Makeup Brush Declutter and Purge!

Hey guys!  I finally broke down last night and gave a ton of my brushes a much needed cleaning...

...also my travel brushes from our getaway a couple of weeks ago...

While I was at it I thought I would go ahead and go through all of my brushes and weed out the ones I never reach for.  I 'like' all my brushes, but there are several I just never use.  My brush caddy was SO overcrowded and I wanted more space.  Plus, my mom had told me the day before that she only has and uses 1 eye makeup brush.  That broke my heart!  So, I decided to not only purge some brushes from my collection, but to also put together a small makeup brush collection for my mom at the same time.  To begin, I totally emptied out my caddy.

What I decided to keep:

I laid all my brushes out and immediately put the ones I knew I wanted to keep to the side.  This included all of my Sigma and MAC brushes.

I also decided to keep a couple of Bare Minerals brushes.

Also kept the Nars brush that came with one of my cheek palettes.

As well as some random eye brushes (Sigma, Mac, etc.)

I had 4 Elf Small Stipple Brushes, one of which will definitely go to mom.  These are great for cream blushes and bronzers!

I kept several Real Techniques brushes.

And I also hung on to some random brushes and tools.

As far as what I decided to get rid of, I wanted to make sure to give mom both face and eye brushes she would use.

I picked out several double-ended brushes for her, as those are super handy when you are first putting a makeup brush collection together.  These are from CVS and I have always loved them.

I gave her the Elf Powder Brush which is made very similarly to the Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki.  I figured she could use this for foundation as well.  I also included the regular Elf Stipple Brush too.

I put 2 large powder brushes in her stash, these are great for numerous things.  I love to get big, fluffy brushes like this and sweep setting powder on.  Or, I use them to lightly dust bronzer over the high points of my face.  And, I squeeze the bristles together and use them to contour with.  I figured a couple of brushes like these (EcoTools and Sonia Kashuk) would be very handy.

These short little flat top brushes can be very useful too.  (These particular ones are by Posh and Pur Minerals.)  I love to buff bronzer or blush on my cheeks with these.

I also included a couple of different eyeliner brushes for her to use - a bent one and an angled one. (Ulta Professional and EcoTools)

I selected numerous, various eye brushes for her.  (Alexis Vogel and a double-ended Urban Decay..the one that came with the Naked 3 Palette)

Stiff dome brushes, eyeshadow brushes, fluffy blending brushes, Elf, Merle Norman, Sonia Kashuk, etc.

No makeup brush collection is complete without a pencil brush, so I sent her a couple of those as well.

The only thing I actually went out and purchased for her collection was this set of double-ended brushes from Wal-Mart.  I don't know if I've ever mentioned these in a blog post before or not, but they are hands down the best makeup brushes you can get at a drugstore.  The first brush has a big, fluffy blending brush on one end and a regular eyeshadow brush to apply shadow on the other.  The 2nd one has a more stiff blending brush on one end, very similar to the Sigma E40, and a pencil brush on the opposite end.  And the last has a wonderful angled eyeliner brush on one end, and a brow spoolie on the other end.  These 3 brushes are really all you would ever need in makeup brushes for your eyes.  I've used these for a couple of years now, I added them to my Sigma travel makeup brush kit to take with me when I'm on the road.

And, my thinned out/organized brush caddy after my purge!!!!

I got rid of 32 brushes exactly, and it gave me so much more room!  It's so much easier to find my brushes that I actually reach for and use.  Plus, everything is not all jumbled and overcrowded - which can definitely lead to damaging your brushes.

And my mom's new makeup brush collection!  I think this is a great starter set for someone, it should be just about all she would ever need to put together any makeup look she was after.  Love my mom SO much, there's nothing I wouldn't do for her or give to her!

Hope you guys enjoyed!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!