A beginners guide to building a make up kit

Building your make up kit – Part 1

Hi All!

If you like to look fab and like to experiment with make up like I do then you’ll probably have some sort of a collection going. However, if you are new to the biz then you probably won’t know where to start. Fear not I will tell and explain what crucial pieces you should have in your make up kit and how to use them.

You don’t need to rush out and buy them all, just have them in mind, the more you use make up, as you go along you’ll realise you’ll need something else to perfect the look!

BRUSHES

I’ve come across many make up artists who have said that the best brushes they use are their fingers. While this is partially true, you couldn’t use your fingers to perfect a smokey eye or to apply powder blush. For some things you do need brushes.

Mary Kay offer a brush set that cover the basics in terms of easy application and allowing for variety of looks.

The first brush is the eyebrow tamer as I like to call it, you use either side to brush/comb your eyebrows into shape or to align, and then you can apply your eye shadow or eyebrow pencil on your brows to give them a more fuller or perfect look.

The second brush pictured is a crease brush. Perfect for defining the crease (the crease is the space between lid and brow – the socket), creating smokey looks, blending colours and transitioning colours from eyelid to crease. A multifunctional brush, one of my favourites!

Thirdly is an eye shadow brush. You use this brush to pack on colour to your lid or highlight colours under your brow on the brow bone, you can either sweep the colour on, or pack it on. When I say ‘pack’I mean just literally applying the colour from palette to lid, this is good for colour intensity (especially eye shadow colours with little colour pay off). You can also use to smudge colours on the lower part of your eye, underneath the lower lashes.

Fourth brush is the blush brush. You use to this to apply powdered blush onto your cheeks. You can also use to apply highlighter products to areas of your face to give your face that ‘glow’. You can also use the corners of the brush to apply contour shades where applicable.

Fifth brush is the powder brush. Another one of my favourite, well I say it’s my favourite because it multifunctional. Well, all brushes can be multifunctional depending on skill level, but this one really is. So you use this to apply powder products, whether they are powder foundations, powders, powder blushes, powder highlighters and powder products to set liquid products.

I would also recommend a foundation brush (£8) as part of your kit. A foundation brush will give you the flawless look to your face and the perfect canvas to work from. The edges allow you to work into certain area of your face for example under your eyes and round your nose and mouth. 5 stars I give this!

Brushes can last a number of years if you take care of them well even if you use them everyday and as mentioned in my previous post, it is important to wash them regularly to avoid product build –up and the spread of germs.

Mary Kay offer high quality brushes at reasonable prices. For £26 you can get the whole set which works out at £5.20 per brush when you buy the kit. You will also get a cosmetic bag to go with it for storage and organisation, but when bought separately they work out a pound or two more.

I don’t want to write too much and bore you so check in for part 2 on essential make up products!

Chao xx