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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How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes

So as you know, I am heading away, and on my adventure I could not got without some vital tools of my trade. Today I got around to cleaning ALL of my makeup brushes, personal and professional. It took a little while, but a couple of hundred brushes later and some definite wrinkle-finger syndrome, I am done!!

The majority of people who use makeup brushes to apply their war paint are very aware that they need to be washed regularly and shown a little bit of care and love. Unfortunately, a little bit of love can mean very different things to many different people. I have heard some horror stories about people washing their brushes. Filling the sink with water and throwing all the brushes in to 'soak'. Pulling at the bristles of the brushes. Leaving the brushes to dry standing up. Even a case of using bleach, yes I know, my heart stopped a little too, bleach!!

I have had many of my brushes for years and years and they still look, feel and do their job as if they are freshly out of their packaging, so I think I know a thing or two about cleaning and maintaining brushes. I'm not saying my way is right or that other ways are wrong, however, I have found this method to work for me and for my beloved brushes, abuse free!!

The only thing you need to clean your brushes are items you most probably have in your house. Warm water and some washing up liquid. You can use shampoo, baby shampoo, specific brush cleansers but I find washing up liquid to be the best. I use Fairy washing up liquid as it isn't too harsh on the bristles of the brush but yet it strips grease, oils, bacteria, and of course makeup, easily off your brushes.

Using warm running water, wet the brush with the bristles facing downwards so the water does not seep into the barrel of the brush, usually the silver area in between the handle and the bristles. Whenever emercing the brush under water, it should always be done in this way because if not, water will loosen the glue holding all the hairs in place, the hairs will fall out and ruin your brush and your makeup!

Squeeze a pea size amount of washing up liquid onto the palm of your hand. Using circular motions, stir the brush into the liquid until it begins to sud up. Rinse the bristles of your brush under warm water and repeat until the suds and water run white and clear. 

Be gentle with your brushes. You do not want to damage the bristles by being too rough or bending the bristles too much.

Now your brush is clean you want to dry the bristles. With the brush facing down again, wrap the bristles with your fingers and gently squeeze the water out. You do not want to pull at the hairs while doing this, just gently squeeze the bristles and shape the brush to its original shape.

When the excess water has been wrung-out, lay all of your freshly cleaned brushes out on a clean, flat towel in a cool dry place. This will allow the brushes to fully dry naturally in their original shape without the water dripping down into the barrel. Leave overnight. 

Your brushes are now squeaky clean to use on you or your clients. Let me know if you have any questions. Jx