Weapons of mass creation, part one

Brushes are one of the most fabulous cosmetic investments you can make. I myself never used to believe in brushes. I used to use those terrible sponges-on-a-stick. -shudder-

At any rate I'd like to go over some basic brush types and their many uses.

First rule: Don't limit yourself!

Just because a brush says "Bronzer" on it, doesn't mean you can't use it for more than that!!

There are two types of materials the bristles of a brush are made out of. Synthetic hair, or natural hair (so if you're allergy prone you may want to avoid the natural bristled brushes, or if you're anti 'cruelty'). Some brushes are a blend of synthetic and natural bristles.
In general the synthetic hair brushes are used for cream products like foundation, cream blush, cream eyeshadow, etc. The reason behind this is synthetic bristles do not absorb a creamy product like natural hairs will, making for an easier application. Natural hair brushes are used for powders like pressed eye shadows, loose eye shadow, loose foundation and brow powder. However, don't forget the first rule!

Face Brushes

Powder, bronzer, blush, contour, buffer, etc. I don't own all the different types of face brushes, but I can certainly go over what I do have ;)












The MAC 187 SE

The SE just stands for Special Edition, which in this case means that it came in a holiday brush kit and has a short handle as opposed to MAC's longer handles. MAC doesn't name their brushes really, they assign numbers to them. This brush is a blend of synthetic fibres and natural fibres (The white fibres are synthetic and the black are natural). It's a loosely packed brush, which means that the bristles aren't bound together tightly, as you can see in the photo.  It's very soft and has many uses.

- Light blending of powder
- Light blush application
- Bronzer
- Foundation application
- Soft layering of products














Sonia Kashuk Long Handled Kabuki, BareMinerals Mini Kabuki

Kabuki brushes are typically short handled like my miniature kabuki by BareMinerals. But I purchased my long handled kabuki-style Sonia Kashuk brush a couple of Octobers ago for breast cancer awareness month (I'm a sucker for pink).

Sorry, it's a wee bit dirty

Kabuki brushes are very densely packed and are used for applying powder, and buffing powder products (particularly foundation) into the skin for a very soft perfect finish. The mini buki I usually use for contouring or for blush.

The MAC 168 SE, BareMinerals Angled Blush, and Sonia Kashuk Blush Brush

All blush brushes aren't created equally!

My MAC blush brush and my BareMinerals brush are angled brushes. These allow for maximum ease for cheek contouring. These brushes are packed rather tightly and are made from natural hairs. These can be used for blusher and contour. I mostly use them for applying blush.

Left: Sonia Kashuk Right: MAC 168

On the other hand the Sonia Kashuk blush brush is dome shaped. I also use this for blush application, but I'm fairly careful since it's a much fuller and larger brush than the two angled brushes. The dome shaped brush can also be used as a general powder brush for buffing out small areas or applying powder. I use it for touch-ups after I apply my full face of makeup.

Now, there are many types of face brushes that I do not yet own. But you can check them out at http://www.maccosmetics.com/flash/brush_finder/index.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CAT1751%3f This is a great tool to look up brushes by their usage, or if you're curious about brushes in general.

I know that brushes are very pricey, but if you maintain them properly they should last you years to come. The Sonia Kashuk brushes I featured in this post I purchased from Target. These brushes are very good quality, and affordable. http://www.target.com/s?keywords=sonia+kashuk+brush&searchNodeID=1038576%7C1287991011&ref=sr_bx_1_1

Stay tuned for part two of Weapons of mass creation!! I'll be covering eye brushes.