Make up brushes, can we go back to using our fingers?

[JoJuniorShabadoo]

Bored of make-up brushes that, despite me washing them and caring for them, end up losing bristles and I have to replace them annually.

there wasn't this fuss over brushes in the 80s/90s. Can we just used fingers again?

Victoria Beckham uses her fingers to apply her foundation! If it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me 😂

I completely disagree. Brushes absolutely can contribute to breakouts. They collect bacteria, oil, dead skin cells, and old makeup, and then all of that gets put straight back onto your face.

@MyDarlingRose lukewarm, but it's a bit shit that the glue is so weedy
surely cold water won't get rid of the grease

That's one way of looking at it. But all of beauty wisdom tells me I need to use brushes.

Do you mean influencers? Because the ones I follow, including former models and people who actually have their own beauty brands; hardly ever use brushes.

A lot of models have had skin issues because of unhygienic brushes being reused backstage at runway shows. People who genuinely understand skin know that dirty tools can cause problems.

The whole “you need a different brush for every product” thing feels like a beauty industry scam designed to sell more stuff. Why would I rub a plastic tool across my face when I have clean hands that can do the job just as well, if not better? A lot of these unnecessary tools are just marketing dressed up as “professional technique.”

Yeah, I agree

The whole “you need a different brush for every product” thing feels like a beauty industry scam designed to sell more stuff. Why would I rub a plastic tool across my face when I have clean hands that can do the job just as well, if not better? A lot of these unnecessary tools are just marketing dressed up as “professional technique.”

People's comments about product getting stuck in the brush and therefore wasted also sounds like a scam to get people to use more. There's a lot of it about also a lot of containers seem to be deliberately designed to waste at least 10% of the product, often far more.

Agree. Containers are also a scam. Around 15% of my product gets stuck at the bottom and I can’t get it out.

They could easily use a simple round container with a small spoon or spatula provided, so you can apply the product with your finger. Instead, they encourage you to pump it onto an overpriced plastic brush that absorbs 70% of the product.

They have successfully convinced women that this is the “proper” way to apply makeup, when a lot of it is just marketing designed to sell more products.

Just do what I do and buy brushes but use your fingers anyway. At least you don’t have to clean them…

If anyone has the Charlotte Tilbury flawless filter, if you prize out the plastic stopper, you can get loads more

I use brushes, a sponge or my fingers depending on the product. I live life on the edge, me.

You can also buy little silicon scraper things, a bit like a primary school glue spreader, which are good for poking into bottles and tubes to get things like foundation out of the bottom of wasteful containers. Wasteful packaging like that drives me mad, I’m forever hacking tubes with nail scissors.

Use what you want to use. I’ve got a variety of different brushes from Real Techniques, Laura Mercier, MAC and Body Shop all of which are probably old (not the Real Techniques ones). I use a mixture of fingers and brushes. I did try using a makeup brush for foundation but found it too faffy so back to fingers I went.

I use a brush and a sponge, there is less wastage than fingers, I put the product directly on my skin, and then use a really good foundation brush to blend it in, and then I use a sponge just to blot concealer under my eyes so it’s smooth and no excess.

i do use Victoria Beckham the drops though and it’s quite runny, as the title indicates, I used to use Charlotte tilbury flawless filter, which is really thick in comparison so fingers work best or s blender.

I've been using brushes since I started wearing makeup up in the 1980's. I wash my brushes regularly with gentle bar soap & I've had some MAC ones for nearly 20 years.

If your fingers are clean, and you don't clean brushes enough (maybe you do OP, but I bet most people don't) then hygiene wise, might be ok. Apparently brushes get better effects, but like most born in the 1900s, I'm rubbish compared to teenagers.

I’ve never a brush. My teens think I’m deranged

URGENT UPDATE*
seems I sold you all a pup
Just got delivery of the new brush that I thought was replacing the brush that had disintegrated
And it's not replacing that brush it is a technique one which is my powder brush so no idea what the brand was that shed but it wasn't that

You can all sleep sweeter now

I’ve got maybe 20 year old Bobbi Brown brushes still in good condition. Do you mean foundation brushes OP ? I’ve always used fingers for that but need brushes for eyeshadow, brow and liner application.

I use the long handled swabs for this manage to get lots of product out when it’s stopped pumping.