The Make-up Brush Edit
The brush market is a beast. Knowing what to buy can be overwhelming. The reality is that the right brushes can help you create a better makeup look. With that in mind, I've decided to put together an edit of my faves.
This hasn’t been an easy feat. I am a makeup brush hoarder - I just can't resist them. Obvs I feel I can justify every single one, considering I'm a makeup artist. I mean, if a builder can have a drill with a hundred drill bits, I can have a hundred (or more like 400) brushes, right?!
To make this as simple as possible, I've broken this down into types of brushes. However, as you probably know, I use brushes on multiple areas of the face. More on this later.
Let's start with brush brands. There are SO many out there, and I've tried and tested the majority of them. A good brush is not easy to make. Not naming any names; there are some huge makeup brands out there who have great products but rubbish brushes. So don't be deceived into assuming their tools are good just because their bronzer is.
Here I've listed my all-time favourite brush brands (in order of price) I use daily on myself and my clients. The ones I can rely on to blend to perfection, not feel spiky and to wash beautifully. Then I have broken down individual brushes I swear by plus brush sets i think are worth the investment.
Price key
£ = Bargain...I’ll take ‘em all!
££= Won’t completely break the bank
£££ = Spenny ‘n Splurgy
Price: £
Cruelty free? Yes
Affordable, reliable brushes. A “direct from the designer” purchase which is how they keep the price down. Crownbrush have been making professional quality brushes for over 35 years, making this one of the most reliable brands in the business.
Price: £
Cruelty free? Yes
Created by makeup artists Sam & Nic Chapman, these are great brushes that are affordable and bloody good. They also come in an array of colours and designs which make them very appealing.
Price: ££
Cruelty free? Yes
Exceptional quality with a good price point. The brushes are bound together and not glued, meaning you rarely get bristle fall-out.
Price: ££
Cruelty free? Yes
Another brand designed by makeup artists. This time by the brilliant James Molloy and his partner Alex. These brushes are a go-to for many artists, including myself.
Price: ££
Cruelty free? Does not test on animals but can not be classed as cruelty free as they sell in China.
The icon that is; MAC are an artistry brand, meaning their brushes are of exceptional quality. The 217 was my first ever brush purchase 18 years ago and I still have that exact same brush.
Price: ££
Cruelty free? Yes and 100% vegan
These are a relatively new to the market but they are good! I mean they are designed by a makeup artist so I would expect them to be. They are super soft and wash really well.
Price: £
Cruelty free? Yes and 100% Vegan
A really lovely affordable brand. I’ve used these brushes for years. I LOVE their collaboration kits and they have some lovely fun colours too.
Price: £££
Cruelty free? Yes and 100% Vegan
Another wonderful makeup artist brand. These brushes are handcrafted in Japan to Rae's personal design specifications. These are expensive, but some of the best brushes I've ever used.
Price: £££
Cruelty free? Yes and certified vegan.
Anything that this brand releases is of the highest quality and their brushes are no exception. Created with vegan ingredients, these brushes are beautiful. Yes, they are expensive, but they will last you forever if you look after them.
Price: £££
Cruelty free? Yes
Wayne creates some of my favourite eyeshadow brushes. Handmade in Japan by the world’s best brush makers, these babies are extremely high quality. They are a dream to blend eyeshadow with. A small FYI; these are only sold on beautylish.com and even though it is a US site, it ships super quick.
Eyeshadow Brushes
This is probably the most complicated section as there are so many different types of eyeshadow brushes, so I thought I'd start here.
My faves are the fluffy brushes, the ones with a ton of hairs that are usually used to blend eyeshadow. These are also the ones I multi-use the most. These beauties are not only wonderful for blending your eyeshadow, they work great with concealer, foundation, highlighter and lipstick. In fact, I never use an actual concealer brush which is why they're not featured in this post. I use this type of brush, my fingers or a damp beauty blender.
These are my go-tos
£8
The head on this brush is longer than most. I like this because it feels like it really helps to lightly “buff in” product. I've used these brushes for years. They clean well and are affordable. The only downfall is that they can splay slightly. However, I do wash my brush two to three times a week which helps with this.
£13.50
Zoeva brushes are just lovely. This - as expected from the name – is great for the crease of the eye. It's small and full, meaning you can get a flawless blend in the fold of the eye.
£21
My OG; I've used this brush forever. It blends beautifully and lasts, no matter how many times I clean it. This is the one I've had for over 18 years! So cost per use is probably 0.01p! The handle is starting to peel, but the head is still in pretty good condition.
Wayne's brushes are, without doubt, one of my favourite eyeshadow brushes. Japanese brushes are always superior. They've been making artistry brushes for decades and have really perfected their craft. This brush has a short fluffy head and it’s amazing for blending in the crease and under the lash line.
