20 of the Best Powder Brushes That Give You a Flawless Finish Every Time
Finding the best makeup brush is no easy feat—the market is loaded with them. But when it comes down to it, no amount of expensive makeup can give you a glowy, professional makeup artist-level complexion if your brushes aren't up to par. Needless to say, the search is necessary. With a flawless finish on the line, we took it upon ourselves to round up the 20 best powder brushes for quality results in no time.
When scouting the perfect powder brush, it should have enough surface area and density to apply powder foundation and translucent powder without leaving behind a cakey residue and also be flexible enough to dust on some blush and bronzer in a pinch. Whether you're using it as a foundation brush, a blush brush, contouring brush, or highlighter brush, these selects can make even the most novice makeup newbie look like a pro with every swipe.
The Best Powder Brushes At a Glance:
Best Overall: MAKEUP BY MARIO F1 Makeup Brush
Best Diffusing Brush: BAREMINERALS Supreme Finisher Brush
Best Liquid Foundation Brush: MERIT BEAUTY Brush No.1 Blending Brush
Most Innovative Brush: SHISEIDO Daiya Fude Face Duo
Best Budget Brush: REAL TECHNIQUES Ultra Plush Powder Makeup Brush
Best Buffing Brush: TARTE COSMETICS The Buffer Airbrush Finish Bamboo Foundation Brush
Best Setting Powder Brush: JENNY PATINKIN Blend + Set Brush
Best Splurge: ARTIS Fluenta Oval 8 Brush
Best-For-Your-Skin Brush: IT COSMETICS Heavenly Skin™ CC+ Skin-Perfecting Brush #702
Best Fluffy Brush: PAT MCGRATH LABS Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Powder Brush
Best Blush Brush: E.L.F. COSMETICS Blush Brush
Best Eco-Conscious Brush: COMPLEX CULTURE Press & Set • Bronzer Brush
Best-Looking Brush: F.A.R.A.H BRUSHES Powder Brush 50F
Best Shed-Proof Brush: SIGMA BEAUTY F30 Large Powder Brush
Best Cult-Favorite Brush: M·A·C COSMETICS 150 Synthetic Large Powder Brush
Best Cruelty-Free Brush: LUXIE BEAUTY LUXIE 520 Tapered Face Brush
Best For Sensitive Skin: SERAPHINE BOTANICALS V3 – Domed Powder Brush
Best Contouring Brush: HOURGLASS Ambient™ Powder Brush
Best Precision Brush: ROYAL & LANGNICKEL MŌDA® Prismatic LG Precision Powder Brush
Best Plush Brush: BEAU GÂCHIS Limited-Edition Powder Brush
The 20 Best Powder Brushes for Every Makeup Need:
1. Best Overall:
MAKEUP BY MARIO F1 Makeup Brush
Price: $$Size: Medium, SmallMaterial: Synthetic and natural fibers, dual-ended
If two heads are better than one, this dual-ended brush is the best addition you can make to your makeup bag. With tapered heads on both sides, this multiuse brush perfectly applies and blends cream complexion makeup products, including foundation, concealer, blush, bronzer, contour, and highlighter.
2. Best Diffusing Brush:
BAREMINERALS Supreme Finisher Brush
Price: $$Size: MediumMaterial: Synthetic
This brush boasts a dome shape and waved fibers that evenly pick up and distribute powders for the sheerest, most natural wash. And because the foolproof brush deposits product so delicately, it makes it impossible to apply too much. Use it with finishing powder to help set makeup without looking too cakey.
3. Best Liquid Foundation Brush:
MERIT BEAUTY Brush No.1 Blending Brush
Price: $$Size: SmallMaterial: Vegan
This makeup tool has densely-packed, vegan bristles that seamlessly buff liquid complexion products without streaks or cakiness. We especially love the slightly angled dome shape that makes wiggling into the contours of your face, like around your nose, a breeze.
4. Most Innovative Brush:
SHISEIDO Daiya Fude Face Duo
Price: $$$Size: LargeMaterial: Synthetic
This fluffy powder brush may look like your average (albeit gorgeous) vanity staple. While one end boasts a fire-engine-red composition of densely packed bristles to ensure products go on evenly and seamlessly, the other end is a major standout. A bouncy gel blender lends a fingertip-like application effect for tapping on liquid and cushion compact formulas, giving your makeup sponges a run for their money.
