Brushes 101

So this past week has been a bit insane!   I'm so sorry i haven't had time to post but that's where the "mommy" portion of my blog kicks in.  I'm a mommy first and foremost.  I work full time, one of my twins was sick, workshops, yada yada BUT the Summer is almost here and since i'm a teacher i get the Summer off!!!  Better yet, i'll be a blogging fool when i finally have more time to actually get all my ideas together!  I have so many things to share with you!  But making it all come to fruition is sometimes difficult, especially since i like to accompany my posts with pretty pictures which involves actually taking the pics, downloading and editing them.  Ahhh ok, enough... on to the post!

So there were some inquiries in my last post regarding what certain brushes are actually for.  With the wide range of brushes available out there, i can certainly understand how one might be overwhelmed or confused.  I'm going to talk about what my essential brushes are.  These are not the only types of brushes available obviously, but these are the ones i rely on mostly and then some.   I will not however, go into foundation, concealer brushes in this post.  I'll save that for a later post when i talk about just that... foundation and concealer :).

So this first brush is what i use to apply shadow to the lid of my eyes.  It's flat and relatively small making it easy to really get in there and cover the entire lid.

This next brush is an angled flat brush that i use to highlight the area right below the brow.  The angle makes it easy to apply eyeshadow to this particular area. 

The next couple of brushes, i use in the crease under the brow bone.  You can use a variety of brushes for this particular area.  This is the ones i use the most.

 

The last eyeshadow brush i'm going to show you is what i call a "blender" brush.  I use it to blend, blend. blend and blend!!! You don't want super striking lines separating the eye colors, you want them to ease into one another.  Unless of course, you're into that sorta thing! Hey, to each his own right? 

 

The next brush is my favorite blush brush. I use this brush to sweep my cheeks with a dab of blush.

 

 

 

 

The next brush is what i use to apply bronzer... it's an over sized, fluffy brush perfect for adding a little bit of sunshine to your face.

 

This last brush is a 'fan brush'.  I'll be honest, i hadn't the slightest clue what this was for, so i turned to the expert "my sister - a former MAC artist" who clarified this for me.  Now that i know, i actually use it often!  Ok so this brush is used to apply a highlighter.  You can also use it to dust away excess powder away.  I however, like to apply a shimmery highlighting powder above my cheekbones under the eyes as noted in the second picture below. 

*The pallete above was a gift from Sephora after redeeming my 500 rewards points.  It's the 'Naked Look' pallete by Too Faced which you can find here.
**The brushes shown above are from Sephora and MAC.  Also, the blush is by MAC and the bronzer is Shimmer Bricks  in Bronze by Bobbi Brown.

Well, i hope this was informative.  I have a ton of brushes but wanted to highlight the most essential ones (without mentioning foundation/concealer brushes which i'll mention in a later post). 

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