My Favourite Makeup Brushes

Personally I find the tools we use to apply makeup to be a really important part of the whole process, and although it's often overlooked, a good set of brushes will increase the longevity of your makeup, the overall finish and can be cost effective by using less product with better results.

The brushes I'm showing here are mostly from Real Techniques or Sephora.

The Real Techniques brushes are very inexpensive and excellent, you can find them at WalMart, Ulta and almost everywhere if you're from the UK. They are all synthetic, which means they clean easier and are entirely cruelty free, they can also be used for powder or liquid products. The bristles are soft, the brushes are made so that they can stand up, and the handle of the brush is very easy to use.

The Sephora brushes were a limited-edition set from last Christmas, but there are similar brushes sold individually and they do have gift sets for sale currently either in store or online. These brushes have natural bristles which are very soft and work best with powder products. Because they are actual hair, they're easy to wash but they take a bit longer to dry. Also they need to be shaped more often to help them last longer. The handles on these brushes are very similar to that of a paintbrush, which I like, also the black and gold colouring is classic and I prefer the look of them to the Real Techniques.

I just thought I'd summarize all of this before getting into the individual brushes.

 This is the Real Techniques Powder Brush. It's a very big brush and is great for face powders, setting powders and bronzer if you want a particularly sun-kissed look.

 The RT Buffing Brush is a dense foundation brush which is one of my all time favourites. I use it every time I wear makeup. It applies foundation flawlessly and works better than anything I've previously used.

 The RT Multitask Brush is exactly that, it can be used for powder, blush, bronzer, highlighter... whatever you want. I mainly use it for bronzer but it is very versatile.

 The RT Blush Brush is fantastic. It's tapered bristles mean you can apply product to the tip and then as you use it the shorter bristles surrounding it blend out the colour seamlessly. I'm sure I could use this for other products too, but I love it for blush so much I haven't tried it with anything else.

 The RT Contour Brush is made specifically to contour your cheekbones. I do use it for that reason, but I also love using it for cream blush products. I have a lot of redness in my face so I find using a small brush for cream products stop me from applying too much. It works well on the apples on my cheeks without making me look like a tomato.

 The Sephora Powder Brush is lovely, the bristles aren't too dense and are longer. It works very well with loose powders especially, and is very soft.

 The Sephora Crease Brush is fantastic for blending colours in your eye socket. It looks a bit daunting because the bristles are so long, but it blends very similarly to the RT Blush Brush, creating a seamless finish.

 The Sephora Shadow Brush is also really great. It's quite flat and really packs on the colour. I use this for an all over wash of colour and also to highlight my brow bone.

 The Sephora Smudge Brush works just like a pencil brush. It is great for applying eyeshadow under your eyes or in the inner corner of your eye for a highlight.

 The RT Deluxe Crease Brush can be used in your crease, but I prefer to use this as a concealer brush. It's dense, and quite big for eyeshadow. I think it's a bit like a mini-buffing brush, so I really like using this either dabbing to cover a blemish, or blending a concealer underneath my eyes.

 The RT Domed Shadow Brush is basically your ideal eyeshadow brush. It packs on colour, can be used to blend and it's not too big or too small. I use this brush a lot, but don't appreciate it enough. It's probably one of my favourite eye brushes.

 This is the Nars #3 Brush in a mini size. It came with my "And God Created The Woman" palette and I just find it to be a really great little brush. It can be used for a variety of things, but I especially love it as a blending brush.

 The Royal and Langnickel Spooley Brush was incredibly cheap and one of my most used brushes.  bought it from IMATS last year, and I think it was around $2.00. I use it to comb my lashes on occasion, but mostly to tame my unruly eyebrows.

 The Sephora Brow Brush is another favourite, it's perfect for using a powder to fill in your eyebrows and is stiff and dense enough to really create a nice shape.

Finally, the Sephora Blush Brush is basically a smaller version of the powder brush but in a perfect size for applying brush. I also use it for bronzer and think it gives a really soft finish with no harsh lines.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my favourite brushes! Thanks!