Just four months ago, I wrote about what my seven must-have eye brushes were.. and they’ve already changed a bit! In this video, I talk about six brushes I think are really excellent for building up your eye makeup brush stash, plus a little talk on two extra brushes that you might want to consider as well (or in place of one of the six).
Beauty Basics is a series covering basic products and tools that help to make applying your makeup easier. To view the entire series to date, be sure to visit the beauty basics, or you can view posts within the series about MAC Face Brushes.
MAC 195 Concealer Brush ($22.00) is a small, flat brush with synthetic fibers. It’s shaped like a severe, tapered dome. It was launched with Studio Sculpt, so it is designed to work with concealer products, but it can be used with any emollient product as well. I’m not a huge fan of this brush, just because I don’t feel it does a stellar job of applying or blending concealer. It’s flat and firm, though the bristles have give so they can bend easily. It picks up product and places it well, I just find that it can leave some streaks behind if you’re not careful. The best way to use this brush when applying concealer is using a tapping method rather than a pulling/blending method. I know some have complained about this brush being scratchy, though I have not personally found mine is like that. If anything, I prefer this brush for applying eyeshadow bases (paints, paint pots, what-have-you) over concealer.
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Beauty Basics is a series covering basic products and tools that help to make applying your makeup easier. To view the entire series to date, be sure to visit the beauty basics, or you can view posts within the series about MAC Face Brushes.
MAC 194 Concealer Brush ($19.00) is a small, flat brush with a paddle-shape that’s slightly tapered. It’s a good brush for initially applying product. I use this to dab on foundation from pumps/bottles, concealers that squeeze out or come in liquid form, etc. I find it makes it easy to simply get the product onto my face without too much getting caught in fluffier brushes’ bristles. After I’ve used the 194 to dab on the product, then I’ll go to whatever brush is actually going to blend it in/apply it fully. I prefer fluffier brushes like the 217 or 275 for blending out concealer personally. This brush, however, is good for applying concealer if you need a bit more precision — say around your brows — but if you don’t need strong lines, then it’s not as necessary.
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Beauty Basics is a series covering basic products and tools that help to make applying your makeup easier. To view the entire series to date, be sure to visit the beauty basics, or you can view posts within the series about MAC Face Brushes.
MAC 192 Cheek/Face Brush ($32.00) is a flat, paddle-shaped brush with a more tapered edge than the typical paddle-shape. It’s made out of synthetic fibers, and it is designed to be used with creamy/emollient face and cheek products, like blushcremes, moisturizer, Strobe, etc. For application of blushcremes (or cream blushes–same thing), I like to use the tip to just gently apply a few dots of color on the cheek. Then I use the entire brush to blend it outwards and get a soft, smooth look. I’ve also found that the size of this brush (smaller than the 190) makes it a good brush for blending concealer in, too. It’s large enough that it only takes a few brush strokes to blend your concealer into place, but it isn’t so large that you can’t get into the nooks and crannies. This is a solid brush, and actually sometimes prefer this one to the 188 for blushcremes.
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Beauty Basics is a series covering basic products and tools that help to make applying your makeup easier. To view the entire series to date, be sure to visit the beauty basics, or you can view posts within the series about MAC Face Brushes.
MAC 191 Square Foundation Brush ($32.00) is a flat, square-shaped brush made out of synthetic fibres. It’s fairly firm, and the edge of the brush is fine and firm. Although it’s touted as a foundation brush, I prefer using this to apply creamy products like face primers, moisturizers, etc. I just don’t find it works nearly as well for foundation as brushes like the 109, 187, or 182. I do like the edge, though, because it can give you crisper lines when you want them, and it also lets you get into hard-to-reach areas like the nose. This is probably one of my least loved face brushes, just because I prefer so many others over it.
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Beauty Basics is a series covering basic products and tools that help to make applying your makeup easier. To view the entire series to date, be sure to visit the beauty basics, or you can view posts within the series about MAC Face Brushes.
MAC 190 Foundation Brush ($32.00) is a flat, paddle-shaped brush with very rounded edges and almost comes to a soft, rounded point. It’s fairly small, and it is thin. It’s a firm, densely-packed brush with fibres that make it easy to use with liquid and cream products, particularly foundations. I like it more for initially applying liquid/cream products onto the face rather than as a tool to blend or actually give me full coverage. I find fluffy brushes like the 109 are much more to my taste for application of foundations, but they can get a bit gummed up if you simply get the foundation on it from the get-go. Often using the 190 to dab on the product to my face, and then using the 109 to blend it out, works best for me. While a quality brush, I rarely reach for it, so I wouldn’t consider it a must-have.
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