Essential Brushes - For Me

I've come a long way with brushes.  I remember relying on enclosed sponge applicators to apply eye shadows and also the small brushes in blush compacts and calling it a day.  Blending?  Never heard of it.  At some point, I had had a brush or two that came as gift with purchases.  That was a big leap forward.  One step forward, two steps back?  What?  You're supposed to wash brushes?  I ended up throwing away germ-laden, crusty disgusting brushes because if you never wash it, it eventually gives up the ghost.  HA HA HA!  Look, I have a blog.  If you ever consider my makeup-related opinions anything worth taking seriously, please remember that I never used to wash makeup brushes.

King of the Brush Forest

Fast forward some time, I now have an incredible assortment of really beautiful brushes.  I have many brushes that perform similar functions and there are brands I dabbled in for blog comparison purposes.  (I wash brushes regularly now)  I was thinking though, at the end of the day, regardless of brand, what brushes do I consider my essentials?

I took a look at all my brushes and first breathed a sigh of relief.  They were mostly clean.
First I took out my new Chikuhodo brushes.  Though I really like them so far, they are really far too new to consider firmly as essentials.  On a typical face painting day, what are the brushes I use most and prefer.  Even if I have other alternatives, if clean, I turn to these.  Here they are:

Hello, ladies....er, hairy ladies.

The Powder big gun:
Tom Ford Bronzer Brush.  This ridiculously large brush I use for powder majority of the time.  I mentioned in my detailed post (here) its many virtues, but its over the top density and softness makes it excellent for pressing on loose powder as well as brushing away excess to ensure beautiful skin-like finish.  It's almost like using a cotton powder puff.  Of course, it's a great big ol' bronzer brush, so points for that.  This beats Suqqu Face Brush and several others for multi-purpose and big-lug adorableness.

The Blush Baby:
Suqqu Cheek Brush (here). I've been questioned (interrogated if you ask me!) several times which brush do I prefer, the Suqqu or the Tom Ford Cheek Brush (here)?  If I had to choose just one, it would be the Suqqu.  For my preference in very pigmented blushes and for it's absolute gorgeous craftsmanship, I can not lie, Suqqu all the way.  It feels like heaven in the morning.  Good thing is, no one is asking me to choose just one, so I'm also happy to have the Tom Ford Cheek, as it makes a great alternative when using blushes that require some muscle in picking up the lighter level of pigmentation as well as some good ol' buffing.

Concealer Blending:
This is the RMK M brush, which is an eye shadow brush.  It might be L, I'm not sure.  It's big and much to rough and clunky to use on my eye lids, but performs a very specialized function.  It blends concealer under my eyes and nose into a seamless look.  That's it.  That's all it's good for.  This plus my Ellis Faas concealer (here) make a great pair.

Taming the Bushy Brow:
I think I bought this from a Missha shop.  It was super inexpensive and you can buy this type of inexpensive spoolies anywhere.  Or maybe you hoard them from Sephora.  (I won't tell anyone!)  Whatever I use to define my brows, whether pencil, brow pen or powder, I always brush through with this brush.  I think this is one of the most important things I can do to get a more natural look with defined brows.

Defining That Brow:
I've been using this a lot since I've gotten the Suqqu Nuancing Brow palette.  This is the Suqqu Eye Brow Brush G (here).  Soft but firm bristle that pick up the perfect amount of powder with a shape that's easy to add shape and definition to my brows.  Great at filling in sparse spots in the front of my brows, and firm enough to help draw on the tails of my brows.

Brushes that Make My Eye Shadows Play Nice:
The Tom Ford Eye Shadow brush is a fluffy paddle and really great for general lay down and a fluffy enough tip for good enough blending.

Suqqu Eye Shadow Brush L for washes of color and very gentle diffused blending.
Suqqu Eye Shadow Brush M for all around excellent brush.  It's precise when I need it to be, great to place overall lid color, can do crease and lower lash line.

Tom Ford Smokey Eye Brush (here).  I adore this brush to pieces.  Look how white it is despite many abuses with smoking out eye liners and dark eye shadows.

Precision Maker:
Hakuhodo K005 I use regular for use with cream based eye things like the THREE cream shades.  Usueful for lining and also for shaping cream things with its firm hairs.

Tightliner:
Eeh, dirty. This is the Hakuhodo G521 D1.  It is teeny tiny and replaces the Laura Mercier Flat liner brush which was too wide and unwieldy for tight lining my eyes.  I debated whether to include this brush in this post, because I'm far too lazy to tight line most days, but when I do, I find this to be the most precise and easy instrument.

This wasn't very detailed, but more of a photographic documentation of my daily routine.  And since I was needlessly strict on tools that are brushes, I didn't include my beloved Suqqu Eye lash curler (with new pad in now. -____- ) and my occasional lover, the Beauty Blender.

Clean (ish) brushes ready to tackle on the next work week... AHOY!

Do you also have brushes you turn to time and time again?