Take a peek into the kit of a professional makeup artist and you’ll see a dozen or more makeup brushes. What makeup artists know that the rest of us may not is that brushes are the secret to makeup that looks both polished and natural. They allow you to place foundation, concealer, shadow and blush with pinpoint precision. Brushes are also far better tools than fingertips for blending. Instead of lines of demarcation, stripes and edges, you can achieve seamless perfection. What’s more, brushes pick up far less product than your fingers do, which means your pricey compacts and tubes last a lot longer.

Ready to assemble a makeup brush kit? According to top makeup artists, these are the eight essential brushes every woman needs.

Foundation Brush
For liquid foundation, you have two choices. A traditional foundation brush is short and flat with stiff bristles for sheer, streak-free application. Another option is a short and round, flat-topped brush, sometimes called a “stippling brush” or -- because it has both natural and synthetic bristles -- a “duo” brush. Brett Freedman -- a celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Emily Blunt, Lisa Kudrow and Catherine Zeta-Jones -- is a fan of the duo brush. He first uses the brush to apply a light layer of moisturizer to the skin. “When I apply foundation with the same brush, there’s still a touch of moisturizer left, so you get a soft, dewy finish,” says Freedman.

Concealer Brush
Flat with a slightly pointed tip, this brush lets you get right up against the lash line and the inner corners of the eyes, where dark shadows lurk. Plus, you can cover zits or red areas, without spreading product on the surrounding skin and drawing attention to the imperfection you’re trying to hide.

Powder/Blush Brush
Soft, full and round, this multipurpose brush can be used for blush, bronzer and translucent powder. Remember to tap the brush lightly against the edge of your counter or sink to remove excess product. If you find you’re still applying more pigment to your skin than you’d like, consider a kabuki brush. This squat, dome-shaped brush spreads powder over a wider area for a more natural look. It’s a favorite tool of Anastasia Soare, a Los Angeles brow guru and makeup artist whose A-list client roster includes Jennifer Lopez and Penelope Cruz.

All-over Eye Shadow Brush
Small and dense with a rounded tip, this soft brush is used to sweep powder shadow over the lid. Apply a single layer of sheer color, or build dramatic hues with several layers.

Crease Brush
A tapered dome-shaped top allows this brush to nestle right in the crease of your eye, while the elongated shape makes it perfect for feathering the shadow. It’s a must-have for creating smoky eyes. “Starting on the outer corner of the eye, use a windshield-wiper motion to apply the color in your eye’s natural crease,” suggests Lusine Galadjian, a Hollywood makeup artist who works with music stars like Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus and Mariah Carey. Want to open up deep-set eyes? “Apply the color just above the crease,” she says.

Pencil Brush
This brush allows you to place shadow with pinpoint accuracy, and its dense fibers create smoky intensity. For a glam nighttime look, choose a shadow in a darker color than you’ve used on your lid or in the crease and apply it to the outer third of the eye, staying close to the lash line.

Angled Eyeliner Brush
Flat with an angled tip, this brush snuggles against the lash line to deliver a sharp strip of gel, cream or powder liner. “Start from the outer corner of your eye, which is where you want more of the color deposited, and work toward the inner corner,” suggests Galadjian.

Lip Brush
Sheer lipsticks and glosses can be applied right out of the tube, but bold colors with creamy or matte finishes call for more control. A small, stiff lip brush allows you to stay within the lines or extend your pout artfully.

Photo: Corbis Images

Saltwater, chlorine, surf-side breezes, the warming rays of the sun on a cloudless day … the elements of a perfect summer weekend can play havoc on your locks. But you can still maintain gorgeous hair -- and even get a conditioning boost from the sun with these easy summer hair care tips.

Use Moisturizing Products
Fried hair isn’t just a figure of speech in the summer: It’s a reality. The heat of the sun and the exposure to salt, chlorine and sand will open up the hair’s cuticle, stripping it of natural oils and leaving behind scorched strands. Use shampoos, conditioners and styling products that contain the words “moisturizing” or “hydrating” on their labels.

