Reddit mentions: The best contour brushes

Heya, welcome to RAoM!! I hope you enjoy it here :D Also, happy birthday c:

I'd definitely recommend picking up the NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk -- it's a great base that really makes colors pop! It's also really creamy, so it blends out easily.

I also love my Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains. I have Rendezvous (a very orange-y coral) and Lovestick (bright pink), which are perfect for summer. I also have Romantic (pretty true red) and my sister has Crush (a darker plum), which are great for fall. These are really easy to wear because they feel just like lip balms, but they're also very nicely pigmented.

If you want to play around with a lot more colors, I would say go for the Coastal Scents 88 Original Palette -- I use at least one color from this every time I do my make-up! It's not too pricey, but it gives you a lot to experiment with :)

I think it would be a pretty great time to pick up some brushes. Since you're just starting out, I'd probably go with ELF brushes because they're super cheap. Here are a few of my favorites (although I'd recommend looking in store at Target, because the white brushes are only $1 and the black ones are usually only $3; they might be cheaper on the ELF website too):

Eyeshadow Brush -- great for packing on the color
Blending Brush -- because everyone could use a nice blender!
Contouring Brush -- really great for applying color in the crease
12 Piece Set -- I don't actually own all these brushes, but it looks like a great set to start with, especially for only $12!


As for something I'd like...well, I'm currently obsessing over this lipstick in Black Cherry, because it is the PERFECT color for fall, and I don't have any other dark lip colors :3

Oh yea, and Summer Fun !

Hey- real life vampire here. Here's my vampire makeup advice, modified for a beginner.

The main thing you wanna focus on here is red, white and black. Make your hair darker, your skin more pale (contour(define)) your cheekbones and put red under your eyes.

Before you start, gather these things:

1. Clown White
   
2. Liquid foundation of some kind (match for your skin or not, doesn't really matter)
   
3. Eyeshadow (with red and black and white) or oil face paints (same colors)
   
4. Possibly a brown/black eyeliner pencil for your eyebrows
   
5. An ashy contour colour (just a brown, greyish color)
   > 6. A contour brush. Some people will insist that you need more brushes but honestly you can probably get away with using your hands.
   
   Tutorial:
   
   
6. Put on some Joy Division. Mix together some of the clown white and foundation and apply it to make your face seem more pale. Try to make it even, and the consistency shouldn't be too thick. If it is, add more foundation. Also, put this over your lips so that they look super pale.
   
7. Put white eyeshadow on your eyelid. Then, take just a bit of black eyeshadow and try to blend them to make grey. The eyeshadow should get darker towards the outer corners.
   
8. Take some of the red eyeshadow (on the tip of your finger) and dab it on the lower lash line (not your waterline. don't try to stick your finger in your eye!!!). Smear that downwards so that it blends in with the foundation you have on. Try to make it look natural, like your eyes are really red. After all, you are a vampire.
   
9. Use the ashy contour colour and the contour brush to make your cheeks look gaunt. This will help you look more dead. Also, contour your temples. Blend it in to the white so that the lines aren't harsh (you don't need to use that much product, and start in the hairline and work out.)
   
10. If you don't have a widow's peak, make one with your eyeshadow and contour. Use the brush for this, and just try to be subtle with it, moving in a swooping heart shape out from the point in the centre. You might need to pack more product in at the hairline.
    
11. If your eyebrows need to be defined, define them. You can make them look more evil/intense by adding a dark line along the bottom and then angling in like this. You don't have to do this though, and you could even white out your eyebrows (not all vamps have them after all.)
    
12. If you want to, do lines of black eyeliner on your eyelids. You can smudge this if you want, and I suggest only doing the top so that on the bottom the main focus is the red.
    
    If you want any more help/explanations don't hesitate to ask, I could send you more pictures if you want. Here is a picture of drag queen Aquaria with a vampy look: she might be a bit too shiny for what we're going for here, but the eye makeup is a good example (and the expression.)
    
    
    

We have very similar eyes! Down to the coloring and everything—seriously, we could be related. I LOVE the Norvina palette; so flattering. What shades did you use?

Regardless, I agree that this look isn't bringing the best out of your eyes. (Which are gorgeous, if I do say so myself, lol.) Personally, I don't like bringing dark or matte shadow more than 2/3 of the way into my eyes for an everyday look. If it goes past the iris looking straight on, it's not doing anything for you IMO. As for the outside edges, my favorite ever tip for figuring out the right shape and placement actually came from Safiya Nygard—she draws a straight line in concealer from the outer corner to the end of her brow, and that's where she puts her wing. And once she's done, she just blends the concealer away. GENIUS.

I also think that ending your eyeliner halfway through your eye like that, while impressive (dat tiny little line tho), looks a little unfinished. Just a little tightlining to continue the line to the corner would make a huge difference in this look.

