These are the foundation brushes I currently own. From top to bottom above: Koyudo fu-pa02, Tom Ford 02, Wayne Goss 01, Shu Uemura 18, Chikuhodo G-10.
The Koyudo fu-pa02 Foundation Brush is actually my favorite of the bunch. It's made of white goat hair, has a short stubby handle and retails for about $36 on cdjapan.co.jp. It has a flat paddle shape. I love this one because it blends well and isn't streaky in application. It's super soft and fairly dense.
Size Compared with Tom Ford 02:
Top view: Top Tom Ford 02, Bottom Koyudo fu-pa 02:
Size comparison of the rest of the brushes: L to R: Tom Ford 02, Wayne Goss 01, Shu Uemura 18, Chikuhodo G-10:
Top View: Top to Bottom: Chikuhodo G-10, Shu Uemura 18, Wayne Goss 01, Tom Ford 02:
Tom Ford's Cream Foundation or #02 brush is a small dense brush. This has a flat rounded paddle shape. It's designed to be used with Tom Ford's foundation stick, but I find it can do just about anything. I like it for cream and liquid foundations, blush, and other cream products. If you get one Tom Ford brush this should be it. It's made of super soft white goat hair and retails for $72. This and the Koyudo are my must haves of the bunch. The Koyudo really is foundation only, and while I do use the Tom Ford for foundation because it gives a streak free finish, it also gets used for other purposes and is more my multi-purpose brush.
The Wayne Goss 01 Foundation Brush is a duo fibre brush, it has synthetic fibers blended with real hairs, most likely white goat. Beautylish's website doesn't list the hair type. It retails for $45 and has a round shape with a flat slanted top. You can see the synthetic fibers in the second photo are longer than the real hairs. I was not a fan of this brush. It gave a streaky application. I also tried it for blush and didn't like how it performed with that either. It didn't do well blending. Compared to the other brushes I have I much prefer any of them to this one.
The Shu Uemura 18 is a small foundation brush made of white goat hair. It has a flat, round paddle shape. This is almost too small for my tastes as a foundation brush, I prefer it for cream and liquid blush. This used to be sold in the US but now it's not, so if you want one you have to get it from an international site. It's a nice little brush, just not what I like for foundation. If you don't like smaller foundation brushes skip this one. I find the smaller ones harder to work with. I can get a streak free finish with this brush, it just requires more work.
The Chikuhodo G-10 is the smallest foundation brush of the bunch. It's made of white goat hair and has a flat round paddle shape. The retail is $29 on visageusa.com. I find it almost too small for foundation and prefer it for blush, cream highlighters or even contouring. It does leave a bit of a streaky finish for liquid foundation.
In comparison: the most dense to least dense: Tom Ford 02, Wayne Goss 01, Koyudo fu-pa 02, Chikuhodo G-10, Shu Uemura 18(the last three brushes are really pretty close in density, it's the size and length of hair that makes it feel more or less dense). The softest to least soft: Koyudo fu-pa 02, Tom Ford 02, Chikuhodo G-10, Shu Uemura 18, Wayne Goss 01. The largest to smallest: Koyudo fu-pa 02, Tom Ford 02, Wayne Goss 01, Shu Uemura 18, Chikuhodo G-10. The Tom Ford and Koyudo are the only two I would consider necessary for me. The others I could live without, and though designed for foundation I use them for other purposes.