I'm single.

Thank you, Kraum.

Something very strange is happening which has me questioning how well we know each other.

Let’s retrace our steps: Kraum launched November of last year with a set of five Micro Brushes. It needed to go live before holiday, considering the undeniable giftability of a well-packaged set of handmade makeup brushes, the likes of which the recipient is guaranteed to have never seen before. She’ll love them, and she did!

With time, I expected a growing volume of requests for individual brushes. It’s something I’d always envisioned: a selection of makeup brushes akin to pen displays at the art supply store. You can shop by shape of the tip and the weight of the stroke, and they’re all very organized in their correct slots, in neat little stacks.

Meanwhile, I’d been designing the packaging for these future individual brushes. Grosgrain-inspired trim, technical specs on the bottom panel, color-coded seals which indicate the model. Embossed logos with black foil. Or did I mean deboss? I get them confused.

I built prototypes out of scraps of hardboard I had hoarded for something of this magnitude. I spent too much time flipping through Pantone chip books just to realize I should have gone with the seal colors that the designers recommended to begin with. I sent a groveling Whatsapp at 2AM in Marrakech asking them to update the artwork. Forgive me Dilan and Danny, you were right.

Do you see what I mean?

Here we are now, the future, where Kraum brushes are now available individually—all five of the Micros, and two new larger styles. Even a full-sized version of the Brush Soap can now be purchased by itself, a product so in demand that several returning customers found and purchased a hidden draft listing through the Shop app a month before it went live—at a placeholder price of $20 per ounce! What’s the Shop app and how did it get there? Beats me!

Speaking of, the official launch was last Thursday—we had a party and everything. Lauren Coleman took new photos, I grew my nails for weeks to get the back-lit yellowy "smoker’s nails” we became a little obsessed with from 60s and 70s ad references.

Left: the Micro Taper, Right: the Micro Angle

Yet, the elusive first-time purchaser evades my strategy entirely.

I can’t say I’m disappointed, because a majority of them are opting for the full five-model Micro Brush Set regardless of the ability to choose a la carte. Not to dissuade you from spending a full $150, but if what you’re experiencing is decision paralysis, here’s the one-liner on each model:

• For powder eyeshadow: the Eye Shaper (new)

• For winged cat-eye eyeliner: the Micro Angle

• For precision edges and hair-like strokes: the Micro Square

• For spot concealer and smokey wings: the Micro Taper

• For pin-point dots and baby winged eyeliner: the Micro Saber

• For smudgy, smoky eyes and highlighting inner corners: the Micro Swab

• For liquids and cream on all parts of the face: the Midi Flat (new)

Single life is so freeing.

-Annie