Shield Your Hair Color
“Just as there’s no such thing as a healthy tan, there’s no such thing as lightening your hair in the sun in a way that’s good for it,” says Beverly Hills hairdresser Jon Patrick. UV rays pull the warmth from color-treated hair, leaving behind locks that are faded and brassy. Even untreated hair can turn dull under the sun’s oxidizing rays.

If you're going to be outdoor during the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., make applying a hair care product that contains UV filters -- these can be in spray, gel or cream formulas -- as much of a daily habit as applying sunscreen.

Saturate Hair Before Taking a Dip
Drench your hair with clean water before you dive into the pool or the surf. “Your hair is like a sponge,” says Melissa Herst, a stylist at the DiPietro Salons in San Francisco. “If you coat it with clear water, it will soak that in instead of absorbing damaging chlorine or salt.”

Lasso the Power of the Sun
If you’ve ever sat under the dryer for 30 minutes at the salon while good-for-you ingredients soaked into your hair, you know how heat helps a deep conditioning product go even deeper. You can get the same dramatic results by applying a deep conditioner when you’re spending an hour or two at the beach or pool (just pack your favorite conditioning treatment in your beach bag).

Put Down the Heat Tools
With all the heat exposure you’re getting from the hot summer sun, you want to keep your use of hot styling tools to a minimum. “Blow-drying and flatironing your hair usually does not hold up well in the summer heat and humidity, so it’s better to use a styling cream or mousse and let your hair dry naturally,” says Dana Lulgjuraj, a stylist at The Butterfly Studio Salon in New York City. For that sexy beachy look, apply a curl-enhancing spray or cream throughout your hair, allow to air-dry (or speed up the process with a blow-dryer set to medium and a diffuser) and work in a light pomade to keep your hair soft and shiny.

Instead of a curling iron, add body or curl to your hair by using rollers on damp hair, says David Kastin, a senior stylist at the Julien Farel Salon. Let air-dry, then remove.

And remember, accessories can more than make up for less-than-polished tresses. “Get some cool pins and clips and just put your hair up,” says Kastin. “This also minimizes the amount of hair exposed to the sun.”

The sequence in which you apply serums, creams and cosmetics can be as important as the products themselves, so we asked a celebrity dermatologist and a makeup artist for their advice on what goes on when and why.

The Basics of Skin Care
Apply products with active ingredients that are designed to repair before you apply heavier products that protect. These “actives” include antioxidants, alpha hydroxy acids, peptides, vitamins and pigment lighteners. They contain molecules small enough to penetrate the outer layer of skin in order to get down to the deeper layers where they work to hydrate, brighten, smooth and firm the skin.

Heavier products, such as moisturizers and sunscreens, go on next because they function as shields, keeping UV rays out and moisture in, says Ava Shamban, M.D., who is the featured dermatologist on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover.” “If you make the mistake of topping a sunscreen with an antioxidant serum, the serum won’t be able to sink in since the cells are already sealed,” says Shamban. In other words, access denied, no matter how pricey or terrific the product may be.

The Basics of Cosmetics
Applying cosmetics in the right order results in a natural-looking finish and streamlines the process by preventing mistakes. “It has a lot to do with texture, such as not putting cream formulations on top of powdered ones,” says makeup artist Tonya Crooks, whose regular clients include Megan Fox and Fergie. Using a mineral powder foundation before cream blush will look blotchy because it will be hard to blend the blush. Lipstick should always go under lip gloss, so you can still achieve the shine you’re after.

Top Ten Beauty Rules of Order
Only a beauty-pageant contender would use all of the products that follow, but for purposes of illustration, here they are in their optimal order of application, after your morning cleansing routine.

1. If you use hydrating mists to plump up the skin, or gels for acne or rosacea, apply now. The mists soften the top layer of dead skin cells (the stratum corneum) and help conduct water-soluble products down to the deeper layers of skin.

