I've suffered major blush woes in my life, mainly because I've never found a brush that applies it exactly where I want and gives me complete control to use. Sigma, Real Techniques and Bdellium tools, I've used brushes from these brands but I never was completely satisfied with the outcome. But, all that has now changed since I bought the 116! The most recent brush to my collection, I utterly love it. I was so torn between the 129 and 116, but I'm so glad I went for the latter. It's small head applies the blush EXACTLY where I want it to be applied, and distributes colour on my cheeks evenly, no matter what the blush formula is, loose, sheertone, shimmer etc. I just turn it on it's side and then apply my blush upwards towards my hairline. I think it works so well because the hairs are natural, not synthetic. Very soft too. No more blush issues for me!

I've been investing in MAC brushes, and I've been happy with every single one of them. I use the 116 for blush, and it works great. I haven't tried other high-end brush lines, but all my MAC brushes appear to be excellent quality. The hairs rarely shed. My only complaint is the brush #'s wear off the handle, which can be annoying. I like to know exactly what I'm using, especially if I need to replace or buy backup brushes. For that I will take off 1 point, but I still would repurchase/recommend the 116 blush brush, as well as MAC brushes in general.


I've also read from the blog of makeup artist Stephen Moleski (whose work is so beautiful) that he uses MAC brushes and that they are free-range.

This brush is great for contouring and applying blush. The hairs are very soft. My only problem is it sheds...not as bad as the 129, but still, when I spend $34 on a brush, I don't expect it to start shedding the first couple of times I use it. I can deal with it for now but eventually I am going to look for a replacement for it...

a very nice brush for highlighting, contouring and blush. i think i was confused at first because i have the sigma f10 and thought yeah these are gunna be both dupes, meaning actually the same brushes. but i was wrong, the mac 116 is much taller then the f10 and its hairs not flared out, 116 is more tappered,the handle has more shine and more quailty. 116 is way better overall id have to say, it feels fuller and i also think mac brushes are worth it. i wanted the 165 tappered brush from mac,rather then 116 but sadly thats discountinued and the sigma version of 165 is not very good, not pointy at all like 165, the sigma version people are saying is the f35 brush.

This brush is way too scratchy. It doesn't distribute the pigments well. There are a brushes that are cheaper and work so much better.

This brush is small enough to be precise, but fluffy enough that it doesn't leave a stripe of colour. It picks up the perfect amount of powder blush, and it blends the colour on beautifully. Very soft bristles. Would repurchase (though I doubt I would ever need to since I take very good care of all my brushes).

mac must not like me shopping there. i bought this for $34.00 plus tax and I was so excited. However when I used it, I noticed 3 hairs were left on my cheek. I was being gentle. I even pre-washed it with brush cleanser and used baby soap to clean it. It still sheds and not as soft as I thought it would be. ugh.. once again I had high expectations from this brand and was let down.


the size is perfect for applying it on the apples of my cheek and using it to apply highlighter as well, but the hairs are semi-soft, can be scratchy at times, sheds excessively, and expensive


luckily my 109 is soft (138 is even softer and high quality) and so far hasnt suffered from balding syndrome

I returned it because im scared if i continued to use this for the next year, it'd be bald and im left with a thick chopstick.

This is my first MAC brush and I love it!
It's soft and it doesn't shed one bit!!
I use this brush for applying blush and highlighter (it's tapered so i can apply highlighter on my nose bridge with the tapered side :) )
The handle is just right.
I'm hoping this brush will last a long time, cz it's quite and invesment :)

I love to use this brush for highlighting and contouring. This brush doesn't shed and applies product evenly.

I remember a time when MAC brushes were the highly coveted brushes. I waited forever to get this, thinking that my drugstore brushes, sigma, ecotools, posh, gosh etc would replace this blush brush, but I caved one day recently and bought it. It was $41 CAD, brought it home and noticed how pokey on my face it was, definitely not as soft as I imagined. This one went right back. I gotta say my Sigma dupe is softer and nicer, that is my honest opinion.