This weekend I was texting with a friend having a discussion about makeup brushes, and I realized a few things.

1. It’s really great to have friends who share your interests. Not everyone would want to text with me about the ins and outs of brush stiffness.

2. Brushes are so important if you love makeup. If you don’t have brushes that work for you, your products are useless . . .well not quite useless but you get what I’m saying.

3. You don’t need a huge collection for everyday use on yourself.

I have a ton of brushes, but most of them stay tucked away in my kit for the majority of their lives. The ones I use often are a much smaller collection, and they generally multitask. I didn’t plan that, but it seems to be the way it worked out.

For liquid foundation and BB creams The Sheseido Perfect Foundation Brush is where it’s at. It’s dense and soft so it blends your foundation really well. It is also pretty small for a face brush, which some people complain about, but I really like that because the size and the angled cut of the bristles allow you to get in a blend in all the nooks and crannies.

It is also great for blending in cream blush. I like to apply the cream blush with my fingers and gentle blend in the edges with the brush. You can even do this after using it for foundation, and the traces of foundation left on the brush will help you blend even more quickly.

If you have been wondering for a while if getting a Beauty Blender is worth it, the answer is yes. If you like cream foundation/blush, are bad at blending, or just want to have an insanely smooth finish to your skin, then this is for you. You can also use it for liquid foundation, I just prefer the Shiseido brush for that. By the way, the trick is to use it wet. If you use it dry you won’t get the glorious effects.

I own three of these for a reason: They are awesome. I use it to create tiny strokes in my eyebrows mimicking the texture of hair, and I also use it to create soft winged liner with eyeshadow or a pencil liner. The bristles are dense and very stiff, but it is still a really thin brush so you can use it to be very precise, or to drag color and spread it out.

I use these a ton, but apparently Sephora has updated it and it’s not quite the same anymore. Luckily you can still get the original on amazon for a really good price.

I never really thought of Buxom as a company I would buy brushes from, but I picked this “Stay there eye brush” up online on a whim (Honestly I cant imagine what drove me choose this one) and I’m glad I did. You can use the tip like a pencil brush to create a cut crease, or you can use the flat side of the bristles to lay down color. I use it pretty much every time I wear eyeshadow.

And last but not least, the real techniques kits. I use these constantly. They are affordable, super soft AND they never shed. Like ever. If you buy the kits pictured above you will have a few repeats, but you can always use multiples of brushes, that means you aren’t stranded after you use one for a dark color and we all know how annoying that is.

They also have a few that I don’t think are super useful for makeup, but I have found ways to use them for other things like nail art, so there you go.

I labeled the ones above with how I use them the most, but they are really versatile so you may even find other ways to use them as well.

So if you don’t have any brushes and you are thinking about getting more serious about your makeup you can pick up the starter set, the core collection and the travel essentials and you will be well on your way for under fifty bucks, not too shabby!