Once upon a time, Allure ran advice columns by our favourite beauty pros. In celebration of our thirtieth anniversary, we’re bringing back the tradition — but this time the expert is us (we have learned loads over time). Send your burning (or itching, or otherwise inflamed) inquiries to beautyexpert@allure.com, and we would answer them in an upcoming story. 

I do not know a crease brush from a smudger, and do not get me began on those that appear to be little fans. Which makeup brushes are literally price investing in… and the way do I take advantage of them?

Well, I’m sure glad you asked! Makeup brushes have all the time drawn me in close like they’d a gravitational pull. Even after I was a child, beauty shopping at a department store with my mother, I’d find my fingers ghosting over the soft whiskers of a powder brush or poking at a spooley to be tickled by its tiny plastic fibers. 

I wondered then if every grown-up makeup-wearer was purported to own all the three dozen or so options laid out on those counters. Thankfully, I learned over the subsequent decade-plus of wearing makeup that, in truth, all we’d like is a handful. And I can confidently say that that is the final word brush lineup, based on my years of smudging and mixing, and a recent conversation with makeup artist Fiona Stiles.

Most days you will find me slathering on CC cream prefer it’s finger paint, but I prefer the slick glide of a flat, synthetic makeup brush for thicker formulas. With a tapping motion, these dense, almost wet-feeling bristles mix makeup into skin until it’s imperceptible — the way in which base makeup needs to be.

I hadn’t tried a concealer brush until I began interviewing makeup artists, who taught me how precious one may be. “A tiny synthetic brush enables you to cover just what must be covered with accuracy and care,” says Stiles. Rare Beauty’s has an angled edge that hard-to-reach nooks and crannies fear.

Relating to setting powder, I’m a firm believer that less is more, hence my partiality to smaller powder brushes. “You’ll be able to’t control your coverage if the comb is simply too big and fluffy,” says Stiles. “[With a small brush], you may be very precise with where and the way you apply powder, which is able to make the skin look more like skin.” I keep my setting powder limited to my undereyes, around my nose, and my chin, but you may change that up depending on where you are most oil- and sweat-prone. 

Most individuals think blush, highlighter, and contour should be applied with respective brushes. Nope. Find one versatile brush and you need to use it for all three (after which some). “That is my go-to brush for each cream product in my kit,” says Stiles. “The various lengths of the hairs make mixing seamless and straightforward.” Though Stiles uses this brush for creams, you will find that it and others prefer it are only as effective for powder application when used with a lightweight hand. 

Most eye shadow application falls under certainly one of three categories: packing, mixing, or smudging. So I take advantage of three kinds of shadow brushes. Laying down glitter shadows or increase sheer formulas calls for brief, flat bristles and mild patting motions, to which this Hourglass brush lends itself perfectly.

A small, plush, domed brush like this one is arguably crucial brush you may own. Whether I’m dipping mine directly into pigments or using it bare to fuse shadows I’ve already laid down (with my packing brush, mentioned above), its fairy-light touch provides what Stiles calls an “edgeless mix” — a necessity for avoiding the sacrilege that’s blocky eye makeup.

A watch look and not using a touch of shadow along the lower lash line feels nearly as vulnerable to me as being publicly naked in a nightmare. That is where Dior’s short, dense, and rounded smudger is available in. “I like this brush for bossing around eyeliner or buffing out color along the highest and bottom lash lines,” Stiles says.

Simply brushing brow hairs upward and outward with a spooley can elevate a face of makeup in seconds. I follow that with brow wax, gel, or pomade, applied using the angled brush on the other end of this tool, making it my one and just for eyebrows.

A gradual hand and the small flick of a fine-line brush can transform any gel eyeliner and even liquid eye shadow into the graphic designs popularized by Euphoria.

I passed on lip brushes for years. (Lipsticks are shaped like that for a reason, right?) Then I began applying my cream lipsticks with a dense, synthetic, detailing brush and regretted all that point I’d spent without the precision and control it affords.