I’ll go ahead and assume that most of you were like me in your early years. Slappin’ on your makeup with your hands and those little eyelid brushes for your shadow. Followed by more hand usage. It’s cool guys, we all did it. But today you’re going to learn a valuable lesson that (at the ripe old age of 24) I only just learned. Brushes are friends, not foes.

Let’s take a gander, eh?

Oh and hey, please excuse the photography because I’m 1. saving up to buy a nice camera so I can actually put some nice photos on this piece and 2. it was taken with my iPhone. What’s up.

So here’s the fine selection of “tools” I would say every fine young lady needs to put their makeup on. Obviously you don’t need to go out and buy each brand I have here but if you want to, hey, that’s cool I’ll be sure to link where you can get most of these bits (or similar ones) below.

Let’s take it from the top. DISCLAIMER: If my brushes look weird and scraggly to you it’s because before I took this photo I cleaned them all and then blow dried them because I was too impatient to let them air dry. I would not suggest you do the same to your brushes. It makes them fluffy. I also had to edit the lighting on this photo because it’s a dark and dreary day here in Boston and well, I took these in the wee hours of the morning.

1. Large Kabuki brush for matte powder and for buffing.

2. Clinique Moisture Surge lotion for face. There’s nothing worse than dry skin with makeup on it. This keeps my face nice and moisturized without being greasy or shiny.

3. Mini Kabuki Brush for matte powder or solid translucent powder on the go.

4. Smashbox loose translucent finishing powder with SPF 15. This keeps everything perfectly in place when you’re all done. I am obsessed with it. It keeps my mug looking perfect all day and all you need is a tiny bit. This powder is ideal for people with oily to normal skin. If you’re dry, you probably won’t need it but it would keep liquid foundation in place too should you wish to go that direction.

5. Mini Fan brush for bronzer touch ups or for the Smashbox loose powder.

6. Mini Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating primer which I use as a eyeshadow primer for greasy summer eyelids but it comes in a full size if you want to use it on your whole face.

7. Smashbox Photo Finish Luminizing primer that I use on my whole face. I never really saw the true importance of primer before this year but it really does create the perfect canvas for your makeup. This primer may look tinted but it actually goes on translucent. All you can see is just a hint of shimmer where the luminizer is working it’s magic. Glow, glow.

8. Blush brush. I think I got this one at Sephora years ago. It’s on it’s way out so I’ve got to buy a new one.

9. Shiseido foundation brush that I use with their amazing cream foundation (another post for another day). This is the most expensive brush I own (I got it at Nordstrom for $30 but you can get it directly off the Shiseido website) Shiseido I would recommend for 1. the brand and 2. because it is worth the investment since it works so well. I’ll come back to this topic another day.

10. Concealer brush with a wide and narrow end that I got at Target. It works well but I hear this one works better.

11. Wide Eyeshadow brush for shimmer that I got at CVS.

12. Eyeshadow brush that I got at Sephora.

13. Large and small angle brushes that I also got at Sephora. The wide one can be used for shadow or liner while the small one can be used for brows.

*I would suggest you buy a specific eye brush set like this one because I collected them over time and for eyes it’s nice of have a full set that works well together.

14. Mini Eyeliner brush for liquid liner.

And that’s it! I know it seems like a lot (and this post is really long) but remember that I collected these pieces over time because I wanted to invest in nice ones that tailored perfectly to my needs but if you want to buy a full set I would recommend a starter set with the most variety and I would also recommend you get one with synthetic fibers and not real animal hair for two reasons. 1. It’s much more hygenic and they’re easier to clean and 2. because they’re cruelty free.

Questions, comments? Tweet at me @margo_christine or @DailyDoseOfLIES