When you apply makeup, you naturally want to achieve a flawless and beautiful finish. However, the products alone are not solely responsible for this; the tools you use to apply your makeup play an important role too.
With so many makeup application tools available, it can be overwhelming to choose the right ones. But don’t worry, you don’t need all thirteen of them to create a flawless look. By learning about the different tools and selecting the ones that work best for you, you’ll be on your way to achieving natural-looking, soft makeup looks.
So, let’s take a look at thirteen of the most popular and frequently used makeup brushes and tools. Learn about them and select the ones that you think will help enhance your makeup application techniques.
Types of makeup brushes
Foundation brush
Every makeup starts with preparing the face and applying foundation. While in some cases, the application can be easily made with your fingers (especially when you’re terribly late to being somewhere), the use of a special foundation brush not only makes the job easier but also gives a more even, better-looking coverage.
Foundation brushes are made with strong, flexible brushes that are perfect for bending and buffing cream, liquid, or powder foundations into your skin. The more densely packed the bristles, the more coverage you’ll be getting. Round brushes are excellent in covering large areas quickly, while flatter ones give you more precision around the contours of your face.
e.l.f. Beautifully Precise Precision Foundation Swirl Brush
Price: 10.00 GBP
A synthetic, vegan brush for precise application of liquid foundations. The triangular handle allows for optimum control, and the densely-packed bristles gives a smooth, even coverage.
Real Techniques Foundation Blender Brush
Price: 11.72 GBP
A vegan, synthetic foundation blush that works with liquid, cream, and powder foundations. Blend and buff for flawless foundation coverage.
Blush brush
A blush brush is most often used to diffuse blush pigments and to spread them onto your skin without patches or streaks. The main difference between a blush brush and a foundation brush is that it is angled or oblong shaped to reach into the hollows of your cheeks more easily, and its loosely-packed bristles for better dispersion. This is a brush to be used lightly without applying any pressure. This way, your liquid, cream, or powder blush looks the most natural and even.
e.l.f. Angled Blush Brush
Price: 5.00 GBP
A synthetic, vegan angled blush brush for a precise application of your chosen products. Can be used with cream, liquid, or powder blush, bronzers, and highlighters.
Refy Duo Brush
Price: 16.00 GBP
A synthetic, vegan dual-purpose brush for cream bronzers and blushes. The white stippling brushes are perfect for easy application and natural finish, while the smaller, softer brush gives you more control.
Lip brush
Right about now, you might be thinking that a lip brush is a totally unnecessary tool in your kit, but it makes all the difference. These brushes usually come in small, flatter shapes, which makes it super easy to apply your lipstick or liquid lip stain formulas with utmost precision. This is especially helpful if you’re choosing to wear bold, bright colors. There’s a bonus to these brushes, too, as they allow you to clean up any excess product without any mess.
Lily Lolo Lip Brush
Price: 6.00 GBP
A firm, flat, square lip brush from a PETA certified cruelty-free brand that allows for controlled and seamless lipstick application.
Charlotte Tilbury Lip Brush
Price: 20.00 GBP
A densely-packed, square lip brush for precise lipstick application and blending out of a lip liner.
Contour brush
What’s a full makeup look without a bit of sculpting? That’s where contour brushes step in, as they are specifically made for applying and blending concealers, contouring stick products, and palettes.
Contour brushes usually come with medium to soft bristle density that provides the coveted airbrushed effect. They’re also generally good to be used with a wide array of formulas, including powder, liquid, or cream.
e.l.f. Contouring Brush
Price: 7.00 GBP
A contour brush with densely-packed bristles and structured shape for flawless and controlled application of liquid, cream, or powder sculpting products to your skin.
Morphe M405 - Contour Blush Brush
Price: 10.00 GBP
A contour brush made from natural, medium-packed bristles for a seamless sculpted look.
Highlighter brush
Highlighter brushes are specifically made to apply those ethereal shimmery highlighter products onto your face. What sets these brushes apart is their super-soft bristles, although the shapes here might vary depending on the products used or the desired effect. Most importantly, though, they are all made to apply the shimmering particles softly and naturally onto your face without disrupting the already applied makeup.
Note that different formulas–cream, liquid, or powder—require different highlighter brushes meant for those products.
Huda Beauty GloWish All Over Bronze Brush
Price: 20.40 GBP
A duo-fiber synthetic bristle brush for seamless application of your favorite bronzer that creates a beautiful soft-blur finish.
Lottie London Tapered Bronzer Brush
Price: 7.12 GBP
A soft-bristled, tapered bronzer brush that’s 100% vegan and cruelty-free. Perfect for seamless application and natural finish.
Concealer brush
Yes, concealers almost always come with their own sponge-like tiny brush inside the bottle, but you can’t expect precision and streak-free application by using it. Worry not, though, for there absolutely is a brush made for exactly this purpose. These brushes are usually fairly small and can come in an angled shape (perfect for the eye zone application) or a slightly bigger, more rounded shape meant for buffing and blending.
