Since I have small eyes I prefer the 217 for the most part since it has a more precise tip, however this is still an excellent brush for blending out the crease or for a final blending one over to get rid of any harsh lines.

This is a HG brush for me ... I went in to MAC to be color matched for a new undereye concealer and the girl applied it with this brush a la Pixiwoo and Pixi2woo on Youtube. I had, of course, seen them do it before but I was blown away when I saw on myself how this blends the concealer in without tugging on my eye area AT ALL. Not even the teeniest bit of skin moved, even the smallest amount. When I use my fingers, I always worry about tugging, even when I do it very carefully. I bought the brush because of that and hope to be able to use it for many years to come (and save me some premature wrinkles).

This brush is a dream when it comes to blending out shadows. I LOVE my 224 brush! I am so thrilled with this purchase and feel the higher price tag is totally justified. Easy to work with, excellent at blending, and soft on the eye lids. Great buy!

This is not just a blending brush but a great brush for defining the crease. It even compensates for difficult shadows e.g. Bobbi Brown's metallic plum, enabling them to apply easily. I got this shadow because Alexa from the show Jerseylicious (who seems like a crazed perfectionist about makeup - and I mean that in a good way) mentioned it on the show. I have a nice collection of quality brushes but I thought I could use this one and I was so glad that I purchased it. Thanks Alexa! Hope you sneak in more advice on the show - I'll be listening.

I use this only to blend out crease colours and it works amazingly!! It's foolproof and instantly softens and blends out shadows with little effort or fuss.
I have tried a few other brushes from other companies that look similar in size and shape, but nothing beats the quality, craftmanship, and performance of MAC's 224!

Wow... Finding out about this brush was a god-send!

Just about every girl/guy on youtube mentions it and it appears on many "Must have brushes" lists...

I have two of them now. One I use soley for dark crease colours and the other is for blending out the harsh lines and maybe using a lighter shade to blend up to brow bone.

Makes doing a smokey eye a doddle.Well done MAC.

xx Strawberry

I have two of these and use them for two different purposes. One I use to apply shadow to my crease/outer v, and it works perfect since I have rather large eyes. It always gives me a gorgeous application and is pretty fool-proof. My second 224 I use to apply my liquid MAC concealer. Again, gorgeous and fool-proof. It looks totally natural and really distributes the product evenly. I love my 224s, and if I ever want to add to my collection, this would be one of the brushes I would repurchase due to its versatility.

224 is the perfect brush for blending (works great also for applying eyeshadow to the crease) ..... while it is large and fluffy, it gives me a perfect and flawless application each and every time ...... I have never used MAC's other blending brush to compare, but I am very pleased with my 224.

This is a good brush but I do not use it to apply color, only to blend it out. It is too large for my eye but I do love it for my purpose!

This is a good brush to have, but it really serves one purpose for me and that is for blending. But eversince I bought the 227, this brush has just been lying around in my brush holder. So Im not sure if I would buy this brush again. Its not really something that I often grab for..I like it but I don't love it.