Make Up Brushes: The Cheat Sheet

Before you are an expert, you are inevitably a beginner. Picking up a new hobby or skill is filled with questions and unawareness that often makes things feel too fraught and complicated to even start. This is the same with makeup. While there has been a rise in recent years of online makeup artists, either on YouTube or their own websites, they don’t always break down the absolute basics, the tools you need. I’m going to list the most important beauty tools and describe how best to use them.

1. Beauty Blender

While there are many different ways to apply and smooth liquid foundation, from foundation brushes to even your fingers, beauty blenders are perhaps the best and easiest. Used by everyone from absolute beginners to experts, beauty blenders smoothly apply and blend makeup for a flawless and natural finish. Simply soak the beauty blender until it is completely wet, then squeeze out as much water as you can. This will leave the blender damp so that it won’t soak up and waste liquid foundation. Then use it to apply foundation directly to your face, patting the blender to apply evenly then smooth out your foundation. Easy, breezy, done! Beauty blenders last depending on how well you take care of them- cleaning with soapy water or cleaning solution will extend its lifespan.

2. Powder Brush

For those not wanting to buy makeup bags worth of brushes for all the different powders, a general powder brush will do. While they are generally used for applying powder foundation, they can just as easily apply blush, contour, finishing powder, and most any other makeup powder you can think of. While there are specific brushes for some powders, such as blush or contour, that are made for more specific makeup needs, for beginners, just a general powder brush is enough to take care of those needs. A clean powder brush can also be used to buff our areas and fix mistakes, such as too much blush, without having to wipe the whole thing off.

3. Eyeshadow brush
4. Eyeshadow blending brush

While these are two separate brushes, they are just as important as each other and share a spot on this list. Eyeshadow brushes are denser than blending brushes, perfect to apply eyeshadow with dense colour and little wastage. They also work great as general detail brushes for other small-scale makeup application. However, being so dense, they are not the best for blending out eyeshadow shades and can often leave eye-looks blocky and unshaded. That is why an eyeshadow blending brush is just as important- they softer and less dense bristles mean that they can blend out eyeshadow much more easily and refine any eye look.

5. Eyebrow brush

Finally, an eyebrow brush should be in any make-up bag. Since Kylie and all of her Kardashian sisters became beauty icons, the thin brows of the 90s-2000s are out, and thick and bushy brows are in. Having an eyebrow brush will assist you in shaping your brows before applying your choice of product, as well as help to brush out the product if you accidentally apply too much. Brows frame the face and draw focus to your eyes, and keeping them well-shaped and shaded will assist any makeup look.

Extra: Makeup Pencil Sharpener

Not really a brush, and not as necessary as those listed above, but a pencil sharpener is always good to have in your makeup bag. While some makeup items come with sharpeners on the lid or in their box, they are not always reliable, and even more products come without entirely. Having a sharpener floating around means that you will never be left in the lurch if your eyeliner breaks.

For those just putting together a makeup bag, either for yourself or as a thoughtful gift to someone interested in starting out, these are the basic tools that would complete any look. There is a world of endless brushes, tools, and beauty gadgets out there that can be overwhelming, and while they can make certain things easier, don’t stress- this is all you need to start.

Written by Emilia