Make-Up Brushes - You Don't Really Need Seventy

I promised yesterday I would talk a bit about make-up brushes. However, I will tell you, if you are looking for words of wisdom on which brush to use for what style or which materials the brush should be made of, this will not be that post. This post is really to talk about the need for full collections and memorization of brush numbers.

Now, I don't want to offend anyone because there may be some of you that have their make-up application down to a science. You know you will use brush number 123 for highlighting or 457 for smokey eyes. That is completely fine. If order is what works best for you, then by all means, keep it up. However, if you are like me, you don't do that. You have no idea which brand of brush you are using because the name has rubbed off of the side, the number means nothing, and you change brushes for particular purposes as often as you change eye shadow colors. For those of you like me, that is okay too. Make-up is an art, it is supposed to be fun. You shouldn't have to feel bad because you don't buy MAC brushes or you only have three. I have far more than three, but I really only use two or three at a time. In fact, today I did a three-color look with color in the crease and used the same brush for the whole thing.

You can't see all of the colors, sorry,
I don't have good lighting in my dining room.

Do you think you would be able to tell, if I didn't say it? Probably not. Make-up is not about the brushes. It is about practice and use of color. Sure, it is easier with multiple brushes and I don't make it a habit of using the same brush for everything. Still...it is certainly possible. In fact, the picture below shows the brushes I generally use. Usually, I only use three depending, but the combination changes depending on the look I am going for and how concentrated I want the color to be.

The first two brushes are by StudioM Professional brushes. I think I bought them for maybe $5.00 at Meijer. They are great brushes. They seem to be similar quality to my Smashbox, Sigma and Eco Tools brushes and they also come with two sides. You can buy maybe a four-pack that comes with 8 actual brushes. The second two are Smashbox brushes I got as a free gift or on sale at Ulta maybe this past winter holiday season.

Generally, I use the first brush for extending color in the crease. I will usually take some color from the outer corner of my eye, or dip the brush in a separate color and just move it into the crease. Once I feel the color is in there, I will get excess off of the brush and use what is in my crease to extend the color out.

The second brush is used when I want to cover the outer portion of my lid. If I am going to do two separate colors for my crease and outer lid, I will often use this brush to apply the outer lid color so I can have it concentrated and place a lot of color at once.

I use the third brush for highlighting and applying full color to my lid. The last brush I use for concentrated color on a smaller degree. So, if I am going to lets say add a bit of color to my outer lid, but don't want it to go in very far, I use this brush because it gives me more control and I can use it to make points, etc.

So, there you go. To get a pretty make-up look, you don't need tons of brushes or memorization of their numbers. Let the experts remember the numbers for when they are teaching you or so you can determine if you have a brush that is similar. Just be creative and play with the make-up in your free time. I guarantee that if you watch a couple of make-up videos and keep playing with techniques, you will find that you can begin to be creative on your own and figure out wish brushes you have that work well for you, or which you need to buy.