Given the Brush Off

Makeup brushes are things I tend to aquire over loads of time. I'm not a brush junkie like I am an eyeshadow junkie. I would much rather buy 4+ eyeshadows than just 1 brush! So while I do have a bunch of brushes, I only use maybe half of them, and on a daily basis, maybe 6 or 7. A huge majority I didn't even purchase myself, they were either presents or in a kit from buying something else.

I only wash my brushes with brush cleanser or brush shampoo. I've heard many different ways of washing them but I'm too worried of wrecking them and having the bristles fall out. I am way too cheap to buy new brushes and I think an $8 (if I remember right) investment in the right shampoo is nothing compared to the cost of replacing these bad boys.

The 2 I use are Quo Purifying Brush Shampoo ($8 I think) and Clinique's Brush Cleanser ($13US)



It only looks like I used the Clinque one more because I bought that bottle first after my brother bought me my very first set of brushes! I blame him for wanting more of them! :)

Out of all of them I only have a few that were pricey. The rest are either ecotools or random ones I've picked up here and there.

The goods!

The Clinique group was from bro #1, the MAC from Magic and Mischeif collection from bro #2. 3 ecotools in center of other ecotools from Becca of awesomeness.


The brushes that are always in my train case:


L-R Clinique Powder, MAC 187SE, ecotools Face powder brush (below skunk brush), ecotools Blush, Clinique Eye Shader, ecotools flat Eyeshadow, Avon Ergonomic Eyeshadow, 4 various ecotools eyeshadow brushes (don't know exact names), Sonia Kashuk fluffy crease, ecotools eyelash comb thingy :), Physicians Formula gel liner, Quo Eyeliner, ecotools mini detail.

The face brushes:

The Clinique eye shader brush is what I use for my undereyes with my Aromaleigh Nectarine Coquille powder. It's fluffy and super soft so it doesn't irritate the skin.
The ecotools lg flat brush there is my favourite for wiping my finishing powders on. It's also crazy soft and the shape of it gets into every nook easily.
The Clinique Powder blush used to be used with my finishing powders but I now use it to fluff away any sparkle fall out.
MAC 187SE is used with my mineral blush because they are so pigmented and this gives me better control. I love the white ends that show just how much is on the brush. I also use it to lightly apply my cheek highlighters when I feel like it.
The ecotools blush brush is just that.
The Quo eyeliner brush is actually used as my eyebrow brush. So far I am very disappointed in all my quo brushes which is why this one got demoted to eyebrows. The brushes tend to be coarse and just very wrong in shape. I bought an angled crease brush and it was completely useless. Too big. Too crappy!
And the last brush, I don't know how I destroyed the comb part but I didn't use that side anyways. I use the flexible bristle side to comb out my eyebrows after filling them in.
SO SOFT!

SO FLUFFEH!

Side view


my 5 fav eye brushes:

Avon ergonomic eyeshadow brush and ecotools flat eyeshadow brush.
The Avon one was the 1st brush I actually bought. The Clinique set had that shader brush but I wanted something smaller. The ergonomic one is very good. It's soft and can be used for the whole eye because you can turn it sideways to get the crease better. I really like this brush for pressed shadows

My favourite for my mineral shadows is my ecotools flat eyeshadow brush. It lets me kind of slap the pigments on my eyelid and because it's so flat, I have better control where I'm placing the colour.




My most used crease brushes are my Sonia Kashuk fluffy crease brush and my ecotools fluffy crease brush. They are almost the same so I'll either use one for colour and the other for dark if I haven't washed them in a bit. Or if I wanna cover more area I'd use the Sonia brush because it's a bit more fluffy where the ecotools one is a bit more compacted/stiff.



And right now my favourite eyeliner brush is the one that was in the kit for the Physicians Formula gel liner set. It's handle is TEENY TINY! The bristles are stiff enough to be able to draw a nice even thin line. I have loads of eyeliner brushes (click any of the pics to blow them up for more detail) but I'll only mention this bad boy because it's my right now fav, and I don't feel like taking any more pics today lol. It's hard! Half of them don't show up clear and even worse when the brush is to small! So my laziness only gets ya a half assed post :D




And for the brushes that tend to get ignored. Especially the foundation brushes. I used 1 at one point but didn't like how it made me look cakey so I've been afraid of them :( The MAC angled face brush would be used a lot more if it were softer. The bristles feel friggin weird and wirey.



I'll only turn to this pile if I need a brush and my others are too dirty to trust.

If you want closeups of a certain one in this post I didn't mention just let me know and I'll take more pictures.
I hope this was a bit informative at least :)