Teach you to choose the essential makeup brushes

Not all makeup applicator brushes are essential. Learn what different applicators are for and how to use them, how to make them last, and natural hair vs. synthetic fiber brushes.
You may find a lot of makeup brushes inside a makeup artists bag. In fact, not every makeup brush is essential for each individual. Which brushes you consider essential is likely a function of which part of your face you emphasize with makeup. For example, if you dont have to spend any time taming flyaway eyebrows, its unlikely that you even know eyebrow brushes exist or that you could pick one out of a bag full of makeup brushes

If youve always applied makeup right out of the container, youve probably never had the occasion to use an applicator brush. Many women apply lipstick directly from the tube, cream eye shadow and blush, and pressed face powder, none of which requires an applicator brush.

Makeup applicator brushes come in two varieties: synthetic fibers and natural hair, such as squirrel hair. The natural brushes are often superior to the synthetic brushes, but synthetic brushes made from Taklon are high quality. The worst synthetic brushes can feel like youre dragging sandpaper across your face. When you buy brushes, make sure that they are soft to the touch and that the handle fits comfortably in your hand. If you care for your brushes properly, they should last for many years. It pays to purchase quality brushes if youre willing to take care of the brushes. Youll find your makeup easier to apply, your finished look more natural, and the whole makeup process faster with the proper tools.

Well explore how each brush is used, and then you can determine if you need or want to experiment with applicator brushes to achieve a different look. If you invest in quality makeup applicator brushes, wash them thoroughly once a month and allow them to dry naturally.

Concealer brushes

Concealer brushes are small, narrow and firm, tapered toward the end. If you hide dark circles under your eyes with concealer, its best to apply and blend a liquid concealer with a makeup sponge. Applicator brushes work best with cream concealers.

Eyebrow/Mascara Brushes

Eyebrow brushes are often two brushes in one: eyebrow brush and mascara comb. You can purchase either separately, but if you need both, purchase a two-in-one combination brush. At one end youll find a brush to tame flyaway eyebrows and coax them into submission. Turn the brush in your hand one-half turn, and youll find a brush to separate eyelashes after applying mascara. While many women find no need for an eyebrow brush, almost any woman who applies mascara will find the mascara tool indispensable.

When a mascara tube has been open for several months, the mascara begins to lose moisture and dries out. No amount of pumping the applicator brush in the tube will restore the mascara to its former silky texture. Its a futile exercise. If you want to extract and use every bit of mascara, you need to separate the clumps with a mascara brush immediately after application, before the mascara dries.

Eyeliner Brushes

If you wear liquid or cream eyeliner, the eyeliner applicator brush is an essential component of your makeup arsenal. The brush is similar in appearance to a lip brush, thin and tapered to a point toward the end. If you use an eyeliner pencil, you will need a sponge to smudge the eyeliner, not a brush.

Eyeshadow Brushes

Youre probably wondering why you would need an eyeshadow applicator brush when eyeshadow comes with a little sponge or brush applicator. If you apply the eyeshadow to one eye with a used sponge applicator, the application is often uneven and sometimes the sponge disintegrates right onto your eyelid. The sponge applicator is good for exactly one application. After that, the shadow becomes compressed on the sponge applicator, and youll receive an uneven application. After a few more applications, the sponge inevitably falls apart. You dont want little pieces of sponge creeping into your eyes. Youll receive a more uniform application and a more natural finished look from the proper eyeshadow applicator brush. Further, those miniature applicators that come with eyeshadow are unwieldy and uncomfortable to hold, if not impossible to manage. What you save in expense by using the little sponge applicator, you lose in lost time correcting the eyeshadow application.

Youll need two eyeshadow applicator brushes. Use one for dark colors and one for light colors.

If you highlight the eyelid crease with a darker shade, youll want to invest in an angled eye shadow brush. The brush is flatter than a regular eye shadow brush, and the angled end makes application easier in tight spots. This applicator brush is essential to properly apply and blend the darker shadow into the crease.

Blush Brushes

If you use powder blush, a high quality blush brush is essential. Cream and liquid blushes require a damp sponge for proper application. Those little brushes that often accompany powder blush are worse than useless. If you have ever used one of those brushes, then you know that the blush looks streaky, and its next to impossible to blend the blush properly with those brushes. Blush is supposed to give you a healthy glow, not an angled streak from mid-nose to the upper cheekbone. The brushes that come with powder blush are usually flat, and a proper blush applicator brush should be fluffy, and rounded at the end. The brush is almost identical to a face powder brush, except smaller. If you apply blush away from home, invest in a quality travel brush.

Face Powder Brushes

Most women who use powder use loose face powder at home and pressed powder away from home. Applying face powder too heavily accentuates wrinkles. Application is much easier to control with a brush. The face powder brush is fluffy and fat, and its rounded at the end. In fact, its the fattest of the makeup applicator brushes. For the most natural application, buff powder onto the face, and use less than you think you need. Add more as necessary. When using pressed face powder, instead of using the powder puff, invest in a high quality travel brush. If you dont, pressed powder can look unnatural and resemble stage makeup.

Lip Brushes

The professionals will scream at the top of their lungs that no self-respecting woman would apply lip color without a brush. Every makeup artist in the world uses these thin, tapered-to-a-point brushes. Whether or not these brushes are essential is up to you. Lip color is applied in a variety of ways, and is probably best applied in the manner you find most comfortable and which produces the most appealing look.

Makeup (Foundation) Brushes

If youve never heard of applying foundation with a brush, thats because youve never tried the new powder-based foundations composed of minerals from the earth. There is no other way to apply this foundation. You buff the foundation on the face with a face powder brush. In fact, it is a face powder brush, but youll need one brush for the foundation, and an additional face powder brush for the powder.

