Make-Up Brush Basics

Before I posted this picture of my just washed make-up brushes on Instagram, my Sis had asked me weeks ago to write a post on what make-up brushes do one girl need, and I am just getting around to it now *Sorry Sis!* but I thought what a way to start the year by writing a post on the 

Make-up Brush Basics according to Miss FiveTwo

disclaimer: I am in no way a make-up professional to know what kind of makeup brushes do one need in their makeup collection. I am just sharing my opinion here. Every girl has it's own rights to own as many brushes as they wish. This is just what I think what one can start with. 

I did not just want to make this a long post of lists of brushes and honestly, I was having a hard time narrowing down my make-up brush list so I went to challenge myself and did an everyday FOTD (Face Of The Day) look for you guys and see how many brushes do I really need to do a simple look which can be worn day or night!

So here's the look I came up with using my Lorac Pro Palette but you can definitely use your favorite neutral eye palette for this look. I don't mind wearing red lips all day but if you prefer a nude shade go ahead and use that and for date nights pull out your favorite red lipstick!

FACE & LIPS:

• Here I used the StudioGear CC Cream I just got and for this you can just your fingers OR (1) Flat Synthetic Foundation brush
• Since the CC Cream did not cover any of my blemishes I used some Inglot AMC Cream Concealer #70 in the spots I needed more coverage. For this I just used my middle finger
• For my under eyes I used my ever so favorite Maybelline Dream Lumi highlighter in Honey and patted this with again just using my ring fingers!
• To set everything, I grabbed for my (2) big powder brush and used bareMinerals Mineral Veil Powder all over my face
• Grabbing the (3) Blush brush I applied some blush on my cheeks with POPBeauty Blush/ Bronzer Duo. You can definitely use this same brush to do some light contouring to give the face some color and dimension.
• For highlight which I do on my cheekbones only, two clean fingers are all you need to pat theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer
• LIPS: Jordana retractable lip liner in Cabernet + Revlon Matte in Standout

Sigma Foundation F60/ EcoTools Blush Brush/ RealTechniques Powder Brush

*Beauy TIP* I always have a paper towel or a baby wipe with me when I do my make-up since I do use my fingers a lot. So after using one product I wipe off the makeup from my fingers with the wipe. And now I'm ready to use them again for the EYES!

The brushes I used for my Face are the top 3 brands I do suggest to check out.

• Sigma brushes
• EcoTools
• Real Techniques

Two of these brushes can be found in the drugstores actually: EcoTools can be found in any drugstores and the RealTechnique brushes are slowly expanding besides being only found at Ulta and Amazon.com! I think they can be found in Wal-Mart now. 

My ever so favorite foundation brush is really the Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki brush, I did not use that in this FOTD because I was using a new product here. This is an investment brush for me, for a basic makeup brush collection you don't need to have the F80 brush, any flat synthetic brush will do to use with liquid foundation. And when I do use my bareMinerals powder foundation, I actually use my powder brush to apply it! 

Flat Brush/ Angled Brush/ Smudge Brush/ Small Flat Brush/ Fluffy Brush
for the brows: small angled brush

I went to use my favorite EcoTools Essential Eye Set to do my eyes for this look. This set definitely has all the brushes you need to create a simple eye look!

 EYES:

• Urban Decay original eye primer - this can be patted on the lids with just your ring fingers.
• LoracPro Palette
• Cream + Nude: with my pinky fingers OR use the (4)small flat brush and pat this in the inner corner of your eyes and by the brow bone area for some highlight.
• Cream + Lt. Bronze: using the (5)wide eyeshadow brush pat this all over your lids up to the crease
• Pewter: using the (6)angled brush I applied this color on the outer corner making a "V" shape from the corner of my eyes to the crease. And dragging some of this color 1/3 on the crease area. 
• Espresso: with the (7)small smudge brush I grabbed some of the dark brown shadow to deepen the "outer V" of my eyes. 
• Apply whatever shadow is left on the small smudge brush to the lower lash line. With the same brush grab some Pewter as well and apply it over the espresso on the lower lash line.
• Mauve: with a (8)Fluffy brush plus windshield wiper motion, put this all over your crease up to the brow bone but not over the highlighted area.

• Adding my wing with the Wet n'Wild liquid eyeliner in dark brown
• waterline: Tarte smolderEYES Amazonian Clay waterproof liner in Gunmetal 
• Grab your lash curler and favorite mascara. Here I used my L'oreal Butterfly mascara + Maybelline Lash Discovery waterproof mascara

EYEBROWS:

• NYX Taupe eyeliner pencil
• LoracPro shadows in Espresso and Black: if you have a *(9)small angled brush already then you can use this to shade your brows in.
• Most eyebrow kits come with this brush but since I used my eye palette I grabbed for another small angled brush for this step.
• Benefit Gimme Brow in Light-Medium

*Beauty TIP* My eyebrow routine changes a lot and I usually just use an eyebrow pencil and a spooly to tame my brow hairs. No need to buy a separate spooly or lash comb either, I usually wash the mascara wand I just finished and use that! So don't throw away those mascara samples yet, those wands are helpful to have around!

And we are done! So I ended up using 9 brushes in total out of my 15+ make-up brushes in my vanity! Not baad and great for your pocket! Most makeup brush kits would have most of this and I do suggest to buy the sets as it is a bargain for the price than buying individual brushes. You can definitely expand after and see which brands or makeup brushes that you would like to get next. 

From these basic makeup brush collection you can definitely rotate them to use it for different areas of makeup. For concealing, you can use the flat smudged brush or the flat foundation brush to apply the concealer under the eyes! The angle brush can be used for contouring! Or the eyeshadow flat brush to put some highlight on the cheekbones! Play around with it! Truly nobody needs 15+ makeup brushes for one face but as what I told my sister, just like painting she has different brushes for different colors and it is so easier to have them all for just one specific color use than keep washing the same brush over and over for a painting - same reason I have 3 different blush brushes, 5 eyeshadow flat brushes, 4 fluffy brushes and so on! 

Apologies for this very lengthy post, I do hope it helped you a bit if you are looking at where to start building your makeup brush collection. If I missed anything, just comment down below any questions you have and I will try to help you out.