prickly, or scritchy etc. They are all luxuriously soft!

However, there is a relative difference where there is a perceptible difference in the extent of softness.

My rankings of the 5 synthetics from the most soft to the least:

- Purple haze mew brown knot

- Tall green handle with “faded” knot

- Red nebulae handle with timberwolf knot

- Yellow handle with tuxedo knot

- Mysterious space handle with tuxedo knot

Again, each and every Yaqi synthetic is soft! However, some are softer than others and that’s all I’m trying to illustrate here. I could use the mysterious space tuxedo even on irritated skin and it’ll still feel feather soft!

The two band finest in metal handle, being a badger brush, is not included in the above ranking. This one, like my other Yaqi two bands, is scritchy for the first 6 or so uses and then the tips soften up like crazy! From that point onwards, it’s just pure luxury!

You still get a scrub which you really can’t get from any synthetic, just due to the nature of the badger hair. This soft yet scrubby face feel is what keeps me coming back to my badgers despite my overall preference for synthetic brushes.

The brush is what I would regard as upper-density (not crazy dense but enough for me to say “densely packed”). The knot to loft proportion is perfect so there is no lather hogging. Also, once the two bands break in, they never eat the lather in between passes either. But in the first half dozen uses, they do eat lather and this is an annoyance but well worth it because after the break in period, I just adore the two bands!

Splay/Backbone (Glue bump):

With synthetics, I’ve come to learn that due to the softness of the tips, they are going to perform wonderfully and still feel good on the face no matter how deep the knot is set or how big the glue bump is.

However, I must say that in my recent Yaqi orders, including this one, the presence of glue bumps is really not an issue as they are 5mm or less. At 5mm, it doesn’t impact the splay of the knot. It’s the 10mm+ glue bumps that really do impact the face feel of the brush.

The Mysterious space tuxedo is the only one with a 10mm glue bump but for whatever reason, it still splays out nicely so meh…I’m not one bit bothered!

The mew brown has the most amazing splay of the brushes. I find it really balances splay with backbone very nicely and I can push down gently and get it to splay out but at the same time, have decent backbone which gives me an automatic control on the amount of splay.

The small tuxedo knot on the yellow handle also surprised me a lot! The loft is fairly short and it’s also densely packed with fibres (as are all Yaqi synthetics) so I thought it would have issues with splay but to my surprise, it splayed out beautifully! I really enjoyed this brush a lot!

The timberwolf and faded knot were both similar in splay. They both splay out nicely and have less backbone than the mew brown but more than cashmere knots (I’m referring to the Yaqi version, not APShaveCo or TurnNShave. These two are just totally floppy with zero backbone. Which is not a bad thing, just not the comparison I’m going for here).

The two band has wonderful backbone. As most of you who have used synthetics and badgers would understand that backbone and splay are totally different feelings between the two types of brushes.

The two band has wonderful backbone and the splay is just gorgeous! A slight push down and it contours the face beautifully! I know I keep saying it, but I just love the Yaqi two bands!!

Drying time:

This section has become redundant but I’ll leave it in for anyone who hasn’t read my previous reviews…

The synthetics take about 2 hours to dry out completely (I mean from deep within the knot, not just the top half of the brush). The timberwolf knot for whatever reason takes a little longer.

The two band takes about 6-8 hours to dry out mostly and about 10-12 hours for deep within the knot.

Handles:

These brushes are some of the most beautiful I’ve got!! I mean, these are just gorgeous! The purple haze and the red nebulae just blew me away!! The yellow and green handles are both transparent at the bottom half and just amazing! I’ve got a couple of other mysterious space handled brushes so that’ll always remain a favourite of mine.

Overall:

Those that have followed my review serious would know that I’ve used pretty much every synthetic brush on the market and let me give my overall impression so far of the synthetic brush market:

I feel that Yaqi is by far the leader of the pack! Their fibres are different from the others as I find them to be thicker (giving more body and substance to the knot), have “rounder” tips, giving ultra comfort on the face and their handles to me are like a semi-custom!

