Beauty: Make-up Application.

Fingers, pads or brushes?

I was always a fingers person when it came to make-up application. I loved rubbing foundation over my face, or smearing eyeshadow onto my lids. But as I got older and got into the world of beauty gurus, I decided to make the switch to brushes. I haven’t looked back.

Whilst with fingers you ultimately use a lot less product, you don’t get anywhere near the level of finish that you get with a brush. I always find that my make-up looks a lot more natural when I use a brush to blend it into my skin, and all the shades merge easier to create a nicer end result. True, particularly with foundation, you lose a lot of product in the bristles of the brush itself (it is scary when you come to wash out your brushes how much make-up gunk is caught up in there), but for me it’s worth it for the finish.

I also am able to do a lot more complex things with eyeshadow now that I use brushes. Whereas I used to plaster one colour all over my lid, now I normally use at least three: a highlight, a base, and a contour colour. Again, this gives a more natural look to my make-up, as well as a more sophisticated finish.

For a brief time between my finger using days and my brush using present, I used foam make-up pads to apply foundation. I rarely wear foundation (other than pressed powder) but whenever I tried to use pads I found they gave me a smeary finish and I had to use even more product than I use with a brush. This could have been because I was using very low quality foundation, but I still don’t get on with pads to this day.

All of this is just personal preference, and I know that my sister loves using pads. Whatever you chose to use, just remember that you need to either a) wash your hands before applying make-up and between products, b) change pads regularly or c) wash your brushes regularly to avoid build up or bacteria. How do you chose to apply your make-up? Tweet me @VickiMaitland or leave a comment below!