Not a full review because I am still trying to make this work, but I wanted to talk about why it is taking so long to see if I can make it work.
My husband picked this out for me, probably because I had been watching a video that talked about how great Kabuki brushes were at making some aspect of makeup easier and my husband is all about making things easier for me. Because it takes me a while to start using new things when I get them, it sat unused for a few months. When I finally opened it I found it to be very scratchy against my hand so I set it aside for washing to hope that would soften the bristles. I then forgot to wash it for a while because it was off to the side and not where I normally store the brushes to wash. I finally washed it.
First thing to note: This brush has a smell and it is not a good one. I don't remember it smelling before I washed, but afterwards it smelled like wet dog or maybe horse, I am not really sure which, and not a nice clean smelling wet, but a stuck out in the rain and mud and probably rolled in something it shouldn't have wet. I actually washed it about four times and soaked it for a while which I will explain my reasoning for in a minute, but it does appear that the smell is dissipating so from that aspect, it may eventually be usable against my face.
Second thing to note: It did get a lot softer after the first washing. I used Johnson and Johnson's baby shampoo just incase you have this brush and are trying to find something to help soften the bristles.
Third thing to note: The reason why I soaked the brush for several hours on the day that I washed it was because it leaks dye. It leaks a lot of dye actually. Every hour I would ring out the brush and replace the water in the bowl I was using and every hour when I went back the water was dark brown again. I still haven't gotten it to stop leaking dye. This problem is actually what is preventing me from actually using the brush against my face with makeup. I plan to continue washing it with my regular brushes once a week to see if it will eventually stop leaking dye. If I do manage to get this to stop leaking dye I will try and remember to update this post, but no promises.