My Makeup Brush Collection: Names and Uses

Hello everyone! I recently received a bunch of hand-me-down brushes from a good friend of mine and decided to write a post about my makeup brush collection! As you will see in this post I have a number of makeup brushes that I use for different steps in my routine. It is not necessary to have a million brushes in order to apply your makeup successfully. My sister (sorry Meg) only has about 4 to 5 makeup brushes but that works for her because she doesn't wear that much makeup in general! In this post I will show you the different types of makeup brushes I have in my collection and what I use them for.

Kabuki Brush: A Kabuki brush is a short, dense brush that is generally used to blur harsh lines on your face created by blush / bronzer. I use this brush when contouring my cheeks. Now some of my girls may not know what contouring is. Contouring is when you create harsh lines under your cheek bones  and blend them out in order to create shadows - making your face appear more angular. This is why people like Kim Kardashian have such pronounced cheek bones! I also use the Kabuki brush to dull down my blush if I have accidentally applied too much. This is one of the brushes my friend Katie gave me and I am so so thankful she did!




Face Brushes: You can use these brushes to apply powder / liquid foundation, bronzer or blush! The first brush to your left with the red handle is my favorite blush brush. It is so soft and the perfect size for my face. The bristles are also super soft which helps give me a flawless application. The brush in the middle is my favorite bronzer brush. The bristles on this brush are so fanned out that it is perfect for a subtle bronzer application, helping me avoid caking it on my face. The third brush all the way to the right is the brush I use to evenly spread out my concealer. Before I got my Kabuki brush I also used this brushed to blur out harsh lines on my face and it works amazingly! This brush is also from the brand E.L.F. which is a super inexpensive makeup brand that is great quality! This brush was only $3 and it has lasted me well over 2 years.

 Highlighter Brush: This brush is generally categorizes as a blush brush but I use it to apply my highlighter! I mentioned this brush in my "Highlighter: Who, What, Where? " post from last week. I love to use this brush for my highlighter because it is the perfect medium size that allows me to apply my highlighter with precision while avoiding streakiness that smaller brushes can create.
















Concealer Brushes: These flat brushes are perfect for applying liquid foundation or concealer. Personally I use them both for applying concealer to my face. The larger flat brush to your left is the one I use to apply concealer to the inner corners of my eyes when I don't feel like using my fingers. I use the smaller flat brush to apply concealer around the edges of my lips to clean up my lipstick application. I don't recommend to use brushes to apply concealer to blemishes. This only contaminates your brushes and spreads the bacteria to other areas of your face.















Eyeshadow Blending Brushes: I use all of these brushes
to blend out my eyeshadows. I have a lot of these because for different eyeshadow looks I like to use different sized brushes to achieve the look I want. The first brush to your left covers the entire surface of my eyelid. I like to use this to apply one shadow that covers my entire lid in one motion. The second brush in from the left with the red handle is my favorite brush to applying a smokey shade to the outer corner of my eye. The purple duo-sided brush in the middle is a brush I use for both blending and densely applying eyeshadow. I use the top fluffy brush to blend out eyeshadows and I use the bottom flat brush side to apply smoky shadow shades to my lower lash line. The last three brush to your right are my favorite brushes for blending out my crease. In my opinion eyeshadows always look a million times better when you blend out the crease of your eyelid. This creates a softer, more professional look.



Angled Brush and Pencil Brush: I use these two brushes to accomplish defined eyeshadow looks. The brush to your left is a angled brush that helps me achieve even winged eyeliner. I use this brush to "map out" where my wing is going to go on both my eyes. I use a light brown eyeshadow for this extra step because it is much easier to rub off and reapply than actual liquid eyeliner. I also use this brush when I want to get a smoked out eyeliner look with matte black eyeshadow. The brush to your right is called a "pencil brush". This brush is used to achieve very fine, strategic lines with your eyeshadow. I use this to define the outer corners of my eyes as well as my bottom lash line. I love this brush because it helps me get a more dense eyeshadow application without feathering eyeshadow all over my face.










Alright gals I hoped this post helped you better understand the names and uses of makeup brushes! Let me know if you have any questions about brushes you did not see in my collection. If you enjoyed this post please "like" it . If you would like to see more from me hit that "follow" button at the bottom of the screen!

How to Apply Eyeshadow / Daytime Smokey Eye Tutorial

This was a special request from one of my besties! My girl wanted to know how to apply eyeshadow without looking like a crazy person. I hear you, eyeshadow can be totally messy and awful if you don't know the proper steps. I'm here to guide you! Obviously you all know I am not a profession makeup artist but I do have a lot of practice under my belt for me to feel confident enough to tell you what will work! This post will bring you through the products and tools I use to create my day time smokey eye. Even if this specific look doesn't appeal to you, these tips and tricks will help you through any eyeshadow look you attempt.

