My Top 5 | Brushes You Need to Own

Hey everyone,

I've already done a few posts of my Top 3/Top 5  favourite products (Blushes - here, Highlighters - here, Mascaras - here). I thought today I'd show you my favourite brushes which I use daily. I'm not so much concerned with the brand (for reference all of those pictured are Sigma apart from the blurring brush which is from Urban Decay) but the type of brush and why I think they can make a big difference to your makeup routine. I've also given a few options of where to buy these types of brushes, but there are tons of brands that stock all of these types of brushes.I haven't tried all of these by any means, I simply chose a range of brushes available on the market.

1. Tapered Blending
There's many different names for this, but this is your basic eyeshadow blending brush. If you don't have one of these in your eyeshadow routine, this single handedly can make a huge difference to your eyeshadow application. You will be able to blend the eyeshadows together so it looks more natural, blending the crease shadow into the lid eyeshadow. You can also use it to blend out any harsh lines you may have created by the edge of your eyes so the makeup seems more seamless.You can also use it for other things, because of it's small size you can use it to powder smaller areas, or to highlight things such as the bridge of your nose. I've also heard it being used for blending out your concealer too.

Options:

1. MAC 217 Blending Brush - £18 //  2. Sigma E40 Tapered Blending - £10.95 //3.  ELF Blending Eye Brush - £1.50 // 4. Lily LoLo Eye Blending Brush - £5.99  //  5. Yves Saint Laurent Eye Blending Brush - £31 

2. Angled Contour
I love this brush. The angle on it means that its perfect for contouring the cheeks. It makes it easy to get into the cheek bones and around the edges of the face. It is also perfect for precise blush application as you can easily apply it onto the cheeks and sweep it up to the cheek bones. I find this brush much easier to use than normal blush/bronzer brushes as I find them far more precise and better at distributing product. You can also use these to apply highlight to the top of the cheekbones too.

Options:

1. MAC 168 Large Angled Contour Brush - £27  // 2. Sigma F40 Large Angled Contour Brush - £13.95 // 3. ELF Blushing, Bronzing and Blending Brush - £1.50 // 4. Bare Minerals Angled Blush Brush - £13.50  // 5. Bdellium Pink Bambu Angled Face Brush - £14.50

 

 3. Duo-Fibre/Stippling
 I remember when I first saw these brushes in actions I was amazed. I was so used to only using a flat foundation brush to apply my makeup and this blew everything I thought I knew out of the water. The idea of these brushe are that the bottom part is made from natural hair while the top is made from synthetic hair. You use these brushes in a stippling motion. You can use these brushes to stipple your foundation onto your face providing a different application. I also find this works very well for stippling blush onto your face. It's great for use with very pigmented blushes as it gives a lighter handed application. As the top of the brush is synthetic, these can be used with cream products too.

Options:

1. MAC 187 Duo-Fibe Brush - £33.50 // 2. Sigma F50 Duo-Fibre Stippling Brush - £16.95 // 3. ELF Studio Stipple Brush - £3.75 // 4. Real Techniques Stippling Brush - £11.99 // 5. Coastal Scents Duo Fibre Stippling Brush - £7.95

4. Optical Blurring / Buffing Brush

Now this is my favourite brush. There's lots of names for it, the most famous probably being the buffing brush. It's basically a very dense round brush which is great for both applying foundation and for blending it into the skin. I love this brush, I love it for when I want to do fuller coverage foundation as it's great for blending. I also love it for blending my bronzer and blush into my foundation so that it looks more subtle and less harsh. It's a very versatile brush that is a must-have in any collection.