You can choose to get two brushes for this purpose or look for ones that are dual-ended and have both shapes on one stick.
Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Concealer Brush
Price: 17.00 GBP
A cruelty-free brush with a pointed tip for precise concealer application. This densely-packed, plush soft brush is perfect both for application and blending.
Rose Inc Number 4 Dual-Ended Concealer Brush
Price: 24.50 GBP
A two-in-one concealer brush made from vegan bristles. Use the flat tapered end for application and the rounder, softer end for blending.
Eyebrow brush
Bushy or thin eyebrows do need their own dedicated brush for a sculpted look and application of taming products. These brushes are usually dual-sided with a spoolie on one end and an angled, densely-packed brush to fill out sparse areas.
If you’ve never used a brow brush before, start your routine by combing your eyebrows into place with the spoolie and then filling them out with the product of your choice by using the angled side.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Brush 7B Precision Brow Brush for Powders
Price: 23.76 GBP
Who knows better about the eyebrows if not Anastasia Beverly Hills? This dual-sided brush is perfect for combing your eyebrows and applying brow powder products.
Sephora Collection Brow Brush 12
Price: 9.99 GBP
A double-ended eyebrow brush from Sephora that’s perfect for applying powder or cream products to your eyebrows.
Eyeliner brush
If you’re a fan of liquid eyeliner, you know that your favorite product already comes with a built-in application. However, if you use (or would like to use) gel or powder eyeliner, this is a brush to look out for.
Eyeliner brushes are usually very petite, quite sturdy yet flexible, and can come in angled or paintbrush-like shapes. This is all a matter of preference, though some say that the angled brushes can be a bit easier to master.
Sephora Collection Eyeliner Brush 11
Price: 9.99 GBP
An eyeliner brush with flat and slanted tip for precise application of cream eyeliners or slightly wet eyeshadow. Perfect for creating the cat eye look.
Bobbi Brown Ultra Fine Eyeliner Brush
Price: 29.00 GBP
The finely pointed, slim, and tapered design of this brush makes it perfect for the most precise cream or gel eyeliner application.
Powder brush
A powder brush is usually a brush that comes with thick, full, longish bristles that are perfect for picking up (and laying down) all sorts of powdered products. However, these soft, fluffy brushes are most usually used for setting powders that come as a finishing touch to your makeup.
If you’re aiming to control the shine, swipe the brush with the setting powder over your T zone, and if you’re looking for more coverage, gently press it against the skin. Don’t forget to tap off any excess products off your brush before applying it to your face.
e.l.f. Pointed Powder Brush
Price: 5.95 GBP
A pointed powder brush with plushy synthetic bristles to achieve an airy, soft application of powder products.
Brushworks Powder Brush
Price: 6.99 GBP
Vegan friendly powder brush made from taklon bristles. Perfect for applying setting powder or creating an overall makeup base.
Flat eyeshadow brush
Now, onto the eyelids and eyeshadow application. A flat eyeshadow brush usually comes with short, medium-packed bristles that are almost always synthetic. Such a brush is perfect for applying all kinds of eyeshadows and dispersing them nicely all over your eyelid.
An eyeshadow brush usually does not require a ton of product, and with just one dab, you can create soft, beautiful looks that are well-blended and streak-free.
ILIA Shadow Eyeshadow Brush
Price: 24.00 GBP
A cruelty-free eyeshadow brush that’s a real multitasker. The tapered design makes it easy to pack, press, or sweep your chosen product onto the lid.
Makeup by Mario Makeup Brush
Price: 26.00 GBP
An eyeshadow brush with dense, rounded head and flat bristles that works well with powder or cream products.
Eyeshadow crease brush
Last but absolutely not least is the eyeshadow crease brush. This brush is specifically made to cover and contour the zone of your eye crease, and the densely packed bristles provide an intense color pay-off.
Look for paddle-shaped brushes to reach targeted areas and to create a solid splash of color.
Morphe V200 – Detail Packing Eyeshadow Brush
Price: 5.60 GBP
A small, densely-packed, and paddle-shaped eyeshadow brush for packing in pigment, smudging it out, or used to contour the eye.
Rose Inc Number 8 Dual-Ended Eyeshadow Brush
Price: 16.50 GBP
A dual-ended eyeshadow brush to apply eyeshadow, pack in the pigments, contour the eye, and blend it out.
Makeup sponges
So, technically, these aren’t brushes, but makeup sponges deserve a notable mention. And hey, it’s no secret that they are liked by many for their versatility and the flawless finish they create.
These sponges can vary greatly in shape, but it is usually only a matter of preference. One thing, though–you should always dampen your makeup sponge before applying your product and wash it thoroughly after every use.
BeautyBlender Pro Sponge Black
Price: 15.75 GBP
A dense sponge that is perfect for all sorts of makeup product application. Don’t forget to dampen it first!
Brushworks Ultimate Complexion Sponge Set
Price: 9.41 GBP
A set of three large and three small makeup sponges to be used for foundation, highlighter, and bronzer. Latex-free and can be used wet or dry.
