Our Editorial Guidelines
Transparency and thoroughness underpin every review and guide we publish. This page explains how we select products, score them, and maintain editorial integrity.
How We Select Products to Review
We identify brushes for review through a combination of:
- Market research — tracking new releases and best-sellers across major art supply retailers.
- Reader requests — we regularly survey our audience and monitor comments for brushes they want reviewed.
- Category gaps — if we notice a category (e.g., mop brushes, travel brushes) lacks thorough coverage, we prioritize it.
- Professional recommendations — art educators and professional watercolorists we consult often flag under-reviewed tools.
Our Scoring Methodology
Every brush is scored on a 10-point scale across five criteria:
- Water Retention — measured by stroke count from a single load on 140lb cold press paper.
- Point Quality — evaluated with detail work at sizes 2, 6, and 12 after 5, 20, and 50 sessions.
- Snap-Back— bristle recovery measured at 45° and 90° deflection angles.
- Durability — tracked across 50+ sessions for shedding, ferrule integrity, and point degradation.
- Value — performance-per-dollar relative to the category average.
The overall score is a weighted average. No single criterion can override the others — a brush must perform well across all five to earn a top recommendation.
Affiliate Relationship Transparency
We participate in the Amazon Associates program and similar affiliate programs. When you click a product link and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Affiliate revenue funds our brush purchases, testing materials, and editorial work. It never influences which products we recommend or how we score them. We have given low scores to products with lucrative affiliate rates and high scores to products that earn us very little.
Manufacturer Relationships
We do not accept free brushes, sponsorships, or payments from manufacturers in exchange for reviews. Every brush we test is purchased at retail price with our own funds.
We may contact manufacturers to verify product specifications or clarify material sourcing, but editorial decisions — what we review, how we score it, and what we recommend — remain solely ours.
Updates and Corrections
We re-test top picks every 6 months to verify long-term durability claims. If a manufacturer changes their brush (new materials, new factory, different bristle blend), we re-evaluate and update our review with a note explaining the change.
If we make an error — factual, scoring, or otherwise — we correct it promptly and note the correction at the top of the article.
Suggest a Brush or Report an Inaccuracy
Have a brush you think we should test? Spotted an error in one of our reviews? Email us at hello@bestwatercolorbrushes.com and we will review it within two business days.
See also: About Us · Affiliate Disclosure