5. Best Budget Brush:
REAL TECHNIQUES Ultra Plush Powder Makeup Brush
Price: $Size: LargeMaterial: Synthetic
REAL TECHNIQUES is beloved amongst beauty junkies on a budget and those who prefer the finer things in life. Because while these brushes often cost less than your morning coffee, they, like the Powder + Bronzer Brush, feel high quality and provide a stunning streak-free finish every time. This fluffy favorite picks up any powder with ease and dusts it evenly over your skin every time.
6. Best Splurge:
ARTIS Fluenta Oval 8 Brush
Price: $$$Size: LargeMaterial: Synthetic
This oddly, albeit ergonomically, designed brush is a go-to for makeup artists and beauty aficionados alike. From applying liquids and blending powders to blurring and sculpting, there's not much this splurge-worthy brush can't do. It's even known to apply skincare products and self tanner over your face and body like a dream.
7. Best Buffing Brush:
TARTE COSMETICS The Buffer Airbrush Finish Bamboo Foundation Brush
Price: $$Size: LargeMaterial: Synthetic, cruelty-free, vegan
Who said you couldn't create an instant IRL filtered makeup look? This fluffy foundation brush buffs liquids into skin, giving your face an airbrushed effect. For best results, apply your liquid foundation along the face in soft, circular motions.
8. Best Setting Powder Brush:
JENNY PATINKIN Luxury Vegan Blend/Set Brush
Price: $Size: SmallMaterial: Synthetic
Whether you're prepping your makeup bag for summer months or just looking for a solution to combat your oily T-zone, this precision powder brush is the answer to setting those shiny areas. The JENNY PATINKIN Luxury Vegan Blend Set Brush is the perfect size for T-zone setting, not to mention pinpointing your highlighter. It's on the smaller side of powder brushes, so you have plenty of control.
9. Best-For-Your-Skin Brush:
IT COSMETICS Heavenly Skin™ CC+ Skin-Perfecting Brush #702
Price: $$$Size: MediumMaterial: Natural bristles infused with anti-aging collagen, silk, peptides, niacin, and antioxidants
Featuring IT COSMETICS' patent-pending Heavenly Skin™ hair infused with anti-aging collagen, silk, peptides, niacin, and antioxidants, the innovative brush technology improves the look of your skin instantly and over time. Pair it with your favorite skincare, CC creams, powders, foundations, and complexion products to blur the appearance of lines, pores, and imperfections for an airbrushed, flawless finish. It was developed by plastic surgeons, so you know it's good.
10. Best Fluffy Brush:
PAT MCGRATH LABS Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Powder Brush
Price: $$$Size: LargeMaterial: Synthetic
If you want a brush that's sure to impress, take it from a seasoned (and may we add, legendary) makeup artist like Pat McGrath. Her ultra-soft fluffy synthetic brush with a dome-shaped head makes it easy to diffuse your favorite powders and is sure to be the envy of all your friends.
11. Best Blush Brush:
E.L.F. COSMETICS Blush Brush
Price: $Size: SmallMaterial: Synthetic
The LBD of brushes, this simple black number from E.L.F. COSMETIC is affordable, versatile, and easy to dress up. The tapered head and soft synthetic fibers work wonders on the apples of your cheeks and provides soft sculpting on your cheekbones.
12. Best Eco-Conscious Brush:
COMPLEX CULTURE Press & Set • Bronzer Brush
Price: $$Size: MediumMaterial: Cruelty-free, 100% bioderadable
Aside from the fact that this multi-tasking powder brush is one of the most versatile makeup brushes out there, it's also designed with sustainability and accessibility in mind, two values we can get behind. The whole brush is cruelty-free, and the handle is 100% biodegradable with a velvety, matte, ergonomic texture to fits securely inside hands of all sizes and skill levels. Oh, and the bristles–don't even get us started on the bristles. It's one of our highest-reviewed brushes, with almost 85,000 reviews and a four-and-a-half-star rating.
13. Best-Looking Brush:
F.A.R.A.H BRUSHES Powder Brush 50F
Price: $$Size: MediumMaterial: 100% vegan bristles, synthetic
Does it get more princess-like than a fluffy, rose-gold powder brush? "Super cute and sassy!" one Ipster wrote, "Feels great on my face! I use it every day!" With luxurious, synthetic bristles and a super comfortable handle, this brush works great as a contour brush, blush brush, and a setting powder brush. A great feel and good looks? Score!
