FYI: These Expert-Approved Makeup Brush Sets Will Transform Your Routine

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(Image credit: @tobimakeup)

Fact: Makeup brushes are the dark horse of any makeup routine. Often underestimated or forgone altogether by so many of us, they're perhaps one of the most important components of a celebrity makeup artist's beauty kit. They're artists, after all, and the strategic tools they use to sweep and buff product are crucial to the final look.

We fully realize we live in a time when convenience takes priority above all else, especially when it comes to our beauty routine. In an effort to save time and money, and without giving it a second thought, we've resorted to our trusted fingers to smear on our foundation in an Uber and have haphazardly dabbed on cream formulas like blush and eye shadow too many times to count in the office bathroom. The catch is that the end result, sadly, isn't reaching its full potential.

Don't get us wrong. Using what evolution has blessed us with for an impromptu primp and accepting that the Beautyblender might very well take over the world by 2022 (just our super-scientific approximation) is totally fine. And beauty editors and makeup artists like both! However, after experiencing our own application trials and tribulations over the years and sneaking peeks into the kits of the industry's most sought-after makeup artists, we've learned top-notch makeup brushes should not be underestimated. Better yet, even high-quality sets need not be heart-stoppingly expensive.

The right brush sets can dramatically improve the way our foundation melts into our skin or the way we line and stain our lips. For proof, we gathered together 21 crème-de-la-crème makeup brush sets you can buy, regardless of your budget. Sorted into three different buckets—save, spend, and splurge—our expert-approved options are below. Keep scrolling!

Save: $30 and Under

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(Image credit: @tobimakeup)

Spend: $30 to $70

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(Image credit: @tobimakeup)

Splurge: $70 and Up

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(Image credit: @tobimakeup)

Next up, The 13 Foundations Celebrity Makeup Artists Always Use on Women Over 40

This article was published at an earlier date and has since been updated.

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Beauty Director

Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content for Who What Wear for over four years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie and Who What Wear family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor. She considers her day-to-day beauty aesthetic very low-maintenance and relies on staples like clear brow serum (from Kimiko!), Lawless's Lip Plumping Mask in Cherry Vanilla, and an eyelash curler. For special occasions or days when she's taking more meetings or has an event, she'll wear anything and everything from Charlotte Tilbury (the foundations are game-changing), some shimmer on her lids (Stila and Róen do it best), and a few coats of the best mascara-type product on earth, Surratt's Noir Lash Tint.