My Favorite Sculpting and Highlighting Tools

Last week when I wrote two posts about sculpting and highlighting (posted here and here), I got some really glowing comments from you guys. However, I forgot to include two very crucial pieces of information: the brushes and powders that I use! Actually, I did not forget. I had the pictures and all, but when I looked at them I decided not to post because they did not look so good.

For those of you who wants to know what my favorite tools for sculpting and highlighting are (ahem*Kia*ahem!), this post is for you. I hope you will enjoy it!

Brushes

I have various brushes to use for sculpting, and some of which can be used to highlight as well. Also, there is one particular brush that I use to apply highlighter all over my face. The brushes are numbered in the above picture:

1. This is a part of a dual-end brush with a small concealer brush on the other end (not shown). The end shown above is for powder and it is small enough to contour my nose. I actually used it for the nose contouring post. It does not give me a hard line and blends quite well. I'm sorry not to give you a name as I purchased it from a no-name brand at Big Lots.
2. This is an artist brush that is a younger brother of the white Winsor&Newton brush that I posted here. It's the #1 brush, which is the smallest brush of series 240 that is available at Michael's. The brush is really soft and I used it on the second post to contour the rest of my face. It's also a good highlighting brush when used with light hand.
3. This brush is an artist brush from Loew-Cornell maxine's mop series. It's a 1/2 inch brush, which is the second biggest maxine's mop brush that Loew-Cornell has. It's excellent for nose contouring but not as good for highlighting as the bristles are really dense.
4. Your standard slanted blush brush can be used to contour your face as well. I bought this brush a very long time ago from Target and it is an excellent blush brush that can double as a contouring brush as well. The bristles are a bit scratchy though, that's why I don't use it so much.
5. The skunk brush (aka dual fibre or fiber optic brush): the perfect tool for all-over face highlighting. I love this brush but don't get to use enough of it. If you guessed it's a MAC brush, you're wrong! I got it from Everyday Minerals when they still sold it. Now there are a sleuth of mineral makeup companies that include this type of brush in their lineup. The good thing is the price: if you buy from MMU companies, chances are this brush is below 15 dollars!
   

Powders

I actually don't own any professional sculpting and highlighting powders due to my cheapassness. Once upon a time I was really tempted to get one from MAC but my sensitive skin does not love MAC powders, despite what I told it (stubborn skin!) The powder that I use to sculpt my face actually is a powder from The Body Shop. It is very finely milled and does not make my face break out.

The highlighting powder is one of the several highlighting powder that I use (which are eyeshadows, btw!) This powder is from the last Revlon limited edition which lasted for the whole year, no joke! It's not so good as an eyeshadow but as a highlighting powder, it is off the chain! You should try repurposing your makeup sometimes, it's actually pretty fun!



Here's a video from Handbag.com, my ultimate Brit indugence on YouTube. It touches all the aspects of highlighting and contouring and the final look is very soft and natural. I strive to achieve the same thing everytime I contour my face as it is a good reference point.

I hope you enjoy this post and happy contouring!

Lots of love,
Your Makeup Blogger

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