Makeup Brushes 101- Everything You Need to Know About Them

I get asked a lot of different questions when it comes to makeup brushes, but the single most recurring question is “What kind of makeup brushes do I need?”. I’ll be the first to admit that I have WAY too many brushes, and do not use all of them.

Before I break down the brushes that I use every day and the brushes I would recommend you buying, lets first break down what kind of brushes are out there to help you make your buying decision a bit easier.

Synthetic vs. Natural

There are so many different kinds of brushes out there, but before we know which ones to buy, we need to know what they are made out of. Brushes are either synthetic or natural.

Natural makeup brushes are typically made of animal hair and fur, they tend to be very soft, extremely durable- yet a bit more pricey. Natural brushes also work well with pigmented colors.

Synthetic makeup brushes are made of manmade bristles, usually from nylon or polyester. Synthetic brushes are not as soft as natural brushes but tend to be easier to wash (see this post on how to wash your brushes), and much less expensive! Compared to natural brushes, synthetic brushes also tend to work better with liquid or cream products.

If you want to learn even more about Synthetic vs. Natural makeup brushes, visit this site for more info!

I love both Sigma Beauty and Morphe brushes; both are great and work well! I have had several Morphe face brushes fall apart on me, so I tend to stick to only their eye brushes. Sigma Beauty has great face and eye brushes, but can get expensive (very well worth the money though). I do have a coupon code if you want for Sigma beauty- you can use code ELLY10 for 10% off. Sigma also does have good sales throughout the year too- FYI.

Now that we know what kind of bristles there are, let’s move on to what kind of brushes I would recommend you buying or using.

BEAUTY BRUSHES: FACE

Beauty Blender; the aqua-activated sponge that works with any cream product.
Flat Kabuki F80; great for buffed or stippled product application. Best with liquid or cream products.
Angled Contour F40 (x2); great for both blush and bronzer.
Highlighter F03; great for applying and buffing cream and powder highlighter down the nose, chin, and cheekbones.
Powder Brush F25; perfect for powder, blush or contour shades onto the cheeks and temples.
Concealer Brush F70; great for concealing the hardest to reach areas.

BEAUTY BRUSHES: EYES

Angle Liner Brush M160; great for gel or cream liner.
Angled Brow and Spoolie E29; dual-ended brush to groom and color the brows.
Blending Fluff E30; ideal for diffusing and softening harsh lines and blending colors.
Firm Shadow M124; great for bold colors as well as shimmer shadows.
Pro Precision Smudger M326; perfect for smudging liner, or placing bold colors where you want it.
Pencil Crease M574; perfect for hard to reach areas like the inner corner of your eyes.