Wild, Wild World of Makeup Brushes

Do you have a set of brushes? Do you use your fingers? Do you still use those triangle sponges for foundation & Q-tips for eyeshadow?

I went to a trial once for one of my brides and actually forgot my brush set! Oh the horror!!! 

I told her "well if I can pull this off then I guess I've proven my worth!" She laughed but I know she was nervous!  So with q-tips and fingers I did it! She looked awesome and she was as surprised as I was.  I said "How much better are you going to look on your wedding day when I have the right tools!?!" And she did!
So if I can do it with just fingers and few rudimentary tools, why spend the major bucks on those fancy brushes!?
Well, we do and we need them.  You cannot always achieve the right look, blend or finish with a q-tip.
So what's in my tool belt? Well I have a few actual art brushes, a bunch of MAC brushes, a few Prescriptives brushes and a few drugstore brushes!
And I just ordered my first BLUSHED by Tami brushes... I haven't received them yet & will keep you up to date about them and not sure they'll be introduced in the line or not, but we'll see....
So.... great brushes . . . MAC. MAC has the best brushes on the market.  I don't care what anyone else says they are the holy grail.  They work beautifully.  Do what they are suppose to and are high quality.  Meaning they're not going to fall a part on you.  Also they have a huge selection of brushes.  If they don't have it it doesn't exist.
Brushes shed sometimes, whether they are high quality or not.  But it should be a minimum if they're a good brush.  My favorite brush is a MAC 217.

I have 3 of them.  I had 4 but gave one to an artist on my team because it is a necessary brush in your bag and she needed it!  The MAC 217 isn't just a blender brush.  It is made with a mix of natural & synthetic hair which means it works great with creams and powders.
I have had my Prescriptives brushes for 16 years! I haven't lost one.  I love them.  Sturdy wood handles!  I hope to have these brushes for 16 more years!

Prescriptives Powder Brush 

I recently found Real TECHniques in the last year or so.

They are a synthetic brushes made by a wonderful makeup artist "across the pond" Sam Chapman.  Her sister Nicola colabs with her to create and promote these brushes.  These two are almost my favorite makeup artists ever . . . well not almost, they are! Just sweet beautiful girls.  I like them I think because they came from retail & their style translates like that.  Which is similar to mine.

A set of these is like $20-ish. A set! Like 5 brushes!! And although they aren't fancy they are a good brush.  They are cut uniformly and perform as they should.  Soft is an understatement.  Also they're easy to clean because of bristles being synthetic. Cleaning . . . that's another blog!
Real Techniques just came out with a higher end brush.  They cost more and are prettier. But if I'm going to pay $20 plus I'll buy a brush from MAC.
So I have to mention Sigma or I would be remiss.  Sigma is a phenomenal brand of brushes.  They rival MAC.  I would say if you can't drop the money on a MAC brush you could spend a little less and buy Sigma.  But to me I'll just get one at a time and keep working on my MAC collection.

xoxo,
T

PS- all of this is my opinion.  Many would have very different opinions and that's great.  The point being brushes are made differently and every artist must find what works for them!

Tuesday Tip from Tami - Contouring

Well, it's been a few weeks so I thought I'd post another Tip from Tami. I talked to a few clients over the weekend and they all mentioned contouring. Now I am not a subscriber to the Kim Kardashian contour.

Which is actually a technique that isn't new. Theatrical makeup artists and those who work in television have been contouring people for years. My real first in encounter with it was probably Heavy Metal music in the 80's! All those guys wore makeup and wore it dramatically! As they did everything else. I was/am a Stryper fan (Those of you who don't know they are a Christian Heavy Metal band that dressed in makeup and leather. Sort of the Christian worlds version of KISS. Gene Simmons would be proud).
Kim's got nothing on these guys - look at those cheek bones!

So I digress... I'm not a subscriber to the extreme contouring. But I do almost always contour my clients. And this is how....
Subtly! If you need to contour everyday . . . then let's look at what we are wanting to highlight and contour. Don't just do it they way Kim does it.  We have to fit our needs and face structure.  On Social Media I follow Lisa Eldridge.  She's an amazing makeup artist and the new Creative Director at Lancome.  She recently posted a photo where she did Kim's makeup.  Everyone raved about the difference.  (Click on the link to read the article).

Glamour Article

and this (photo is retouched) done by a Mario Dedivanovic who is someone who does Kim's makeup on a more frequent basis and kind of responsible for all the shading business (and also genius). 

She looks almost like a different person. And it's all because of contouring.  Now the debate is which is better. For Kim it doesn't matter.  She's a beautiful woman and short of a bag over her head, I'm not sure there's anything that can make her look bad.  

But you and I may need a bit extra help.  Well, I know I do.  So contouring our cheeks and around our face is a nice place to start.  The chart below shows us placement for contouring for different face shapes.  It also helps designate where to highlight.  

Notice on the long face there isn't any highlighting and contouring happening in the nose area.  WHY?! Because that would just make your face look longer! Following the rule light makes things look bigger and dark makes them smaller is best to keep in mind when doing this technique.  So someone with a round face wanting to look slimmer would shade around the outer part of her face. This draws the eye to the center to a smaller visual.  

This isn't something you have to do every day unless you choose to, but for occasions you may want to pay a bit of attention to using contouring and highlighting.  

All of this brings us to products to use.  You can use creams... this will give you a very dramatic Kim K. look.  You will need a beauty blender or similar product to blend it all out.  Listen... this is a lot of work.  The placement of the product along with the blending and then that's just your base.  You'll need foundation and the rest of your makeup on top of that.  Plus you're using multiple products and that can be costly.  If you really want to knock yourself out . . . go for it.  But personally I do not understand this. Unless you are Kim K., again I ask why?! LOL

So for a more subtle approach - use a matte bronzer or powder a few shades darker that yours and  you can still achieve a very nice contour.  The easiest way is to brush on, starting at your temples/forehead and working your way down the sides of your face in a "3" shape will accomplish this nice glow and creating shadows where dark should be.  Just follow the natural contour of your face.  Again, nothing too dark just a shade or two darker ... you can then add highlighter at the tops of your cheeks and where appropriate.  

It can be easy or complicated... if you have questions let me know below.  I'll try to answer as best I can!

Happy Tuesday!

xoxox,

T