I like my eye makeup to make my eyes look even wider, rounder, and more lifted than they already do. I actually wanted to demonstrate, so I did one eye of my go-to look with Norvina so you can see it. (Keep in mind that the pics are of a quick-n-dirty hack job, though. Blend it more than I did. Do as I say, not as I do.)

I generally do: Base all over the lid. (Keep your brush for this handy to buff out any weird-looking edges, especially along the wing edge.) Take Love and kind of stab it straight in the crease, starting on the outer 1/3 and blending to either side, out over orbital bone and into a wing-y shape. (I use a FLUFFY-ASS brush for this; mine is a Wet n Wild one I got on Amazon.) It will fluff up above the crease, which is good—that means the color will still be visible when your eye is open. So to keep there from being a weird dip in the color where my eye socket is, I almost want this color to make a straight line from the middle of my orbital bone out to my wing. Then, I take Incense on the fluffy end of the brush included in the palette and put it in basically the same place; it will just stay in a slightly tighter area because the brush is smaller. Then I use either Volatile or Passion (I used Passion in the pics above) on a denser brush (the other end of the one in the palette will work) and put it in the outer V. It really is a V-shape when I do it, because I don't want to weigh it down with too much color and get too smoky for daytime. I'll take that color a little bit along the lash line and a little bit into the crease, but only just up to about where I started applying color in the first step. Keep it more concentrated than any of the other colors. Then, I'll use one of the fluffier brushes to blend into the lighter colors. Now, up until this point, we've been ignoring the rest of the lid—don't worry! Just take a very small packing brush and brighten it alllll up. You can use any light shade, and it should hide anything weird going on on your lid. (Kind of like a cut crease without the annoying concealer part. Or any of the precision.) I used Dreamer in the pics, but you can use Base, your setting powder, your highlighter, whatever. If you have Subculture, I'm currently a HUGE fan of Cube, and I think it would look BOMB with this look. Finally, I think my eyes look a little naked without ANYTHING on the lower lash line, so I'll put just a little bit of Incense from the outer corner to about halfway in, and do mascara about that far as well.

I honestly wear this look without liner or with just a little tightlining (no wing) most of the time, because it defines my eyes enough and I feel like liner takes it to a more ~evening~ place. But if you want to add liner, I would take your wing out a little farther just so it's a little more present. The way it is now almost blends into your lashes. Don't be afraid to add a little more; you can almost draw a triangle and it will still come out with that nice swoop you have in your pictures because of the way the skin folds when you open your eyes. Just experiment! It's just eyeliner, it's not that serious. You'll wash it off at the end of the day and try again tomorrow, so it's not a huge deal if it's not perfect today.

But in the meantime, mascara (or falsies if you're feeling fancy) will hide most eye makeup sins. In my pics, I'm still wearing this morning's crusty mascara that's half flaked off, but if you put on a totally fresh coat, voila! Beautiful, every time.

I've had that happen from a random foundation brush I got at TJ Maxx! My nose started breaking out and peeling and itching; it's like it was exfoliating my skin and I was maybe also allergic to it. Bad times.

Like someone else said, Elf brushes are great! I also LIVE for the basic EcoTools duo and this Wet n Wild blending brush. I can do pretty much all my eye looks with just those three brushes. I've also got a couple from Sonia Kashuk (which I think is Target-exclusive, so hopefully you're in the US) that are quite nice. And, like others have said, Real Techniques is really nice too! I highly recommend their face brushes and their blending sponge. (I do NOT recommend the EcoTools sponge. I've never hated a sponge more.)

You don't have to spend a ton! You can get a really great set of brushes, curated by you for your own needs, just in the drugstore/Target.

not op but i struggled with mine for the longest time too. i bought lunch money and flexitarian and i felt like they applied horribly and always messed up my foundation. i just started using them again with this brush and a pretty light hand and i’ve found that even over powder they apply beautifully. i just kind of swirl my brush around in the pan and then just lightly apply it and it looks way better than when i used my fingers!

The most inexpensive angled contour brush I can think and love of is actually a drugstore brand. Wet n Wild has this one, and you can find it in stores anywhere from 0.99$ to 2$. It's not as densely packed as others might be, though it is very soft and I find it perfect for contouring under my cheekbones/jawline/the edges of my face.

Edit: It's also only 0.59$ on Amazon, which is a ridiculously good deal to me!

I heard the Kat Von D one is amazing
http://www.amazon.com/Kat-Von-Shade-Contour-Palette/dp/B00SB0RKT0/ref=sr_1_1?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1451763540&sr=1-1&keywords=kat+von+d+shade+light+contour+palette

Just be mindful sometimes cosmetics on amazon are more expensive than buying them in store.

I currently use the Lorac one and really like it.
http://www.amazon.com/LORAC-Contour-Palette-Plus-Brush/dp/B00ZZ8XNWE/ref=sr_1_1?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1451763651&sr=1-1&keywords=lorac+contour+palette

found this brush for $2.81!!!