By Chrissy Iley
For many years I avoided any kind of make up brush. I had it stuck in my head that they are really non-essential; I could use fingers or the funny little applicator you get with your eye shadow/blush/highlighter. Gradually I learned this made for panda eyes or clown face but it took me years…..I like speed; there is something about the brush that says this is slow and complicated. Or so I thought….I have since learned the reverse is true.
Brushes with their special fibres or real hair from some real animal seemed almost like putting wigs on your face, or some form of taxidermy. Also, brushes are expensive. Brushes are easily lost. So brushes always seem like throwing money away.
Over the years make up artist friends and friends and anyone who had to look at me would comment on the lack of subtlety of my eye colour. Somehow I was persuaded to use a brush for eye shadow. I found instantly everything was much better. Stayed on longer, looked less gothic and actually went on faster. It was several years before a brush ever went anywhere else on my face.
The first brush I ever used was from bareMinerals. Their foundation is powder so it is brush or nothing.
I loved the way it went on so seamlessly and so un-powder-like because of their swift action multi purpose brush. It is so big and soft, quick and easy like a feather duster for the face.
Later on I used a spare smaller, rounder flatter brush for applying one of their creams. It was so swift and easy I could not be without it. Then I learned that if I use a special angled brush it was quick and easy for highlighting. Then I learned you could sweep a soft focus brush across your face an in an instant you got subtlety, your make up mistakes wiped away
I would recommend the bareMinerals Perfecting Face Brush as a starter brush for anyone. The other thing that I am not good about is washing brushes. I am not good at washing hair either; maybe the two are linked. bareMinerals now have a brush shampoo specially formulated for refurbishing brushes. I love the ritual of I am staying in to wash my brushes, because I now realize the other brushes either stayed dirty for too long or I used too much cleanser and never really rinsed it off. It is recommended that you towel dry brushes and then lay them out. But with big fat face brushes I like to give them their own blow dry.
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