Beginners Guide To Make-Up Brushes!

I don't know about anyone else but I invested in expensive and beautiful make-up brushes just because I was like 'Make-Up brushes are essential, everyone uses make-up brushes' but then when they arrived I hadn't the foggiest clue which brush did what and I got quite stressed trying to figure it out! So in this Beginners guide I'm going to talk you through essential make-up brushes, where they're for and how to use them effectively! :)

To start you need to pick the right brushes for you and your products, there are two common materials you can choose between.

Natural / Real Hair (i.e. sable or pony fibers) - Best for dry products e.g eyeshadow, blush.
Synthetic / Fake Hair (usually made of acrylic or plastic.)- Best for cream or liquid products e.g foundation, concealer.

Now you know what types of brushes your going to need for each product time to find out what brushes themselves you actually need!

EYE MAKE-UP

Flat Stiff Brush - This brush is used to pack colour onto your lid. It's flat so it spreads the shadow well, and stiff so it picks up the product well.

Stiff Dome Brush - This brush is fantastic for smoky eyes and for adding more colour to the crease of your eye lid, it also works well for feathering in darker eye shadow.


Soft Dome Brush -  This brush is similar to the stiff dome brush but much softer allowing it to create a softer blended look. It can be used for applying colour below the brow, adding softer colour to the crease of your lid or placing powder below your eye lids to prevent creasing throughout the day or night.

Pencil Brush -  The smaller tip on this brush allows for precision, it can be used to spread colour below the lower lash line, smudge shadow and smudge eyeliner (between you and me I think this ones my favourite eye brush).

FACE

Stippling Brush - It's essential that the bristles of a stippling brush are stiff to stop your foundation looking streaky. Using the brush gives your foundation a more airbrushed finish.



Contour Brush - This brush does exactly what it says on the tin. It's used to apply darker make-up on to the parts of your face you wish to contour, to learn how to do that easily check out my Contouring Made Easy post here.

Angled Blush Brush - This brush needs to be soft to ensure it doesn't pick up to much colour. Its used to apply blush to the cheek bones, and is angled to make the blush blend better.



Highlighter Brush - This brush isn't necessarily essential but I highly recommend it! It can be used to highlight areas of your face, such as above your cheek bones, it doesn't pick up a lot of colour and stops your face looking to shimmery!



I hope this has been useful to you guys, if you fancy it check out my 10 Simple Steps to Flawless Make-Up here,