My Most Favorite Foundation Brushes :)

As a forward, sorry the pictures on this blog are subpar.  I used to have an excellent, expensive digital camera, one I was totally in love with and completely satisfied with.  It disappeared... so here's what I've got! :)  Also, only the Tarte brush is currently clean ;)  These get used a lot and I'm not one to clean my brushes just for a blog entry.  I think you understand!

Foundation isn't something that I have always worn.  Back in the day, I fervently believed that foundation, of all makeup, was the worst for your skin, probably from just grabbing the first drugstore foundations with cute packaging I saw, not washing my face beforehand, and promptly breaking out from them.  (ALWAYS have a clean face before applying foundation).

I still do believe that not all foundations are created equal, and I don't wear foundation every time I wear makeup personally, but that's an entirely different topic all together.  The weather can completely affect what your skin is doing and what foundations you use, because dry climates can dry out the skin, and humid/hot ones can make it become more oily.  Plus hormones, and food allergies.  Your skin is a piece of work :)  So clean these brushes as often as you need to, keep your face clean, and choose the right products for you... And hopefully what I write here can help you navigate that a little bit.  Or if you just like brushes as much as I do, come on and lets get to the brushes!

So I have several foundation brushes that I rotate depending on what foundation I want to use and what mood I am in.  And these three, all-encompassingly, are the most fantastic of the bunch.  I ADORE these.

Qualities I Seek From A Fantastic Foundation Brush:
1. This is the most base (no pun intended) requirement, but sturdiness.  Your foundation brush has to do more blending than all of your other brushes.  It better not feel like it's falling off the handle.  And this is no time to have ANY bristles falling out.  If all of your other brushes are sub-par, fine, as long as your foundation brush is quality.
2. Blurring effect.  I don't want any streaks when I put on my foundation.  My foundation should look soft, blended, and impeccable, and brush streaks anywhere on the face mean that the brush isn't doing it's job correctly.  The brushes I am recommending here, astonishingly, do not leave any brush marks.
3. Softness.  I don't want a coarse brush scratching against my face.  The application should feel luxurious and smooth, I don't want to worry about over-exfoliating my face while I'm doing my foundation.
4. Low product absorption.  I don't buy foundation so half of the product I apply can be absorbed into my brush.  These brushes perform to blend the foundation into my face, and if any foundation is absorbed into the brush, they still do such a quick, even application that I use far less product than I would have, had I used my fingers to apply the same product.


All of these brushes have these qualities, but a couple of the brushes have some more than others.  I'll explain why each of these are great for different densities of foundations, which qualities of each brush will apply to which foundations, and how the brushes perform on the face.  These are in order from my most favorite to least favorite.  So without further ado, here they are :)

1. The IT Cosmetics Velvet Luxe LBD Foundation Brush #302.  Sigh... I can't stop touching this brush.  This is by far the softest foundation brush I have ever touched, even softer than the much-touted Makeup Forever artisan brush line (of which, does not blend well at all, I've found, for some strange reason, and I promptly returned it).  It blends pretty much any foundation like a dream.  It feels wonderful against the skin because it literally is so velvety soft.  And best of all, I don't know why, I don't know how...but it absorbs no product.  This is a rave review here, honestly.  I can go much longer (than I probably even should) between washings with this brush because it seriously absorbs barely any product, making the brush save me money because I have to spend less on foundation due to the fact that I'm using far less.  This is wonderful.  If I had to get rid of all of my makeup brushes and could only keep one, I would keep this brush.  It is my ideal foundation brush.  I really haven't found a liquid foundation yet that it doesn't apply to the skin fantastically.  Unpictured, it even has a little rhinestone at the bottom of the brush, which is a cute touch (one I don't really care about, as the brush is already so fantastic).  I love using this brush with every foundation I own, but I prefer to use the bdellium for the thicker foundations because it seems like it's bristles would be hardier with those, though this one does still blend thick foundations like a dream and it's also easier to blend with this brush because it's so soft and fits better into the nooks and crannies of the face.  You only have to touch this brush to unblended points of the face, lightly press, to blend, and by buffing you move everything quickly into a beautiful place because it's so soft and round.  I would hardly ever say this about anything makeup related, but this brush is worth every penny of $38.  They can be purchased at Ulta only, at this point in time.

my fantastic picture...

