The Best Makeup Brushes for Every Part of Your Routine

Sculpt your cheekbones to utter perfection with the Allure Best of Beauty-winning Patrick Ta Major Sculpt Contour Brush, which won the honor in 2021 and 2022. It's designed with fanlike, synthetic bristles that create a soft, diffused look sans harsh or obvious lines. "I stamp it on the end of my cheekbones at the hairline and slide it down to the sides of my chin," Patrick Ta previously recommended.

Best paired with the brand's complimentary, Best of Beauty-winning Major Sculpt Creme Contour & Powder Bronzer Duos (of which there are three colorways), this brush is your righthand tool for any and all powder and cream formulas.

When it comes to an all-around face blush that's great for setting powder, bronzer, and blush, look no further than the Nars Yachiyo Kabuki Brush. "It's big enough for all-over powdering but small enough for creating a healthy glow with blush," makeup artist Georgina Graham says. Consider this tool the Goldilocks of the makeup world.

Makeup artist Susie Sobol reaches for the Real Techniques Setting Brush for more precise application of loose powder, especially for smaller areas of the face under the eyes and around the nose. "I actually never use a big powder brush since it takes shine away from where I like to keep it," she explains.

After being dipped in the right bronzer shade, the Best of Beauty Award-winning BareMinerals Supreme Finisher Brush ensures the warm hue defines your face without any blotchiness or muddiness. You're sure to be left with a seamless, natural-looking glow.

Los Angeles-based makeup artist Daphne Chantell del Rosario tells us that her go-to blush brush is Chanel's Blush Brush N°110, which she denotes is "the perfect shape for the apples of your cheeks." This fluffy wonder is ideal for powder and cream formulas for a flushed-from-within look.

Makeup artist Carissa Ferreri uses Sigma Beauty's Best of Beauty-winning F03 High Cheekbone Highlighter Brush for two main purposes. As its name suggests, it works wonderfully for highlighter, but she also uses it for "contouring the hollows of the cheek and around the perimeter of the face," she explains. “The bristles are both fluffy but firm, making it ideal to deposit color and blend.”

Ma also counts Jane Iredale's Detail Brush as a staple in her brush collection. The precision tip packs "dense and tiny bristles, making it perfect for spot-concealing," she says, and synthetic brushes generally work well with cream products, in particular.

Dual-ended brushes are particularly clutch for travel-friendly beauty kits — because why let your brushes take up precious space in your already-stuffed luggage? Henney is a fan of IT Cosmetics' Heavenly Luxe Complexion Perfection Brush #7, which is equipped with super-soft bristles that "make [foundation and concealer] application a total breeze," she notes.

The spoolie side of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brush #12 tames even the coarsest, unruliest brow hairs to help slick them down into defined arches. The angled brush found on the other end of this Best of Beauty Award winner deposits pigment with ease to fill in sparse areas.

For hooded eyelids, Ma recommends a fluffy brush like MAC's 217 Synthetic Blending Brush, which she says "gives a smooth, seamless blending job." But, as she notes, the brush is still quite slim and small, so it fits perfectly within the defined creases of hooded eyelids.

While this particular brush (third from the left) is only available in an 11-piece brush set, it's absolutely worthy of your coins. Florida-based makeup artist Lennie Billy counts Spectrum x KJH #22 among her favorites for graphic liner looks or a classic cat-eye. "I love a fine and soft brush that allows [for easy movement] when drawing lines," both on the finer and thicker ends of the spectrum, she tells Allure.

"The Laura Mercier Camouflage Powder Brush might be for powder, but I use it for cream," makeup artist Nick Barose states. This flat, oval-shaped brush is akin to the size of your ring finger, but as Barose warns, "you should never use your finger to apply concealer under your eyes [because] it gets floppy and cakey." Long story short, this is a fine alternative.

If you desire polished, ultra-clean lines, consider bringing in the assistance of a lip brush to ensure you define your lips to the fullest. Sonia Kashuk's cruelty-free, under-$15 Retractable 2-in-1 Lip Makeup Brush comes with a tapered, precision brush for detailed lip contouring, while the denser, flat-top end finishes the job by shading in your entire lip area with an intense bout of color.