2. Active ingredients in water-soluble gels and serums go on now. Examples are antioxidant serums, AHAs, peptides, vitamins C and E, ferulic acid, growth factors and pigment lighteners.

3. This is the time for moisturizer, which contains humectants to restore water to the skin and conditioners to soften it. Just as important, the moisturizer seals in the products that precede it.

4. Sun protection comes next. If your eyes are sensitive to the ingredients in regular sunscreen, use an eye cream with SPF that’s formulated to be nonirritating. On the rest of the face and neck, apply a broad-spectrum facial sunblock to fend off both UVA and UVB rays.

5. After allowing five to 10 minutes to let your sunscreen sink in, apply foundation. If you prefer the sheerness of a tinted moisturizing sunscreen, use that instead.

6. Whatever the foundation hasn’t covered gets painted over with concealer. A fine-tipped makeup brush works best to deliver concealer to blemishes, under-eye circles and red spots.

7. Translucent powder and powder blush go on next. (If you like a dewy look, skip the powder and apply cream blush instead.) Adding color to the cheeks at this step helps quell the urge to be heavy-handed on the eyes. “If you apply eye makeup to a pale face, it’s easy to overdo it,” says Crooks, “and then by the time you add blush, it all looks too theatrical.”

8. Eyebrow shadow or pencil, eye shadow and eyeliner are now up. Crooks prefers eyebrow shadows and pencils that are one shade lighter than your hair. If you use a pencil, it should be well-sharpened, hard and waxy to encourage the drawing of fine, hairlike strokes.

9. Mascara should be applied very carefully at this point to avoid smearing all of the good work that’s gone before it.

10. Lip treatments, lip liner, lipstick, and lip gloss are last, but not least. Chapped or dry lips should be prepped and plumped with a treatment cream or lotion. If you use lip liner, it goes on next, followed by lipstick, which can be topped off with lip gloss.

Here’s all that’s standing between you and your most beautiful, most manageable hair: a tiny bit of self-knowledge. Simply knowing your natural hair type will help you achieve smooth hair that holds its style through the whole day (curls that are defined and controlled, fine hair that doesn’t flop midday, etc.).

“If you understand your hair,” says Jeni Thomas, a research scientist on hair and scalp health for Pantene, “you not only know what it is capable -- and not capable -- of doing, but how best to work with it as well.” 

The Science of Hair Types
Think Avatar is the most important 3-D breakthrough? Consider this: The same kind of 3-D technology used in medicine to image and measure bone density is also being used to study the way multiple hair fibers interact. What researchers have discovered, says Thomas, is that different types of hair texture create different kinds of 3-D structures. This revelation is leading to customized product lines that can spell the end of bad hair days. 

We now know that the same shampoo and conditioning ingredients and formulations that keep curly hair shiny and healthy won’t give fine hair the body and volume it needs. Curly hair fibers form an intricate network that can act like a filter, trapping ingredients from shampoo and conditioners; what’s needed to prevent damage are products that minimize the friction between strands.

Fine hair fibers, on the other hand, arrange themselves in a parallel pattern that acts more like a funnel, so ingredients that moisturize and condition slip away rather than stick. The fix is a formula that helps those reparative ingredients grab on and stay.

The Basic Hair Types
Almost all hair -- 98 percent -- falls into four different structures:

1. Fine hair has up to 50 percent less protein than thicker hair, so it’s fragile and tends to fall flat.
   
2. Medium-thick hair can contain up to twice as many cells as fine hair, making it more rigid and capable of absorbing up to 40 percent more moisture than fine hair, which can lead to frizz.

3. Curly hair has twists and turns that can cause the cuticle to lift and weaken, leaving hair rough and difficult to control.

4. Color-treated hair has undergone a structural change in the chemical process that makes it more negatively charged than unprocessed hair -- that can mean hair that’s rough, dull and vulnerable to damage.

