1. Oil Brushes Traditionally used by Oil painters, the standard oil brush shapes are: Filbert- shaped like a filbert nut; Bright- flat with short bristle; Flat - flat with long bristle; Fan - shaped like a fan and sometimes referred to as a fan blender; Round - shaped like a bullet which comes to a blunt point. Many oil mediums contain solvents or oils in such concentration that they could present a hazard to the oil brushes.

2. Natural bristle doesn't come to a point, it actually has two or three splits at the end, these are called 'flags'. This allows the bristle to hold more paint, with use, the 'flags' often change color after being stained by strong pigment, but this has no detrimental effect on the oil brush. Besides using bristle brushes for oils, sable & synthetic mixed or synthetic is also used. The sable and sable/synthetic mix usually gives a softer, smoother look to the applied paint, these are also useful for detail work. The synthetic type, range from soft to bristle effect.

3. Painting Brushes Painting brushes are highly efficient for painting all areas, small, medium or large and for all types of paint. Oil painting brush is made from stiff or soft hairs, which can be either natural hairs or synthetic fibers. Soft brush are ideal for thin paint which spreads easily, and for detailed work as they form a sharp point which allows for precision painting. Robust, hard brushes are ideal for pushing around thick paint and for creating brush marks in the paint. Filaments used in paint brushes are hog bristle and other animal bristles, as well as man-made filaments, both tapered and level, including nylon, polyester and other level synthetics. Tapered polyester filaments are recommended for all paints.

4. They do not absorb water or lose resiliency as do natural bristles and nylon. Natural bristles work well only with oil-based paints. Nylon can be used with latex paints or oil-based paints. Oil Painting brushes have a high percentage of bristles with flagged (split) ends, which is important for holding and spreading paint. The better the flagging, the more paint a brush will hold and the fewer the brush marks left on the painted surface.

5. Watercolor Brushes Watercolor brushes typically have long, absorbent hairs and the best ones are made of natural fiber. By tradition, a watercolor brush has a short handle, since the artist executes fine detail and works close to the paper or medium. High- end watercolor paint brushes, such as Kolinsky sable pointed rounds and red sable rounds are prized for their ability to keep a fine point, useful for detail work. The cost and scarcity of high-quality natural fibers has fostered the development

6. of good synthetic alternatives. Synthetic watercolor brushes can be used with other media. Brushes used in watercolor are usually made of soft hair, although bristle brushes are occasionally employed by some painters. Pure red sable watercolor brush are universally considered the best since they are soft, resilient, and have excellent points. Well-made red sable brushes are very expensive, but substitutes, such as "camel hair" brushes, exhibit noticeable differences which make them harder to control. Fine sable brushes may be purchased in quill mounts without wooden handles, as well as in metal ferrules, which are attached to handles. Watercolor paint brush shapes usually found in a watercolorist's arsenal are rounds, flats, mops and riggers.

7. Cosmetic Brushes Cosmetic brushes are the most important beauty tool, for makeup and styling and with proper care, these brushes can even last a lifetime. Traditional cosmetic brushes of high quality is almost similar to artists' brushes. The only differences are in the length of the handles and some times the color of the ferrules. The construction of cosmetic brush is divided into three parts: the hair, the ferrule (metal part) and the handle. There are many hair types used in making cosmetic brushes. Natural hair cosmetic brush is usually made from Squirrel hair, Pony hair,

8. Goat hair or blends such as Squirrel Mix and Squirrel Blends and are used mostly in the manufacture of larger cosmetic brushes such as powder brush, blush brush, contour blending brush and some larger eye-shadow brushes Other soft cosmetic brush are also be made from the different types of sables or pahmi hair and are more commonly used for smaller cosmetic brushes such as sable lip brush, medium and smaller sable eye shadow brushes and eyeliner brushes. Natural bristles are also used for slant eyebrow brushes or groomers, etc. Two most common synthetics used in makeup brushes today are Nylon and Taklon.

