Makeup Brush Buying Guide


How often do you clean your makeup brushes? Truthfully. Once a month? Once a year? Never. No judgement pals, it happens. But if you’ve been using the same few brushes for years, and not cleaning them on the regular, it might be time for a fresh start on the brush front, hey? 

Get some new brushes on that Christmas list (and make a New Year’s resolution to clean them, often). Good quality, clean brushes will last for years, make your makeup go on better, and prevent gnarly eye infections and the like. Pink eye suits no one

So it’s a good investment. And by good I don’t necessarily mean pricey. You can get excellent, inexpensive makeup brushes, but you can also get rubbish ones that shed bristles instantly. So you need to know where to put your makeup brush money. 

THE BODY SHOP

You can’t go wrong with makeup brushes from The Body Shop. Ranging from £8-16, they have silky bristles that seem to get softer with age. And they don’t shed. Ever. 


Strangely, I can’t find their value brush sets online, except the Body Shop Essential Tools Set, £25 (below right). But there are lots of options instore, I’ve eyeballed them (see below left).

REAL TECHNIQUES

Made by Sam and Nic Chapman – makeup artists and YouTube pros – Real Techniques have a dedicated YouTube channel showing you how to use their products (plus their main beauty channel Pixiwoo). Starting at £5.99 and often on offer in Boots and Superdrug, these brushes are both excellent and affordable. 


Real Techniques has a wider range than The Body Shop and are colour coded – orange for base (foundation, powder), pink for finish (blusher etc), purple for eyes. They also have a luxury line, Real Techniques Bold Metals Collection. Here are my top three picks:

1. Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge, £5.99:

If you haven’t used a sponge to apply your makeup recently, they have come a long way since the pink triangle wedges and are well worth a revisit. Dampen, then use to apply foundation and other cream products. Swipe for light application, use a dabbing motion for fuller coverage. Makes the cheapest of foundations look flawless.


2. Real Techniques Sculpting Brush, £9.99:

Densely packed bristles, angled head, it’s designed for contouring but I use it to buff in foundation. Use with cream or powder products, it’s a multi-use marvel. 


3. Real Techniques Bold Metals Ultimate Set, £50 (was £120):

This week’s Star Gift at Boots, the Bold Metals Ultimate Set was £120, currently £70 off. This set gets a lot done. Plus they are pretty. Silver, gold and rose gold. Dressing table worthy. 

MORPHE

Not a highstreet brand, rather one you need to order online. Morphe brushes are super affordable and super excellent, starting at just £1.99. In the UK you can get them here.


LANCÔME

Don’t worry, I know I said inexpensive, don’t go doubting me now. Lancôme make lovely brushes, and do great value brush sets at Christmas. But hold out until the sales to grab yourself an absolute bargain. Keep your eyes on the Lancôme Essential Makeup Artist Brush Set, £65. I predict it’ll be half price by NYE.


Rubbish little sponge applicators that come free with eyeshadow,

Your days are numbered.

Hayley

x


Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s