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,

Make-Up Made Easy: - 10 Simple Steps.

I think it's quite often assumed that if you're female you automatically know how to do flawless make-up. I for one can say that's far from true. It took me a lot of mistakes (unfortunately) to discover how to do my make-up just right. One of the things I think it's assumed we know, is the perfect order to put on my make-up, now I don't know about you but when I first started throwing on make-up, i just put on foundation, eye make-up and maybe some lipstick, haha but now I'm a bit more experienced I thought I would do a quick post about the best order to apply your make-up and the preparations you should make to your face beforehand. :)

Step 1: Moisturiser

Applying your make-up flawlessly means you need a great canvas to start your art on. Wash your face, than apply your moisturiser liberally. Sit back and relax for a few minuted while you let it soak in and make your skin feel soft and supple.

Step 2: Primer

Primer is a part of the beauty routine that is quite regularly forgotten which is a shame, it not only does it conceal flaws and pore visibility, it makes your concealer and foundation go on smoother and adds a serious amount of longevity to your make-up.

Step 3: Concealer

When choosing a concealer you should always go one shade lighter than your skin tone. Apply the concealer to any problem areas and blemishes, dab it on and then blend it with your finger tips.

Step 4: Foundation

Make sure to always buy a foundation the same shade as your skin tone. Apply it in small amounts on your chin, cheeks and forehead, then blend it to cover your face, I recommend using a foundation brush to give a more flawless finish. Make sure your coverage is even to ensure a natural look.

Step 5: Highlighter and Bronzer

Highlighter and bronzer are used to give more definition to your face and features and to make you look more sculpted. Your highlighter should always be one shade lighter than your skin tone, where as your bronzer should always be one shade darker. For a natural look apply bronzer along your jaw line, and blend highlighter around your cheek bones.

Step 6: Blush

Blush gives your face a glow. Smile to locate the apple of your cheek bones, apply the blusher starting from there and sweeping back to your hairline.

Step 7: Eyebrow Pencil

When choosing your eyebrow pencil you want to go a shade lighter than your hair colour. Nice eyes are essential to and make-up look, follow your natural brow line with the pencil to add definition.

Step 8: Shadow, Liner and Mascara

Choose 3 shades of eyeshadows, you apply the lightest shade under your eyebrow, the darkest shade above your lid, and the medium shade on your lid, then carefully slide eyeliner on your lash line to give definition. Use your mascara to coat and seperate each lash making them look thick and healthy.

Step 9: Lipstick, Liner and Gloss

Lipstick is the most flexible part of your look, you can change the shade based on your mood, outfit or even the time of day/year. Apply an even coat of lipstick BEFORE defining your lips with lip pencil, and coating with a gloss.

Step 10: To Make Your Day Look A Night Look

A few simple touch ups will turn a dazzling day look into a glamorous night look. Blush will highlight your cheekbones, add darker/thicker liner to make your look more dramatic and turn heads with some bright red lipstick.