The Good Additives

Last week, I gave you my list of 'Top Ten Favourite Makeup Brushes' for all your basic makeup needs. Here are my top ten additives to your brush collection, weather it be for personal or professional use. These brushes will help you achieve a beautiful, professional makeup look and add that extra touch to your makeup that will really make a big difference.

#1 Inglot 4SS, Eyeshadow Blender. €22

This brush is amazing to use with powder or liquid products. It is technically an eye brush, but other than an eyeshadow primer or a base colour, I feel it is too large for even the biggest of eyeshapes. A perfect tool to contour the face. As it is small, it can carve out the most awkward of faces easily. As wel as contouring, the brush is an ideal size to apply a highlight to the cheekbones, the nose and more. I personally love to use this brush to apply a lighter foundation/concealer around the eye area before or after finishing the eye makeup. 

#2 Sigma F05, Small Contour Brush. €13.16

This contour brush is small in size and a mix between a dome shape and a flat top brush. It's size, texture and shape makes it easy to control product allowing you to achieve a perfectly sculpted face.

Can also be used to apply powder, blusher, highlight or bronzer to a specific area in the face.

#3 Crown C404, Small Duo Fibre Face Brush. €9.27

This is another brush I like to use to apply foundation to a face, whether it be a clients or my own. I tend to only apply foundation to the outer areas of the face, and use concealer or contour creams on the center. The size of this brush is ideal for that as it allows you to control where you are placing the foundation with ease. This brush has a duplicate in Sigma, the F55, if you prefer. However I find the Sigma versions Taklon hair stains quite badly and doesn't clean as well as the Crown version.

(The brush on the bottom is the Crown C404 compared to the average sized stipple brush (the Inglot 27TG)).

#4 Sigma P82, Precision Round Brush. €13.16

My makeup is not complete without the use of this brush. I use it with powder or cream products to darken the other sides of the nose and under neath the bottom lip to contour with. Perfection. This brush can also be used as a concealer brush.

#5 Inglot 6SS, €20, and Sigma E40, €10.24

These two brushes I have listed as the same as I carry multiples of both for my kit and for personal use. The Inglot version, the slightest bit stiffer to the Sigma, both are perfect for getting a perfect blown out, blended look. I could not do a makeover without these brushes.

#6 Inglot 10S, Eyeshadow Blender Brush. €18

Unlike others, this blender brush is long and slender with a slight stiffness to its hairs. It is perfect for applying colour and blending out product to concentrated areas of the eyes. This brush is also small enough to achieve a crisp, cut crease look, unlike most other blending brushes.

#7 Sigma E30, Pencil Brush. €8.77

I find most pencil brushes from a variety of other brands to very hard in texture. Although this can be controlled when applying makeup to oneself, when applyed to others it can be quite painful to the eye area of the recipient. The Sigma E30 has soft hairs and it's tapered shape allows you to get product right upto the bottom water line with ease.

(This brush has white hairs, I wanted to show how well it picked up black pigment, as this allows you to achieve a darker look, and forgot to take before pictures of my brushes).

#8 Inglot 11S. €12

Another brush that can apply product to the lower lash line with great ease. This brush can also be used as a pencil brush, to buff out pencils or harsh lines on the eyes. Another way of using this brush is for concealer or for lipstick due to its precise shape. 

#9 Sigma F86 Tapered Kabuki €15.35 or Sigma P86 Precision Tapered Brush €13.16

These two brushes are exactly the same shape, one is large for the face, and the other much smaller. It's synthetic hairs allow you to use powder or cream products with ease. These are perfect brushes to use to map out and place product on the face for contouring. You can then use these brushes to blend out the product or a beauty blender. I personally prefer to use the smaller P86 as I prefer to have more control over the brush and therefore the product. These brushes can also be used for concealer or foundation.

#10 Rubis Switzerland Tweezers.

I know this technically shouldn't count as it is not a brush but every person, to be used on yourself or on others, should own a good set of tweezers.

I'm not sure how much these particular ones were as they were part of a professional kit. A good tweezers is essential for maintaining growth of eyebrows.I truly believe you cannot achieve an amazing eye look with out the perfect brow, and all brows need a little maintaining even if you like the natural look. Tweezers can also be used to apply false eyelashes much easier.

