How many make up brushes do you need?

[AndThereSaw]

I don't wear makeup.
14YO DD does.

DD has set her heart on a Youtuber endorsed palette for Christmas (I think it's over priced at £40 compared to premium brands but hey ho) but most confusingly (for me) is that the youtuber also has a set of brushes out for £150! Apparently you NEED all these brushes to do proper make up now.

Wise ones: how many brushes do you actually need to do a full makeup? Is a 34 piece brush and sponge set necessary and if so what brands would you recommend? Thank you

I don’t wear the stuff either, OP. And I think I’d go and buy a set of paint brushes from B and Q instead, rather than waste £150!

Hmm..let me count what I use every day.
Beautyblender sponge
Micro mini Beautyblender sponge (not necessary)
Concealer brush
Big power brush
Blusher brush
Highlighter brush
Bronzer brush (summer only)
4 different double sided eyeshadow brushes

I like Real Techniques for brushes.

Is it the James Charles and morphe set? You don't need this specific brush set and the brushes from that company are not very good quality at all, I'd buy the palette for her but for £150 you can get much better quality brushes from Zoeva or Sigma

It is the James Charles!
thanks for the tips on brushes.
I've bought all 4 girls a little set of real techniques complexion sponges for their stockings.
DD in question is the youngest and all the others had/have simpler needs but makeup seems to be her 'current thing'.

Thought so! Real techniques do great brush sets and they're usually on offer this time of year

I can't vouch for this seller, but something like this should go down well and cover most needs:
rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F192538003676

I might get the metal ones by the same seller actually. So pretty!

Zoeva do really good sets for either the face or eyes for a lot less than that and they are fabulous brushes, lots of YouTube's sweat by then as well so it's still "cool"

Zoeva or id also highly recommend Tarte brushes, so soft and great quality. Bought these in sale and they are brilliant and dont take long to come from usa

tartecosmetics.com/EU/en_GB/sale/minutes-to-mermaid-brush-set/1243.html?cgid=sale&dwvar_1243_color=multi#start=1

Depends which products you wear.

My 15 year old has a set for foundation (Real Techniques Base just over a tenner)
She also has beauty blenders (fiver)

She doesn't wear eye make up or stuff like contour or bronzer so is happy with that.

I think for a 14 yr old you and she ought to set your sights lower.
Real Techniques are fine or there is another brand ( can't recall the name but in Boots) made with bamboo handles

I use Bobbi Brown brushes but they are a luxury and I am very old :)
I wait until they are 20% off, or sometimes a free mini brush is on offer as a gift with purchase online.

I've got
a blusher brush (I'd not be without it)
small angled eye shadow brush
blending/ fluffier eye shadow brush
concealer brush
foundation brush (small size as a gift)
powder brush

I've just ordered an eye liner brush but not BB.

Mac and Urban Decay are cheaper if you want to treat her. But real hair brushes need care and not sure a 14 yr old will do so!

I actually love the morphed brushes but you definitely don't need them all!

If they're set on Morphe brushes then this set is really good and I don't think overly pricey, some of their other sets (including the Jaclyn Hill and other collabs) are expensive.

uk.morphe.com/collections/sets/products/complexion-goals

I have a blush brush, a bronzer brush ( if they mix you look muddy) and 1-2 eyeshadow brushes (one fluffy, one small and focused). I use a sponge for foundation (rarely wear)

All the brands being mentioned are excellent. 34 brushes is insane.

At the very most she could do with:

Beauty blender
Foundation brush
Concealer brush
Powder brush
Blush
Bronzer
Highlight
Contour
2 standard eyeshadow brush
1 fluffy eyeshadow blender
1 small pointed dome eyeshadow for under eye and detail
Lip brush
Eyebrow angled brush
Eyeliner brush

That's 15 and it's a very full set. The problem is that these 15 brushes bought separately will cost more than £150.

You could ditch the foundation brush as she could use just the beauty blender. Combine the bronzer and contour brushes.

I love real techniques.

Boots recently have a great limited edition set on offer for £30 which had about eight brushes and the sponge.

Superdrug online often have great deals on sets too. They currently have a lip brush set for £3.99 (I have two sets now, there's a brilliant exfoliating lip brush in the set which is way way better than any scrub I've ever used.

I'd be wary of buying on eBay because there's so many fakes (I have some of the fake sets after being assured by the seller they were legit so now I only buy online from boots etc.

I'll also say some of my real techniques brushes I've had for years, they clean really well and are still good as new.

This is the set I recently bought for £29.99 in boots, mixture of face and eye brushes but they do sets with just eye brushes too.

Oh wow, how pretty are those mermaid brushes!? Might have to get them..as a present..for someone (ME).

Real Tech 100% my boyfriend got me the £80 make up brush set in the boots sale last year for £50 which is really good for all the brushes you get, there's only one I don't use!

That's a lot of money bit reasonable for a decent brush set.

I use the following:
Stopping brush some days
Foundation buffing brush often
Beauty blender daily
Powder brush often
Contour brush often
Bronzer brush daily
Blush brush daily
Highlighter brush daily
Concealer brush sometimes
Fluffy blending brush daily
Crease brush daily
Pencil brush often
Flat eyeshadow brush often
Lip brush sometimes

Think that's it!

I love morphe brushes. I would get this set for eyes.
uk.morphe.com/collections/sets/products/set-702
Then I would get individual brushes. So a foundation brush. Flat topped is best I think. A powder brush. Angled contour and blush blush. Then a small pointed highlight brush.

Depends how much/what kind of make-up you wear. But although I have about 20, I’d say I use about 8 of them regularly. And three of those are the same brush (ecotools stippling) which has a lot of different uses.

Powder
Concealer
Eyeshadow: large, small and blender
Eyebrow

I use six

Also, there are lots of discount codes available for Morphe, the YouTubers who promote them are given a discount code to push in exchange for commission. If you type in 'james' at checkout you get 10% off.

I've got 16 brushes, every time I wear make up I use my stuff angled eyebrow powder brush, my eyebrow brush (washed off mascara wand) my big fluffy powder blush brush.
If I'm doing really nice make up (party etc) I'll put my foundation on with my brush, use powder eyeshadow (day to day I wear cream) so will use about 2-3 different brushes, will use my concealer brush, lip brush etc
I don't like sponges as they never seem clean, my brushes are mainly real techniques and I love them and care for them. I wash them in baby shampoo and use hair conditioner on them too. I got them on offer buy one get one set half price.

never heard of half the brands above!

At 14, unless she's caking herself in make up (which is probably very unflattering), I'd say all she needs is:

2 or 3 eye shadow brushes, one smaller than the other
Possibly an eye liner brush
Possibly a foundation brush or sponges
Possibly a loose powder brush
A blusher brush

My blusher brush cost around £35 and it's been worth every penny.

But I'm 60 so it will last the rest of my life :)

The other brand in Boots which is good is Eco brushes.