Koyudo fu-pa Series is one of the legendary Koyudo brush series designed in a compact format and developed especially for the application of makeup base products. Unfortunately, most of the brushes from this series got discontinued and very few are still left for your consideration. Those that do still exist are definitely worth considering, as they represent some of the more unique Fude brushes on the market.
The first brush I want to talk about is the fu-pa02 CB Foundation Brush. This brush is super densely packed, soft, and it feels great on the skin. Its main advantage lies in its ergonomic shape which is both round and flat, and nicely tapers in all directions. It can be used like a paddle brush in a sweeping motion to quickly cover large areas of the face, or perpendicular to the skin in a circular motion to buff products into the skin. Its rounded corners allow you to easily reach the smaller crevices around the nose and under the eyes. It can also be used on its edge for contouring with cream products. It truly is an ergonomic and multitasking brush! The version I have is made from 100% goat hair, but the currently available brush is made out of a mix of natural goat and synthetic hair. I do not have this reformulated brush, but given that synthetic bristles usually work well with liquid and cream product, I do not suspect the addition of some synthetic bristles should negatively impact its performance. If you have tried the new mixed version, please let me know your experiences with it in the comments.
The next brush I have is the fu-pa14 CB Gray Squirrel Brush. It is by far the densest squirrel brush I own, packed very densely to allow it to be used in a buffing motion to apply powder foundations. Of course, such density requires a lot of fine squirrel hairs in the production, which inevitably increases the price. According to the website, the brush has some goat hair mixed in, however this is completely undetectable. The brush feels super soft and is an absolute joy to use. If, however, you are not a powder foundation person, then you might skip this brush, or even considering getting two fu-pa-02 brushes for the same amount of money. To be fair, you can never have too many foundation brushes as no one likes to wash them constantly. That is at least my excuse for buying more of them. 😛
The last brush that I own, fu-pa 12-P Large Liquid Foundation Brush, is unfortunately discontinued, so I do not want to spend too much time on it. All I want to mention is that the brush had a uniquely angled shape with a variable density, as can be seen in the pictures below. I know that some people really enjoyed this unique shape, but my personal preference is the shape of fu-pa-02, which is fortunately still available. In fact, fu-pa02 is in my opinion a must have foundation brush that I recommend to everyone interested in Japanese brushes. Fortunately, it is also relatively affordable, taking into consideration the overall range of Fude prices.
Finally, I do want to mention that fu-pa brushes exist in two versions of the handles: the flat handle and a rounded handle. The ones with a flat handle (like mine) are available only on the CDJapan website as this seems to be a special collaboration between Koyudo and CDJapan. Other retailers only have the rounded versions. The advantage of the flat handle is that the brush can stand vertically on its handle, but ultimately it comes down to your own personal preference.
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