eyeshadow: neutral tones of brown/yellow/gold in metallic

Neutral tones, suitable for the work day, yet "bling" enough for the Friday night party.

We can intensify the look with liquid eyeliner and add-on coats of mascara for the night.

magic brushes... (part 1 - basic brushes for daily makeup)

A friend asked me the other day about make up brushes.

Honestly, I was stumped. I thought very hard about how I should present this. I even tried to make a video a tutorial which in the end I decided not to use because it totally didn't work up to the effect I wanted. It is difficult to explain everything in 1 post so it will have to come in steps.

So today is step 1.

Firstly, my rules for buying brushes:

1. Expensive brushes need not necessarily be good brushes. Do not splurge on expensive brushes, especially when one is new to makeup. My first brushes were from Body Shop and I am still using them now.

2. Do some research online first, then be physically there at the counter/shop to try out the brushes. Things to look out for:
~ how the brushes feel on our skin (no "rough" feeling)
~ how well the brushes pick up color/pigment
~ the size of the brush (pick a size that is just right for our face/eyes)

3. Natural hair brushes or synthetic brushes??
Natural hair brushes are usually used with powder products. Non-powder products such as   liquid foundation, gel eyeliner, cream blusher, usually works better with synthetic brushes.
(Recently I heard from a makeup artist that natural hair blusher brush works well with cream blusher. I have yet to try it out.
Also, prevention of cruelty to animals activists will swear by using synthetic brushes. So sometimes it is really a personal preference more than anything.)

4. Invest in full size brushes, instead of travel size.
I know travel size brushes are convenient, but being smaller (flatter) and having shorter handles mean they are harder to control. Likewise for those small little brushes that come with the eyeshadow/blusher palettes, they are very difficult to control. I never use them.

5. Do have a brush roll to store the brushes properly. This will greatly extend their "brush life". Packing them for travel is also made easier with a brush roll, which means we do not need travel size brushes (See point 3 above). Amazon has lots of affordable and good quality brush roll offerings. I bought mine there.

I want to introduce some basic brushes. The first 4 brushes are essentials for daily makeup, while the remaining 2 brushes are optional.

(1) Flat foundation brush - (I use it for liquid foundation and concealer)

I absolutely swear by this now: Using the flat foundation brush to apply liquid foundation will give the perfect flawless finish on my skin. Always blend in the same direction with the foundation brush to get the perfect finish.

I also double it up as a concealer brush, instead of using the small concealer brush. I have big areas of leftover acne marks, and some small spots to conceal. This brush can handle both. The large surface area of the brush allows me to finish blending everything out nicely before the concealer dries up. Also, since it has some leftover foundation on it, the concealer gets mixed into the foundation pigment, and so resulting in seamless finish.


(2) Eyebrow/lash brush

I only use the brow brush. There are many standalone brow brushes in the market. Mine happens to have both.

It is important to blend out the hard lines of the brow pencil/gel/powder, to have natural looking eyebrows.

Choose one that goes easy on your skin. I have ever encountered one which has bristles that were so rough, I think it tore my skin. ~(>_<~)

(3) Blusher brush

Pick the right size for better control. I chose a smaller one because I like to control the intensity slowly on specific areas. The small size is also useful for blending, especially when I also double it up as a contour brush.

(4) Eyeshadow brush (large) 

I call it my all-purpose eyeshadow brush because I use it to apply and blend. For general 2 color eye makeup, this is good enough to handle everything.

The above 4 brushes are really the essentials. Next two brushes are quite optional.

(5) Eyeshadow brush (small) ---- optional

For targeted small area on the eyelid, the above eye line, and the under eye line. In summary, this brush covers the small narrow areas on our eyes.

(6) Angled eyeliner brush ------- optional

If one prefers to use cream or gel eyeliner (instead of pen liquid eyeliners), then I highly suggest getting the angled eyeliner brush instead of the flat eyeliner brush. The angled brush is much easier to control, which is much needed for drawing the eyeliner.

It will take a while to get used to the brushes so make sure we use them often. Pick up some simple technics with them and be adventurous. Practice makes perfect! ヽ(^。^)丿

liquid foundation woes: sponge, brush or fingers?

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So what do you use?

I have used every method there is, but this is not going to be a "which-application-method-is-the-best" post from me. There is good and bad in each method, as with all things, so it all boils down to which is most suitable for us. So it is best that we understand what each can help us do or achieve with our liquid foundation.

(1) Fingers

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I am going to talk about fingers first because I often use mine when I used to apply my foundation daily. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using our fingers. It is definitely convenient. We do everything with our hands, why would applying foundation not be? Plus, there is one less brush to wash. Haha! So lazy!

I love to use my fingers because I can have better control on the amount and spread direction. The warmth from my fingers gently heats up the product which makes it smoother to glide on my skin. I usually go in one direction, towards my hairline. The result is a smooth finish with very good coverage.

The only bad thing I can think of is the messy fingers after it is done. Oh! And please make sure that hands are properly washed before touching our skin, especially those with sensitive skin, like me.

(2) Brush
There are 2 types of brushes that can be used for applying foundation. I am going to use MAC brushes for reference, since they are labeled with numbers and are widely used. The down side to brushes is maintaining them. Washing them regularly to avoid bacteria and drying them properly to make them last.

(i) Flat Synthetic brush (ref MAC 190)

As one professional make up artist told me, it is like a paint brush. This is a commonly used foundation brush. Blending strokes must be in one linear direction, and towards the hairline. The finishing is smooth. The coverage is medium so it is ideal for those who have acne marks and pigmentation. I have best control with my flat brush, going neatly under my eyes, around my lips.

(ii) Fluffy round synthetic brush (ref MAC 187)

This brush gives a light coverage and dewy finish. So it is good for those with very good skin or have little pigmentation to hide. The blending strokes is circular. There isn't much control with this brush, which is ok, since there is minimum product going onto our skin, thus not much room for errors. I must say the finish is really so good on those with perfect skin. Love it (love to see it).

(3) Sponge

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This is my emergency backup. If I don't have my brushes with me (trust me, anything can happen and I won't use brushes that are not my own), and I don't wish to use my hands (no washing basin nearby), sponge comes to the rescue. I always have a small piece on standby in my make up kit.

The sponge works like a flat brush, same method for blending, same coverage and finishing. But I do find it awkward to work the sponge especially around my nose and under eye area. And sponge, being a sponge, likes to absorb so it tends to pick up more product but not everything goes onto our skin. Wastage!

So I hope this has been useful for some of you. Thanks for reading!