Contouring can play a vital role in enhancing your natural facial structure and flattering your features.
When it comes to the smaller areas of your face – the nose, brow bone, and around the eyes – precision is important, which means finding the right size and shape brush for the job.
This curated selection features our most popular contour brushes for smaller areas. If you're looking for larger contour brushes, please see this article.
mizuho
PM-13 Nose and Highlight Brush
"Hard to find this kind of shape. Good for nose contour." (Jane)
"Perfect length and diameter for nose and eye socket contour for a natural wash of color. Perfect for highlighting and set undereye powder... Oh and so, so soft at super reasonable price. Highly recommended and please buy a few for backup too." (D)
Mizuho
MB125 Blending brush, MB Series
"Grey squirrel brush which is very versatile, you can use it for overall shadow application, blending as well as contouring. I love the minimalist esthetic of Mizuho brushes." (Diana Z)
"This is a really great brush, it’s lightweight and it fits my eye perfectly. The brush picks up powder and creates the most amazing gradation of colors ever... This brush also works for my nose contour when I use bronzer and want a light application. This a definitely a versatile brush and it’s amazing." (Keema W)
chikuhodo
FO-5 Eyeshadow Brush
"DEFINITELY WORTH IT. This brush is very soft and perfect for what I purchased it for. I was looking to have this specifically to apply my under eye powder, and it does that perfectly. The application is smooth and even." (Nilsa, USA)
chikuhodo
GSN-8 Eyeshadow Brush
"This type of bristle is beyond amazing, because it is resilient/durable and a true workhorse that can be used with creams or powders, wet or dry... The tapered shape allows one more precision than one might originally think. You can also use it for nose contour or to do spot concealing of age spots, blemishes, etc. It also works great for applying concealer to the undereye area." (Shazia, USA)
chikuhodo
T-6 Eyeshadow Brush
"It’s so versatile! I use it to sweep colours all over my eyelids, and contour my nose and apply highlighter. If you want, you can definitely use it to contour your face as well. The bristle is soft and just picks up the right amount of product. I’m in love!" (Cc, USA)
"Softest goat-hair brush I have ever used, very elegant with the matt finish, I use for setting under my eyes and contouring my nose." (RE, UAE)
koyomo
Tsuki Hana-nuri Eyeshadow Brush
"Silky soft and versatile eye brush. I love a round brush with a tapered tip to the bristles. And this is so soft but have some bounce back. This brush makes it easy to do details work at the outer and inner corner of the eye as well as to contour or crease the eye sockets." (Grace J, Australia)
kyureido
KK-003 Large Eyeshadow Brush
"The grey squirrel is so soft and airy on the skin, you hardly feel it - definitely top grade quality. It is "large" for Asian eyes, so perfect for all eye shapes and sizes. As well as blending out eye shadow seamlessly, it's great for powdering concealer under the eyes; blending out nose contour and/or just spot powdering on specific spots of the face (between the brows, chin, tip of the nose)." (Kayla, Australia)
bisyodo
B-ES-02 Large Eyeshadow Brush, Long Series
"The grey squirrel is so soft and airy on the skin, you hardly feel it - definitely top grade quality. It is "large" for Asian eyes, so perfect for all eye shapes and sizes. As well as blending out eye shadow seamlessly, it's great for powdering concealer under the eyes; blending out nose contour and/or just spot powdering on specific spots of the face (between the brows, chin, tip of the nose)." (Kayla, Australia)