Options:

1. Urban Decay Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush - £19.50 // 2. New CID Cosmetics Foundation Buffing Brush - £23.49 // 3. Real Techniques Expert Face Brush - £9.99 (or the Buffing Brush in the Core Collection) // 4. Bdellium Tools Bambu Face Blending Brush - £7.95 // 5. Laura Mercier Blending Brush - £31

5. Pencil Brush

Okay so this last brush is possible the least 'makeup life changing' brush out of the ones mentioned, but I love this brush for all of its different uses. My main use of this brush is to apply eyeshadow to either the inner corner of the eyes or just under the eyes for a smudgy effect. The precise tip allows you to have precise application of the eyeshadow to smaller areas. However, this brush can also be used for highlighting, I like it for highlighting the browbone and cupid's bow as it allows for more precise application than most highlighter brushes. It's also great for concealing too as it is much more precise than most concealer brushes.

Options:

1. MAC 219 Pencil Brush - £20 // 2. Sigma E30 Pencil Brush - £8.99 // 3. Bdellium Tools Bambu Pencil Brush - £7.50 // 4. Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil Blending Brush - £10 // 5. Dolce & Gabbana The Brush Pencil Brush - £24.28

So that's it for my must have brushes! I hope this post was helpful to you, let me know what your must have brushes are in the comments down below!

My Top 5 | Blushes

I'm a blush girl, I love how a different blush can completely change up your look. It can be subtle and compliment your makeup or it can be bold and give the makeup a new dimension. I decided to share with you my favourite five blushes that I wear a lot. Apart from one limited edition blush, all the others are still available. Four of them are matte and one is shimmer.

1. Sleek Squash
Sleek Squash is the bright pink blush in the Sleek Blush by 3 Palette in Pumpkin which I reviewed here. It's a bright pink matte powder blush. As you can see by the swatch, this is the brightest blush and it is possibly the brightest powder blush I own. I love wearing this in summer as it gives a lovely pop of colour on the cheeks. You can layer this for an intense look, or only use a bit and blend it into the skin for a more subtle look. I love that I can achieve two different looks with this blush depending on how I apply it.  This is slightly harder to work with than the other blushes (which are all high end) but the pigmentation is one of the best, and it lasts for ages too.

2. Illamasqua Katie
I already reviewed this blush here, I love this blush and would say it is possibly the favourite blush I own. I can already feel a bit dent in it, and am worried I will run out soon :(. It's a pale pink which really compliments my pale skin and adds a very subtle glow to my cheeks. I'd say it has the best formula of the bunch, it is incredible soft and very easy to apply and blend into the cheeks. It isn't powdery at all and lasts all day.

3. Nars Oasis
I've already reviewed this blush in more detail here. This is the only shimmer blush pictured. I actually prefer how shimmery blushes look, but as I often wear shimmery eyeshadows, it would be a bit overkill to wear shimmer on the cheeks. This is the darkest blush out of the five, it is described as a 'sparkling pink champagne'. It leans more brown than pink on my skin as I'm fair. This is less subtle on my skin as it is quite a bit darker, but it blends it well and I love wearing this on a night out. As with all Nars blushes, the pigmentation is great and the wear time is superb.

4. MAC Immortal Flower
This is the only limited edition blush of the collection. I didn't want to include it as it was limited edition, but as I wear this one so much, I figured it'd be silly not to include it. This is a peachy-orangey shade. It is a pale shade, and if you have tanned skin you won't be able to wear this. In fact, without lots of layering I would only recommend this to people with light-light medium skin. I love the way this blush compliments my bronzer and gives me more colour in summer. The formula is really nice and easy to blend into the skin.

5. Stila Convertible Colour in Gerbera
I already reviewed this here. Although I have dry skin, I tend to prefer powder blushes than cream blushes as I find they last longer. However, this blush is the exception. It stays on my skin for ages and blends into it seamlessly. As it's a cream formula it's not powdery or cakey at all. It is also very easy to apply and you can apply with your fingers or a brush. I love the colour of this, it's noticeable without being too in-your-face.

Those are my top five blushes in my collection that I wear regularly. Are any of these your favourite blushes too? What your top 5 blushes? Let me know in the comments!

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