Makeup for Beginners - Basic Inexpensive Makeup Brushes

Even if you are just starting out in makeup, it's essential to have great tools that will help you to perfect any look. You can get away with using cheaper makeup products if you have efficient brushes that will do the work for you well. A great quality brush is a one time investment, so don't hesitate spending money on a good makeup brush. At a beginner level in makeup, there's no need for tons of makeup brushes, rather some basic, multi-task ones which will be in your makeup kit for many years. I'm not a big fan of starter brush kits because they tend to always lack of some basic brushes.

Foundation Brush (optional)

You can simply use your fingers for applying foundation, makeup artists tend to use fingers for a natural application. However, if you have a stick foundation or other more consistent foundations you might want to use a foundation brush.

No7 Foundation Brush £14 

MakeupGeek Flat Foundation Brush $7.99

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush $9 (recommended)

Sigma Beauty F80 Flat Kabuki $18

Face Brush

You only need one multi-task brush to apply powder, blush and bronzer. The brush should definitely be soft, dense and not bigger than a blush brush in size. You should be able to apply blush and contour and powder with it (only for powder-based products).

MAC 109 Small Contour Brush $35 (recommended)

Sigma Beauty F05 Small Contour Brush $16

MakeupGeek Blush Brush $8.99

Angled Eyebrow Brush

It's a small brush with dense bristles cut on an angle which is best to use to fill in the little gaps in your eyebrows with a shadow. If you prefer using a brow pencil, you can skip this brush.

MakeupGeek Brow Brush Duo $4.49 (recommended)

Sigma Beauty E75 Angled Brow $12

Bdellium Tools Studio Line Double Ended Brow Lash Brush $14.17

Flat Eyeshadow Brush

The most basic eyeshadow brush that is used to apply eyeshadow on the eyelids wet or dry. Make sure the size of the brush fits your eyes; it covers your lid space and doesn't go beyond the crease.

Real Techniques Shading Brush $6 (recommended)

Sigma Beauty E55 Eye Shading Brush $10

MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush $25

Blending Brush

It's a soft, fluffy dome brush with long bristles used to shade and blend eyeshadows, for crease work and even to buff in under eye concealer.

MAC 217 Blending Brush $23 (recommended)

Sigma Beauty E25 Blending Brush $10

MakeupGeek Stiff Dome Brush $7.99

Bdellium Tools Pink Bamboo Blending Brush $12 

Detail Brush

Another multi-task brush that is able to do detail work because it gets into smaller areas of the face. It's a soft, tiny brush with dense bristles curved to a point. Best to use for smuding eyeshadow on the lower lashline, highlighting the tear dot or even concealing smaller blemishes.

MakeupGeek Eyeliner Smudge Brush $4.49 (recommended)

No7 Smokey Eye Brush £7.25

                          Bdellium Tools Pink Bamboo Smokey Eyeliner Brush $9.95

                                                 Sigma Beauty E30 Pencil Brush $10

Links: 

MAC click

Real Techniques click (US)

MakeupGeek  click

Sigma click

Bdellium Tools click

Boots click for No7, Real Techniques (UK only)

Cocktail Cosmetics (worldwide) click for Bdellium Tools, Sigma, Real Techniques

Makeup for Beginners: How To Start Wearing Makeup

Makeup is such a feminine and fun way to enhance your natural beauty. It takes a lot of practice to master all the skills needed as well as the observational knowledge you pick up by experience. I honestly believe that in order to become a good makeup artist for yourself you need to practice, observe and take in as much information as you can. 

PRACTISE!

For beginners, experimenting with makeup is a very good starting point. You don't necessarily need tons of products to do that, the key is to practice on yourself. You first have to learn for yourself what works for you. Study your face and see what are your best features - you might have a pretty even skintone, nice cheekbones, a great lip shape and so on. Learn to see your natural beauty and enhance those features. Also, think about how much makeup is needed for you to still feel comfortable in your skin (within your time frame).  

MAKE MISTAKES!

Don't be discouraged if you make mistakes. Mistakes help you to improve. Every time you make a mistake you learn a new lesson about make up. You need to experience what's not working to see what works. Use your face as a canvas and your skills will continue to improve. 

OBSERVE!

YouTube offers numerous tutorial videos to help you guide through the world of make up artistry. However, I can't stress it enough that in order to learn the tricks of the trade you need to listen to ONLY the professional / working, well-experienced make up artists who possess all the skills and knowledge to educate others. Every single day there's a new YouTube "make up guru" emerging and obviously make up is an art form, but their skills and knowledge leaves a lot to be desired. Make up is individual-oriented; you cannot just recreate a  look without adopting it to your face, and most people need correction work on their eyes and lips anyway. If you want to watch educational make up videos Lisa Eldridge, Wayne Goss, MakeupGeek, Pixiwoo are some of those with incredible skills and knowledge.  

