My personal favourite makeup brushes and why

As with all my blog posts this is my opinion and is not sponsored or paid by any brand. The brushes I will be speaking about today are all in use in my personal makeup bag and not all of them are used professionally by me. Some are affordable and some are expensive and ill let you know why I find them the best for the job and also what I use them for as I don’t always use brushes for what they were intended for!

My Makeup Brushes

Primer: MAC 130 short duo fibre (£34.50 maccosmetics.co.uk)

The MAC 130 is a short, round, flat-topped duo fibre brush ideal for the smooth, easy application of foundations and creams. This brush is just the right size to work primer into the areas where it is most needed, mainly my T-zone, cheeks & under eyes and chin. The duo fibre bristles don’t pick up too much product and disperses the primer evenly on my skin.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on your brushes then Zoeva have a dupe, the 122 petit stippling brush which is £10.99 at Feelunique.com

Concealer: Real Techniques 300 deluxe crease brush, (from the Everyday Essentials Set £19.99 at superdrug.co.uk)

The RT deluxe crease brush is ideal for covering blemishes and getting into creases etc. The domed small soft head of the brush is great at blending in the product and soft enough not to drag the concealer over your skin. The brush is soft enough to disperse the under eye concealer as the brush is so soft that again it gently blends the product with out moving it around your face. I bought the Everyday Essentials kit from Superdrug as I use 3 of the 4 brushes and also the beauty blender.

Foundation: Tarte Cosmetics the buffer™ airbrush finish foundation brush (£27 tartecosmetics.com)

The Tarte Cosmetics brush is my current favourite brush as it evenly distributes the foundation over your skin and does actually give you a flawless finish. It flawlessly blends and buffs your foundation that does actually give you an airbrushes finish. It also looks cute with its floral handle. Before I purchased this brush my go to foundation brush was my Zoeva 102 silk finish brush in rose gold. I still use this brush occasionally and it still sits in my brush pot however I do prefer the Tarte brush at the moment. The Zoeva brush is £12.99 from cultbeauty.com.

Powder: Real Techniques 400 Blush Brush (Everyday Essentials Set £19.99 at superdrug.co.uk )

I bought the Everyday Essentials brush set just after Christmas as I loved the look of the brushes and my favourite brush out of the set is the Blush brush. It has long super soft bristles for applying powder to large areas of the face without it caking.

Setting Under Eyes: RT 402 Setting Brush (Everyday Essentials Set £19.99 at superdrug.co.uk )

I know many people like to bake their under eyes and use a beauty blender to apply the powder however I am a bit older now (in my 40’s (shhhhhhhhhh) and I find that baking leaves my under eyes to dry and the product sticks to and accentuates my fine lines. I therefore like to set my under eyes with a small fluffy brush which doesn’t add too much powder to my under eye area but also deposits enough powder to set the concealer in place so it stays where it was put!

Highlight: Zoeva 105 Luxe Highlight in Rose Gold (£13 Beautybay.com)

This brush is gorgeous and comes in different colours. I have the rose gold however if you prefer your brushes to look professional then it also comes in black. This is the most gorgous shaped brush and picks up just the right amount of highlighter. It has a slight taper at the top for finer application and when used on its side, is perfect for the tops of your cheekbones. As an older woman with a round face, big enough nose etc., I don’t highlight my nose or forehead but you can use a smaller version of this brush for those areas.

Contour: Zoeva 126 Luxe cheek finish brush (£14.99 feelunique.com) and Royal & Langnickel Chique Pro Highlighter Brush (£1.75 Redcarpetfx.com)

I personally prefer a powder contour as it is more subtle and suits my style of makeup and the brush I use is intended for use with powder products. I use the Zoeva cheek finish brush for contouring my cheekbones, forehead and double chin! For contouring my nose I prefer a smaller brush and so use the extra soft Royal & Langnickel Chique Pro Highlighter Brush which is perfect fro smaller areas and a softer finish.

Blush: Zoeva luxe sheer cheek brush(£12.99 feelunique.com)

As you can see from the photo at the bottom of this post, I have been using this brush for quite a while and I actually prefer it now that the bristles have splayed a little as I get a softer application of product rather than when it was new, which deposited a bit more blusher. I prefer to build blusher rather than loading on too much and looking like a doll !!!!

Eyeliner: My Kit Co 1.22 My Feliner (£12.50 Mykitco.co.uk)

Depending upon what look I am going for I use one of 3 brushes for eyeliner. The My Kit Co feliner is perfect for a fine line, and a wing, and also for powder liner and tight lining my upper lash line. This is probably my all time favourite eyeliner brush.

Brows: My Kit Co, 2.4 My Tight Brow (£12.50 Mykitco.co.uk)

I love both of these brushes to apply both powder and pomade to my brows. The brushes are fine enough that you can create individual hair strokes but soft enough that the lines don’t look too harsh.

“It’s sharply angled with just the right amount of flex allowing for the best application of both cream and powder product”.

Eye Shadow: 1.23 My all over shadow (£12.50), 1.19 My fluff and buff small (£12.50), 1.18 My fluff and buff large (£14.50), & 1.1 My mini shade and shadow (£10.50) (Mykitco.co.uk)

I only need to use these 4 brushes for my eye makeup and these are the 4 that I always go to and are my current favourites. Each brush is designed to apply the shadow in the areas which it is designed for and create a beautiful result.

Breakdown of the cost of my brushes and where to buy them

Primer: MAC 130 short duo fibre (£34.50 maccosmetics.co.uk)

Concealer: Real Techniques 300 deluxe crease brush (from the Everyday Essentials Set £19.99 at superdrug.co.uk)