Marie’s Watercolour Brushes Review

Hi friends! I have been using Marie’s watercolour brushes for a month now, and feel that it is enough time to do a review. If you don’t know Marie’s, it is a Chinese brand that makes paints and art supplies. I have previously reviewed Marie’s Masters watercolours (professional grade) if you are interested in reading it. For your information, I bought two sets of Marie’s watercolour brushes from Marie’s official store on AliExpress.

I know, not everyone is comfortable shopping on AliExpress, and I am not here to shill because I paid for these brushes myself, and have no affiliate links/code. If you do purchase on AliExpress just be careful to buy from the brand, not from individual sellers, if you want that peace of mind. Some brands do have their own flagship stores on the platform. Their prices are typically a bit higher than from resellers.

Marie’s Black Watercolour Paint Brush Set

I will start with the black set. From the design, this reminds me so much of the Black Velvet Silver Brushes. The Black Velvet Silver brushes are some of my favourite watercolour brushes because they are a perfect combination of spring and water absorbency. I somehow expected Marie’s to be an affordable version of the Black Velvet Silver brushes. This whole set of 6 round brushes retails for about CAD$14 on AliExpress, which is the price of the round size 2 of the Black Velvet Silver brush I own.

I put Marie’s side by side with the Black Velvet Silver brush so you can see the size comparisons. Marie’s brushes have much longer handles than the typical watercolour brushes from western brands. I find this to be the case in many Chinese watercolour brushes which I think can also be used for gouache or acrylic.

The design aside, I would say the similarities end right here. I am going to get to the review part now.

Marie’s Black Watercolour Brushes Review

This is the last painting I used the black brush set on. The bristles have a lot of spring to them, so these can be used for gouache for sure. They are definitely very springy. I will also compare them to some of the other budget brands I have tried, namely Artegria which I find was closer to the feel of the Black Velvet Silver brushes than Marie’s. I will say that I prefer Artegria brushes much more, because they are softer and absorb more water and paint than Marie’s. Marie’s black watercolour brush set is nothing like Black Velvet Silver brushes or Artegria’s.

Blue Watercolour Paint Brush Set

The second watercolour brush set from Marie’s comes in pastel blue handles, but retails for cheaper even though it has 7 brushes. I paid CAD$8.99 for this set. When it arrived I immediately recall a similar brush set by Adaxi (also known as Giorgione) even though the handle is a light aqua and the ferrule is gold rather than silver. The length of the handle is the same as well!

Also, the size of the Marie’s blue watercolour brush set is not the same as the standard western size. The 6 is like a 10 in western size.

Marie’s Blue Watercolour Brushes Review

The feel of the blue set is pretty much the same as the Giorgione/Adaxi brushes and the black set from Marie’s. It is very springy. While the larger brushes can hold more water and paint, the smaller ones don’t hold much liquid. They are good for detailing because the tips hold their point.

The blue brushes perform just like the black ones. Do you need both sets? No. One is enough. I do feel that these are better for gouache than for watercolour, but you can certain do both with these.

Thoughts on Marie’s Watercolour Brushes

Considering I paid less than CAD$24 for 13 brushes, I should not complain. However, I don’t think these are a must. They are certainly much better than those Taklon brushes you find at craft stores, the kind that you throw away after one or two uses and those are pretty much at the same price point too. These are not bad, but really not necessary in my opinion. It is a matter of personal preference too when it comes to watercolour brushes. My favourite brushes have a good amount of spring but not to the point of stiff and don’t hold enough water. These are okay but not my ideal brushes. Personally I think the Artegria brushes are much better, though they are also more expensive. I told myself I will not buy cheap brushes to test anymore and yet here I am! 😛