2. Bdellium Tools 957 Brush.  This brush is excellent at applying thicker foundations like Kat Von D and all medium thickness foundations.  It just completely splays out the foundation everywhere on the face and it is such a soft, teddy-bear feeling kind of a brush, unlike the Velvet Luxe which is more silky soft.  I love the feeling of this brush ALMOST as much as the previous brush and I would not want to do without this brush in my collection because it is so uniquely warm and soft feeling.  Pillowy.  I do not recommend this brush for thin watery foundations because it will absorb more product, but even then it should still blend absolutely gorgeously.  I love the way this brush blends and buffs product into my skin.  I use a swiping, circular motion.  You do have to pat it ever so slightly more than the velvet luxe to get a beautiful blend and it is larger so it doesn't fit on the face as well, but no matter.  It is also fluffier and less dense, which could be a good thing.  Beautiful, soft application, no streaks, easy to apply.  I adore it.  I got mine on Amazon for $12.  The price seems to fluctuate, right now it's actually $11.26, but I've also seen it go up to $14.  Here is the link to specifically where I bought it.  That is absurdly cheap for a foundation brush that is this effective.  There are other colors, I just adore the pink one.  And I couldn't tell ya whether the other colors are any different... I'm thinking that the yellow and green are probably the same but I'd be weary about the one with the brown bristles.  ALSO, you do have to wash this brush more than the other two brushes listed, as it absorbs more foundation and the bristles clump together far quicker.  Clean foundation brushes mean a better application.

3. Here is where things get different.  This is the Tarte The Balancing Act Bamboo Foundation Brush.  I LOVE this brush for extremely thin, liquidy foundations because it absorbs absolutely no product, something that's harder to achieve with thicker, softer brushes (although the Velvet Luxe would probably do it fantastically too).  It is also SO EASY to fit this brush into all the nooks and crannies of the face, and since thin foundations are hard to target directly in certain areas, this brush is the ticket to having those foundations give you the coverage you are looking for in those areas because it picks up and applies those products to just where you want them, without blending them out into the rest of the face and into blended-into-nothingness.  You know, when you're like, "Wait, did I even put foundation on?  What gives?!"  And you have to add 2-3 more layers...this brush prevents that from happening.  Where a softer, larger brush would blend the foundation so much that it seems to have disappeared into oblivion, this will help you target and conceal the areas where you need the most coverage because it is so dense and soft, but just coarse enough to buff the product effectively into the skin.  It's tapered shape allows you to really target tiny areas by using just the tip of it, if you please.  This is a fantastic brush, and one that is extremely hard to locate.  I got mine in a Christmas kit with that included the Tarte The Buffer Brush (one that I am not even mentioning here because I don't think it's that fantastic so far.  Maybe it's the large size, but it's not very user-friendly).  You can actually get it with a bb cream here on the Tarte website.  I know absolutely nothing about the BB cream, and I wish it didn't have to be this way, but whatever, consider it a free bonus??  I use this brush with the Makeup Forever Matte Velvet foundation.  It is the most natural-looking foundation I've ever used, bar-none.  Then top that with an HD powder and your skin literally looks like a baby's bottom.  Price for the brush with that bb cream is $48.  Tarte needs to start selling them individually!!! :)


So there you are, my three top foundation brushes.  I just adore them... and for great reasons.  I honestly am completely happy with my foundation brush collection...for now :)  But really, these have been (no pun intended) covering everything for me, with every foundation I've tried, and flawlessly.

Honorable Mentions:
The Real Techniques Buffing Brush from their Core Collection.  Great foundation brush, quick application, but streaky and a little coarse.  You need to do extra patting with the brush to get rid of the streaks, but once you do that you have a great application.
The Real Techniques Expert Face Brush--great foundation brush but very small to apply all over the face.  VERY soft.  Allows for precision, but is time-consuming to use because of it's size and can be harder to blend with evenly all over the face because of both it's size and density combined.