he key to any beauty look starts with the foundation.

A perfect base is the starting point to building your makeup look, whether it’s a glamorous evening do or a lighter, natural look for days in the office.

While foundations are available in many forms - liquid, mousse, gel and powder - most only need one type of brush to help you apply them.

The makeup artist’s secret is a flat tapered brush or a stippling brush that allows you to distribute the foundation quickly and smoothly over your complexion.

With this in mind, we’ve found the best foundation brushes to help you ace your base. From big names in the beauty biz, to smaller companies, we’ve gathered the finest to add to your makeup kit.

A stalwart in the beauty world, Bobbi Brown has built a reputation focussed on fresh-looking makeup to enhance natural beauty since its inception. One of the ways it helps customers achieve this is with great tools - case in point, the full coverage face brush.

Ideal for liquid foundations in particular, it helps glide the formula over the face quickly and evenly for a ‘HD’ finish. It can be used wet or dry, so will work if you favour a mineral powder foundation too.

If you want to achieve a finessed beauty look, nail the foundation section with ease with a little helping hand from Huda Beauty. The brand has this double-ended brush ready to make light work of foundation application.

The Build pyramid-shaped brush targets awkward and delicate areas, while the Buff brush is for blending and ‘baking’ - a technique that sees loose powder packed onto high-crease or oil-prone areas to help the foundation set and create a seamless finish. Best used with Huda Beauty’s #FauxFilter Luminous Matte Full Coverage foundation (£36).

The short handle and domed bristle formation makes this the perfect tool to use on the go. Use the soft brush to blend and buff foundation, bronzer and blush over your face and even your decolletage and other limbs if you’re going for an uber glamorous look.

Crafted with vegan fibres and with a longer handle, Hourglass’ brush is shaped to mimic fingertip application, essentially making it an extension of your hand. It’s been designed to use with the brand’s Ambient Soft Glow Foundation, but will serve to buff and blend any foundation in your makeup kit to perfection.

Offering two brushes for the price of one, It Cosmetics has designed its Heavenly Luxe Complexion Perfection Brush to help you apply foundation as well as concealer with precision. The bristles are made from synthetic fibres which feel lovely and soft on the skin. A handbag hero, this brush makes it easy to reach tricky areas like around the nose and under-eyes while the larger end ensures you can buff the formulas in place without any streaky bits.

For light even coverage, a brush wins hands down over using your hands or fingertips. There’s just more control over the formula and where it’s going. Boots No7 Foundation Brush comes with a long stem to make it easier to hold and achieve a universally-coveted seamless base. You can purchase it separately or in the No7 Essential Brush Collection bundle (£44.95) which comes with a bottle of brush cleanser too.

For overnight stays and holidays - or just touching up on the go - a retractable foundation brush is worth its weight in gold. D&G Beauty has this Kabuki-style tool in a gold-coloured case which can be used wet or dry, and with all formula types.

Echoing a toothbrush design, this dense-bristles brush promises to leave foundation looking airbrushed on the skin. Simply squeeze a drop of liquid foundation onto the back of your hand, and dab with the brush, working it over your complexion until it’s buffed in. The wider surface area offers quick and easy coverage and will cut down your makeup time significantly.

Feel like a pro artist with this luxury foundation brush which not only features luxe branding but has a Y logo cut-out at the top of the high density bristles. Speed through the makeup process thanks to this tool which makes application a little bit more of a ritual rather than a chore.

Transform your beauty look with ease thanks to a little Charlotte Tilbury wizardry. The brand’s foundation brush has been hand-pulled by a master brush maker in Europe with the head the perfect shape and size for easy application. Dapple the formula over problematic areas first before buffing everything in for full and seamless coverage.

Also available at Charlotte Tilbury.