Thursday, March 28
Shadow

Guide to Choosing the Right Makeup Brushes!

In this post, we share everything you need to know about makeup brushes. Which brushes to choose for your particular products, how to use each brush and how to care for them to ensure they are both hygienic and lasting!

Synthetic hair or real hair?

Makeup brushes exist with both real and synthetic hair. A common rule in makeup is to have brushes with real hair for dry products such as powders and eyeshadows, and brushes with synthetic hair for creamy products such as concealer and liquid foundation. Long ago, this rule was true because the synthetic brushes were not as developed but reminded more of paintbrushes. Today, however, there are synthetic brushes that are just as soft, fluffy and lean as real hair so that rule doesn’t quite fit today.

Brushes with synthetic hair is, in many people’s eyes preferable both from an animal-friendly perspective but also when it is much easier to maintain synthetic brushes. Real hair becomes easier worn out, just like our hair on the head, and needs to be washed with shampoo and conditioner and preferably hair wrap as well. Synthetic brushes are made of plastic and can be cleaned with the usual detergent without wearing the brushes.

How to wash makeup brushes in the best way?

The synthetic brushes can be washed with ordinary detergent, but in order to get the brushes clean more quickly, it is more efficient with a special cleaning to wash away makeup.
How to do it:

Moisten the brush with lukewarm water. Do not let the brushes soak before, as the glue can dissolve.
Massage the cleaning in the brush without rubbing unnecessarily. The more you rub and ruffle the straw, the more you wear on the brush. Repeat until the brush is completely clean.

Allow to dry lying on eg. a towel. If the brushes dry upright, the water runs down and dissolves the glue where the straws are stuck.
How often to wash the brushes is different depending on what you use the brush for. For creamy products such as foundation, it is optimal to wash after every use as a lot of dirt and bacteria grow in the cream. It is also fairly quick-washed after just one use when you have no dried makeup, so it goes pretty quickly.

For brushes that are used for dry products and are swept on the skin and not massaged in, for example, the rouge brush and eyeshadow, you do not need to wash as often. 1-2 weeks apart is good if you make up every day. The more often you wash the brushes, the less you have to work to get them completely clean, which saves both your energy and the durability of the brush.

Preferably store the brushes in a separate place, e.g. standing in a glass. Then they are kept fresh longer than if they are in a dirty bag.

If you keep the brushes in a clean place and wash them regularly and in a gentle manner, you extend the durability of the brushes. Even brushes of good quality become stubborn in the long run if you do not take care of them.

Which makeup brush should you choose?

Having good makeup brushes greatly simplifies the makeup routine! Even for an experienced makeup artist, it is difficult to make a smooth base on the face or a soft blur on the eyeshadow without good makeup brushes.

It is also a matter of having the right brush for the right thing. And each brush does not necessarily have just one application but can be used for more things, for example, I often use Nanshy’s lip brush for cream eyeliner and the Shader brush for eye shadow for my concealer!

What each brush is good for and even more tips on applications we will now go through.

Brushes for base makeup


Liquid foundation: You can apply both with circular movements or with sweeping movements.

Liquid foundation brush


Concealer brush


Bronzer brush


Eyeshadow brush