As a professional makeup artist for over seven years now, I’ve seen many personal makeup bags. Around 90% of women don’t have enough brushes to use, or they are in pretty bad shape if they do! If you’re in the latter bunch of women, no shame, just head to my article on how I clean my makeup brushes; it’s super simple, I promise!
Now, you’ve hit the shops and hunting for amazing brushes yet are a little taken back with all the choices and different styles. Hopefully, after this, you will feel confident enough in finding some to add to your collection.! So stay to the end for a few brush set recommendations.
Notes on Brush Density
These different styles of brushes for areas of the face, but also there are options for the brush density; Kabuki styles are very dense, tightly packed short hairs; these styles offer more coverage and colour application.
Stippling brushes are packed lighter and have almost two levels of hair styles, denser at the bottom and lighter at the top, giving you great blend-ability, and because these brushes are made with synthetic hairs, they are great for liquid and cream products.
Lightly packed brushes are your blenders. They don’t apply the product as strongly, offering softness that helps you blend out your products, whether that’s blush or eyeshadows.
Base / Complexion Brushes
Foundation – Loads of options here, and yep, your fingers are also one of them. Stippling brushes are fantastic for liquid foundation; the tighter packed ones eat up less of your foundation.
Concealer – Again, fingers are great! But also the brushes that almost mimic a finger in shape, the light and fluffy ones are for quick application but less coverage. The mini stippling has dense hairs so that you can pat in a lot more coverage.
Spot concealing – This technique uses a tiny tiny brush to pinpoint conceal a spot or blemish with minimal product.
Cheek Brushes
Blush – Light, fluffy medium-sized brush, tapered towards the top.
Bronzer – Big and fluffy to dust over and around the face, almost the same as a blush one, just a little bigger.
Contour – Less fluffy, more tapered at the end to help you achieve that cut chiselled look.
Highlight – These can be a fan brush and have a lovely light application. For a stronger look, use a mini fluffy tapered brush.
Eye Brushes
Base – Adding colour onto the eyes, using a base colour or some other eyeshadows, it’s good to have a few of these.
Blending – Fluffy!!! Big light brushes help do all the blending work for you; it’s one of my favourite brushes.
Smudge / Pencil – Short, small and dense brushes great for the lower lash line, with some darker eyeshadow or smudging out a gel eyeliner.
Liner brush – There are a few styles of these; common ones are the skinny pointy ones. Other options are almost short flat ones that look or are essentially similar to a brow brush.
Brow brushes – A short angled brush looks similar to some eyeliner brushes too, plus a spooly brush is critical to brush them out and look soft.
Lip brushes
Truthfully most people don’t need these; I only use them for work! ( while doing others makeup with lipstick palettes) but anyway, this is what they look like!
But if you happen to buy a set of makeup brushes and have a lip brush, you don’t find yourself using it. Try it for some pinpoint concealing!
Others
Sponge – Beauty sponges are very popular and are a great full proof way to apply base and cream products; just keep them clean.
Silicone blender – Newer, more gimmicky type applicator. I have never used one, but I feel the idea is so less product is absorbed like with a regular sponge.
Bellow are some of the brushes from brands I like, some are Zoeva, Sephora Collection Pro, Real Techniques
So beautiful people, I hope that was helpful, maybe you had some of these brushes at home, and we’re ignoring them! Know you can give them a fresh try! As always, any questions I am happy to help. Come say hi on Instagram!
