The word NEED is the key word here!! The make up brushes you hold in your arsenal are there to make the task of make up easier. I have lots of brushes in my professional kit and I wouldn't expect any one person to need the same amount of brushes to use on themselves. Fact is sometimes too many brushes can be confusing! I'm sure if you go to a make up counter they will have a lot of brushes on offer that you don't necessarily need but they certainly can help in making doing your own make up easier , better and making it more long lasting. This post will give you a guideline on the brushes you require to do make up on your self and overview of the brushes I like to use.
When I bring out my brush roll I usually hear a little swoon and the occasional gasp yes they look impressive and they really allow me to do my job well they are made up of a combination of the original brushes I trained with (from Napoleon Perdis), a select few MAC brushes and some from Real Techniques. My own personal brushes are an even more a random selection that I've collected over the years. The fact is you will never need as many brushes as a professional make up artist as you have these wonderful things called fingers that you can supplement your tool kit with! I will come back to fingers in my next post.
{What brushes do you need?}
Here is the list I give my #molmakeuplesson clients and remember you can have more or less than these and you can use them in a multi-purpose way.
For a flawless face:
- Foundation brush this can be a flat foundation brush or a rounded buffing style/Kabuki
- concealer brush- again flat or rounded
- powder/blush brush or both
- Kabuki or buffing brush (if you are over the age of 20 you fill find this brush helpful!)
Planning on making eyes at someone... you better get these on your list:
- eyeshadow brush a flat brush for ‘laying down’ the colour
- eyeshadow brush a fluffy brush for blending in the crease of your eye for example the infamous 'MAC 217'
- angled liner brush
- Eyelash curlers (shu uemura expensive at £20 a pop but trust me totally worth it!)
- A 'spoolie' for combing though your brows or you could use a clean mascara wand
Lips are the first thing a man notices about you....apparently
{Size isn't everything ladies!}
When picking your brushes keep the size of your features in mind. A big voluminous powder brush might be ok just to apply a layer of translucent powder to set your make up but its unlikely you will be using it for anything precise...the smaller the brush the more precisely you can use it. Maybe choosing a smaller powder brush would be better and you can multi-use to scuplt your face with bronzer, apply your blusher and use it to powder (don't forget to clean it off between each step) If you have small eyes a big eyeshadow brush isn't going to be much use to you you will likely end up getting shadow everywhere go for a smaller more precise brush or if you have big eyes a small blending brush isn't going to help your case much either!
{No messing about...buy these brushes}
I'm a big fan of the
Real Techniques Brush sets and this is not a sponsored post I've just decided to break it down and make to easier to decide what to buy. They are beautifully soft dense brushes that last well...sometimes the descriptions are confusing for example the deluxe crease brush is not an eyeshadow brush but more a 'buffing' concealer brush so use it to buff concealer under the eyes without sinking into fine lines. Putting a big brush like this near your crease shouts out panda eye to me even in the hands of a professional! So look at the brush and think of it in it's possible multi-use forms could you use a fine eyeliner brush with a bit of concealer to pin point conceal a blemish? I think so! These are my go to brushes I recommend
The Core Collection and
The Starter Kit (you can buy directly from the affiliate links at the bottom of this post) The Buffing Brush is my favourite when applying foundation it really gives an amazing airbrush style finish. This is also my go to brush for make up top up I usually 'buff' with a clean brush if there has been any settlement of the make up in fine lines or frown lines! I also like
the expert face sponge (use damp) to apply foundation and blend off hard edges off concealer/blush etc. If you don't want a whole set and are only looking for a buffing style brush for quick and airbrush style application I recommend the
Expert Face Brush.
I am a BIG fan of the Kabuki brush and all it's variations and the Eco Tools range also do these so well and are great value for money. Im also a big fab of their tapered blush brush for applying bronzer in a contouring way. You can buy online
here.
Good brushes are an investment, the majority of my brushes were bought over 7 years ago but because I have maintained them and taken care of them they are still in good condition, so yes, this might be somewhat of an outlay if you are starting from scratch but there is so much option out there you can have a good selection of brushes for any budget.
I hope this has helped you in the quest to the find best make up brushes to use in your own tool kit. These brushes are all high quality with a reasonable price point so you can afford to spend a bit more on your make up! We will revisit tools in a future lesson & how you can use fingers effectively in your make up application.
{More on how to do your own make up...}
or if you are Melbourne based and would like to book and one on one lesson or special occasion make over read more about my make up services
here.
