Basic Brushes for Eyes

If I’ve previously talked about the basic brushes that make up users should have on this post, I am now going to focus more on the brushes for eyes so that we can create eye looks that are perfectly blended. To achieve the perfect eye make up, unfortunately we do need more than one brush.

Eyeshadow Brush – Good eye shader brush helps you pick up just enough amount of product from your eyeshadow without you having to press too hard on the product. It helps to transfer the pigment from the brush to your lid without too much force. For your basic eye shader brush, choose one that is tapered, slightly rounded edge with smooth and very firm hair and made from natural hair to make sure of easy blending.
My picka: MAC 239, Bobbi Brown (BB) Eye Shadow Brush, Make Up Show Eye 021 or if you want one that you can use for an all around brush you can try BB Eye Sweep Brush that is perfect for beginner.

Cream Eyeshadow Brush – I used to believe that the best brush for cream product are those made of synthetic. But after several tries, I’m not bound by this rule anymore. I believe, it’s the combination of the type of hair, shape and density as well as the feels that makes the brush and product to have the right chemistry. For cream eyeshadow, I prefer brush that’s able to pick up the cream product since some brushes can only pick up minimal amount of product with no abilities to transfer it to the lid. So once you got a brush that can do both picking up and transferring, all you need to test is whether it will be able to blend the cream eye shadow without making it look streaky. It needs to be a little bit dense but not too dense and not too fluffy. I prefer round edge cause it’s easier to blend.
My picks: MAC 242, BB Cream Eye Shadow Brush, MUS Concealer Brush that can doubled up as your cream eye shadow brush, perfect rounded shape!

Pencil Brush – For creating precise shading on the lid, contouring on the crease or defining your outer V, you will need a very dense, sharp-shaped and small sized brush. Usually the smooth hairs is gathered to form a pencil-shaped tip which will allow you for precise drawing of eyeshadow on the eye lids area and also along the lash line. You can also use this brush to highlight the inside corners of your eyes. The less fluffier the brush is and the shorter it is, the better the result as it makes it so much easier to control.
My picks: MAC 219 and MUS Medium Crease Brush. You can also use BB Eye Smudge Brush as an alternative to pencil brush. However, since the shape is rounder than pencil brush, this brush can’t be used for the inside corner of the eyes and precise eye shadow placement on the lower lash line.

Blending Brush – When you know how to place different types and colours of eyeshadow on the lid, all you need to do is blend! Good blending brush will make all the difference. If I can only choose one brush for the eye, I will choose blending brush since it will very much affect the end result of the eye make up. Blending brush tends to be round and very fluffy with longer hair length. With a good blending brush, you can easily blend three different colours of eye shadows easily. Believe me, it’s the blending brush and a lot of practice that creates those beautifully looking eye shadow that you see on the magazine.
My picks: MAC 217, BB Eye Blender Brush, MUS 7S01.

Angled Brow Brush – I prefer using powder to fill in my eyebrow to create natural brow shape. To achieve that, it is on my opinion that you need the perfectly angled brush. Usually angled brow brush is much smaller than angled eyeliner brush and it’s a little bit ticker as well. It’s also harsher than the usual angled eyeliner brush so it’s easier to draw naturally looking brow.
My picks: MAC 208, BB Eye Definer Brush.

Make Up Show Eye Brushes

So there you go, I just gave you the five basic eye brushes to start your collection. I’ve covered eyeliner brush in this post before, so if you want to know more about how to use them you can refer to that post.

If you think five is not enough, how about I give you one extra brush. I don’t really see this brush as essential but it sometimes help to have it available. The angled eye shadow brush is one of those brushes that helps your (make up) job easier. It easily reaches the inside part of your eyes and blend your eyeshadow on that corner easily. I can also use this brush for contouring along the nose line because of its shape. For contouring, I would sweep or stroke the brush lightly along the nose line and avoid of dragging the brush at all cost as this will (most likely) result on the hideous no 11 on your nose that we so despise of. You can try MAC 275, BB Angled Eye Shadow Brush, or find a cheaper version at MUS.

In this article, I only use three brands as a reference (i) MAC because it’s so widely known and it’s available in Indonesia, (ii) Bobbi Brown because it provides good alternative to MAC brushes and at slightly different shape and also currently available in Indonesia, (iii) Make Up Show for it’s good quality brushes at a very affordable price!

*Photos courtesy of www.bobbibrowncosmetics.con and Make Up Show