There are more and more products that can be applied "manually" - literally with your fingertips. But brushes are still needed: in makeup, which you do not for speed, but for quality, you can’t do without them.
Buying the first brushes that came to hand is not the best solution. This will be confirmed by makeup artists. They, like no one else, know that in the case of makeup, “tools” greatly affect the result. In a basic cosmetic bag there should be not only really necessary beauty products with an excellent reputation, but also brushes that can take part of the work on themselves.
When choosing makeup brushes, start from which beauty products you use more often and which techniques you prefer. Buy the ones that come in handy.
This question is one of the first. There is a stereotype that synthetic brushes are worse in quality than natural ones. This is not true. Brushes from different materials are needed for cosmetics of different textures.
Natural brushes are good for powder. The porous pile absorbs cream products or fluids, after which the brush becomes a magnet for dust and dirt. If you nevertheless used such a brush when working with “wet” cosmetics, be sure to wash it after use - otherwise it will become a testing ground for bacteria to grow, and you risk transferring them to the skin each time.
Therefore, cream and liquid products should be applied with synthetic brushes.
There are also hybrid brushes with a natural pile base and synthetic tips. They are called «duofiber.»
Wood, plastic, metal - there are many options, and all of them are quite reliable. Choose the most comfortable for yourself. Be sure to pay attention to whether the handle and the iron clamp are well fastened.
Learn more about what kind of brushes, according to the editors, deserve attention, in our article.
If you use powder on a daily basis, then you need a brush for a basic cosmetic bag - large, wide, voluminous and fluffy, like the Large Powder Brush from the collection of brushes from Urban Decay.
Many manufacturers produce natural brushes for powder, but Urban Decay has all of them synthetic, and recycled plastic bottles serve as raw materials for their production - a big plus for the brand for attention to environmental problems.
This does not affect the quality of the brushes: Urban Decay made sure that the synthetic pile felt as soft and pleasant as natural. We have already said that it is more hygienic, as it does not absorb moisture; for the same reason, brushes are easier to wash. After applying the powder, you can easily clean it and prepare it for the next use.
A variety of brushes for foundation are produced. To find your own, you need to take into account the texture of the cream that you use, and also understand what finish you need. A light coating will help create a flat brush with a rounded edge - such as the NYX Professional Makeup Flat No. 07 Pro Brush. It is best suited for applying fluids - liquid products that need to be "stretched" over the skin.
Volumetric duofiber like Dual Fiber No. 04 Pro Brush of the same brand is what you need to work with creams. The product is applied to the white tips of the villi and is distributed over the face with light, sweeping movements. Thanks to this, the result is airy; the cream layer cannot be seen from the side; the “second skin” effect is achieved.
If you need to more reliably hide skin imperfections, then you need a thicker cream and a denser brush. It could be Total Control Drop Foundation Brush No. 22 from NYX Professional Makeup.
Or even a kabuki brush with a short base, which is convenient to implement pressure when applying - to get a coating under which it is easy to hide redness, pigmentation and other imperfections.
Concealer is a tool for masking imperfections locally. It is best to apply it targeted to the area of the skin that needs to be aligned in tone with the "background". Therefore, the brush for the concealer should be small, like the Detailed Concealer Brush from Urban Decay, in order to draw the product at the very tip and leave it in the right amount in the place where it is needed.
You just have to perform a light shading, softening the borders of the application with your fingertips.
With contouring, a fairly voluminous and dense brush that distinguishes the diagonal cut will help you - for example, the Contour Definition Brush from Urban Decay.
A beveled brush is convenient to apply the sculptor powder under the cheekbones, blending it diagonally - from the corners of the lips to the temples. It also allows you to easily fan the skin along the hairline, in the lower part of the cheeks and in other areas that need to be darkened for a visual effect.
The width of this fluffy brush allows you to qualitatively shade the contouring products, which is especially important, because there should be no clear lines after the correction of the face oval.
The brush for blush is in many ways similar to the brush for contouring: the same shape, the same cut; What sets it apart is that it is more compact.
NYX Pro Brush Dual Fiber is a small, soft brush that will help you apply and blend blush so the shade looks as natural on the apples of your cheeks as possible. By working with this brush, you can achieve the effect that the color literally shows through the skin - like a real blush.
Lovers of graphic eye makeup with “sharp” arrows need an appropriate brush - with a sharp tip. Among them - ANGLD EYELNR No. 11 from NYX Professional Makeup.
Very thin, it is suitable for working with liquid eyeliner. A curved handle simplifies the process of drawing straight lines.
Girls who prefer soft hands need a brush like Urban Decay's Smudger Brush. This is a small and short, but dense and thick brush, which was created in order to lubricate and shade the lines.
You can first draw eyelids with a pencil, and then soften the result by doing a little shading with Smudger Brush. So you get an emphasis on the contour and combine it with the smokey effect.
Makeup artists’s cases will definitely contain dozens of different eyeshadow brushes. And those who need one for every day should find one that will cope well with application and shading. NYX Professional Makeup Pro Brush Blending is just what you need. It has enough volume to collect and distribute shadows, and then shade the borders of the shades to get the smoky eyes effect.
If you do eyebrow makeup as thoroughly as eye makeup, then you can't do without a double-sided brush like Eye Brow Maestro by Giorgio Armani.
At one end, she has a round brush with which you can lay the hairs in the right direction so that the eyebrows take a neat shape. And the beveled brush on the other end is what you need to work with colored powder or gel.
With it, you can make the outlines of eyebrows clearer, and also fill the contour inside if there are voids.
The main condition for high-quality work - hygiene. Brushes should be washed as often as possible. Synthetic brushes are a hotbed of bacteria. They can cause irritation and even inflammation.
For washing brushes, ordinary soap is also suitable, but there are special antibacterial sprays for cleansing the pile. To make it even more convenient, you can buy an auxiliary tool such as the NYX Professional Makeup On The Spot Brush Cleansing Pad with rubber “spikes” that will help get rid of dirt if you use a brush soaked in water and detergent in a circular motion.
You need to store brushes in places where dust will not settle on them; after they dry after washing, put them in a beauty case or a closed cosmetic bag.
In addition to the basic brushes, NYX Professional Makeup attracts attention with the Face & Body Brush fan brush, a multifunctional tool for working with powder products.
Fluffy and voluminous, like a standard powder brush, it has a bend, making it easier to repeat the contours of the face and body.
With this brush you can apply regular powder, and finish, and sculptor, and blush, and highlighter. She is already loved by professionals. Add it to your beauty arsenal.
Armani Beauty professional brushes are distinguished by premium quality: Maestro Brush for blush is made of goat hair - it is a natural extra-soft brush that turns makeup into a pleasant beauty ritual and therefore is very popular. Such brushes retain their shape for a long time, which means you can use them for years, from time to time getting beautiful makeup with an impeccable finish.
This brand has a different view on the production of makeup brushes: they are all made of synthetic pile (the result of processing plastic), which copies all the best properties of natural, and also equipped with a metal handle made of recycled aluminum. Separate instances are a godsend for those who follow trends. These include, for example, the UD Pro Contour Shapeshifter brush.
What makeup brushes do you already have, and which are still missing? Tell us in the comments section.
