Have you heard of the fan brush? Both its name and the shape of its hair attract everyone's attention. But do you really know what it's used for?
Find out why this brush is an essential basic in your makeup bag.
As we've already told you, the fan brush is an essential tool in your beauty kit. As its name suggests, its hair is arranged as if it were an open fan. The different layers of hair overlap each other, achieving a completely flat shape, which helps its functionality and product application.
The main function of this brush is to remove the remains that may have been left once the eye shadow has been applied.
It is very common that when we apply makeup to our eyelids, some specks remain under the eyes. It is very important that you do not try to remove them with your fingers or with any brush you have at hand, as you could drag the pigment and have to start your makeup again.
For this, the fan brush is perfect. The shape and softness of its hair makes it easy to remove traces of makeup, with a simple sweep from the lower lashes down, as if it were a caress.
But that's not all it's good for!
The fan brush is a great ally for bronzing powder, blusher and highlighter powder.
With it you can mark your cheekbones and chin impeccably.
This brush will help you to diminish the line of intersection between the light and dark of your cheekbones, blending blush and bronzing powder. In addition, if you apply a little highlighter powder on top of the blusher, with soft, horizontal movements, you will achieve a very stylized expression on your face and a 100% professional finish.
The most common fan brush is thin and medium in size, and it’s used to apply highlighter. But small fan brushes can add a brow bone highlight or even be used for smudging or mascara application, and larger fan brushes are good for a sculpted blush or bronzer application.
The Medium Fan Brush
They’re medium-sized brushes that apply highlighter onto the high points of your cheeks with precision.
That precision is courtesy of its shape, which, when used flat side down and swept vertically and up across the cheekbones, deposits color only on the highest point of your face.
Use it to highlight the tip of your nose and cupid’s bow, too! Why not? Again, it’s a great brush for getting product exactly where you want it and nowhere else.
Some people also use this size brush to multitask: brushing off eyeshadow fallout, applying powder lightly, and even creating sharper blush and bronzer lines for definition.
The Large Fan Brush
Well, you could apply powder with it—the shape is useful for getting around your eyes. But I think the far superior use is for a chiseled blush and bronzer application.
If you like to pull your blush back toward your hairline, this is a great choice. (Generally, the fan shape is great for more horizontal applications.) And for bronzer, you can try a bronzer-as-contour look by taking the fan brush from the middle of your ear down to the under the apples of your cheeks.
If you like applying highlighter or bronzer to your body, these large brushes are perfect for it. They can cover a large area in no time.
4 uses for a fan makeup brush
A light layer of shimmer
If your fan brush is quite wispy and sparse, its primary use is for shimmer. Because the bristles are lightly packed, the brush won’t pick up a lot of product. What’s more, because they move loosely and freely, the bristles will disperse the product lightly and evenly onto the skin. This is ideal for applying shimmer powders to the high points of the cheeks and bridge of the nose without that “stripe” of opaque shimmer.
Dip the brush into your shimmer or highlight, tap the excess off onto your hand, and use a light, flicking motion to buff it into the skin. Because there’s not a lot of surface area, the brush will lay down modest amounts of product, so you have more control over where you’re adding it.
Applying contour and sculpting products
If your fan brush is more robust, thick, and tightly packed, it’s ideal for contouring products. Because the brush has a long, narrow edge, it fits neatly into the hollows of your cheeks, along the jaw, and along the hairline on the forehead. To make the brush even more dense and narrow, you can squeeze it at the base of the bristles to get a more defined contour application. If the brush has synthetic bristles you can use it for cream, powder, and liquid contour products to chisel that gorgeous visage.
Flicking away fall-out
Fan brushes, thanks to their long row of brush tips and “flicky” nature, are great for shimmying eyeshadow fall-out off your face. Take a clean fan brush and use a fast, flicking motion to whip away any fallout as soon as it drops.
Sweeping away excess powder
After you’ve applied your setting powder, use your fan brush to flick and sweep any excess (especially if you’ve “baked”). The brush is light and delicate enough not to disrupt any color products or cream layers underneath, but simply shifts any layers of powder lurking on the surface.
