Makeup professionals all agree, the key to looking beautiful when applying your makeup is using the right tools. Good makeup brushes are much better than using the tiny brushes that come with your blush and powder, “It’s not that you can’t look good if you use those wee foam-tipped things,” Janine Falcon of Canadian Living Magazine points out, “you can, particularly if nature’s given you slender and nimble fingers. Good brushes, however, give you more variety in your application, and they’re easier to hold and to wield. As well, you’ll get a more controllable, natural finish.”
You don’t need a lot of makeup brushes for everyday use; in fact, most of us will only end up using five on a daily basis. Those five brushes are the ones you’ll want to replace when they become worn. They also make perfect gifts for someone just starting out with brushes too. Here are five every day, multi-tasking makeup brushes you should have in your collection along with some tips for maximizing their potential.
1. Eyeliner Brush
Even if you don’t wear eyeliner every day, a stiff, angled eyeliner brush is a good brush to have. Use it for creating sharp, elegant eyeliner, or wet the tip and apply a dark eye shadow for a faux liner look. Choose the darkest shade of shadow in your eye shadow quad or trio and with the sharpest point of the angle toward the outer corner of your lid, apply as close to the base of your lashes as possible pulling outwards. If you can’t give up your favorite pencil eyeliner, “color” in the ends of your angled brush by stroking the ends with the pencil before applying to the lash line instead of using the pencil by itself. It gives you a softer look than the harsh, obvious liner.
This angled brush is also great for adding tint to your eyebrows as well as doubling as lip brush.
Our detailer brush can be found in our Touch Up Set. Use this brush to apply color and define the crease of the eye with shadow. After you use a light eye shadow color from your lid to brow, use a medium shade to add depth to your eyes. Looking straight into the mirror, apply the tip of the brush to the outside corner of your eye and sweep it back and forth in your crease. If you have deep set eyes, just make sure to apply a darker color along the lash line to make eyes pop. You can also use your detailer brush for applying all over eye color or adding a pop of bright color along the lash line. This is another brush that can be used for lip color as well. If you want a little larger brush for defining your eyes, try our Angled Crease Brush from the 6 Piece Eye Brush Set.
While you can use your finger to apply concealer under your eyes, for covering blemishes, you need a brush. A good concealer brush will help you avoid adding bacteria to your blemish. Dip the tip of your brush into a concealer and apply a tiny bit over your blemish with a feather light touch. Follow up with a sweep of powder to keep concealer in place. In a pinch, this brush can also double as an eye shadow brush.
4. Blush Brush
Hands down, this brush is the most important. If you use a brush that’s too small for blush you’ll end up with a streaky mess, but use a brush that’s too big, you’ll have no control and blush everywhere! Swirl your blush brush in pressed powdered blush and tap off the excess. We like a powder that has multiple pinks and beiges mixed together for a natural glow. To apply, simply smile, swirl blush on the roundest part of your cheeks in a circular motion and then pull up towards your hairline in a light swoop. You can also use your blush brush to apply bronzer in a pinch, just make sure to clean it before applying blush again!
This new brush is a multi-tasking maven. Use it to apply foundation, powder, blush, and bronzer. If you apply in that order, from lightest to darkest, you won’t even have to clean the brush in between steps. Just make sure to tap off the excess powder and blush before beginning each step. A small, circular motion helps this brush buff away shine and imperfection. It’s also great with mineral makeup as its densely packed.
Don’t Forget…
To avoid icky build-up and to make sure your brushes work as well as they should, you should clean your brushes regularly. For the sake of good skin care and financial sense…clean brushes last longer…cleaning your brushes once a week should suffice. You can use a gentle foaming hand soap or eco-friendly shampoo and lather brushes up, rinse out, and lay flat to dry!
