**Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored, meaning I have not been compensated to share my favorite brushes and for my time to put this content together. Affiliate links are used in this post. When purchasing through my affiliate links, I will make a small commission which helps to cover the time investment put into this blog post and the time away from my clients, work and family. Thank you for all of your continued support.**
TOP BRUSHES I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT
One topic that I feel like is left untouched when it comes to a beautiful makeup application are the brushes used in every application. Good brushes make a world of difference. During my makeup lessons, women always comment on how much easier applying makeup is with my brushes. Typically, that’s an area that we don’t update or invest in. When you have great brushes, it makes blending effortless and natural. It makes your application beautiful and quick! Finding the brush is crucial and investing in great ones will prolong the life of your makeup in the jar and on the face!
Here is my top 11 can’t live without makeup brushes that every woman needs to have in her kit.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11
EYE BRUSHES
Eyeshadow Primer Brush
Eyeshadow Primer Brush: I prefer to use a thin, tapered, flat brush head that is designed to work with cream and liquid products. This quickly lays a seamless primer application over the lid. You can use your fingers as well, but I find that it’s messy and it’s hard to get into the inner corner and contours of the eye.
Flat Eyeshadow Brush
Flat Eyeshadow Brush: This is my go-to brush to quickly apply and pack that color along the brow bone and above the lashes line across the entire lip. This brush works great with powders and pigments. It’s a dense brush, and easy to get the product on the lash line and below the brow effortlessly.
Crease Blending Brush
Crease Blending Brush: Hands down my favorite brush in my entire kit. If you’re stuck with blending out your crease line and your shadow has a hard line without that gradual (almost ombré) effect, you need this. More than likely, you’re using a brush that is too dense, which makes it hard to blend out the product. You want a diffused, soft and blended look when it comes to your crease. Because this brush is constructed with duo-fiber technology and a tapered dome at the tip, it will provide a sheer, buildable, more controlled application. I’ve been through countless crease/ blending brushes, and this blows them all away. The fluffier brushes will pick up fewer powder products, which is ideal if you want a blended eye look. You can still achieve a substantial, smokey eye look with this brush. Beautifully designed and distributes color perfectly.
Angled Eyeliner Brush
Angled Eyeliner Brush: You can use this to fill in your brows, but I use it for eyeliner. This slanted brush creates a sharp and precise line, and it works great with cream, gel and powder products. The synthetic fibers are arranged in the perfect angle shape making it easy to align with your lash line. You can drag it across the eyelid or even tap/ dab it in place.
Precision / Pencil Brush
Precision / Pencil Brush: This is the perfect brush for lining your lower lash line with a shadow to create a smudgy/ smokey eye look. I have two of these brushes; I use one for the inner corner to brighten my eye using a lighter shadow and the second I use for a darker color for the actual eyeliner. This brush allows you to easily smudge powder and pencil liner into the lash line.
SHOP EYE BRUSHES
FACE BRUSHES
Foundation Brush
Foundation Brush: I typically start with my fingers. I rub the foundation on my fingertips to warm the product and activate the ingredients. From there I pat it into my skin and continue to buff in the foundation for a more airbrushed, flawless finish using this tapered kabuki (dense) brush. These soft, dense fibers provide a seamless, high-definition finish. The tapered point allows the brush to work in and around the contours of the face.
Powder Brush
Powder Brush: My favorite all over powder brush is this one from Sephora. In my opinion, it’s a little more on the pricer side, but it performs so well. I love the tapered brush head and the softness of the bristles, which help to deliver a beautiful, flawless, airbrushed finish. If you don’t wear a liquid-based foundation, but you do use a powder foundation, this brush is perfect for that application as well.
*Here are two others that I recommend as well. I’ve used this MAC Powder Brush for years, and it provides an air, light finish. There is also this Luxie Powder Brush, which works great too.
Blush Brush
Blush Brush: In my opinion, you can scale back on the blush brush. This brush from Luxie works, and it’s designed to apply blush products evenly. The rounded corners provide a diffused, blended blush application. **If you’re a splurge kind of girl and want the fanciest blush brush you’re face will ever meet, I love this one by Charlotte Tilbury.
