I’m having a bit of a lip focus on the blog at the moment and I keep getting asked what my favourite lip brush is for applying lipsticks.There are many different shapes and types of lip brushes, the most common being the small oval shape which we all probably have.
If there is one brush that I continually spy in the kits of the best makeup artists then this is it. The ONLY lip brush you will ever need : All hail to the glorious Shu Uemura 7H..
Not only was Mr Uemura an absolute God in the world of creativity & Art, he developed a damn good set of makeup brushes which are my favourite luxe brand brushes by a long shot. They are all handmade perfectly and they really make application, blending and precision a lot easier.
The Shu Uemura 7H brush is a cult favourite because of it’s shape: It’s like 3 brushes in one. You have the curved/angled side which allows perfect precision to sit in the cupids bow and shape the lips and the you have on the other side, the flat edge/straight side and this allows for perfect straight edges to the lip and ultra precision. Not only the two sides here, but if you flip it to the side, you have the thinnest , most amazing pointed liner-type brush.
It’s made from Kolinsky (Sable) hair which is renowned as being one of the most exclusive and premium types of hair you can use for makeup brushes hence why any brush that uses this hair will have a pricetag. (The Kolinsky large eyeshadow brush from Shu is £102!) They will last a lifetime and really is the best quality that your money can buy. The bristles are soft yet have firm enough to allow for neat application and I have had mine years now and it is totally flawless, some of my other lip brushes have stained colours on them, have lost their shape etc but this one is almost as good as the day I purchased it. That’s the beauty of it being a natural-haired lip brush as opposed to your standard synthetic lip brush (99% of lip brushes are synthetic), if you used a normal natural hair for a lip brush then it would completely stick and absorb into the hair but with Kolinsky it is super easy to clean, re-shape and start again.
Below is my typical way of applying lip colour using this lip brush and to be honest, unless I want an Ombre lip, I will never both with lipliner . I start by filling in the general shape, so at the top first, then line the bottom, then into the sides, join it all up and then fill. 
It’s not cheap at £30, but I think it’s probably one of the best brushes I have ever purchased and if I lost this, I would have to part with another £30 as it really is irreplaceable! I also have the Shu Uemura 7F which is a flat top brush, which I use if I want a really pointed cupids’s bow, although really, you can still get this look with the 7H by flipping it around and using all of it’s perfect curves and points. Some artists prefer a straight up flat-topped lip brush,
again I have a fair few, I just prefer
the versatility of the 7H.
Have you seen or heard about the Shu Uemura 7H before? What is your go-to lip brush or do you not even bother? I only will use a lip brush when I am going for a super bold lip on myself, with lighter tones it’s really not necessary but you will see a big difference with your stronger pigments and shades.