Products / Tools Used:

I am using my Nake 2 Palette by Urban Decay because this is hands down my favorite palette ever! I usually go for shimmery, metallic shades and this has all that and more!

I am going to sound like a makeup snob but oops guilty! Eyeshadows from high end makeup brands are worth the money! Most eyeshadows I have tried from the drugstore are  chalky and have close to no pigmentation. When buying eyeshadows you want to make sure they feel "buttery" and are very pigmented which means you don't have to use a lot to get good color pay-off.

To apply these shadows I am using a fluffy crease brush and a duo brush that came with another Urban Decay palette I got for my birthday last year. This duo brush has another fluffy crease brush and a dense flat brush. The two colors I used for this look are "Pistol" and "Verve".

Application: 

The first trick to applying eyeshadow successfully is following your eye shape! When applying "Verve" to my my eyelid I use my fluffy crease brush. I apply it all over my lid and only go up to my natural eye crease. I then repeat this step layering "Pistol" on top of "Verve" to create a slightly darker look.

 It is important to not go over your natural eye crease because then you will get that crazy raccoon look that nobody wants. The trick is to apply eyeshadow all over the lid only up to the crease and then blend out the shadow from the crease *after wiping off the access shadow from your fluffy brush.* This will softly blend out the shadow line creating a smokey effect.

After that I also apply "Pistol" to my lower lash line using my flat brush. You don't have to do this for every eyeshadow look but I think it helps unify everything to achieve a sultry effect. By using my flat brush to apply shadow to my lower lash line I get a clean but soft shadow application while avoiding getting excess shadow all over my under eye and cheeks. *If you DO happen to get fall-out don't panic! Cleaning it up with makeup remover and a Q-Tip is do-able you just need to reapply your concealer after to brighten that area back up.

Lastly I like to apply a highlight shade to the inner corners of my eyes and to my brow bone to brighten things up a bit! This also helps create dimension to your look helping your eyes not look so flat with just two grey shades on there. The highlight shade I used from this palette is "bootycall".

After that is done I simply curl my lashes and apply my favorite mascara at the moment (Benefit's Roller Lash) and there you go! You have successfully applied eyeshadow without looking like a crazy person! Again my top tips are to only apply eyeshadow to your lid - up to your crease, blend out that crease using a wiped off fluffy brush and apply shadow to the lower lash line using a flat brush in order to unify your eye look!

Selfie Time :D

Alrighty thats all I have for you today. Let me know how these tips work out for you! If you enjoyed this post please give it a thumbs up. And if you would like to see more from me hit that subscribe button at the bottom of the screen!

Highlighter : What ? Where ? How?

Highlighter is something I've only recently added to my makeup routine this past year and now I can't live without it! This is something that a lot of my friends and family don't know about or use so I thought I would dedicate a post to this makeup product that is essential to any gal like me who wants to appear glowing and fresh on a daily basis!

What: Highlighter is a beauty product that has recently
become a staple in the makeup world. Highlighter is used to illuminate your face helping you look like you are glowing. I've found highlighter helps me feel more confident about my skin because the dewy effect makes my skin look healthy and fresh. It comes in cream, powder and liquid form. Personally I have both powder and cream highlighters in my collection which I use interchangeably depending on the season. The powder highlighter I use that you see to the left is Mac's Mineralized Skin Finish in "Soft and Gentle". The cream highlighter I use is Benefit's "Whats Up".

Where: Highlighter is generally applied to all the highest points of your face; your cheek bones, brow bone, bridge of the nose, top of the forehead and some people like to apply it to their cupids bow to make their lips appear more full. Now you don't have to do all of this! I only apply highlight to my
cheek bones, nose and sometimes to my brow bone.

How: You can use just about any brush to apply powder highlight. I like to recommend medium sized brushes in order to avoid streakiness you can get with very small brushes while still being able to strategically apply the product without it getting all over your face. There is a specific brush made for this product and that is the fan brush you can find at any makeup store.
       
Cream and liquid highlighter can both be applied to the skin and blended out using your fingers. Benefit's "Whats Up" comes in a stick form that I apply directly to my cheek bones and blend out with my fingers. This product in particular is a cream-to-powder finish therefore it won't rub away any concealer or foundation you have on under it.

I thought I would include some before and afters per usual! Some you might be able to see the difference in glow more than others. I took selfies in two different sets of lighting in order to show you guys that fresh look I love!

Alrighty let me know what you gals think! If you enjoyed this post please give it a thumbs up. Also if you would like to see more from me hit that subscribe button at the bottom of the screen!