My Favourite Foundations and Foundation Brushes

Hello! If you watch my Youtube videos (here) then you may have seen my 'Favourite Foundations and Foundation Brushes' video. I thought I would do an accompanying blog post for those of you who aren't subscribed to my videos! 

My favourite foundations are all high end and that's because I wanted to talk about the foundations I genuinely love and use on a regular basis and these are the only ones I really use!

Currently, my most worn foundations are the YSL Touche Eclat and Bobbi Brown Long Wear. If my skin is quite clear then I will wear my YSL Touche Eclat foundation as it is very light, radiant and doesn't look or feel like you are wearing foundation! I wear my Bobbi Brown foundation on days when my skin isn't quite as good as it is thicker, provides medium, buildable coverage and lasts amazingly well!

The Bare Minerals foundation is a great powder foundation which provides a lovely, flawless and natural finish. I don't wear a powder foundation very often, however if I do then it is always this one.

My Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation isn't worn as much now I have my YSL Touche Eclat as they are quite similar. I still wear it when I don't want my skin to be as radiant and dewy though. I tend to wear it when the weather is warmer as it isn't heavy at all and lasts very well in heat! Last year I went on holiday to Zante where it was 40 degrees and I obviously didn't wear foundation in weather like that, but I do remember wearing it once for dinner and it lasted really well!

If my skin is very good then I wear a tinted moisturiser. My favourite ever is the Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser and I have the oil free one. This provides very good coverage for a tinted moisturiser and leaves my skin looking very dewy and natural.

I have five favourite brushes! My most used are the Bobbi Brown Foundation brush and Real Techniques Buffing brush. I use the Bobbi Brown Foundation brush for my Bobbi Brown Long Wear foundation! I don't usually like traditional foundation brushes, however I really like this one and it applies my foundation flawlessly.

My Real Techniques Buffing brush is mainly used for my YSL Touche Eclat foundation and the two work amazingly well together! I also use this brush for my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua and Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser. I find it doesn't work quite as well with the Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser as that is thicker than the other two which makes it slightly harder to buff in and blend.

The other three brushes are the Mac 187, Zoeva Powder brush and Real Techniques Blush brush. I use these all for my Bare Minerals foundation powder and it just depends whether I want a light dusting or a fuller coverage.

I hope you enjoyed this post and you can watch my video here if you want to as I do go into more detail. Please let me know in the comments any recommendations you have for foundations and brushes!

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Favourite Foundation Brushes

I mentioned in my Real Techniques post that I would talk about my favourite foundation brushes to use for different types of foundation. I have 5 different foundation brushes that I am going to talk about which are the Real Techniques Buffing brush, Real Techniques Stippling brush, Ecotools foundation brush, No7 foundation brush and Mac 187 duo fibre brush.

The Real Techniques buffing brush is my favourite to use for liquid foundations that are quite thin and light. It buffs foundation on really nicely and leaves a flawless finish. The bristles are really soft and make it easy to buff foundation into the corners of the nose and it leaves a streak free finish as I find that thin foundation can sometimes look a bit streaky if applied in strokes. I don't tend to use this for thicker, creamier foundations as I don't find it buffs them in as nicely as other brushes but I absolutely adore it for thinner foundations. I use this for my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua. This brush is available in the Real Techniques Core Collection from Boots for £21.99 and other sites which are here. I have a review on the Real Techniques Core Collection which you can read here.

The stippling brush is my favourite for any consistency of liquid foundation. It works really well for slightly thicker foundations such as Rimmel Wake Me Up. It also works nicely on thinner, runnier foundations like my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua. I don't use this for thick, moussey or creamy foundations as I don't find it is dense enough to buff them in flawlessly. This brush leaves a perfect, flawless finish when I use it with liquid foundations with no lines or streaks. It blends foundation seamlessly and so easy. This brush is available from Boots for £11.99 and other sites which are here.

Ecotools foundation brush is a traditional foundation brush which means it isn't as good to buff foundation into the skin using circular motions - it works best at smoothing foundation onto the skin in strokes. I really like this brush for a variety of foundations though. I don't often use it for very runny foundation, however I do like it for thicker consistency foundations and also cream foundations. This brush is available from Boots for £7.99.

My No7 foundation brush is a traditional shape foundation brush, however it is slightly thicker than the average foundation brush meaning it can be used in circular buffing and blending motions as well as sweeping  motions to apply foundation. I use this brush for most consistency foundations - cream and liquid, thin and thicker.

This was the first foundation brush I bought and to use with my Mac Studio Sculpt foundation and I did really like it for this. I only use this for thick, creamy foundation like the Mac one and I find it works well, however it definitely isn't one that I reach for very often. It is duo fibre, like the Real Techniques Stippling brush so if I want a brush like that I will reach for that one over this. I find the the bristles are not very compact so when I apply foundation I cannot be very precise as the bristles just spread out. It is an okay brush, but I have others that I prefer and tend to reach for over this. On a side note, I really like using this to apply bronzer over my face as because the bristles are not dense, it doesn't apply too much and it applies the bronzer quickly as it is quite a big brush. This brush is available from Mac for £32.50.


What are you're favourite foundation brushes?