When I first discovered how makeup brushes could transform makeup application, especially eyes and foundation I went slightly crazy buying brushes. Meaning I now own a ridiculous amount of brushes (I'm talking 50+)!
The down side is I use a lot of them and they do require washing but the up side is I have discovered some amazing brushes which I thought were share-worthy enough for this post.
Here I am talking about my individual favourite brushes but if you are fairly new to makeup then a few brands that offer great quality brush sets are :- Real Techniques and Eco Tools for on the high street and Sigma & e.l.f brushes online. My most treasured brush sets are a Sigma Travel Set (costing around £35 for 7 brushes at the time) and the Real Techniques Core Collection Kit (4 brushes for £16.49 here).
Real Techniques Contour Brush & Buffing Brush (part of the 4 piece Core Collection Kit)
£16.49 - Amazon here
I thought I would pair these two brushes together as they can only be purchased in the Core Collection Kit and I really believe the set is worth it for these 2 brushes alone, though the other brushes aren't bad either. Starting with the Buffing Brush, this is now the only brush I use for foundation, gone are the days when I use to apply my foundation with a foundation brush and felt like I was literally painting my face with brush strokes and all. This literally buffs foundation into the skin to a flawless finish. Without may I add, micro exfoliating and creating flaky looking skin, an important factor if you have dry/combination skin! As for the Contour Brush, this is on the small side compared to others however I find this means you can be precise with your contouring, get right in under the cheekbone and up onto the temples. The brush is also incredible soft and blends well.
Royal & Langnickel [R]evolution BX-10: SM Powder
£31.99 - R&L online here
Well isn't this an expensive powder brush! I will admit this came as part of a brush set so it was only when I came to writing this post that I discovered the price tag... and to be totally honest, yes I love it, but no it isn't worth the price, unless you're a makeup artist maybe. If you are interested in this brush then I will say it made my top 5 as it just hold the right amount of powder and never makes the skin look cakey or heavy. Another much cheaper favourite powder brush of mine would be the e.l.f Studio Complexion Brush which is only £3.75 here!
Model Own Angled Brush
£5.00 - ASOS here or Boots
As a lover of eye liner (both gel & powder) I will always pick up an angled eyeliner brush when I see one as 1) I can never have enough as they require washing so often when used with gel liner 2) getting the right softness can be tricky, you don't want anything too soft but you don't want anything stiff either. So when I spotted this in Boots I had to have it to see if it could be good for gel or powder eyeliner and thankfully it was. Amazing in fact! I actually solely use this with powder eyeshadow on my top and bottom lash lines. If you have short lashes this brush is great to apply right against the top lash line with a dark brown/black eyeshadow to give the appearance of a fuller lashes. Or this can be used to smudge eyeshadow on the bottom lash line to pull your eye look together or give a more smokey look. I use this brush daily under my eyes and sometimes for powder winged eyeliner when I don't want to look like I'm wearing that much makeup. I really need to purchase another ASAP!
Sigma Tapered Blending Brush - E40
£13.49 - Amazon here
This is actually an eyeshadow blending brush for the crease/socket of the eye however I personally feel it is way too large for that and also over blends quite easily. So I use this as a concealer blending brush. I simply dab my concealer of choice (normally the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer) everywhere I require it, under the eyes and on spots. Then I blend out the concealer with this to give a flawless finish. Unlike a lot of concealer brushes this is super light so it doesn't remover any concealer off the skin but blends the edges. I really couldn't be without this brush.
I also thought I would include a sneaky extra as I received the above brush only last week and I'm already impressed with it. This is the Kiko Dark Heroine Face Brush Duo - £15.90 here from the new KIKO limited edition collection, meaning this will only be available for 3 months maximum!
The end I have been most impressed by is the smaller more densely packed, slanted end, which at first I wasn't sure how I would use, but after trying it out in a few ways I discovered it was amazing for cream blush but also for concealer so I'm on the fence which to use it for. Though I'm thinking I may opt to use it with cream blushers as I've never found the right brush up until now. The other side is for powders so I am thinking I will be using this for either bronzer or blush. I thought I'd mention it in this post as I am genuinely impressed so far.
Even though I do have an inordinate amount of brushes I do continue to pick them up and feel I may need to try out Crown brushes very soon. So I'd love your thoughts if you own any brushes by Crown.
Let me know if you love any of the brushes mentioned and your own personal favourites!
Fee xo.