£25
This brush is larger than the previous one. I know £25 is a lot to spend on one brush, but I'd re-buy this baby time and time again. I always invest in eyeshadow brushes over face brushes. I use my hands a lot on the face, but nothing blends eyeshadow as well as a good brush. This one buffs out shadow like a dream.
£14
The bigger end of this brush is great for pressing glitter pigments onto the eye. The smaller end is brilliant for blending under the lash line, or for buffing in a kohl liner.
£12.95
I love this brush for blending eyeshadow under the lower lash line. It's super soft which is great when you're going so close to the eye.
£28
The one that does it all. This is a genius brush by the wonderful makeup artist, Ruby Hammer. It's three brushes in one. Each head is magnetic and connects to the others so you can swap and change as you please. There's a crease brush, a smudge brush and an angled brush. This will literally work for your eyes, brows, lips and concealer. It's awesome, as is Ruby.
Foundation Brushes
I tend to use my hands or a beauty blender for my base. However, certain brushes can be brilliant. For me, foundation brushes have to be compact – full of hair, quite stiff, no messing around. I feel like that last line could be misinterpreted, lol! All of the described is important as you don't want brush marks on your face. If your brush is too fluffy that tends to happen.
These are my faves:
IT Cosmetics Love is the Foundation Brush
£30
This was limited edition, but I've kept it in as they do a new version every year. However, I have linked to their star version which is equally as good.
Get this, the brush is shaped like a heart. Why would you need to know anything else about it?! Seriously though, IT is a great brand, and this brush is lovely. It has hundreds of bristles and makes me smile every time I use it. The heart shape actually helps get the product under the eyes and around the nose with minimal effort.
£13.50
This brush has the smallest head in my selection. This is great for really buffing your base in. I also like to use this brush for powder. The short head helps to press powder into the face giving you a natural finish.
£45
This is a high-performance foundation brush. Yes, it's more expensive than the others, but you really do get great results with it. The bristles are ultra-soft, and its shape helps you to get into all the contours of the face. I also like the fact that the handle is short as that helps you to really buff your foundation in.
£23
Pat is one of the great make-up artists of our time. I pretty much love every product she creates. I bought this brush in Sephora years ago, when she first launched, and it really has stood the test of time. The length of the bristles mean that you pick up less product, ideal for creating a diffused, skin-finish. My perfect base.
Blusher and bronzer brushes
£9.99
Super soft and full, this brush is perfect for buffing in a powder blush. If you want precision, there are more options below. But this gives a real airbrushed finish to the powder.
£63
A pricey investment, but a bloody great brush. Super soft and double-ended; the smaller end is great for setting powder under the eyes, and for adding highlighter to the face. The larger end blends in blushers, powders and even liquid foundations.
£10
This brush is made for contouring. I love it for that, but I also love it for a precise blush application. The head is petite meaning you can place and blend easily. The handle is multi coloured and reminds me of a Unicorns horn! It's a delight.
£15.40
Such a gorgeous, super soft brush. This baby is perfect for adding highlighter or powder.
Just adding this in here, as I get asked this daily! My fave brush for this is the Zoeva 104 buffing brush. It’s £17 and blends it in like a dream.
Eyeliner brushes
£15.50
This brush was made for cutting around liner with concealer, as well as for brows. However, I really love it as an eyeliner brush too. It's super sharp and helps to create a great flick.
£32
This is my ride-or-die liner brush for a thin line. I love her - she's a beaut - and like all of Rae's brushes, is worth the dosh. I haven't featured many of Rae's brushes as they are expensive but trust me when I say they're incredible.
Lip brushes
£17
This is my ideal lip brush. It has a small, curved head which is perfect for creating a bold lip. I bought three of these babies so that I never have to be without.
£19
Brilliant for filling in the lips. I love the straight edge for a super precise lip line.
£13.50
Another great brush for precision and for filling in the lip quickly and precisely.
£10
I adore this brush for blurring out the edge of the lip line. This can look super cool and contemporary.
Brush sets
It can be worth investing in a set of brushes. This is a great way to save a bit of cash and to ensure you have every brush you need. However, you want to make sure that all the brushes are worth having. These are the ones that I think are worth investing in:
16 brushes and a brush roll
Duo Fiber Powder Brush
Tapered Powder Brush
Angle Blush Brush
Oval Foundation Brush
Oval Concealer Brush
Mascara Spoolie Brush
Pointed Crease Brush
Oval Shadow Brush
Mini Smudger Brush
Oval Lip Brush
Angle Shadow Brush
Detail Shadow Brush
Deluxe Soft Fan Brush
Angle Liner Brush
Oval Fluff Brush
Pointed Liner Brush
This is a great starter kit for any makeup lover; working out at about £3.50 per brush. What a bargain! These brushes are ideal for your everyday makeup. They won't last forever, but they are great for those wanting a new collection at an affordable price.