For overall value for money, quality, awesome handles and sheer performance…my recommendation is Yaqi overall.
Which Yaqi?...well, you can read all my reviews to figure that out!
 
It’s me…I’m back to bring you another review of Yaqi brushes. This has become a costly hobby but hey, I’ve come this far, may as well try to get ‘em all!!

Ordered from aliexpress, the parcel arrived in 12 days to India. No hassles as usual.

My order of 6 brushes arrived with 5 synthetics and 1 two band badger in an all metal handle.

Here are some pics of the brushes:

proxy.php












Shedding:

No brush has shed at all. Not one! It seems the construction quality just keeps improving! This is the first time where I haven’t had even one fibre (or badger hair) shed even when the brush is brand new.

Softness:

OK, lets face it…synthetics are basically at a point where we can’t really say one is soft and another is not soft, or is prickly, or scritchy etc. They are all luxuriously soft!

However, there is a relative difference where there is a perceptible difference in the extent of softness.

My rankings of the 5 synthetics from the most soft to the least:

- Purple haze mew brown knot

- Tall green handle with “faded” knot

- Red nebulae handle with timberwolf knot

- Yellow handle with tuxedo knot

- Mysterious space handle with tuxedo knot

Again, each and every Yaqi synthetic is soft! However, some are softer than others and that’s all I’m trying to illustrate here. I could use the mysterious space tuxedo even on irritated skin and it’ll still feel feather soft!

The two band finest in metal handle, being a badger brush, is not included in the above ranking. This one, like my other Yaqi two bands, is scritchy for the first 6 or so uses and then the tips soften up like crazy! From that point onwards, it’s just pure luxury!

You still get a scrub which you really can’t get from any synthetic, just due to the nature of the badger hair. This soft yet scrubby face feel is what keeps me coming back to my badgers despite my overall preference for synthetic brushes.

The brush is what I would regard as upper-density (not crazy dense but enough for me to say “densely packed”). The knot to loft proportion is perfect so there is no lather hogging. Also, once the two bands break in, they never eat the lather in between passes either. But in the first half dozen uses, they do eat lather and this is an annoyance but well worth it because after the break in period, I just adore the two bands!

Splay/Backbone (Glue bump):

With synthetics, I’ve come to learn that due to the softness of the tips, they are going to perform wonderfully and still feel good on the face no matter how deep the knot is set or how big the glue bump is.

However, I must say that in my recent Yaqi orders, including this one, the presence of glue bumps is really not an issue as they are 5mm or less. At 5mm, it doesn’t impact the splay of the knot. It’s the 10mm+ glue bumps that really do impact the face feel of the brush.

The Mysterious space tuxedo is the only one with a 10mm glue bump but for whatever reason, it still splays out nicely so meh…I’m not one bit bothered!

The mew brown has the most amazing splay of the brushes. I find it really balances splay with backbone very nicely and I can push down gently and get it to splay out but at the same time, have decent backbone which gives me an automatic control on the amount of splay.

The small tuxedo knot on the yellow handle also surprised me a lot! The loft is fairly short and it’s also densely packed with fibres (as are all Yaqi synthetics) so I thought it would have issues with splay but to my surprise, it splayed out beautifully! I really enjoyed this brush a lot!

The timberwolf and faded knot were both similar in splay. They both splay out nicely and have less backbone than the mew brown but more than cashmere knots (I’m referring to the Yaqi version, not APShaveCo or TurnNShave. These two are just totally floppy with zero backbone. Which is not a bad thing, just not the comparison I’m going for here).

The two band has wonderful backbone. As most of you who have used synthetics and badgers would understand that backbone and splay are totally different feelings between the two types of brushes.

The two band has wonderful backbone and the splay is just gorgeous! A slight push down and it contours the face beautifully! I know I keep saying it, but I just love the Yaqi two bands!!

