My Favorite Makeup Brushes

I Love Makeup! Anyone who knows me knows how much I am into makeup and how obsessed I am with it. Ever since I was a little girl, I've seen my mom and aunts use makeup and I was just in love with their amazing talents and how they were able to transform themselves from already beautiful ladies into gorgeous ladies! 

So, when I grew up I started using it myself and experiencing with it; different brands, different trends and different styles. And after 9 years of using it (I started when I was 14 and now i'm 23) I think I reached the point where I know my skin and facial features very well and understand what suits me and looks good and flatters my face, eyes and lips and what doesn't. 

A lot of girls don't know this but brushes are a crucial part of a good and flawless makeup application, so i'm going to share with you some of my favorite brushes at the moment:

Excuse me if some brushes are stained, I've used them today!

From left to right: MAC 210 - MAC 217 - MAC 224

Those are my absolute favorite eye shadow brushes and my most essential ones.

- The 210: I use it to blend my khol/shadow underneath my waterline to get the smoky effect I like

- The 217: is probably my favorite out of the 3, I can not tell you how important and life changing this brush is (LOL!) its basically a small blending brush that is dense enough to blend colors well. I use it for both blending and spreading an all over color on my lids

- The 224: is also a blending brush but its less dense; it is a lovely brush for softening any sharp lines and keeping the look nice and smoky

MAC 109 Brush

- The 109 is a contouring brush but I love using it as a foundation brush because it gives me the most amazing coverage EVER! It's such a good brush for buffing liquid/cream foundations into the skin and giving you a full coverage and flawless finish. Unfortunately there hasn't been any stock for this brush in the UAE for almost a year (not really sure why). I got mine by chance at the airport LOL!

Speaking about foundations, I think this is the best foundation I have ever used! Its the Bobbie Brown Oil-Free Even Finish Compact Foundation. I was reluctant to use this foundation at first because it's a cream foundation and I have combo skin, but when I realized that it is oil free I thought of giving it a shot; and I LOVE IT! It gives an amazing full coverage to the point where I don't even need to use concealer on my blemishes! It also stays put the whole day without moving at all if you've set it with powder! There's also another formula of this foundation targeted towards dry skin

I highly recommend this foundation to anyone looking for a full coverage foundation

All Over Powder Brush, Kanebo Sensai Compact foundation in 203, MAC 182 buffer brush

Another one of my favorite foundations is this one, its a powder, and I'm a huge fan of powder foundations because I love the amazing Matt finish they give. This foundation is also good because it is not oil based like most other foundations out there (oil based foundations can cause acne and break-outs on the long run). I either use it with the Mac 182 which is amazing for buffing powder foundations on the skin, or I'd use it sometimes as a setting powder to set my other liquid/cream foundations, and in this case i'd use my other all over powder brush. This is a cheapo brush that I don't even remember where I got it from! But you can get a similar powder brush at Sephora

Body & Face/Visage & Corps by The Body Shop

This is the softest brush I own. I love how soft it feels on my skin and I use it to apply powder and sometimes bronzer

Inglot 24SS, MAC special edition Hello Kitty Brush

I use the bigger end of the Inglot brush to contour and sometimes to set my under eye concealer with powder.  The MAC brush is my fav to apply blush cause it gives a very settle and sheer pay-off

Inglot 24SS, MAC 187, MAC 109

Other brushes I love to contour with are the 187 and 109. The 109 gives a very precise line, while the 187 gives the most natural shading underneath the cheekbones. I also love the bigger end of the Inglot brush to contour my nose since its tapered and allows more control of the application. The smaller end is used to apply highlighter on the cheekbones and down the nose

Again the Inglot brush, I use the smaller end to apply under eye concealer. I prefer a kind of fluffy brush rather than the usual synthetic concealer brush because it gives me a full coverage and at the same time a natural finish. I love this brush because it's a very multi-functional brush, u can use it for so many things and its small so you can slip it into your makeup bag and use it instead of carrying around a lot of brushes

SmashBox Liner brush, Maybeline New York liner brush

I use these 2 brushes whenever I apply gel liner. Both are great. I got the maybeline when I purchased their gel liner a while ago. Gel liners are good because they allow more precision when lining your eye since they are not liquid-y

MAC 208, MAC 204

I use the 208 when I want to do my brows using powders/shadows, and the 204 to groom the brows either before the application or after to soften the look a bit. You can also use the 204 to brush out any clumps caused by your mascara on your eye lashes

LAST TIP!

Now, there's a lot of controversy when it comes to wearing makeup; and especially foundation. I hear a lot of girls saying that wearing makeup, and especially foundation, can ruin your skin and cause you breakouts. And while that is true to a certain extent; I assure you that you can still wear makeup whenever you want without having those bad effects on your skin like pimples or acne. And that can be done by 3 simple yet very effective steps!: 

1) Using the best kind of foundation that is targeted specifically towards your skin whether it's oily, dry, combination, normal or sensitive

2) cleansing, cleansing and cleansing! it is very important to clean your skin thoroughly when taking off your makeup. You can do so by using makeup wipes, then washing your face with your daily cleanser and then toning

3) The final step that most of us tend to forget is taking care of and cleansing your brushes regularly. Use spot cleaning once a week and deep cleaning once a month (( Brush Cleansing Tutorial )), this way you'll keep your brushes clean from all the dirt that can cause your skin serious breakouts.

Always remember that the key to beautiful makeup is beautiful skin. Take care of your skin by cleansing it with the right facial cleanser at least once aday, scrubbing it with the right scrub from once to twice a week, and most importantly by moisturizing it day and night.

Hope that was helpful and you've enjoyed this post

Stay beautiful!

XOXO