15 Brushes
104 Foundation Buffer
105 Highlight
127 Blush & Contour
228 Crease Definer234 Smoky Shader
317 Wing Liner
106 Powder
142 Concealer Buffer
230 Detail Smoky Blender
110 Prime & Touch-Up
114 Detail Setting Powder
129 Fan
227 Eyeshadow Blender
231 Detail Crease Definer
322 Brow Liner
This is a fabulous kit. As you can probably tell by now, I’m a fan of Zoeva brushes. They are affordable and good quality. They are bound - not glued - so the hair won’t fall out like a lot of mid-range brushes. These work out at £10 each.
8 brushes
1 Deluxe Kabuki
7 Deluxe Point Shader
8.5 Creme Shadow Shader
9.1 Pencil Point Shader
14 Perfect Eyeliner
16 Brow Definer
19 Lip Brush
23 Liquid Foundation
The Rae Plate
This is your forever set. The most beautiful, high-quality brushes. As you'd expect for a price like that! It's a fool proof collection of incredible brushes. Working out at around £45 a brush, this collection will blend your makeup to perfection every time.
Spectrum X Katie Jane Hughes KJH 25 Piece Edit Brush Set £159.99
25 brushes (Some are doubled)
01 – A large fluffy brush perfect for bronzer.
02 – Really good, simple and straightforward blush brush that can be used for any powder and cream products.
03 – Beautiful duo-fibre cheek brush that can also be used for foundation or placing contour.
04 – Another lovely duo-fibre brush, which gives a different application to single fibre brushes. Typically duo-fibre work beautifully for creams and non duo-fibres for powders, but again, there are really no rules.
05 – A really good angled brush, great for shading and great for blush if you want a really soft impression.
06 – A typical foundation brush, however it works beautifully for powder placement.
07 – A really versatile large, smudgy and wide type of pencil brush. Great for around the entire lash line, for blurring the lip edge and placing concealer in large spaces.
08 – A brush so amazing it’s two in the set! You can use it for highlighter, bit of contour, concealer, powder.
09 – This was designed to be quite long across the width, so you could clean up big eyeliner in one sweep. This brush is really unique because you can put it in the water line with a cream liner or you can clean up any kind of make-up mistakes around the lip or eyeline.
10 – A great 'everything blender'. Easily get around the nose and eyes, you can blend your eyeshadow, use it for concealer, blend in lipsticks, and prime the eyes with it.
11 – Great for concealer as well as eyeshadow. Perfect for cream eyeshadow and powder eyeshadow.
12 – Really nice small pinched ferrule detailing brush, great for lash line detail, or a blurry lip, ideal for all the smaller details.
13 – A slightly longer version of a pencil brush to give you more traction with a little bit of movement in the bristles.
14 - A great brush for detail.
15 – Great a metallic eyeshadow or around the lash line, or even for concealer or a lip colour.
16 - A really long brush that allows for you to really draw on the lip colour you might be wearing perfectly, as well as painting on any kind of eyeshadow cream textures and formulas.
17 – A really great small delicate petite blender, brushes like this are few and far between.
20 – An awesome flat concealer brush or eyeshadow cream brush.
21 – A dream cut crease brush, to draw in under brow details.
22 – An eyeliner brush, great for a bold wing.
23 - A brow and liner brush in one.
24 –A long, thin liner brush.
I love KJ’s brush set. I use every single brush in my professional kit. The love and work that has gone into the collection is evident. A worthy investment.
13 expertly crafted makeup brushes. Each brush has been designed by makeup artist and VIEVE founder Jamie Genevieve to be the perfect tool to help you achieve any look. The name of each brush indicates its primary purpose, however, be your own makeup artist by experimenting with each one – there’s no right or wrong way! Your brushes come in a Luxury Canister that can be used to safely store your brushes. The quality of these brushes are exceptional.
117 Foundation Brush
119 Concealer and Prime Brush
121 Blush and Bronze Brush
123 Precision Powder Brush
125 Highlight Brush
127 Powder and Bronze Brush
217 Large Eyeshadow Blender Brush
219 Small Eyeshadow Blender Brush
221 Eyeshadow Smudger Brush
223 Eyeshadow Packer Brush
225 Precision Eyeshadow Packer Brush
227 Angle Brush
229 Lip and Line Brush
And that's it my friends, my makeup brush edit complete.
I really hope this has been helpful.
Do comment below with your faves as I will update this post regularly.
Love Lisa xx
I only ever recommend products I would use myself. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. This is mostly spent on repairing the shoes Diddy keeps chewing.
