digital imologue

“So, what brushes do you use?” said no one ever, to me anyway, but I need to flog about SOMETHING, don’t I?  And makeup brushes are important.  Not as important as saying “I love you” to your mum every chance you get.  More important than … that douche that cut you off in peak-hour traffic this morning?  I dunno.

I’m not actually that much of a tool-tool to be honest, I’m pretty big on sticking my fingers into all the powders and pastes and gettin’ busy that way.

Kevyn himself said something wise about the most important makeup tools being time and your own hands.  And there’s something to be said for feeling what you’re doing when you put makeup on either yourself or someone else, interacting with the planes of the face you’re decorating, manipulating the products you’re using with the pads of your fingers.  Tactile.

Anyway.  Makeup brushes are handy if you’re aiming for a specific effect, like a fine or sharp line on your upper lash-line, or a perfectly blended blush.  The brush I use probably every day is a fluffy eyeshadow brush that I’ve probably had for about 15 years, by Manicare.

this sexy son of a bitch

It’s really gone the distance, I’m yet to see it shed even one hair.  It’s all I need for just puttin’ on some eyeshadow.

I think an angled brush is also a handy one to have, and I’ve had a MAC one that I’ve been using for a million years as well, although for the St Patrick’s day facepainting I bought a Barry M one for only a few bucks, not wanting to trash my good one, and I have to say I was well impressed by how it went the distance, too.  I was expecting to bin it after the event, but it’s scrubbed up just fine.  And, dare I say it, sharper than my MAC one.  Shhh.

I also use a MAC blush brush:

MAC blush brush

and a MAC stipple brush:

made from the hair of a zebra. Not really.

MAC brushes are good, but they’re not cheap, and while I think there are a lot of cases in which one gets what one pays for… I think you can get some damn good brushes without forking out that much.  It’s all a matter of personal preference really.  And it can seem a bit daunting too, for example there are zillions of different brushes you can buy for eyeshadow alone.  No point spending hundreds on a full brush kit only to end up using one or two tools.  Why not get cheaper brushes to experiment with (if you’re not planning on Winehouse’ing, ever, then you might not actually NEED an eyeliner brush, for example).  See if the brush is something that makes it into your regular rotation, then upgrade if you want to.

You can also go mad buying ‘brush cleaner’ and so on, but I’m not convinced of their merits really.  I just use shampoo to clean mine, blot them on a towel to get the water out, pat them into shape and let them air-dry.  I’d use anti-bacterial hand soap to clean them before and after using them on someone else, if I was being all hygiene-conscious.

I have heard good things, very good things in fact, about makeup brand EyesLipsFace (ELF).  In particular about their brushes.  For dirt cheap!  And until today I thought you could only get their stuff in Canada/USA, but lo – here you Aussies can find it, and for us here in Blighty.  Go mad.  I’ll be shopping up a storm on payday so strap yourselves in for some ELF product reviews soon.

Happy brushing!

PS Still haven’t heard from Clydebank 😦

Tags: Barry M, blush, ELF, eyeshadow, facepaint, how-to, Kevyn Aucoin, kit, MAC, makeup, makeup brushes, Manicare, professional, stipple, Superdrug, tools, trade