Makeup Brushes on a budget (under £20)

Hey Sweethearts!

I know a lot of you are hoping that this weeks' post is going to be part 2 of my Etude Haul reviews, but unfortunately I managed to lose my makeup brushes so haven't created any new looks with the Etude Makeup due to this.

However, I figured that having to go brush shopping would be a good opportunity to talk to you all about what makeup brushes I tend to use, as it's been requested quite a bit!

So, I went back to my high street go-to shop, Watt Brothers to see what I could pick up with a budget of no more than £20 to spend on Brushes. 

So this is what I ended up buying! 

All but one of these brushes are by Royal Cosmetic Connections - the other is by BC.
 I really like the quality of the Royal Brushes, having had a few of them before (I'm still upset at losing my brushes *sob*  even if a lot of them did come from Lidl heehee) especially taking the price tag into consideration!

I don't feel like it's necessary to spend a fortune on makeup brushes, when a cheaper option can do the job just as well!

When looking for brushes, I like to take a good look at the materials/fibres and see how soft/hard/synthetic/natural they feel. I don't like overly plastic-y feeling brushes as they tend to be more springy and just push makeup around the palettes as opposed to picking up product and putting them on your face - The brushes I'm showing here all pick up product really easily!

Foundation

This is the foundation brush I've used for the last few years.

For me, I tend to favour liquid foundations, and for photo shoots I tend to use quite a heavy one (Max Factor Colour Adapt), although my daily foundation is a lot lighter (Rimmel Match Perfection) - so this brush works well. I wouldn't recommend it for powder/mineral foundation though.

I like to use this in the same way I would a paint brush, and I find that it blends pretty well and doesn't leave any streaks.

Price: £2.99

This is a new item for me, as I'm not normally a fan of sponge applicators as they tend to soak in more product than they put out, which is a bit counter-productive.
   However, I find that if you slightly dampen these first, then it stops a lot of the product soaking in, whilst still letting you apply product. The sponge on this is nice and soft feeling against your skin, whilst still being firm enough to apply product. It has a flat surface at the front that would suit flatter areas of your skin eg. forehead, whilst the round back will do other areas. The tip is sharp enough to get into corners eg. side of nostril etc, and it blends alright.
 I'm more inclined to use this as more of a blender than a full on applicator - using my other brush to apply, then the sponge to blend in.

 It's pretty much on the same vein as the Beauty Blender that everyone is talking about as of late - I'd like to get my hands on one to test it out at some point!

Price: £2.99

Powder/Blush:

This is a lovely soft big powder brush (I like to use this for powder blusher too) that does exactly what it says on the tin! It's got enough firmness to effectively pick up product, but is soft enough to blend & buff your face without wiping off your foundation.

Depending on your face, you may be able to get away with using this for your contour (I can - obviously not for nose contour though!) but some of you will find it too big. One of the only brushes I didn't manage to lose is a slightly smaller version of this, which is my preference for contouring.

Price: £2.99

Eyes: 

I have to add a little disclaimer here: I like to buy eyeshadow brushes!  
First up is the biggest of the eyeshadow brushes. Again, this is a lovely soft brush (but not too soft until it becomes flimsy) that picks up product with great ease.
 I like to use this bigger brush for applying shadow from my browbone to my crease.

Price: £1.49

This is another new brush for me, which is from Body Collection (BC) - it's another large shadow brush, but it's slightly smaller than the one above. The fibres are pretty much the same as the Royal, so easy to apply and blend with.
 This brush for me will be more of a general eyeshadow brush for bigger areas eg. lids/crease. 

Price: £0.99

       

So this is the smallest of the eyeshadow brushes that I bought.

Again, it's of the same quality as the previous, though slightly smaller for more delicate areas eg. under eye, or for looks with more depth/detail.

Price: £1.49

This brush is slightly different to the brushes above - the other eyeshadow brushes are flat with curved tips, whereas this brush is completely round, making it great for contouring places like eye sockets. I also like to use this for nose contouring along side a bigger shadow brush to blend further.
 I think these are good for working on cut crease or smokey eye looks,

Price: £1.49

 

Last up for my eye brushes is the eye shading brush. This is another different brush for me, but one I quite like.

Unfortunately, somehow I forgot to take an individual photo of it in the packaging, but this is by Royal (you can see it in the packaging at the top of the post in the shot of all the items together)

 This is, again, a slightly different brush. The fibres are shorter, and a bit stiffer than the other brushes. This is more the kind of brush that I'd use for creating a defined cut crease look - which is a look that I do quite a lot. I also find this pretty good for smudging pencil eyeliner for smokey effects as it's that little bit stiffer.

Price: £1.99

Brows:

My beloved Angled brush! This is probably my favourite brush, because I'm a bit eyebrow obsessed!

This is a lovely thin brush, with just the right amount of stiffness to create sharp, defined brows! I also use angled brushes to create sharp lined eyeshadow, occasionally defining a cut crease further, and also for gel eyeliner (for the rare occasions I use Gel)
 Any sort of thing that requires a sharp line - this is my go-to brush!

Price: £0.99

The Bill

Now for the not-so-fun part....parting with your hard earned cash! >.<
Here is a copy of my receipt: As you can see, in Scotland we have a carrier bag charge, and I also topped up on my concealer. Taking off the price of the concealer and bag, my total brush purchase came to £17.41!

I know there are complete brush sets that you can buy online, some of them may also be worth checking out (let me know in the comments box!), but I much prefer to pick and mix my brushes separately, and I like to be able to check them out in person to make sure that they're the ones I want. (I have a bad habit of procrastinating with online shopping and ending up buying the wrong thing!)  

I'm very happy with my purchases, and being within my budget - I can't wait to get back to creating different looks for you all! Hopefully this is helpful to those that were wondering what I'm using!

You can buy Royal products on Amazon, for those who don't have a Watt Brothers Store close by:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=bl_sr_beauty?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Royal+Cosmetics&index=beauty&search-type=ss

You can also find BC items on Amazon too! 

What kind of makeup brushes do you use? Do you use them? Do you have a favourite brand or type of brush?
Let me know in the comments below!

Love,
           Kasumi x