Above you can see all of my face brushes (with the exception of my kabuki, which I only just now realized isn’t in the photo…erg.). They are DIRTY. I washed them after taking this picture, which you can click to view full sized to see the horror. But since I’m nosy and I like to know what other people use, here’s what I use. These are brushes that I use pretty much all the time. Maybe not all in one day, but you know. Often. :)
I’ll start from the left and work my way over.
Sigma F30 Large Powder – This brush is okay. I was in love when I first got it and reviewed it. I still think it’s great for its purpose, and quite soft, but it sheds a couple of hairs every time I use it and that’s annoying. I still use it and put up with it though, because it’s the biggest floofiest (technical terminology there!) brush I own. I use it for stuff like finishing powder, and bronzer.
Crown Brush S205 Pointed Blush – This brush was pointed out to me (no pun intended lol) by my good friend Sam, who said I needed it because it provides the greatest blush application ever. Well! With high praise like that, how could I tell her no? So I picked it up when she and I visited The Makeup Show LA last year. And she’s pretty correct. It’s a great brush. It’s perfect for applying blush directly to the apples of your cheeks. It’s quite dense though so I only use it with my sheerer blushes (otherwise I apply way too much). I got this right around the time I acquired MAC Ripe Peach blush ombre, and it’s great for applying that.
Walmart HD Foundation Brush – Walmart has these generic brush sets that are just called HD brushes. I have no clue who makes them and for whatever reason they are not on the Walmart website. Anyway, I was able to swap for a set of them that included this little foundation brush. I don’t use traditional foundation brushes very often but when I do, I grab for this one. I kinda like that these brushes are black with silvertone ferrules like MAC brushes because they blend in with my MAC stash quite well. I’m weird like that.
ELF Studio Powder Brush – How many times have I raved about this brush here? If you don’t own one yet stop what you’re doing, open another tab in your browser, and get thee to the ELF website! For $3, this brush is amazing. For $10, it’d still be amazing. It’s so soft, so dense, and just perfect for buffing on powders. I’ve also used it with liquid foundation and it’s so flawless! You know it’s gotta be good if I’ve been raving about it for, oh, over a year.
Crown Brush C428 Duo Fiber Crease – Yes crease, as in eye brush. This brush is way too big for me to use on my eyes, but it makes a fine highlighter brush for applying highlighter to the tops of my cheekbones, brow bones, and even the cupid’s bow or down the bridge of my nose.
Crown Brush C427 Duo Fiber Blush – I thought this brush would be more similar to the MAC 131, but they are different brushes. The 131 is a lot more tapered. This one kinda splays out (although it is still a rounded top brush). It’s still pretty nice for a softly diffused application of blush, especially super pigmented ones like from Illamasqua.
Sigma SS138 (now F25 Tapered Face) – This is a dupe of the discontinued/LE (can’t remember which) MAC 138. It’s huge, it’s soft, it’s tapered. I have no idea why I got it, lol. I just said hey– I don’t have that shape in my stash! I need it! I use it for applying my Purely Cosmetics Diamond Perfect Finish powder. I may actually eventually just switch to using only this brush and ditch my Sigma F30 because of its unfortunate shedding problem. This brush can do all the same things and it doesn’t shed.
Walmart HD Angled Cheek – Here’s another star from that Walmart brush set– the angled cheek brush. This is my brush of choice for contouring. Ignore the fact that it’s pink right now; I used it for blush when I was doing my makeup after the gym because I’d forgotten to bring a blush brush. Oops! This brush is very dense and fluffy, making it ideal for contouring the cheeks, forehead, and jawline, because it lays color down and then blends it out really well.
Sigma SS165 (now F35 Tapered Highlighter) – Another brush I bought because it was a dupe of a discontinued MAC brush. This brush is great for highlighting, or sometimes I use it for bronzer, or finishing powders. I don’t reach for it that often, but it’s a useful little brush when I need it. If you apply powder under your eyes to set concealer, this brush is great for that.
Sigma F50 Duo Fiber – This brush is meant to dupe the beloved MAC 187. It’s less dense than the MAC brush so if you are looking for a brush to stipple foundation with, you might want to go for the MAC even though it costs significantly more (sorry!). I only use this for blush though because 9 times outta 10 I use my fingers or a sponge to apply foundation, and for that it’s decent. It’s a little large for my cheeks so I have to be careful not to get blush all over my face. I tend to use it more with those really natural, almost all-over face colors just to compensate for that. It has never shed on me, which is a huge plus. If you want me to try it out with liquid foundation just for giggles, let me know and I’d gladly do that and report back.
Flirt Powder Brush – Oh Flirt powder brush. This is actually my second one of this brush. The first one fell apart and I swapped for another one. It was my first duo fiber brush and really opened up a door (or is it a pandora’s box?) into the wide world of blush for me. It’s way too “floppy” to use for foundation, but for blushes or loose powder this brush is fine, and has a lot of sentimental value for me. I won’t get rid of it unless this one also falls apart!
(not pictured) Sigma F45 Buffer – Once I discovered flat top brushes I all but abandoned my kabukis as far as foundation application goes. However, this little guy is really great for blending. It sheds a tiny bit every once and a while, but it’s tolerable. It’s not the softest brush I’ve ever felt but it’s not scratchy either. It’s like my little Shetland pony in a stable of workhorse brushes.
Brushes mentioned in this post can be found at:
Walmart (in-store only, apparently!)
Crown Brush (or these are also available from Coastal Scents – same exact brushes)
Kohls (Flirt)
Worth noting about my brush stash is the fact that I do not use any of these brushes for a specific reason except that it’s a great brush for what I use it for. If the Sigma dupes of MAC brushes were crap I’d tell you. Crown Brushes are incredibly inexpensive, but they’re very high quality. Same with the Walmart brushes! And you know the Flirt brush is more because of sentimentality than anything else. I didn’t particularly set out to have only budget brushes, but these brushes work well for my purposes so I haven’t (yet) felt the need to “upgrade” any of them (with the possible exception of the powder brush).
I hope this post was informative and if you liked it let me know. I plan on doing another one for my eye brushes soon if you guys liked my overview of my face brushes.
Also, tell me about what brushes are your favorites! I always get great recommendations from you.
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