When it comes to applying your makeup it is essential to have the right tools at hand, it makes a world of difference with how your makeup products are applied. With makeup tools when you use them they will make a difference with the finish of your makeup, and you can control the amount of product that you use on a daily basis.
So here is a beginners makeup brush guide?
- What brushes do I use for eyebrows
- What brushes are used for the eyes
- What brushes are used for blush
- What brushes are used for Highlighters
- What brushes are used for bronzers
- What brushes are used for contouring
- What brushes are used for foundation
- Brushes that are used for mineral foundation
- What brushes are used for lipstick
It’s worth investing some money into a good set of great quality makeup brushes. It’s easy to determine if brushes are good or bad quality if its bad quality you will find that it feels scratchy on the face. Good quality makeup brushes feel soft and smooth towards the skin. There are three types of materials used for makeup brushes, they are made up of:
- animal fur
- synthetic
- fiber materials
Nowadays there are a lot of great high-quality brushes made with synthetic material on the market so this is an excellent option to keep your makeup brushes cruelty free.
Synthetic brushes have manmade bristles which are formed by nylon fibers. Most synthetic brushes don’t have a cuticle which prevents the trap of makeup in between the bristles. This also allows these types of brushes to work best with liquid and cream products. Fiber-optic brushes usually are used to buff in foundation all over the skin to provide an airbrushed finish.
Today there are many types of makeup brushes that are used for all the features on our face. I developed a beginners makeup brush guide as to which brush is for every type of feature on our face and how makeup will help enhance the makeup applied to the face hopefully this guide will be helpful for you…
What makeup brushes do I use for eyebrows
Slanted Eyebrow Brush: is usually made of synthetic material and the bristles are slanted which helps apply powders to the eyebrows. This slanted angle also helps give the eyebrows more definition and precision. Depending on the type of make up your using such as gel products, this tool can be used to help create gentle strokes to mimic your natural eyebrow hairs. This brush is also a two in one type of tool because it’s commonly used to apply gel eyeliners to the eyes as well.
Blends out: gels and powders formulations
Eyebrow/Eyelash/comb: This particular makeup tool is a must-have in your make up collection, the reason being is because of its doubleheader. It can be used for the eyebrows to help comb the eyebrow hairs in place and on the eyelashes to help comb out clumps of mascara. This particular tool is dual ended and can help tame the eyebrows or give it more of a textured look. This would work well with clear gel products before or after application.
Blends out: can brush out gel products and clumps of the product on the eyelashes.
Eyebrow Spooli: This makeup tool resembles a mascara wand. It also is used to groom the eyebrows and to put them into place. Its another alternative to brushing out any clumps of products off the eyebrows.
Blends out: Gel formulations
What makeup brushes are used for the eyes
Eye Detail Brush: This type of makeup brush is used to maintain precision with your eye makeup. You’re able to get detail with using this makeup brush. This makeup brush is often used to blend your eyeshadows into your eyeliner because the bristles are so small. This brush works well with loose pigments and getting into those inner corners of the eyelids.
Blends out: Eyeshadow pigments and eyeliners
Flat liner Brush: this brush is designed specifically to apply gel eyeliner to the top eyelids. It gives good precision to applying eyeliner with gentle strokes. Most beginners to eyeliners use this brush to practice applying eyeliner in order to get the hang of applying liquid liners later on. The Flat liner brush also works well within setting cake liner to the waterline or to the top eyelid.
Blends out: Gel liners and powder liners.
Bent Eyeliner Angled Brush: This brush is used for eyeliner. It has a really tiny tip which provides precision for detailed eyeliner. The bristles lie on an angle which allows you to see how you’re applying your eyeliner. This eyeliner brush is great for people who just got into eyeliner and want a thin natural looking liner.
Blends out: Gel Eyeliner and Cake Liners
Angled eyeliner brush: This is an eyeliner brush that can give you really precise lines. It can make your liner look really natural. I personally used this brush when I first started using gel liners. The tiny bristles allow you to draw small strokes in which you can even draw brows with it. This type of brush can be worked with all formulas and works well by being constantly wiped down during use. You can create the perfect wing with this type of brush because it will allow you to have the perfect precision for it.
