A brush with the law...

If the makeup industry had a crime squad, I'd be the Head of Investigations into Misdemeanours in Eyeshadow Application.

There's a crime wave spreading across the globe, and no woman is immune to falling prey. The victim? Your eyelids. The culprit? The sponge-tip applicator.

I've witnessed women innocently hand over cash for an expensive eyeshadow trio, only to waste their hard-earned money by smearing it on with this seemingly innocent-looking accessory.

Be alert, not alarmed ladies! The sponge-tip applicator may look friendly but it's associated with a variety of serious offences against fabulousness, including substandard application, less staying power, creasing and (shock) ...uneven blending.

The solution? Brushes. If you find yourself staring blankly at the comprehensive (not to mention expensive) array of brushes with no idea about what goes where (and why), here are your five must-haves. Click on the pink to see an image of each brush.

Angled Brush
The absolute essential: shape or emphasise eyebrows by dipping it into a shadow one-shade lighter than your natural brow colour and feathering it across your brow. Wet the end and swirl it around in your shadow for a perfectly-precise eyeliner application. Dip it into gel or cake eyeliner to achieve a seductive 50-style eyeliner flick. Or just gaze at it lovingly, knowing you own it.

Bullet or 'Pencil' Brush
If you want a smokey eye (and let's face it - who doesn't love this look?), you must own this brush. The dense fibres form a nifty little 'bullet' shape, making contouring and shading a relative breeze. I'll be showing you how to easily achieve a smokey eye in a future blog post. For now, just know that bullets can be good. Very good indeed.

Small Fluffy Blending Brush
This brush works harder and faster than Whitney on a comeback tour. Use it to apply a wash of sheer eye colour to your lid, or to blend your dark smokey eye shades, or to apply a highlight shade to your browbone. You'll use it almost every time you put eyeshadow on.

Lipliner Brush
Show me the girl who whips out a lipliner brush every time she applies lipstick and I'll show you a freak. Who has the time? Or more importantly - the inclination? However, this is a handy tool to have in your kit. For special occasions, apply your lipstick with this brush for staying-power and a neat finish. Clean it, wet it, dip it into eyeshadow and it doubles as an eyeliner brush, ideal for controlled application.

Medium-Sized Fluffy Blush Brush
Simple and necessary. If you're a blush-lover or contouring-cohort, you'll probably have a variety of these. If you just want one, get it medium-sized with good quality, natural fibre bristles. Use it to apply blush (obviously) but also as a powder applicator. It also doubles as a handy emergency shelf-duster, but that's a story I probably shouldn't reveal here. Yet.

Tips:

- You don't need to spend a lot of money on brushes, but try not to skimp. Ebay often have great deals on bargain brush kits which would otherwise cost a fortune. The Body Shop also do decent cheapies. For the best of the best, go straight to Bobbi Brown, or (cue the salivating) the all-out, unbridled luxury of MAC.

- If you're not sure if you want to purchase high quality brushes, know this. They will last at least 10+ years and will ensure your makeup looks polished and professionally-applied, every time. Worth the investment? You decide.

- Unless cleaned regularly, brushes sneakily harbour zit-causing bacteria and other nasties I won't mention in case you're eating. There's no need to spend money on a brush-cleaning solution unless you're sharing your brushes with others. Simple warm water and shampoo works perfectly.

Happy brushing!

~ Rosie x