9. The most common metal tubes or ferrules for cosmetic brushes are made of brass, copper or aluminum. Today, cosmetic brush handles can range from acrylics to fancy metals. Most makeup artists prefer wood handles for both durability and control. These brush handle may come in a wide variety of colors and shapes.

10. Makeup Brushes Make-up brushes are manufactured to last for years and not only make applying make-up easier, but also get a much better look. There are different manufacturers, sizes, functions and materials used to make these brushes. The bristles of makeup brushes can be natural as well as synthetic. Sometimes synthetic bristles are more durable for the job they do, like working with cream consistencies. As an entire group, the best makeup brushes include everything from a commonly shared application brush, like a large powder brush, to specialty needs brushes like a mascara fan. Few important makeup brushes are:

11. Concealer Brush: Ideal for blending under eye, concealer brush generally have square head to tapered corners. Made from fine quality natural as well as synthetic hairs, these have long handle, good weight and are great for application precision. Foundation Brush: Ideal for liquid or cream foundations, these brushes are fairly large, with wide, tapered flat head. Large Powder Brush: Ideal for loose powder, these brushes can also be used for compacts with pressed powder and loose beads. These are large, full, rounded brush (dome shape), and can also be use to brush off excess powder.

12. Blusher Brush: These have full, large head with slight tapering (not as large as powder brush) designed for even distribution and natural looking definition across the cheeks and cheekbone. Eye shadow Brush: These brushes are designed for sweeping color across eye lids and blending. Usually possessing square head, medium to large, with slight taper at corners, flat, a bristle head that is firm but soft for the delicate eye area. By using its edge, it can be used for defining eyelid crease.

13. Slanted Brush: These brushes are designed for application of fine lines such as close to the lash line, blending and softening color edges and have a small, narrow, angled, flat brush head with soft but firm bristles. Lip Brush: Designed for blending lip liner and lipstick applications, these brushes are great for blending lipstick colors too. These are small, narrow, flat tapered edge brushes. Eyebrow/ Eyelash Brush: This brow brush is perfect for shaping the brows, separating eyelashes and removing and mascara clumps or debris.

14. Shaving Brushes All of the shaving brushes provide a lathery shave, but there are several styles to choose from. Shaving brushes comes in several different and distinct grades that determine price and performance. A shaving brush is made up of two major parts: the handle, and the bristle load. Handle materials today tend to be wood, metal, or some synthetic. By far the most popular handle today is synthetic. It can be any one of many materials: nylon, plastic, micarta, or one of several modern composites. Advantages of the synthetics are moisture resistance, colorfastness and breakage resistance.

15. Bristle materials are much more varied today then in the past primarily due to the variety of synthetic materials available now that didn't formerly exist. Pure Synthetics, the materials typically described as "nylon," "Luma," "man- made," "hypo-allergenic," and a variety of other un-natural available. Generally, men's shaving brushes are made of boar and badger bristles. Both kinds of bristles work sounding names are the latest additions to the choices up lather and provide a good shave.

16. Typically, boar is stiffer and may even be preferred by men with course hair or when extra scrubbing action is desired. Badger is more expensive and comes in different grades. Badger is generally softer and more flexible. Generally there are three grades of badger bristle widely used for mens shaving brushes. They are typically described as Pure Badger, Best Badger, and Silvertip Badger.

17. Styling Brushes A variety of hair styling brushes, ranging from natural bristle to wooden quills is available to accommodate different hair types. A good quality styling brush is extremely durable and comes with maximum control, snag-free styling. Styling brushes are all-purpose brushes that usually have six to nine rows of straight tufts of bristles. Hair styling brush have excellent blow drying performance and are used by hair dressers to smooth, shape and polish small, medium and long hair. The various styling brushes are:

18. off after using a round brush to straighten wavy Paddle Brush: These are distinguished by their size and cushion type base from which the bristles protrude and are larger and flatter than the cushion brush and are used when you have lots or long hair to deal with. They are great to smooth naturally straight hair or to finish or curly hair.

