In the second to last part of this series we will cover all of those “extra” brushes that you may not have thought about but could benefit from. The brushes in this category are considered “extracurricular” because they add to the benefit of your basic face and eye looks. Brushes in this category are your lip, brow, and blush type brushes.
Bronzer Brushes – Bronzer brushes are going to be made mostly of natural hairs and have a more full, tapered look. Unlike contouring, you want your bronzer to graze and fluff the areas where you would naturally get color or tan. Try the Lancôme #100 Bronzer Mineral Brush
Contour Brush – We briefly covered contouring/highlighting a few months ago and these brushes are the same. For contouring, look for a more tapered, angled head to really get into the hollow points of your cheeks. Depending on the type of bronzer you’re using you may want to go with a synthetic bristle (for a cream bronzer) or a natural hair brush (for minerals and loose powders). Try the MAC #168 Large Contour Brush
Highlight Brush – When it comes to highlighting you want something that you can lightly sweep on your cheekbones and highpoints of your face. I prefer a synthetic/natural blend so that it can give you two different results; light pressure with a more stippling effect for sheer coverage and heavier pressure with a sweeping motion for a more intense highlight appearance. Try the Lancôme #3 Highlighting Brush
Blush Brush – I prefer a tapered blush brush so that I can concentrate the color on the apples of my cheeks and blend outward toward my temples. It really is one of the better brushes (in my opinion) to have on hand. Who doesn’t want that perfect bit of color on the apples of your cheeks, especially when smiling?! Try the MAC #116 Blush Brush
Lip Brush – Remember the red lips post? Check out the link for a little refresher but the one thing I pointed out was having a lip brush. This helps to apply the perfect amount of product and also helps to be more precise. Keep this in mind for all lip colors, and not just the reds. Try the MAC #318 Retractable Lip Brush
Brow Brush – This is the unchartered territory that I think most women can learn about when it comes to makeup. Maybe we will get a post together on eyebrows in the near future! Double ended brow brushes are perfect for taming and filling in your brows. It’s just like your hair – sometimes you need to brush it to get it into place then use product to “fill it in”. Try the Stila Dual Ended Brow Brush
I really hope the posts on brushes were helpful. Next week I will end off the month with brush care and how to maintain great looking brushes especially if you are investing in quality brushes. Feel free to leave comments and questions below and let us know what you would like to see next time. Like I mentioned above, I would love to do a post on brows and if that’s something you would like to see, let me know!
– Jamie of The Lady and The Beard