Contour Angled Contour + Bronzer Brush
Contour Angled Contour + Bronzer Brush: I love the shape of this brushed and how tapered and rounded the edge is. I have found that this is easier to apply with rather than a completely flat surface. I have found that a slanted brush is easier to blend out as you’re applying your bronzer/ contour product. The shape of this brush is great for diffused, the exact placement of product and that’s exactly what you want as you’re carving out your cheeks, slimming the nose and sun kissing the forehead and chin. The best sculpting brush!
Highlighter Brush
Highlighter Brush: I prefer this style of the brush when applying highlighters. It provides a delicate dusting of brushes with it’s fluffy, rounded-point, precision brush. I’ve used so many highlighter brushes/ fan brushes and this by far delivers the best-diffused highlighter application.
Concealer Brush
Concealer Brush: This is one area where I apply my concealer directly to my skin, dab in place with my middle finger and then buff the product into this skin using this concealer brush. You can also use this brush to conceal blemishes and pores. I love the soft, dense, tapered point, which allows moving and easy application in the corner of the eye and around the contours of the nose. It’s also great for color correcting products as well.
SHOP FACE BRUSHES
Good makeup brushes are a huge investment. I wanted to share additional kits that you can purchase that has everything you will need at different price points. The brushes listed above are all of my favorites, they can be a splurge, however I know those brushes will last you years (I’ve had more of mine for 9 years). The brushes I’m sharing below in this next section of my post perform great – not as good as the above, but for the price point they’re pretty amazing!
BRUSH ALTERNATIVES
Ready To Roll Brush Set $70
Ready To Roll Brush Set: This first set is from Sephora, and it’s a full face brush set. It’s a set of 10 brushes all the essentials you’ll need to complete your complexion and eye makeup application. It’s $70, which is a great price for this quality ($195 value). I personally own this brush set too and I love that it comes with a roll up case, which is great for ladies who travel often with their brushes!
You can use the fan style brush as your highlighter brush and the flat smudge brush as your pencil brush for eyeliner.
– Powder Brush
– Complexion Brush
– Angled Blush Brush
– Highlight + Contour Brush
– Fan Brush
– Eyeshadow Brush
– Smudge Brush
– Blending Crease Brush
– Concealer Brush
– Angled Liner with Spoolie Brush
– Faux Leather Brush Roll
Eye Makeup Brush Set $39
Eye Makeup Brush Set: For the ladies who need a good set of eyeshadow brushes and prefer a kit, here you go! This is a five-piece set from Sephora and includes the essentials for that smudgy, smokey eye that I love or any eye for that matter.
– All over shadow brush
– Tapered crease brush
– Angled liner brush
– Shader brush
– Small shadow brush
– Pebbled faux leather pouch
Morphe X Jaclyn Hill The Complexion Master Collection $52
Morphe X Jaclyn Hill The Complexion Master Collection: Morphe X Jaclyn Hill The Complexion Master Collection: This is a complete five-piece set for everything you’ll need for the face. What I love about this is our rounded the fibers are on the brush heads making for a flawless application.
– Bronzer brush
– Foundation brush
– Blush brush
– Concealer/ under eye brush
– Highlighter brush
– Bronzer/ powder brush
Morphe X Jaclyn Hill The Eye Master Collection $39
Morphe X Jaclyn Hill The Eye Master Collection: Another great set if you go beyond the beginner stage of makeup. Some of these brushes aren’t needed if you’re not rocking out intense eyes, but for the price, you really can’t beat this set. It has everything you’ll need, and I love that it has a variety of fibers and densities.
– Blender crease brush
– Transition blender brush
– Universal blender brush
– Inner corner highlight brush
– Precise blender brush
– All over lid brush
– Browbone highlight brush
– Eyeliner smudge brush
– Bag
SHOP THESE BRUSH SETS
SINGLE BRUSHES FOR LESS
This last section of the post has been dedicated to single one-off brushes for less. Again, if your budget allows, the first section of the post are the must-haves that I can guarantee will last for years and provide you with the most flawless finish. I know brushes are a HUGE investment, so I wanted to provide a variety of price points. Here are some Morphe brushes that perform similar to my top 11 must-have brushes. All of thse brushes are less than $17 – but most of them are below the $10 range.
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