Building Your Makeup Kit: Brushes and Tools (Part III)

As promised, here's the third and final installment of the Building Your Makeup Kit mini series. You will not only be needing these things in school; your tools and brushes are going to be your best friends when you start accepting makeup jobs and gigs. Makeup comes and goes; but quality brushes will stay with you forever. =)

Check out Part I and Part II of this post.

III. Tools and Brushes

So here's the basic rule for brushes: if your product is cream or liquid in form, it's best you use synthetic bristles. Synthetic brushes absorb less product-- which is what you want with cream makeup. If you use natural brushes with cream based makeup, the brushes will just absorb all the product and won't transfer any on the face. On the other hand, powder is much harder to pick up than cream. Therefore, for this type of makeup, natural brushes are the best to use.



Remember, whether synthetic or natural, the fibers of the brushes should be soft as a baby's bottom. Harsh fibers can cause irritation and pimples-- you wouldn't want that on your face or on your client's face. O_O

Foundation and Concealer Brushes
Used for cream and liquid foundation and concealer. Synthetic.

Stippling Brush
Used with foundation brush. The trick here is to apply blotches of foundation to each section of the face then blend with the stippling brush. It gives a more even air-brushed look. Also for powder foundation. Blend of natural and synthetic fibers.

Powder Brushes
Used to apply powder foundation or loose foundation. Natural fibers.

Blush Brushes
Slightly U-shaped powder brushes. Natural fibers

Highlight/Contour Angled Brushes
Used to contour the hollows of the cheeks, temples, and jaw lines. Also used for highlighting parts of the face like the chin, forehead, etc. Natural fibers.

Flat Eyeshadow Brushes
Eyeshadow brushes that are flat in nature are used for shading and packing on color on the eyes. I usually use these to pack on the base eyeshadows (without contouring creases yet)

Flat Angled Brushes
They can either be synthetic or natural. Used for eyebrow shading and sometimes eyeliner. I use either natural or synthetic for the eyeliner. For the eyebrow shading, I use natural fibers.

Round and Fluffly Eyeshadow Brushes
After I pack on eyeshadow using the flat brushes, I use round brushes to blend out the edges of the eyeshadow I packed on. Sometimes, I put a little color on these brushes so the original color I placed there could blend out with a lighter one. I also use this to blend contouring done in the eyes.

Round Angled Brushes
Basically, these are round brushes that are angled. I use this to contour the nose line. Nonetheless, it can also be used as a round and fluffy brush.

Crease Brushes
Also a round fluff brush. This is to contour the creases of the eye to create a deep-set effect. I got this Revlon crease brush at 168 Mall for P150 and I absolutely LOFFFF it. <3 Seriously. Sometimes when I'm bored, I just get this brush and touch its soft and awesome fibers. HAHAA O_O

Some crease brushes are smaller for more precise applications. Just be careful that they don't turn out too define. In beauty makeup, definite lines on eyeshadows are no-no's. Blend. Blend. Blend.

Fan Brushes

These come in different sizes. Basically, they are just there to dust off excess powder on the face (especially stray eyeshadow powder that fall under the eyes). Natural fibers.

Liner Brushes

Super duper thin natural fibers used for gel/liquid eyeliner. Since they're extra thin, it doesn't really matter if they're natural or synthetic. I use both for gel eyeliner. :)

Lip Brush

Use for application of lipstick and gloss. Natural or synthetic. Doesn't really matter. :)

I find that lip brushes with pointy tips are better for precise application

Eyebrow Brush and Comb

To set the messy eyebrow hairs in place.

Mascara Wand
Just to de-clump the mascara if needed. I never used mine to apply mascara. :)

Brush Glass
Just because it makes everything look nicer. :) But seriously, put your dirty brushes in a glass so it's not scattered all over the place.

Spatula and Mixing Plate
For sanitation, use the spatula to pick up foundation cream, concealer, and lipstick (even from the lipstick tubes). Mix shades of lipstick, foundation, or concealer on the mixing plate.

Scissors, Tweezers, and Eyelash Curler
Use scissors for trimming super bushy eyebrows (especially on men) and for cutting containers or sachets (like my cetaphil).

I just got a 50 peso tweezer at Shopwise and it works pretty well. I wasn't ready to spend a thousand bucks on tweezerman. O_O

For the eyelash curler, nothing beats Shu Uemura. My ate got mine in Narita airport Japan. It was around 600 pesos there. Here, it's at P1000 to 1200 but it's definitely worth it. It's for asian eyes and it's easier for MUAs to use because it rarely makes ipit (oh no, how conyo) the eyes of clients. =)

Brush Cleaner
I got the big blue bottle at Purebeauty Serendra. I don't like the bubblegum smell but it's pretty cheap (P800). I got the smaller one from school. It's Parian spirit that has a lemony scent that I love. It's P600 for that small bottle. I think beauty bar sells Parian spirit, too, minus the lemony scent.

Before I got these 2, I had a really good brush cleaner from Ellana Minerals. I ordered it from an online seller. I loved how it smelled, too. It's cheaper than the both of these and when I finish these, I'll definitely be getting that again.

Some other things you'll need: a makeup bib, cotton balls, cotton buds, and facial tissue. You could also check out affordable train cases in divisoria or online (Legally Vain Train Cases, the cheapest I've seen so far)

At MDA they give you a free 8-piece (or 9-piece, I'm not sure if I lost one) makeup brush set. But if you plan on enrolling in other schools, you can try buying your brushes at Suesh. They have brushes that are way cheaper than MAC, but they're SUPER soft. Dollface Cosmetics has cheap brush sets, too. All the brushes with the red handles are from dollface (28 pieces for 1,800). They're pwede na for me. They're soft enough not to hurt; but not as soft as a baby's bottom! They're just too cheap to miss out on. ;)

mascara wand, angled brush, lip brush, crease brush,

small angled brush, flat shader brush, large flat shader brush

blush brush

That's it for part three! If you have any questions, you can leave a comment below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. =)

Mae

Dollface Cosmetics

http://www.facebook.com/dollfacecosmeticsphils

Suesh

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suesh-Makeup-Toolkit/230391965594

Available in Trinoma and Greenhills