Hope this helps guys

Love Jen xxx

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Top Ten Brushes for My Makeup Bag

I got a request off of one of my lovely friends, Rachel, to do a blogpost on my top ten favourite, can't live without, makeup brushes of all time, so here it is guys.

#1 Crown Brushes C427, Tapered Duo Fibre Blush Brush. €12.65

I love using this brush to apply foundation. You can use a standard Foundation Duo Fibre Brush to do this but I prefer the shape and size of this particular one. It is domed in shape and a smaller size than the normal version, perfect to get into all areas around the face. Blends the product perfectly and quickly. This brush can also be used to apply powder, contour, blusher, highlight or bronzer.

#2 Sigma F25, Tapered Face Brush. €21.20

This brush is excellent for applying powder, loose or pressed, to the face. It has a tapered finish so it is very easy to apply powder to the outskirts of the face, but also the perfect shape for under the eyes. It can also be used to apply Bronzer.

#3 Sigma F40, Large Angled Contour Brush. €13.89

This brush is my favourite to apply a good contour to the face. Simple to use and the goat hair does not pick up too much product so it is almost impossible to over do on your sculpting.

#4 Sigma F35, Tapered Highlighter Brush. €15.35

There is nothing about this brush I do not love. There are many uses for this brush. It is the perfect size and shape to contour, highlight, apply blusher or even apply a small amount of powder under the eyes to prevent your foundation from creasing.

 

#5 Inglot 31T, Gel Eyeliner Brush. €12

This brush is my Holy Grail when it comes to eyebrows. I use a gel eyeliner to fill in my eyebrows and I find this brush perfect for the task. It can also be used to apply gel eyeliner. I wouldn't reccommend this brush to be used with shadows as it is made from Taklon. Because of this, it may cause downfall from any powder based products. The only downfall on this brush is it does tend to fray, meaning you may need to purchase a new one every few months.

#6 Sigma E35, Tapered Blending Brush. €10.23

If your looking for a good brush to blend out any stubborn edges, this is the one for you. Slightly stiffer than your average blender, it helps to blend out colour on the eyes effortlessly. I would not reccommend to apply the product directly with this brush as you may not have control on where the shadow goes. Instead, apply with a smaller brush and use the E35 clean to blend.

#7 Crown C250-0, Mini Liner Brush. €2.04

Other than being the cheapest brush, on the planet, this brush is so teeny it is perfect to apply the perfect flick eyeliner. You really can't go wrong.

#8 Inglot 9S, Flat Eyeshadow Brush. €16

This is my go-to brush for packing on colour to the lid or the brow bone. Because it is slightly stiff in texture, it holds product great and does not cause downfall. This brush can also be used for concealer.

#9 MAC 217, Eyeshadow Blending Brush. €17.55

The 217 is an essential brush to any person who even looks at makeup. You can use it to not only apply product, but also to blend a product out. Only downfall, the price and the longevity. For the price of this brush, you would expect it to last well and clean well, however, it doesn't.  The individual hairs in this brush tend to snap and stain very easily. The Crown C433, Pro Blending Fluff Brush is almost an exact duplicate, without the problems and for a fraction of the price at €7.34. This brush is also great for applying concealer.

(The top brush is Crown C433 and the bottom is MAC 217).

#10 Charles H.Fox 1/4 81460/02

I'm not sure of a price on this brush as I received it as part of my kit in college and it's as if it doesn't exist online. However a precise lip brush is essential to any person who wears lipstick. To get the perfect pout you need to apply your lipstick with a brush. A good duplicate of this brush is the Inglot Lip Brush with the Silver Lid. It prices in at around €18.

I may be cheating a little here as I did say the 'Top Ten' fave brushes, but technically this is not a brush. My major beauty essential for applying makeup is the Beauty Blender, be it the original or a dupe. Simply run it under water, squeeze out the excess water and stipple your foundation onto the skin. The pointed shape at the tip of the sponge, the moist consistency with the water, mixed with your foundation, creates almost a flawless finish on ANY skin. It blends your base out perfectly and prevents the skin from appearing cakey, even when using a full coverage foundation. 

I use the ModelsOwn Beauty Blender. Two sponges for €12 available in Boots.

Hope this helps guys

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Love Jen xxx