Brush Up!

High quality makeup brushes are a makeup case essential. When it comes to buying brushes, you shouldn't skimp on quality and you should expect to pay a pretty penny for decent tools. If you buy the cheap stuff, you'll regret it.

So now that you know you're going to have to spend a bit to get good brushes, what brushes do you need? Here are five that should be in your makeup case:

• Concealer brush: buy a brush with synthetic bristles. Natural bristles will soak up too much of your foundation, and when it comes to spot-specific concealer, a lighter touch is better. Oddly, using a synthetic bristle brush will result in a more natural look.
• Eyeliner brush: You want nice solid but not overly stiff brushes, all even across the top. Eyeliner brushes are great when you want to use eyeshadow (not pencil or liquid liner) to line your eyes to create a smudgy, smoky look.
  
• Eyeshadow brush: Look for a soft brush that fans out at the top. These brushes are a must for blending shadow on your lids. You can get a variety of effects (from subtle to bold) with these brushes...you won't even think of using those annoying little foam applicators you get with your shadow once you become a pro with an eyeshadow brush.
• Crease brush: This is a long, tapered brush that you use to apply darker eyeshadow into the the crease of your lid. Again, you want a soft brush, but you need to make sure the bristles are compact and don't flare out too much. This is a more precision brush than the all-purpose eyeshadow brush.
• Powder brush: To apply your powder, you need a nice full powder brush with a curve-shaped head. Bristles should be compact and dense...not overly fluffy.