The snow was not done with a brush.

The ice was.

Much of the snow in my backgrounds (which this is one of) is done by hand and yes it takes FOREVER.  See also my Beautiful Orient Winter Collection backgrounds - every bit of snow on every single branch is hand painted with a pretty basic brush.

 

The tutorials and other methods are great, but I still feel that doing it all by hand is the way to go...

Trust me, I wish I did have a secret trick for snow that worked perfect every time but it just doesn't.