Why Hair Type Matters
Products formulated for your hair type will make styling easier; on the other hand, the wrong ingredients and formula will have you waging a losing war with your locks -- struggling to get the style you want, frustrated when it doesn’t hold. For example, as Thomas points out, “thicker hair tends to be more frizz-prone than finer hair, so for medium-thick hair to hold a style throughout the day, ingredients that offer hair some humidity resistance are extremely helpful.”

To keep fine hair from wilting midday, however, prep it with a shampoo containing polymers boosting its cleaning power and allowing these fragile strands to stand up to the weight of accumulated scalp oils, dirt and yesterday’s styling residue. Look for shampoos, conditioners and styling products that are especially designed for your hair type; you’ll find customized lines on your drugstore shelves.

The Right Cut for Your Hair Type

• Fine hair “Avoid overly razored cuts,” says George Papanikolas of West Hollywood’s Andy Lecompte salon, where you might spot such A-list clients as Madonna and Penelope Cruz. “Opt instead for a layered cut with blunt ends, which will leave the hair looking thicker.”

• Medium-thick hair Keep your hair at least a few inches below your chin. “You need some length to prevent your hair from getting too bulky,” says Mike Van Den Abbeel, owner of Mosaic Hair Studio in Orlando, Fla. “Long layers will also remove some weight and add definition to your style.” 

• Curly hair To avoid what veteran hairstylist Don Bewley describes as “curly hair that looks like a topiary,” ask for a cut that imposes some structure and shape on your ringlets. That means long layers -- no shorter than 6 inches -- save for a few shorter face-framing layers in front and a well-defined line at the ends.

Photo: @iStockphoto.com/fmbackx

Summer beauty is getting a makeover this year. The look is a bit bolder and more daring than in seasons past. It doesn’t require a whole arsenal of new products or techniques. But it does take a willingness to depart from your tried-and-true hot-weather makeup and hair regimens. Try at least a couple of these new tweaks, courtesy of celebrity makeup artist Tasha Reiko Brown. You’ll be surprised how effortlessly modern they look and feel.

1. Skip the lip gloss. Instead, apply creamy color straight from the tube. Choose lipstick with a satin finish in bright sorbet colors like neon peach, raspberry, cotton-candy pink, lush melon. “Satin formulas pack a lot of pigment,” says Brown, “but they’re a lot friendlier than matte lipsticks.” Matte may be a favorite on the fashion runways, but because the formulation lacks shine, it can look severe and dry on small lips and too intense on full lips.

2. Put down the bronzer. A summer staple, bronzer is taking a vacation this year. In its place, a straight-from-the-orchard burst of fruity color. Swap winter’s rosy hues for peach, berry and tangerine. To make sure these shades look fresh rather than clownish, apply the color right on the apple of your cheeks. Choose a gel or cream blush instead of a powder, and look for a finish that doesn’t have any shimmer to it. “You want the wash of color to melt right into your skin without any contouring or hard lines so it looks soft and natural,” says Brown.

3. Quit the smoky eyes. If you’ve never quite mastered those multi-step smoky eye tutorials, here’s good news: It’s out of fashion this season, replaced by a foolproof wash of color from lash line to crease. Choose a melon, light gray, or citrusy lemon or lime hue. Apply with a fluffy eye shadow brush.

4. Lighten up on lashes. While there’s not an actual back-lash taking place, fringes are getting a little less showy this summer. “If you do a really heavy lash with the colorful wash of shadow, you’re going to end up with a look that’s ‘80s rather than current,” says Brown. “You want to keep your lashes clean and defined.” Just curl and apply two coats of your favorite mascara to your top lashes.

5. Embrace your hair’s natural texture. The flat iron is banned this summer, says Brown. Instead, the coolest look for those hot days is an off-the-face, pulled-back hairstyle that tames -- but doesn’t totally subdue -- your hair’s texture. Smooth your hair with a light styling cream that will hold it in place. Then, gather into a classic ballerina bun. Now, run your hands over your hair toward your face, freeing up the short pieces that don’t make it into the bun. Spritz with a shine spray for a polished finish. The end result: on-purpose texture instead of out-of-control frizz.

Photo: @iStockphoto.com/iconogenic