Makeup Brushes
Any makeup artist or beauty consultant will tell you good makeup brushes are probably one of the most important things you will have in your makeup kit. Anybody still using those little sponge tip applicators should bin them now.
You could spend a fortune on brushes, there are so may different types all doing different jobs, and they aren’t cheap! Not good ones anyway. If you can save up it’s well worth spending a little extra and getting some good quality ones. These will last longer, the hairs will be real which will pick up the product better than synthetic plastic bristles, and the hairs won’t fall out.
The main brushes you need are: a large blusher/powder brush pic 1 £25.00 (no.129); a blending brush pic 2 £19.50 (no.224), which can be used on the eye for blending colours and also for cover up under the eye or around the nose; a shader brush pic 3 £16.50 (no.242) which you use for putting on the colour to the eyelid; a small angle brush pic 4 £12.00 (no.263) to use as a way to line the eye using eye shadow, and finally; if you use a cream foundation then a foundation brush pic 5 £25.00 (no.190), which will give you a much smoother flawless uncakey finish than a sponge will.
MAC do amazing brushes, they are expensive but well worth the money, they are real fur, but the animals are just shaved they aren’t hurt I’m told, for all you animal lovers (the photos are all MAC brushes). If you can’t stretch that far then I have found Cosmopolitan brushes sold in Boots or Superdrug are really good value and a lot more affordable.
Make sure you clean your brushes and look after them, they will pick up bacteria causing breakouts, you can get a brush cleaner from MAC for £7.50, or shampoo or liquid soap will work just as well.
September 6th, 2010 at 7:27 am
This is my second brush set purchase from Sigma. I already owned the Professional Complete Kit (which I love as well!), however I really wanted to try out several of the new brushes in the Premium Kit. I’m so glad I purchased this kit!
Some of the brushes DO bleed and shed a bit when when you wash them the first time (but this is normal with most brushes!). After the first wash though, this goes away. The face brushes are so soft. My favorite face brushes are the SS134 (F20) which I use for applying bronzer and the SS138 (F25) which I use for contouring. I’m not going to lie, the SS138 was the main reason I purchased this kit. I was so excited to try it, and I love it. It makes contouring so easy, and does no leave a harsh line like some angled brushes do.
The second reason I decided to purchase this kit was because of the eye brushes. I really wanted to try them all. I already had the travel size SS217 (E25), so I knew I was going to love this one. I use everyday. It’s great for applying crease color, blending, and applying an all over lid color. The SS222 (E35) is great if you’re not a fan of the 224, I feel like it applies your crease color more precisely. My FAVORITE of the eye brushes was the SS226 (E45). I have smaller eyes, so sometimes when I try to apply my crease color with other blending brushes, I end up applying it to a larger area then I would have liked to. This definitely helps me apply my crease color, and outer-v so much more easily! I didn’t think I’d be very blown away by the SS227 (E50), but I love this one as well! It’s great for applying your brow-bone highlight, and blending the rest of your eyeshadows.
Overall, I am VERY pleased with this kit! It IS kind of pricey, but you definitely get your money’s worth! And it’s a fraction of the cost of MAC brushes!
September 14th, 2010 at 3:33 am
Great post