Drying time:

This section has become redundant but I’ll leave it in for anyone who hasn’t read my previous reviews…

The synthetics take about 2 hours to dry out completely (I mean from deep within the knot, not just the top half of the brush). The timberwolf knot for whatever reason takes a little longer.

The two band takes about 6-8 hours to dry out mostly and about 10-12 hours for deep within the knot.

Handles:

These brushes are some of the most beautiful I’ve got!! I mean, these are just gorgeous! The purple haze and the red nebulae just blew me away!! The yellow and green handles are both transparent at the bottom half and just amazing! I’ve got a couple of other mysterious space handled brushes so that’ll always remain a favourite of mine.

Overall:

Those that have followed my review serious would know that I’ve used pretty much every synthetic brush on the market and let me give my overall impression so far of the synthetic brush market:

I feel that Yaqi is by far the leader of the pack! Their fibres are different from the others as I find them to be thicker (giving more body and substance to the knot), have “rounder” tips, giving ultra comfort on the face and their handles to me are like a semi-custom!

For overall value for money, quality, awesome handles and sheer performance…my recommendation is Yaqi overall.
Which Yaqi?...well, you can read all my reviews to figure that out!

It’s me…I’m back to bring you another review of Yaqi brushes. This has become a costly hobby but hey, I’ve come this far, may as well try to get ‘em all!!

Ordered from aliexpress, the parcel arrived in 12 days to India. No hassles as usual.

My order of 6 brushes arrived with 5 synthetics and 1 two band badger in an all metal handle.

Here are some pics of the brushes:

proxy.php












Shedding:

No brush has shed at all. Not one! It seems the construction quality just keeps improving! This is the first time where I haven’t had even one fibre (or badger hair) shed even when the brush is brand new.

Softness:

OK, lets face it…synthetics are basically at a point where we can’t really say one is soft and another is not soft, or is prickly, or scritchy etc. They are all luxuriously soft!

However, there is a relative difference where there is a perceptible difference in the extent of softness.

My rankings of the 5 synthetics from the most soft to the least:

- Purple haze mew brown knot

- Tall green handle with “faded” knot

- Red nebulae handle with timberwolf knot

- Yellow handle with tuxedo knot

- Mysterious space handle with tuxedo knot

Again, each and every Yaqi synthetic is soft! However, some are softer than others and that’s all I’m trying to illustrate here. I could use the mysterious space tuxedo even on irritated skin and it’ll still feel feather soft!

The two band finest in metal handle, being a badger brush, is not included in the above ranking. This one, like my other Yaqi two bands, is scritchy for the first 6 or so uses and then the tips soften up like crazy! From that point onwards, it’s just pure luxury!

You still get a scrub which you really can’t get from any synthetic, just due to the nature of the badger hair. This soft yet scrubby face feel is what keeps me coming back to my badgers despite my overall preference for synthetic brushes.

The brush is what I would regard as upper-density (not crazy dense but enough for me to say “densely packed”). The knot to loft proportion is perfect so there is no lather hogging. Also, once the two bands break in, they never eat the lather in between passes either. But in the first half dozen uses, they do eat lather and this is an annoyance but well worth it because after the break in period, I just adore the two bands!

Splay/Backbone (Glue bump):

With synthetics, I’ve come to learn that due to the softness of the tips, they are going to perform wonderfully and still feel good on the face no matter how deep the knot is set or how big the glue bump is.

However, I must say that in my recent Yaqi orders, including this one, the presence of glue bumps is really not an issue as they are 5mm or less. At 5mm, it doesn’t impact the splay of the knot. It’s the 10mm+ glue bumps that really do impact the face feel of the brush.

The Mysterious space tuxedo is the only one with a 10mm glue bump but for whatever reason, it still splays out nicely so meh…I’m not one bit bothered!

The mew brown has the most amazing splay of the brushes. I find it really balances splay with backbone very nicely and I can push down gently and get it to splay out but at the same time, have decent backbone which gives me an automatic control on the amount of splay.