Blends out: Gels, powders, and liquids
Cream Eyeshadow Brush: Is known to apply a cream like products this brush usually has a rounded it has stiffer bristles which allow you to concentrate products in one area of the face. The rounded brush shape allows it to brush to reach crevasses of the face such as the eye area and around the nose.
Blends out: cream textures
Eyeshadow Blending Brush: This particular brush is domed shaped and has longer bristles. Its usually longer strands and is soft and fluffy This brush is best used to blend out powdered eyeshadows. This brush can also be used for setting powder under the eyes and to set concealer due to its shape.
Blends out: Powders
Medium: Head Eyeshadow Brush- this particular brush has compressed bristles that give it that firm feel. The brush is rounded and is the perfect size to reach the rounded parts of our eyes, this brush is used to pack on pressed and loose pigments in the inner corners of the eyes.
Blends out: Pressed pigments and loose pigments.
Large-head Eyeshadow Brush: this brush is similar to the medium head eyeshadow brush but covers larger areas of the eye area. This is the brush that you would want to use to pack pigments on the eyelid area.
Blends out: Pressed pigments and Loose pigments.
Pencil Brush: the pencil brush is similarly shaped like a pencil. This brush is used to apply eyeshadow with precision. This usually works well for apply eyeshadow in the crease to create a defined crease. The pencil brush can also be used for a smoky eye look for smoking out eyeliner.
Blends out: Pressed pigments and loose pigment
What makeup brushes are used for Blush
Blush Brush: are usually rounded with bristles and are very soft. The shape of the brush is rounded which makes it easy to sweep across the cheeks. The larger bristles give your pressed pigments a natural look and curved bristles make it also easy to blend out pigments on sharp edges of the face such as the cheekbones. Depending on the type of blush such as a liquid blush this kind of brush can buff out liquid blushes.
Blends out: Pressed pigments and liquid blushes
Pointed Powder Brush: This type of brush is usually large but is more pointed and tapered. The pointed part of the brush is supposed to target certain sections of the face such as the cheekbones and all the high points of the face which makes this brush a multi-purpose brush. The pointed tip allows you to apply a wash of color or powder to the skin giving you more precision than a normal powder brush.
Stippling Brush: is usually made of fiber material. Its usually dual tone being black and white. Products used for stippling brushes are usually stippled on top of foundation which gives the makeup an airbrushed look. This type of brush has various uses when it comes to blending out products such as blushes, bronzers, and highlighters. Its mainly used for powder, liquid and cream products.
Blends out: Powders, Liquids, and Creams.
What makeup brushes are used for Highlighters
Fan brush: With this particular brush the bristles are fanned out and the bristles are further apart. Has a multi-purpose it can be used to apply highlighters to the bridge of the nose, the cheekbones and on the chin due to its shape which gives a soft definition to the face. I personally found I got my highlighters to look subtle and natural with this type of a brush. It can also be used as a way to sweep off excess powder off the face.
Blends out: powder highlights
Small Fluff Brush: if you want a more intensified highlight this type of a brush would be ideal. It’s usually slim and tapered designed for more precision for highlighting. This is excellent for the cheekbones, brow bones for that strobed look. This will give you more of a glow because the bristles are closer together, therefore, more pigment is picked up on the brush and is able to disperse on the skin.
Blends out: Powders, creams, and liquids
What makeup brushes are used for applying bronzers
Bronzer brush: Type of a brush has densely packed bristles and has rounded head. It applies bronzer onto the cheeks easily giving the skin a natural finish.
Blends out: Powder
What brushes are used for contouring
Angled Brush: When you look at this type of brush you will notice the bristles are on a slant. The reason it’s on a slant is so that you can perfectly apply product perfectly under the cheekbones. The slant on the bristles allows you to blend out contour powder under the cheekbones giving it a more halo structure.
Blends out: Powders and Creams
What makeup brushes are used for foundation
There are many types of makeup brushes made for foundation but it all depends on the formulation of the product. Many brushes out on the market are designed to blend out different textures and formulas of the various foundations.
Foundation brush: this is one of the old school traditional foundation brushes, the bristles are rounded on the top it’s usually stiffer but soft on the skin. This type of foundation brush resembles a paintbrush. This works best with liquid foundations and tinted moisturizer because of its ability to smooth out liquid products across the face giving the skin a more even out complexion. The brush also allows you to get into corners of your face like the side of your nose.