19. Vented Brush: This brush has widely spaced, flexible bristles. Openings in the head, where the bristles are attached, allow for good airflow. Today, vented brushes are primarily used for drying hair because they offer superior airflow, making short work of moisture. Cushioned brush: This category of brushes includes the oval-shaped cushioned brush with padded head, used for simply brushing out the hair and the flat paddle brush with an air cushion that's used exclusively for long hair. The latter is an invaluable tool, by the way, because the cushion and bristles are designed to collapse anytime they meet resistance; hence, they prevent long hair from being stretched, split, or broken.

20. Round brush: Many round brushes have wooden or plastic handles with a variety of grips that ensure good traction and fit the hand. Round brushes are used to have some bend or curl in the hair

21. School Brushes School brushes are young artist's favorite painting tool and their smooth tips are excellent for coloring & drawing. Excellent quality high school brush are used for ceramic and basic school art classes. Available in several shapes and sizes, the brush is mostly made up of the wooden handle, ferrule, the metal band into which the bristles are inserted fastening them to the handle and the bristles, either natural or synthetic hairs or a combination of the two. The various school brushes are:

22. Flat Brush: The flat brush has many uses, from base coating large areas with a single color, side loading for highlights and shadows, and double loading for beautiful stroke work. Angle Brush: The angle brush serves many purposes from getting into tight corners with the narrow tip, side loading to achieve soft floats to creating lovely stroke work roses and leaves

23. Filbert: The filbert is a flat with rounded corners. The brush design makes it a good choice for base coating in tight places. It is also used for some basic stokes and is especially nice to use for making leaves and petals. Round Brush: The round brush is ideal for stroke work because its long, full bristles hold enough paint to enable the painting of flowing lines.

24. Liner/Script: The liner brush's long thin bristles are crafted for carrying a large amount of paint to create flowing lines, vines, scrolls, and a variety of borders, etc. The liner should always be used with paint thinned to an ink- like consistency, and is also fully to the ferrule. Rake (Comb) : A rake is in essence composed of several liner brushes all held together within a flat ferrule. It should be treated like a liner, loaded with thinned paint and is used for grass, fur, beards, etc.

25. Mop: The mop brush is a round brush with a large, full bristle resembling a blush brush. It is used to soften and blend wet colors, generally floated areas or for softening the blending of the wet-in-wet technique. Deer foot : It can be used wet or dry depending on the desired effect to create a variety of texture effects such as grass, foliage, fur, etc.

26. Hobby & Craft Brushes Hobby & craft brushes are made, using the best material and are ideal for use on various surfaces such as glass, fabric, ceramic, wood, etc. Created by skilled tufters, these brushes are available in a flattering array of brushes - rounds, liners, flats, filberts, fans, angular, mops, daggers, deer foot etc. These craft and hobby brushes are perfect for many mediums and can be used with oils, acrylics, tempera, watercolors, poster paints, and more. Watercolor, tole and decorative and other craft and hobby brush generally have short handles, as paint is generally applied while working on a table or on a slightly slanted table, such as a drawing board.

27. Long-handled brushes are usually reserved for easel work, so the artist may distance himself from his work. These brush have metal ferrules, either copper, brass or aluminum. Brass, an alloy metal, is the strongest of the three. Though sometimes left plain or with a clear or gold colored coating, copper and brass ferrules are usually nickel-plated for appearance and corrosion resistance.

28. Hobby & craft brush come in a variety of sizes, from tiny fine detail brushes to large brushes for painting vehicles and scenery. These are multi-purpose brushes for painting on all surfaces and for decorative painting. These are also used to carry and evenly distribute a heavy load of paint. A variety of low price brushes are available for one time users, kids craft, base coating and more. Hobby & craft brush are made of synthetic fibers are now a common sight in art stores. At the same time, these are also being experimented for make-up applications. A good & economical alternative to natural hair brush, these are available in a wide variety of textures and colors.

29. Made using polyester filaments of different thickness, synthetic hair now offers almost all properties of natural hair including color retention, spring-back, strength and fine tips.