THE ONLY MAKE UP BRUSHES YOU NEED

I am relatively new to the whole make up brushes concept. I used to use my fingers or the product itself for my application. I simply couldn’t be bothered with a brush. That was until I wrote a piece for the Daily Mail a couple of years ago. I did a little test with my make up artist friend, Jennifer to see the comparison of a make up look with and without make up brushes. I have come to adore my make up brushes and although I now have a lot, I have come to rely on these 6 the most and always travel with this edit.

THE FACE EDIT

Starting with the face, the only two brushes you really need are a foundation brush and blusher brush. My favourite foundation brush of all time which I have been using non-stop for 2 years is this Real Techniques Sculpting brush in electric pink below. It is great at buffing the foundation around in an even application, it is even really good at blending in concealer. I find some foundation brushes which are longer and thinner in their bristles just stroke the foundation around my face like a kitten licking it on…hmmm, not quite right hehe. The blusher brush which I have fallen in love with is this brush from Make Up Forever. It is a little on the pricy side but 100% worth it. The bristles are shaped into the perfect dome and are super soft on your skin. To note, all the brushes I have included in this list are lovely and soft…I personally don’t like scratching and exfoliating at my skin with a substandard brush. I use this blush brush for both my pinky blush and for the brown contouring powder as well. I use the tip of the dome shaped to dap the bronzing/contouring powder in the hollows of my cheeks and then use the whole of the brush to buff it in.

THE EYE EDIT

Although I say there are only two brushes to each of these heading, I actually have four here because this Eyeko ‘Making Eyes‘ brush is a clever compact threesome of dreams. I adore this brush and always take it travelling because it does everything. Within the brush compact is a normal eyeshadow definer brush, liner brush and blending brush. I love how the brushes are all very compact with bristles and pick up a lot of eyeshadow for nice pigmented application. If you only buy one brush for putting your make up on then this is the one. Another eyeshadow brush which I love is from a brand called Click n’ Make Up. This brush is another compact more stiff eyeshadow brush. I really don’t like limp brushes that flick eye shadow all over your face which is why all my must have brushes are more stiff in nature much like the Urban Decay brushes that come with the Naked palettes.

THE GROOMING EDIT

By grooming I mean the extra little bits like separating your lashes and tidying up your eyebrows. My eyebrows are rather unruly…pretty sure it’s the most Italian part of me. To tame my brows I use this amazing eyebrow brush (the purple one below) from Real Techniques. I got it in a eyebrow gift set but this is the brush which really drew me in. I have never come across such a great eyebrow brush as this. The bristles are quite sharp and compact helping draw the brows together much like a comb would. Huge thumbs up from me and potentially my most favourite brush of them all. The other grooming brush I have is the eyelash separating brush in baby pink below. I have had this brush for a really long time and there doesn’t seem to be a brand name on it. Pretty much every company that sells make up and brushes sells these though. After painting my lashes I like to use the plastic comb side to separate any of the clogged together lashes.

Which brushes can you not live without? Do you already use any of these brushes?