Brushes - Must Haves - Face

As promised here's the second episode about brushes. The last time I showed you my must-have brushes for eyes. (here).

So today I wanna talk about brushes for the FACE!

First the good news, if you don't wanna buy so many brushes, you dont' have to. Since you are using it for your own face, you can use your fingers. They work perfectly for liquid foundation and concealers.

Even many make-up artists are working on clients with their fingers. They can better press and tap the texture in your skin and the fingers also warm the foundation up for an even complexion.

Duo Fibre Brush 187 from MAC (not a "must")


This brush has mixed hair - the dark part is goat and the white part are synthetic fibres. Colloquial it's also called "skunk". Guess, why!

I use it for liquid foundation applying it in circular motions. But MAC says you can also use it for blending face powder or pigments.

I got this brush from a holiday collection. It's good for traveling because the shaft is short, but the quality of this brush is very low as you can see on the pic. It has lost many hairs, especially the synthetic ones. I hardly use it anymore.

You can use your fingers instead, but if you wanna treat yourself nice use the brush - it's like a mini massage for your face.

Concealer Brush (not a "must")

For yourself you don't need a concealer brush. You can use your little finger or your ring finger to tap in the texture. It often works better than a brush. 

Of course for clients it's not nice to work with fingers on spots or pimples.

Pro Performance Sponge from MAC 

Talking about the normal white sponges, I'm not into sponges for a classic foundation. If you want to get a white clown face or a blue Avatar-face, you like working with a sponge, but for your daily foundation I think it's not necessary.

But this sponge makes a different! You can use it for liquid and cream foundations and with the pointed end you can apply easily concealer.

If you don't want to work with your fingers on your face: buy this sponge.

Foundation Brush 190 from MAC (not a "must")

This is a good classic foundation brush. You can use it especially for creamy and liquid foundation. It's a very soft and gentle one. I also use it for concealers under the eye.

I like it very much, but it's not a must at all.

Buffer Brush 182 from MAC 

Now we are coming to the musts. This is a brush for powder and you can not apply powder with your hands.

I love this one! Best buy ever! It's very soft and has a lot of hairs. I apply everything with it: face powder, bronzer, ... also rouge, because of the round shape you can use the edges for exact applying.

Also good for traveling because of the size. 

Large Angled Contour Brush from MAC

For me it's a must if you wear daily (powder) rouge. 

If not you can use the buffer brush but then you have to clean it in between otherwise the rouge will get mixed with bronzer and might loose the bright fresh effect and might look dull.

For liquid rouge you can use your fingers.

Perfect Foundation Brush from Shiseido (not a "must")

This luxury brush is not a "must", it's treatment for your face ;-)

It's unbelievable soft. The hair is very short and so the brush is very compact but still soft. You can use it for everything: for creamy or liquid foundation, concealer and also for powder.

You dip the texture in your face. I use it for MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation.
Don't use it for water resistant foundations, it's hard to clean it afterwards!

Tapered Face Brush 138 from MAC (on my wish list)


This one is on my wish list. It looks like the perfect powder brush for everything: face powder - especially for the hard to reach parts like under the eye, around the nose..., contouring with bronzer or rouge, for highlighting...

And it's also very soft and gentle. I've already been to the counter to check it out, but the price is a little bit too extraordinary. Here's a review saying it's worth to invest ;-)
(pic via MAC)




Check out the Don'ts & Tips for brushes at the end of the Must Haves for Eyes here.