Beauty How-To: Essential Makeup Brushes

Let’s face it, more often than not the tools used behind the scene often take a backseat to colour cosmetics. Personally, I’ve never been one to care about brushes much despite the emphasis placed on their importance. My philosophy was that any product that you can’t make work without additional tools isn’t worth it- with the exception of powder blushes and gel liners. All of this changed with one brush that I discovered earlier this year (a foundation brush I’ll go into detail about soon) and since then I have been trying to build a selective collection of ‘essential’ makeup brushes.

The brush that converted me is a multipurpose one that I adore for foundation. Before this brush I had tried a number of others but always found my fingers to do the trick much better than them all. I’ve tried it for powders and cream blushes and it works a dream for those two as well. The brush I am talking about is the Real Techniques ‘Buffing Brush’. This brush is a dense, curved top brush that blends liquids and creams smoothly without streak marks. The brush is much bigger than a generic face/foundation brush so it spreads makeup quickly and efficiently. When I use this brush it literally takes me about thirty seconds to apply my foundation and the finish is much, much smoother than when I did it with fingers. It has beaten out all the other brushes and sponges I have ever tried, a true essential and hands down my all time favourite makeup tool. This brush can be bought online as a part of the core collection (with three other brushes) from iherb.com for $18.

The next brush I believe that everyone should own is a good blush brush. Many blushes don’t come with a brush (those that do seem to make them quite poorly) so this brush is something that you actually need if you use blush. My personal favourite is just the EcoTools blush brush you can snag from Priceline for $16.99. The brush is very soft and dense and doesn’t irritate the skin like many blush brushes can. What I love about blush brushes is that you really can use any type of brush, while it is definitely an essential it’s not really a product that you need to invest bucket-loads of cash in.

For those that prefer gel liners, you’ll know that brushes are basically as important as the product itself. In this case, it really depends on your personal preference- some people prefer angled brushes where as some prefer a finer, pointed tip. Both the MAC 211 and 266 ($37 and $39 respectively) do the trick for gel liners, these brushes- though expensive, are truly top quality products. They make applying gel liner so easy; the bristles packed together in a design that spreads the product smoothly for that perfect, sharp line.

The last brush I would have extreme difficulty living without is a blending brush for eye shadow. For packing on colour to the lids, I have no problems with using fingers or the sponge applicator that’s usually provided. However when I’m doing a more complex look that requires 3+ colours, this brush is a godsend. I use the Lancome no. 17, $23 on Strawberrynet.com which is the perfect size for evening out harsh edges left by bright or deeper coloured shadows.

As you can all see, my essential brushes are kept shaved down to the bare minimum. Which brushes do you guys feel are essential, if any? Let me know!

Xx Jen