14. Best Shed-Proof Brush:
SIGMA BEAUTY F30 Large Powder Brush
Price: $$Size: MediumMaterial: Synthetic, patented shed-proof technology
This simple, large powder brush may look unassuming, but it boasts a rounded, fluffy, all-black brush head, a sleek ferrule (the metal part that connects the brush head to the handle), and a black handle that's sturdy enough to withstand all kinds of makeup application. The handle is made from responsibly-sourced wood covered in eight coats of paint to make it built to last beautifully. And SIGMA BEAUTY is known for its patented interlocking technology and double-threaded engineering that promises the bristles will never shed.
15. Best Cult-Favorite Brush:
M·A·C COSMETICS 150 Synthetic Large Powder Brush
Price: $$Size: MediumMaterial: Synthetic, rounded shape
We turn to M·A·C COSMETICS for nearly all of our makeup essentials, and powder brushes are no exception. This large, synthetic brush works for all of your powder needs. Need a blending brush? A concealer brush? A highlighter brush? You can't go wrong with this cult-favorite, 100 percent synthetic, and hand-sculpted brush. The full, dense brush head can pick up loose powder and pressed powder alike. Plus, you can apply it anywhere on your body, and the soft bristles will feel light and soft against the skin.
16. Best Cruelty-Free Brush:
LUXIE BEAUTY LUXIE 520 Tapered Face Brush
Price: $Size: LargeMaterial: Synthetic, cruelty-free, vegan
Applying highlighter, blush, foundation, eyeshadow, and whatever else you do during your makeup routine should feel as luxurious as a solo day at the sap. LUXIE BEAUTY clearly understood that when they made this sleek, rose gold, fluffy brush. Swirl some blush around your cheekbones, gently sweep bronzer along your jawline, and even dust setting powder all over your gorgeous face, and feel fabulous while doing it.
17. Best For Sensitive Skin:
SERAPHINE BOTANICALS V3 - Domed Powder Brush
Price: $$Size: LargeMaterial: Synthetic, 100% PETA-certified cruelty-free, vegan, allergen-free
The great thing about a domed powder brush is it comes in handy for allover dusting (hello, setting powder!) as well as somewhat more precise application (aka bronzer or highlighter). The domed powder brush by SERAPHINE BOTANICALS is crafted with dual-fiber, allergen-free, synthetic bristles that are also 100% vegan and cruelty-free. Blend powders and cover up pores and imperfections while feeling great about it.
18. Best Contouring Brush:
HOURGLASS Ambient™ Powder Brush
Price: $$$Size: LargeMaterial: Synthetic, cruelty-free
Whether you're setting your makeup look in place or adding a touch of bronzer or blush, this flat powder brush has got your back. Some prefer domed brush heads, and others prefer rounded heads, but the flat brush head comes in handy for bronzer touch-ups in the hollow of your cheeks and highlighter application along with the bridge of your nose or around your eye makeup.
19. Best Precision Brush:
ROYAL & LANGNICKEL MŌDA® Prismatic LG Precision Powder Brush
Price: $Size: SmallMaterial: Synthetic, cruelty-free, vegan
Trust us on this; you've never seen any brush quite like this one from ROYAL & LANGNICKEL. Thanks to its slender handle and angled brush, it resembles more of a toothbrush than a traditional makeup brush. The neon exterior and bright blue and purple bristles will truly make it stand out among the other brushes in your bag. Looks aside, it also easily reaches all the nooks and crannies in your face, blends contour and highlight, dusts setting powder, and blurs blemishes like a champ, too.
20. Best Plush Brush:
BEAU GÂCHIS Limited-Edition Powder Brush
Price: $Size: MediumMaterial: Synthetic, cruelty-free, vegan
Fluffy powder brushes like this are the ultimate tools for creating a matte, velvety-smooth complexion. This BEAU GÂCHIS brush has loosely packed, ultra-soft vegan bristles that feel great on the skin and sweep up powders flawlessly. For all you makeup minimalists, this multitasking tool can also be used to blend powder blush, bronzer, and even finishing powders. It’s one brush you’ll always look forward to using.
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