The small tuxedo knot on the yellow handle also surprised me a lot! The loft is fairly short and it’s also densely packed with fibres (as are all Yaqi synthetics) so I thought it would have issues with splay but to my surprise, it splayed out beautifully! I really enjoyed this brush a lot!

The timberwolf and faded knot were both similar in splay. They both splay out nicely and have less backbone than the mew brown but more than cashmere knots (I’m referring to the Yaqi version, not APShaveCo or TurnNShave. These two are just totally floppy with zero backbone. Which is not a bad thing, just not the comparison I’m going for here).

The two band has wonderful backbone. As most of you who have used synthetics and badgers would understand that backbone and splay are totally different feelings between the two types of brushes.

The two band has wonderful backbone and the splay is just gorgeous! A slight push down and it contours the face beautifully! I know I keep saying it, but I just love the Yaqi two bands!!

Drying time:

This section has become redundant but I’ll leave it in for anyone who hasn’t read my previous reviews…

The synthetics take about 2 hours to dry out completely (I mean from deep within the knot, not just the top half of the brush). The timberwolf knot for whatever reason takes a little longer.

The two band takes about 6-8 hours to dry out mostly and about 10-12 hours for deep within the knot.

Handles:

These brushes are some of the most beautiful I’ve got!! I mean, these are just gorgeous! The purple haze and the red nebulae just blew me away!! The yellow and green handles are both transparent at the bottom half and just amazing! I’ve got a couple of other mysterious space handled brushes so that’ll always remain a favourite of mine.

Overall:

Those that have followed my review serious would know that I’ve used pretty much every synthetic brush on the market and let me give my overall impression so far of the synthetic brush market:

I feel that Yaqi is by far the leader of the pack! Their fibres are different from the others as I find them to be thicker (giving more body and substance to the knot), have “rounder” tips, giving ultra comfort on the face and their handles to me are like a semi-custom!

For overall value for money, quality, awesome handles and sheer performance…my recommendation is Yaqi overall.
Which Yaqi?...well, you can read all my reviews to figure that out!
 
@Metricman
I can see you've quoted my post but I don't see any additional comments from you.
Perhaps you can post again without quoting my post?
 
You make me feel like I am doing good controlling my buying of brushes. I have sold or giving some away. I now am left with: 9 synthetics, 3 boars, and 1 badger. That should hold me for a long while, I hope.

It's more than enough and I know I've gone way overboard...which is odd as I'm actually a minimalist/utilitarian in all other aspects of my life.
 
Nice review @nav. I have used two Yaqi brushes, Sagrada Familia synthetic and Mysterious Space Silvertip. Both were/are fantastic, especially considering the price point!
 
Nice review @nav. I have used two Yaqi brushes, Sagrada Familia synthetic and Mysterious Space Silvertip. Both were/are fantastic, especially considering the price point!

They are indeed fantastic value for money. Even their badger brushes punch way above their weight! 5 years ago, the exact same brush would have costed $100, which we can now get for $30!

This explains everything. Mine has the classic 10mm and has very high backbone. Thank you.

Oh yeah, that's a little too high for this short lofted brush. The 10mm bump on their 26mm knots don't seem to impact too much but I can understand it would on the sagrada brush.
 
Another use of the purple haze and this is becoming one of my overall favorites! The knot is just wonderful! The handle is the perfect weight and diameter, making it very ergonomic. It's a pleasure to use this brush!!
 
You have the mew and the tuxedo so I'd highly recommend you try the rainbow brush with the faux horse (brown synthetic) knot. Wonderful knot with an awesome, unique handle.

i have finally ordered this one.. my other two syand tuxedo at 24mm, this rainbow with pony knot is 26mm


yaqi rainbow.png
nths are the mew
 
Another use of the purple haze and this is becoming one of my overall favorites! The knot is just wonderful! The handle is the perfect weight and diameter, making it very ergonomic. It's a pleasure to use this brush!!
+1 Feel the same way... a winner in my book
 
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