I have a serious problem with collecting make up brushes

 One of my least favorite jobs as a make up artist is kit packing.

I love make up brush cleaning which a lot of people hate but for some reason, I hate packing. I think its the fear of missing something I will need later or possibly bringing useless stuff. Also, up until now, my kit hasn't been on wheels so whatever I pack can possibly weigh me down.

I also realise now how out of control my brush collection is. Ooops. I started when I worked for MAC collecting all new brushes. I threw out my old kit (it was four years old and battered) and started to collect new ones. I now have a collection of over 100 different ones including MAC, Make Up Forever, Bobbi Brown, Real Techniques, Urban Decay, Sephora and Tom Ford. I don't want to stop collecting either which is scary.

My brushes are normally stored in Tiger pots on the work surface and I keep smaller ones in a jar. I don't take short handle brushes to jobs with me. I find it unprofessional - no idea why - but I do! Weird!

My brush belt can't hold all the brushes any more so now, I'm on the hunt for a storage box that I can keep the excess in when I travel. On big shoots, I whip through the brushes so fast that I need all of them with me as I may not have time to wash and dry spares. I do bring brush cleaner with me but not today. I remember one shoot with about ten models who all needed make up quickly including graphic liner and I just couldn't clean the brushes fast enough. So I started firing dirty brushes into a box and replacing with my other new ones. I have about 15 slanted liner brushes, 8 pointed, 1 bent angle, 1 super small and two completely useless brushes for liner.

Surprisingly, my favorite brushes are not MAC. I like my MAC collection but Bdellium are my favorite. Sadly, not easily available in the UK unless you live in London and know Tilt Cosmetics well. I love these as they are PRO quality with so many varieties that its hard to collect them all. I am especially in love with their selection of colorful brushes, vegan brushes and special FX brushes. I am determined to collect more this year.

My least favorite is Bobbi Brown. I can't stand them. If its not the chunky liner brushes that cause my lines to go crooked then its the super scratchy bristles that seem to destroy product. I have a few of these and they are never ones I reach for but ones I use if everything else is gone. I feel bad but that's just how it is. I stopped collecting these after I got about five useless brushes and switched to Tom Ford instead. Honestly, useless brushes.

My most expensive purchase has been my Tom Ford brushes. I will admit to having a PRO MUA discount on these so it wasn't too bad a hit but I own a brush worth £80. I don't feel great about that! I do love the brushes though. They are incredibly soft, easy to use and generally gorgeous. However, I wouldn't have spent £80 on it. Simple. My best buy brushes are Real Techniques. I'll say up front that I haven't tried the metal collection as I know some people are upset about the quality of these not being as good as the main line.

However I really enjoy the mainline collection brushes. I think for a set that costs under £30, they really aren't bad. I know there are so complaints about the handles of the brushes long term but I really enjoy them. I just wish the handle was slimmer so it fitted into my belt a bit easier. I think that might be the rubber on the handle though.

So there you go.

A list of my brushes and feelings about brushes!