My MakeUp Brush Collection

I have well over 400 posts in my blog, but this is the first time I will be sharing my entire brush collection. Why only now? This isn't just a random post, it's actually a wake-up call for yours truly. I've been having this urge to buy some beautiful synthetic brushes that are on sale right now at an online store, but a voice deep inside told me to stop because I have way too many brushes. How did this happen?

Well, I began by buying MAC brushes here and there, then I started to fall in love with Sonia Kashuk's eyeshadow and liner brushes. I also liked the medium and large shader brushes of Studio Tools. Since these are relatively cheap ($5 each of the Sonia Kashuk ones and around $3 for the Studio Tools), I decided to buy one or two every time I passed by Target. Doing that for a span of several months, I have amassed quite a bit, as you can see in a few. I started to realize that I have way too many brushes when it would take me longer and longer to wash all of them. I knew I had a lot of brushes, I just didn't know exactly how many. So to stop myself from ordering, and to put my collection in perspective, I decided last night to COUNT all my brushes. Yes, count them. I honestly got scared when I went past the 100 count. I was horrified when I reached 200. All in all, I got a total of 240 makeup brushes.



I know, shame on me, as I only have one face and two eyes. Nonetheless, it happened for a reason: I could only wash my brushes every week or two, and I had to use CLEAN brushes all the time, especially for the eyeshadows and liners. I didn't want to use my MAC brush cleaner every time, preferring to use honest-to-goodness shampoo and water to clean my brushes. So I would buy eye brushes and wash them in big batches every two weeks, ensuring that I would use a clean brush everytime. Since I use eyeshadows everyday, I actually got to use most of these brushes on a regular basis.

I have a lot of eyeliner brushes too, mostly from Michael's craft store. I used to buy amazing paint brushes that double as good liner brushes, and since I use a lot of colored mineral liners, I wanted a variety of liner brushes as well. I also have a handful of my ultimate favorite liner brush from Sonia Kashuk (the bent one), but not as many as my Loew Cornell.

Then my favorite mineral makeup companies started to sell beautiful, heavenly-soft vegan kabukis and face brushes, some for dirt-cheap pre-buy prices, so I just had to get them. I have a couple of MAC 187s, but I realized that I could buy cheaper duo fibre brushes that work as good. However, the 222 and 224 MAC brushes are still some of my favorites. I have a couple of each, and they are staples in my everyday eye makeup application and blending. I also have a couple of MAC 217 and Japonesque blender brushes, a couple of Chanel #3s, all for blending and crease work.

I also have a couple of MAC 239 shader brushes, but I realized that I can have the exact same paddle-shaped eye brush in soft goat hair with the same firmness using the Maxine's Mop art brushes that I could get from Michael's. These Maxine's Mops are difficult to find, especially now after everyone had been raving about it and extolling the virtues of using it as an eyeshadow brush. Because of that, I buy them in threes or fours whenever I go to Michael's.

I also have three or four sets of the MAC holiday brushes, so I have them interspersed with the rest of my other brushes.


The eyeshadow brushes with black handles are mostly from Studio Tools, the white handled ones are Sonia Kashuk, the bamboo-colored/tan ones are from Essence of Beauty and Ecotools, and some from Prestige.


The brushes on the left with the white hairs are my goat-hair brushes (MAC and Loew Cornell Maxine's Mop). The ones with dirty pink handles next to those are my Loew Cornell American Painter 4300 brushes that I use for my mineral and gel liners.





Storing them is quite a challenge. I place the face brushes in metal mesh pencil holders (the largest I could find). For the eye and concealer brushes, since they are a lot, I place them in an acrylic cosmetic tray that has a storage area for brushes. I added some compartments in order for it to hold more brushes. I place this on top of my hardwood dresser so the brushes are readily available. My finishing powders and some foundations, and other items that I use regularly are also on the tray.


Sorry for that stray sifter sticker! =D I place my eyeliner brushes in another pail near my gel and mineral liners.