If you started fresh today, what five tools would you purchase first?
Sonia G. Build Three and one crease brush, beautyblender, elf Buffing Foundation Brush, Smith 205 Angled Liner Brush.
— Christine
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Sonia G eye brush bundle😅, Sonia G face brush bundle😂,surratt or utowa eyelash curler, microfibre cloth to clean brushes, eyelash comb thingy to separate clumpy lashes if I’ve overdone mascara.
Sigma E25 blending brush
Sephora #56 foundation brush
A smudge brush
A fluffy blush brush
A fluffy powder brush
First the Wayne Goss “The Edit” brush set (Im cheating and counting as one)….Have to have a beauty blender…my Surratt Relevee eyelash curler, my Rephr #2 brush, and my Sonia G Worker#3 or Builder #3…but I love all my Sonia G brushes…….this was a hard one!!!
A face brush that I can use to apply both powder and blush (most likely one of the angled brushes from Real Techniques), and 4 MAC 217 brushes. 😅
Real Techniques Everyday Essentials Kit, Real Techniques Everyday Eye Essentials Kit, Juvia’s Place I Am Magic Flat Top Foundation Brush, e. l. f. Contouring Brush, and slant-tipped tweezers.
1.) Real Techniques Beauty Sponge duo
2.) Either a Real Techniques or EcoTools eyeshadow brush set, including an angled, a blending, a flat shader, a smudge brush and a round definer brush. I chose these because I need high quality synthetic brushes, especially for the eye area.
3.) Elf blush brush (or if available, a cheek set!)
4.) A really good quality, dense, synthetic Kabuki brush for my finishing powder.
5.) Sephora eyelash curler! The flatter one.
So, here’s what I’d consider my current minimum, but it’s more than 10 brushes and an eyelash curler. If I started over I’d research the heck out of brushes and probably add or replace some of the below with Sonia Gs, but I don’t currently know which ones. I’ve asterisked the ones I’d get if I really needed to cut it down, but it’s still 7 items.
*Shadow / laydown: Smith 253
*Shadow / crease & blend / med.: Hakuhodo J142
Shadow / crease & blend & outer V / small: Hakuhodo J5529
Shadow / below lower lashes: Hakuhodo B5520/G5520
Shadow / inner corner / tiny pencil: Hakuhodo G5515
*Concealer / blemishes / pinpoint: Smith 202 microliner
*Foundation / place & blend: Sephora 55.5
*Foundation / blend: Koyudo Fu-Pa 13
Powder / face: Hakuhodo J531BkSL Powder & Blush Brush L Angled (I currently use the J104, but I’d try the J531 instead I think)
*Blush / powder: Koyudo BP016
Highlighter: Zoeva 114 Luxe Face Focus
*Brows / Inglot 31T brow brush
Eyelash curler
Shiseido kabuki foundation brush (but they’ve changed it and gone the synthetic route; I want the original)
MAC 213 (I think – it’s a small and flat e/s brush), 239 and 217 but, again, before they redid them synthetically
QUO retractable lipstick brush (also no longer available but, hey, this is “what if” question so “what if companies still made things the way I like them)
I’ve also got to add in a Sephora cream shadow brush that is also no longer available. I have 3 of them and had my husband cut the handles on 2 of them shorter because they are the MOST perfect brushes for under-eye concealer.
I realize I’ve left myself without a blush brush….oh no! I’ll swap one of the eyeshadow brushes (not sure which) for an angled blush brush.
I never really know the numbers of the brushes that I purchase, but these are the ones I would start with:
1. An angled large blush brush
2. A large brush for applying setting powder
3. A small fluffy blending brush
4. A thin brush for applying eyeshadow as an eyeliner
5. A medium sized brush for applying eyeshadow
Flower Beauty sponge, Rephr 01, 20 and 22, Sigma F15.
I own almost the entire Rephr brush line so does that count as one 😉
I like the two I have from Rephr! If ever (which I doubt) I need anymore, I’ll look to them.
I love my Refr brushes! I backed their Kickstarter campaign and now own pretty much their entire line, including multiples of the brushes I use most.
OOooo! Har done again! Here it goes:
Marc Jacobs (I know, gone, gone, gone, boo hoo!) -The crease
Sonja G – Face Two (this one is my favorite! Just right for applying blush, bronzer or even liquid foundation in a pinch. However, I just haven’t been able to justify price for the results for me with some of her other eyeshadow brushes; maybe the blue ones are better??? But she’s a great person and I purchased a number of the first ones to support her enormous development effort.)
Revlon Pro -Natural Bristle Highlighting Eyeshadow Brush (My very first makeup brush, still going STRONG!; is a larger lid laydown-type brush)
Rephr – 15
MUFE Pro – 226 Straight (Another very good lid letdown brush, but with a nice angular take that works for corners)
Wayne Goss – 05 (Yes, Wayne’s brushes are worth it! But some are better than others and this one works for me for diffusing eyeliner since I use shadow as a liner.)
letdown=laydown, sorry autocorrect!!!
Shiseido eyelash curler (others I’ve tried are far too rounded and can’t reach my lashes)
Sigma eye brush set (cheating a bit lol)
Sigma F44 powder sculpt (go-to for bronzer/contour)
Angled blush brush (currently using a Luxie that works great)
Little sponge applicators for eyeshadow (similar to the ones that used come with palettes – bought from Amazon, I wash and reuse them)
Morphe V203 (I find a good pencil brush incredibly hard to find)
A setting powder puff (Laura Mercier, probably)
A good blender brush for eyes
Tweezerman angled point tweezers (sharper than a slant tweezer, broader than the really tiny ones)
A good sharpener
Ideally, I’d then get a set for eyes that includes something for putting down color, a stipple brush, and a sponge of some kind. But those above are the ones I find most unique and/ or difficult to swap out for something else, and that I would likely not find in a set/pack. Like if I’m _really_ pressed I’m sure I could make foundation application work with hands only (not uncommon for me on low effort days actually), and I could buy exclusively shadow pencils and liners to avoid needing more specialized eye brushes, but nothing can replace a good set of tweezers and a setting puff.