When you come to rely on a certain beauty tool or product, isn’t it hard to imagine how you ever got by without it?

That’s how it is with my MAC 225 Tapered Blending Brush. My eye makeup before I had this brush is just a hazy, distant memory. What the heck was I doing?

This brush, which is relatively big for an eye makeup brush, is my trusty tool for blending eyeshadow. Its fluffiness, with just enough firmness, allows it to wisp over eyeshadow, blending it seamlessly, but not into oblivion.

I use this brush in a gentle, back and forth motion to blend my eyeshadow once I have all the colors on, or sometimes use it to blend out the corner of my eye makeup if I’m wearing a particularly dark shade.