STUDY!

If you are really interested in make up artistry, you can find tons of books in this subject. One of my personal recommendations would be Bobbi Brown's Makeup Manual which explains to you everything about the skin, the face, the eyes, the lips, the equipment and so on.

BEGINNER PRODUCTS

As a beginner, you don't need that many products to start practising. I included mostly drugstore, inexpensive products to which everyone has access to. No brushes are needed.

Tinted Moisturizer

Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream, L'oréal Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream,  No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream

I want to exclude foundation in the beginning because finding the right shade, type and texture of foundation is not easy for a beginner. If you really want to start wearing foundation, then take your time, don't buy the first foundation that is offered to you, keep searching, do research, consult a specialist. 

Please read my How to choose the right shade of foundation post as a start, which is the same for TM. Whether you use foundation or a tinted moisturizer apply them with your fingers; see what coverage you need, how your skin feels and how the foundation performs and wears throughout the day. Start with a small amount from the middle of your face and move outwards where you tend to need less coverage. Keep on practicing!

Eye primer

Eye primers or eyeshadow bases are used on the lids before the eye product application in order to stop the eye products from creasing, to make the shadows last longer and to bring out the real intensity of the colors. If you choose not to get an eye primer, then simply apply your concealer on the eye lids as well.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, Nars Smudge proof Eyeshadow Base, Too Faced Shadow Insurance

I listed some cheaper alternatives, but in this case I'd recommend you buying the high-quality ones, because as long as you have a great eye primer, even the cheapest eyeshadows will show up on your eyes. You only need to apply a tiny bit of the product before eyeshadow or cream shadow. 

FYI: eye primers are still quite new on the market, therefore there isn't a wide variety of them available at the drugstores.

NYX HD Eyeshadow Base, Avon Eyeshadow Base, Elf Mineral Eyeshadow Primer, Artdeco Eyeshadow Base

Cream Eyeshadow

Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24HR Cream Gel Shadow

The Color Tattoo cream gel eyeshadows are so gorgeous and so easy to use. This range includes very modern, soft and very easy- to- blend colors. 

Use a primer underneath to prevent creasing and smudging. You don't need a brush, just simply apply the color with a finger onto your eyelids.  Go for the bronze, gold, grey, and plum colors for natural looks and for darker skintones and more colorful looks try the purple and teal colors. You can also use them as eyeliners.

Mascara and Eyelash Curler

L'oréal Volume Million Lashes, L'oréal Voluminous, Maybelline Colossal, Max  Factor False  Lash Effect, Max Factor 2000 Calorie

You can get a cheap eyelash curler from your local drugstore and you will immediately see that it's a fantastic product. Might look scary at first, but it really opens up your eyes. Place it to the roots of your lashes, press together and hold it for 5 seconds, then let it go, move a little further up and hold again for 5 more seconds. 

Mascara is a must have and the drugstore ones are just as good as the expensive ones. You can buy lengthening, volumizing, thickening mascaras, it all depends on what effect you would like to have. After you curled your lashes, start from the lashline and move side to side  with the wand as you move upwards.

Eyeliner

L'oréal Carbon Black Intense Eye Pencil, NYX  Slide-On Eyepencil,  Maybelline  Line Express

First you should get a black and a brown eyeliner and then go on and try different colors. Go for the creamier eyeliners which are more forgiving and glide easier. Start lining your eyes at the roots of your lashes and keep practising until you can draw a quite thin line (you can always thicken it later). You can also line the inner waterline which really defines your eyes. If you have a brown eyeliner that is a shade lighter than your eyebrow color, you can also use it as a brow pencil to accentuate your brows. Don't try to draw a brow, fill in the small gaps instead.

Lipstick and Lipgloss

Rimmel Kate Moss Lipsticks

We skip blush because if you have a creamy lipstick you can also use it as a cream blush. Apply a tiny amount of lipstick with your finger onto the apples of your cheeks and blend it towards the ears. You can always add more but it's harder to take the excess off.

Rimmel Colorstay Lipgloss, NYX Megashine Lipgloss, L'oréal Glam Shine Lipgloss

As a beginner, you can apply your lipstick or lipgloss straight from the tube. Try a pink, coral, plum, brown or red lip product and see what you like best. At first pick a color that is similar to your natural lipcolor and then keep on experimenting. Bright colors look very flattering on darker skintones, fair and medium skintones should go for less intense colors.