Figure out the makeup brushes you need

It is important for ladies to figure out what makeup brushes you need. They all seem to play a big role and the makeup brushes sellers always introduce too much makeup brushes to you.

The way you can actually figure out what makeup brushes you need can be determined by how often and to what extent you use makeup on a daily basis. If you hardly ever wear makeup, you may be better off without any or sticking to the ones that come with the makeup you buy. Also, before you decide to buy the makeup brushes, ask yourself the following questions:

·    Do I wear makeup on a daily basis or only occasionally?

·    When I do wear makeup, what essential items must I have (foundation, powder, eye makeup, lipstick)?

·    How much time do I typically devote to applying makeup (a few minutes, 30 minutes to an hour)?

·    Do I care about application techniques or do I just want it to look presentable?

Unless you’re a makeup artist, you may not need tons of makeup brushes. Cheap or expensive, they all eventually begin to add up in dollars and if you’ve got brushes with dust on them, it’s pretty obvious you aren’t being practical. When shopping for new brushes, stick to the following four makeup brushes and you’ll be set, no matter how complex or simple your makeup regimen is:

Eyeshadow brush: This type of makeup brush is ideal for applying eye makeup in a way that is neat, clean and flawless. The way the brushes are created allows them to pick up the color and apply it to your eyelids more efficiently and with a better finish that most sponges or the typical eye shadow applicator brushes that come with the compact. Many eye shadow brushes come with angled or tapered hairs with short handles. The beauty of this makeup brush is that you can create all kinds of looks from the sexy smokey eye to the mysterious winged look.

Concealer brush: For those of you who want to mask imperfections such as dark under eye circles, blemishes, scars, and pimples, having a good concealer brush can be your saving grace. Choose a concealer brush that has oval bristles or smaller tips to help you accurately cover up hard to reach places on your face. Even if you have pretty decent skin, there may be a day when the concealer brush will no doubt come in handy.

Angled brush: As the name implies, the angled makeup brush has bristles that are shorter in length on one end and longer on the other end. Angled brushes are ideal for applying eye liner in order to control the width of the line and can also be dipped in brow powder and used to add definition to eyebrows. You’d be surprised what one angled brush can do for your makeup palette!

Blush brush: This type of makeup brush is wide with a rounded shape, which makes it perfect for picking up and depositing blush or regular powder evenly without streaks. Choose a size that fits your face and feels good in your hand. Don’t forget to tap off excess powder before using this makeup brush on your complexion.

How to Apply Blush

Blush, sometimes called as the rouge, is the quickest way to give face fresh, beautiful and less tired look. Blush makeup means the flush of colors on face while you blush.  Blush is very important makeup accessory to give your face an instant color. Blush is applied at the end, when all other makeup like foundation, eye color and lipstick is done. Applying blush should be the last step. You must carefully choose the color of the blush you want to apply on the face.

Types of blush

You can choose blush for yourself out of various kinds.  A blush may be in liquid, cream or powder form. It is more convenient to use cream blush in the morning when you apply it first during the day and retouch it with powder blush any time during the day. But you cannot first apply powder blush and then retouch with cream blush. This is because, if cream blush is applied on the powder blush, it will blotch on your face.

For oily and combo skin, powder blush is reliable. Cream blush is specially designed for dry skin. Liquid and gel blush are good for oily skin. Some makeup artists like to combine cream and powder blush both for greater luminosity and for keeping it for longer time. If you choose cream blush, keep in mind that color of cream blush should be a shade darker than that of powder blush. Cream blush gets absorbed in the skin and shade gets fade while powder blush stays on the skin and keeps its color stable.

Steps to be followed for applying blush

- Choosing right color for blush is the first step towards successful application of blush. You should choose color according to your skin tone. Blush should be of that color which comes on your cheeks just after exercise or being in cold. To see the flush of color on cheeks, just spank them a little. You can match it with your lip color. People with fair skin can choose olive, rose and peach and dark colored people can go for apricot or reds. Color of the blush also depends upon the form of blush as told above.
- Throw away those tiny brushes, which come with blush pack; instead buy a full sized professional brush for perfect application of the blush.
- Take blush on the brush and tap off any extra blush on the brush. Otherwise take a dab of gel on your finger.
- Now to find the spot where to apply blush, look into the mirror and smile. It will help find apples of the cheek where you are supposed to apply blush. For a healthy flush, you should apply blush on the apples of cheeks and it should be in light and steady movements. Always apply a little blush in the beginning and add more if desired.
- Blending is the key. Blend it perfectly with the rest of the makeup.
- If you have applied more blush powder than needed, you should dust a little translucent powder over it. If it is cream blush, blot extra blush with tissue. Liquid or gel blush stain the face, so to lighten them, you will have to wash the face and reapply it again.
- After desired application of blush, dash a little translucent powder.

Tips

- Keep your blush brush clean with baby wipes. This is a must step otherwise your brush will catch bacteria which can transfer to your cheeks.
- For a shimmery look, apply shimmer blush near the eye on the highest point on the cheeks.
- While applying powder blush, move the brush in one direction. Do not do it repeatedly round direction, it will create streaks.
- For mature skin cream blush is the best as it gets absorbed in the skin and looks natural. If you are using cream or gel blush, apply one dot at the apple of cheeks and two dots cheekbones. Blend them properly towards hairline.
- For a tired looking skin, dusky pink blush is good.
- While applying blush, do not get close to the nose.
- Do not mix powder blush with makeup creams.
- Avoid applying excessive blush as it looks like a mask if overdone.
- Cream blush is effective on an already powdered face and powder blush is best applied after application of foundation.