Beauty Blog: Brushes 101
Welcome to another installment of my Beauty Course. Today I will be talking about my favorite makeup brushes. I love brushes and am slightly addicted to buying them. I said slightly. They can make give a look a good finish and that’s how many of your favorite celebrities get their flawless look. It’s not all Photoshop. So throw out those sponge tip applicators and terrible brushes that come prepackaged and let me show you a whole new world. *cue Aladdin* I want to stick to the basics and I will dive more into specific brushes for the eyes and face later on.
I’ll start with one of my favorite budget friendly brands, ELF. ELF is a great place to dive into the world of makeup and their brushes are no exception. Their brush range goes anywhere from $1 all the way up to $3.
Here are a few of my favorites from the line:
1. Small Stipple Brush. ($3) Great for blush, if you don’t want to pack on color. You can even blend out your concealer and set your face. I love these so much that I have 2 of them.
2. Essential Eye Shadow Brush ($1). This is a great brush to add to your starter kit when it comes to eyeshadow. It does its job and for a buck, you can’t go wrong.
3. Essential Blending Eye Brush. This is great for if you want to transform your eye look from alright to good. It’s not the best blending brush, but it’ll get the job done. Most of all, it’ll help you get started. Again, for a buck it’s a great starting point.
Next on our list is Ecotools. Ecotools makes some great brushes and they are all about the environment. This means recycled materials and synthetic brush hair. However, they don’t skimp on quality. I only own one of their brush sets, but it has lasted me 4+ years. They still have not fallen apart, which says a lot.
Their Essential Eye Set is basically everything you need to step up your eyeshadow game. It’s fairly cheap at est. $7.99. You can practice alongside your favorite you-tubers to achieve makeup looks with these brushes.
Lastly, I saved the best for last. If you have never heard of Real Techniques, then you may have been living under a rock. Real Techniques was started by beauty Youtuber Samantha Chapman (aka pixiwoo) to create affordable but quality brushes. I own both the Starter Set, which is a eye set and the Core Collection, a face set. Their brushes are amazing, and feel wonderful against the skin. I also own the Setting Brush which I use to set my concealer and generally my face. They are magnificent brush sets. Again, they are great for beginners but furthermore they are also used by famous makeup artists. Even Taylor Swift herself owns a few brushes!
starter set
core collection
Setting Brush
I hope this mini guide to brushes helped you on your decisions to buy brushes! Lucky for you, you can find most, if not all, of these brushes at the Walmart in University Commons! Next week I will be teaching you how to clean them. Gasp! Yes, you must clean them, and it’s quite simple actually.
Somayea is a junior at UT and an aspiring beauty blogger.
Edited by Jessica Carr
