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When it comes to makeup, you want two things: a flawless finish and quick results. That's why brushes are so essential to the process—they blend, sculpt, and smooth product into the perfect canvas with minimal effort.
But with so many makeup brushes to choose from it's hard to know exactly which ones are a must have, especially when you've only got 20 minutes to get out the door. A quick stroll down the aisles of Target or Sephora, can leave even a seasoned pro overwhelmed with the abundance of makeup brush options.
Here I've rounded up six favorite brushes that are essential, versatile, and good for everyday use. They each serve a different function, offer a range of benefits, and are available at an affordable price. These are must have picks to complete any basic look.
Pro Tip: When cleaning your brushes avoid getting the ferrule, the metal area that attaches the bristles to the handle, wet. Laying flat or hanging upside down to dry will keep water from seeping into the handle. Never soak your brushes!
Six Essential Makeup Brushes
In order to qualify for the essentials list each brush had to meet certain criteria and stand up to pro use. They've been tested by and are the preferred brushes used in the Complexion Perfection, Eyes Only, and Makeup Make Over Lessons. After discovering Royal & Langnickel art brushes (and that they make makeup brushes), I decided this would be the perfect challenge to see if they fit the criteria.
Here's the criteria to be considered an essential-
Each brush needs to be multipurpose, either with product or technique. There's a brush for every part of the face, but many are redundant so when faced with ONLY the essentials, they must serve a dual purpose.
Density-this is especially important for face brushes to help create a smooth finish. The same applies to fluffy brushes used for powders and shadows. The density needs to coordinate with the type of product being used.
Bled-ability - how easy do they apply, move, and blend products. A good brush helps place the product rather then pick it up and push it around.
As always they need to be cruelty free.
Must Have makeup Brushes For the Face
First up is the Buffer. This heavy hitter is truly all purpose. Used for foundations, its dome shape is dense enough for liquid and cream applications. As the name would suggest, it buffs product beautifully. Follow up with a cream blush and this is a go to for application and blending.
Next is the Blend brush. The flat top of this brush aids in powder application and blending. It's not as dense as the Buffer, so it allows for more flexibility when working with powders. It can be used for blush, bronzers, powder foundations and setting powders.
The last essential face brush is the Contour. You can use it to apply contour, highlight, or blush products. The tapered head helps you apply the product exactly where it needs to go—and no more than that. The bristles are short and narrow creating the perfect shape for sculpting any area. Load a cream color along one edge to easily contour smaller areas like the nose, or load the end to pack more color in your contour then flip to blend. In a pinch this could even double as a cream blush brush.
Makeup brushes For the Eyes
Most everyday eye looks require a few key tools, and every brand has their take on these classic brushes.
The first is a great Crease brush. Generally the bristles are long and slightly domed or tapered, and the tips are fluffy. The fluffiness is what creates the great blend. This brush is perfect for applying eyeshadow to the crease, blending eyeshadow and applying it to the lower lash line. The crease brush can also be used as a highlight brush, but that's not its main purpose.
Another must have classic is a flat shade brush. This can be used to apply primer, an all over base color, lid shades, highlight, and can be used for wet or dry products, creams or powders.
Finally, the last essential brush for the list is an angled line brush. This is ideal for any small application area, like eyeliner, or brows, and can be used to apply liner or smudge it out. It can also be used with creams or powders, wet or dry! The shorter dense bristles are perfect for creating hair like brow strokes when used with wax and powder.
Investing in makeup brushes is a great idea if you want to get the best results possible. The easiest way to do this is to develop a collection of good quality brushes and clean them often and properly. I hope these brushes help make application easier, faster and takes away some confusion in deciding what you need.
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