*Ladies and gentleman, I would love to introduce to you a very special person in my life. She is my fashion soul-mate; she is my label spouse. We both share the appreciation for art and share the importance and devotion to all that is style. She is a former model, certified fashion journalist, and the art director of Daily Star. She is one half of S&M (no, not that s&m), my better half. She is S.
Sabrina will be, from time to time, contributing to this blog. Her knowledge should be taken to effect so I recommend the words you read from her should be put into practice. This specific piece is strictly for the ladies, but gentlemen, this is definitely something you can share with the women in your lives.*
For Part 1 of 2 click here: Beauty at Its Best
For Part 1 of 2 click here: Beauty at Its Best
Swept Away
In my last post, I started talking about the different types of make-up brushes, and concentrated on foundation, blush, and special effects like bronzer and shimmer. In this final installment, I would like to discuss the tools of the trade for playing up the focal points of your face: your lips and eyes.
Before I dive into that, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I don’t use brushes to do my eyes or lips. That’s right; I’ve discovered that my fingers blend, smudge and contour at least as well as, brushes do, and since my hands go wherever I go, I don’t have to pack a lot of brushes when I’m on the move. If you take a moment to really look at your fingertips, you’ll realize that they are all shaped and tapered differently to allow you a variety of effects. Kudos to Mother Nature. I will have to admit, though, this can get pretty messy, and for really high-end effects, you’re better off using brushes, so let’s look at them, shall we?
Eye spy
It used to be that you needed four different brushes to apply eye-shadow: a flat, stiff brush to pack on colour to the eyelid, a stiff dome brush for working with the darker colours while creating the smoky eyes, a soft dome brush for doing the blending work, and a pencil brush for smudging and precision work. The angled eye-shadow brush eliminates the need for the entire arsenal because its very shape allows it a lot of versatility. Choose one with a natural soft bristle, and the flat part helps you glide on your eye colour over the primer, and you can sweep it back and forth to blend, and the angle allows for greater precision. The Laura Mercier Angled Eye Colour brush is a very good example.
FY-Eye
A lot of make-up artists favor cream and powder eye-liner as opposed to pencil liners. These require a thin brush with short, stiff bristles to apply. Again, you have a variety of brushes to achieve this effect. Laura Mercier offers a fine point eyeliner brush which is particularly handy for liquid and cream liners. If you’re planning something more dramatic, like the Amy Winehouse winged eye effect, or ‘peacock’ and ‘cat’ eyes, you’d best have a flat brush in your repertoire. Elf’s eyeliner brush is a good, economically sound buy. Many eye shadow kits come equipped with a sponge smudging brush, which, as the name suggests, is for smudging colours under your lower lash-line. You’ll find separate sponge brushes in the market, but the ones that come with the sets do the work just fine.
Perfect Pouts
Cap off a perfectly made-up face with a pair of luscious lips. As the retro reds and matte lipsticks are making a comeback, lip-brushes are as popular as ever. Now, I’m a lip balm and gloss girl myself, so I can’t really say with much authority, but there was this one time I went to a make-up demonstration at Sephora, and the artist there created a WICKED pair of lips on me. She used a retractable lip brush from the Sephora Professional collection, so that’s what I’m going to recommend.
On a final note, remember to keep your brushes clean for maximum mileage. Brushes for liquid and cream make-up should be washed every day, and powder brushes every two weeks. Since most brushes are made from hair, clean them as you would your own hair - wash with shampoo and warm water, and blow-dry. If they start shedding, replace them immediately. Ditto for any sign of wear and tear on sponge brushes and those with synthetic bristles. Treat your brushes right, and they’ll reward you with make-up magic for a long, long time.
In my last post, I started talking about the different types of make-up brushes, and concentrated on foundation, blush, and special effects like bronzer and shimmer. In this final installment, I would like to discuss the tools of the trade for playing up the focal points of your face: your lips and eyes.
Before I dive into that, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I don’t use brushes to do my eyes or lips. That’s right; I’ve discovered that my fingers blend, smudge and contour at least as well as, brushes do, and since my hands go wherever I go, I don’t have to pack a lot of brushes when I’m on the move. If you take a moment to really look at your fingertips, you’ll realize that they are all shaped and tapered differently to allow you a variety of effects. Kudos to Mother Nature. I will have to admit, though, this can get pretty messy, and for really high-end effects, you’re better off using brushes, so let’s look at them, shall we?
Eye spy
It used to be that you needed four different brushes to apply eye-shadow: a flat, stiff brush to pack on colour to the eyelid, a stiff dome brush for working with the darker colours while creating the smoky eyes, a soft dome brush for doing the blending work, and a pencil brush for smudging and precision work. The angled eye-shadow brush eliminates the need for the entire arsenal because its very shape allows it a lot of versatility. Choose one with a natural soft bristle, and the flat part helps you glide on your eye colour over the primer, and you can sweep it back and forth to blend, and the angle allows for greater precision. The Laura Mercier Angled Eye Colour brush is a very good example.
FY-Eye
A lot of make-up artists favor cream and powder eye-liner as opposed to pencil liners. These require a thin brush with short, stiff bristles to apply. Again, you have a variety of brushes to achieve this effect. Laura Mercier offers a fine point eyeliner brush which is particularly handy for liquid and cream liners. If you’re planning something more dramatic, like the Amy Winehouse winged eye effect, or ‘peacock’ and ‘cat’ eyes, you’d best have a flat brush in your repertoire. Elf’s eyeliner brush is a good, economically sound buy. Many eye shadow kits come equipped with a sponge smudging brush, which, as the name suggests, is for smudging colours under your lower lash-line. You’ll find separate sponge brushes in the market, but the ones that come with the sets do the work just fine.
Perfect Pouts
Cap off a perfectly made-up face with a pair of luscious lips. As the retro reds and matte lipsticks are making a comeback, lip-brushes are as popular as ever. Now, I’m a lip balm and gloss girl myself, so I can’t really say with much authority, but there was this one time I went to a make-up demonstration at Sephora, and the artist there created a WICKED pair of lips on me. She used a retractable lip brush from the Sephora Professional collection, so that’s what I’m going to recommend.
On a final note, remember to keep your brushes clean for maximum mileage. Brushes for liquid and cream make-up should be washed every day, and powder brushes every two weeks. Since most brushes are made from hair, clean them as you would your own hair - wash with shampoo and warm water, and blow-dry. If they start shedding, replace them immediately. Ditto for any sign of wear and tear on sponge brushes and those with synthetic bristles. Treat your brushes right, and they’ll reward you with make-up magic for a long, long time.
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