The Age Old Question : Do I invest in Makeup or in Makeup tools and brushes?

This is a wonderful mooting point to ponder over but nonetheless a concern for the self indulged and aware makeup addict. It's difficult to choose between good quality makeup products or good quality tools to apply that makeup, which is a very real issue as neither are sold in Poundland so finding a compromise can be tricky.

Nonetheless I will do my best to explain my stance on this as best as I can, and as much as I hate to admit it, my answer is not able to be a direct 'Always invest in good quality makeup over brushes' or 'Always invest in good brushes over good makeup' but I'll do my best to not give a wishy washy politicians answer.

So, I'm going to use an analogy now, and the best I can think of is soup. There is method to this I promise. Imagine you are planning to cook a tomato soup. and you have a set budget to make a batch. The money is not enough to allow you to buy the tip top rainbow dazzle organic juicy tomato's and the super duper whizzy stainless steel blender, so some strategy may have to be used, after some thought, the following options you have are:

1. Use the finest tomatoes known to man, but have no money left for a blender, so you resort to having to use a potato masher to make your soup - the result being lumpy, weird thing in a bowl that isn't really soup at all.

2. Use mid range tomatoes, and a budget blender, the motor burns out on the blender, but the soup is just fine, nothing to write home about.

3. Use the super duper whizzy stainless steel blender and tomatoes from the reduced section which have a green fuzz forming over them and an unidentifiable oozing - the result being moldy soup

I think that was rather a long winded way of getting out what I wanted to say. But ultimately it's illustrating that you'd be better off buying less makeup, and less brushes and only middle price/quality versions of both, rather than a spectacular set of brushes with crummy makeup, or splashing out on Lancome eyeshadow quads and then having to use your fingers to apply a smokey eye.
To me, there just is no one without the other, there is no investing in one and neglecting the other. If you need makeup, you need tools to apply it too.

So if someone were to say to me 'should I invest in Makeup or in brushes?' I would say, if you can only have one, save your money and invest in neither!

The best part of this whole thing, is that, we really don't need to choose anymore. We have such a lot of low-mid range choice in both products and brushes.
For super bargain makeup tools I'd recommend looking for shops on Ebay and Amazon, (check the feedback and reviews first)
or Models Own
or Eco Tools
or E.L.F

For super bargain makeup I'd recommend
MUA (The undress me palette and highlighting powder are particularly good
Sleek (Highly pigmented eyeshadows and blushers
Revlon (Top quality foundations and lip products)

Makeup shoppers on a budget (and lets face it, who isn't?) might find it useful to hop back to yesterdays post where I divulge the four, yes, just four essential brushes in every kit. I think most 'normal' makeup users can be pretty much satisfied with just those four, which makes compromising between cosmetics or tools that much easier.