Blends out: liquid foundations
Buffing brush: depending on the length of the bristles it usually allows you to push a product into the skin. This type of brush is ideal for a matte finish of foundation to the skin due to the brush being ultra firm. For the best results, its best used in a circular motion which allows your makeup looking less dry and not flakey looking. A light hand is best used with this type of a brush which gives the skin an airbrushed finish.
Blends out: liquid, cream and mouse foundations.
Kabuki Brush: is also known as a mushroom brush. It’s a brush head that covers larger surfaces of the face. This works best in blending out powders. It usually helps target larger sections of the face and usually allows the powder to give a more natural finish.
Blends out: Pressed powders and loose powders.
Large Powder Brush: this type of a brush is usually buffy and larger than most brushes which makes it have a lot more bristles than your regular foundation brushes. Because it’s so large it’s able to cover larger areas of the face. It’s best used with a loose powder to set the foundation. It helps give the powder a light coverage to the skin and diffuses the powder into the skin.
Blends out: Powders
Pointed Powder Brush: This type of brush is usually large but is more pointed and tapered. The pointed part of the brush is supposed to target certain sections of the face such as the cheekbones and all the high points of the face which makes this brush a multi-purpose brush. The pointed tip allows you to apply a wash of color or powder to the skin giving you more precision than a normal powder brush.
Blends out: Powders
Flat Top Foundation Brush: this brush is flat on top and has denser bristles. The flat top of the bristles covers larger surfaces of the face and helps apply liquid foundations quicker to the skin which gives flawless coverage.
Blends out: Liquids
What brush is used for mineral foundation
Kabuki Brush: is also known as a mushroom brush. It’s a brush head that covers larger surfaces of the face. This works best in blending out powders. When it comes to the mineral foundation the kabuki brushes usually hold the powders between the bristles to disperse a decent amount of foundation to the skin. It usually helps target larger sections of the face and usually allows the powder to give a more natural finish. The best way to use this type of a brush to apply mineral foundation is by swirling a small amount of the product into a cap and tapping off the foundation, then applying it onto the skin in a circular motion.
Blends out: Pressed powders and loose powders (mineral foundations).
What makeup brush is used for lipstick
Lip brush: a lip brush usually resembles a small paint brush. This type of a brush is usually small and tapered it usually gives great precision when applying lipstick than a normal bullet of lipstick cannot give you such as applying lipstick to the cupids bow and the inner corner of the lips. The bristles are small and work well with liquid and cream products.
Blends out: Liquid and Cream Products
Other tools to enhance your makeup look
Tweezers: are worth having in your make up bag because it’s a tool commonly known to help groom eyebrows. It helps give the eyebrows more of a clean finish because it allows you to remove the hairs with precision. This also helps give the eyebrows more of a shape and removes ingrown hairs. It’s a great tool to have if you want to remove unwanted hairs.
Beauty Blenders: The shape of beauty blending sponges is usually an egg shape. The egg-shaped sponges cover a larger surface of the skin than your traditional makeup sponges. The pointed part of the beauty blending sponges helps cover narrow parts of my face like under my eyes and the side of your nose.
The key with most beauty blending sponges is having to soak the beauty blending sponger underwater for the texture of the sponge to grow in size. The water changes the texture of the beauty blending sponge making it a lot softer.
Beauty blenders work best wet and well with liquid and cream products. It helps even out products on the skin by bouncing the product into the skin which helps give your make up a more natural finish. This is one product that is defiantly worth having in your makeup bag, you can check more on beauty blenders click here.
Blends out: Liquids and Creams
Powder Puffs: are known to apply powders to the face. It’s best used with translucent powders. If your “baking” under the eye area a tool such as a powder puff is best used because it can pick up a lot of product and place it on the skin. However, I wouldn’t recommend this kind of a product to blend out makeup.
Eyelash Curlers: When it comes to getting long eyelashes one of the tricks and tips is to curl your eyelashes. An eyelash curler can help lift your lashes and curls them. Once you apply mascara to the curled eyelash the mascara will most likely hold the curl, which gives your eyes a more open look.