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