All hail “20B” the Goddess of Brushes, for she is the new Queen of my makeup bag. She succeeds the previous Queen, Queen Prescriptives Powder Brush, who after ten long years of service, has finally died. Well, not actually died, but let’s just say she doesn’t have much hair left. I mean bristles. Oh, enough personifying of inanimate objects; let’s talk makeup!

The Shu Uemura 20B is a large powder brush with soft, flexible bristles made from goat hair. (“Nyaa-aaa-aaa”. That was a goat noise). It picks up just the right amount of product (bronzer, face powder, illuminator) and applies it to a relatively large area.

Now if you’ve seen my bronzer videos you’ll know that my preferred method of application is using a large brush and just whacking it on in four huge sweeps (under cheekbones and sides of temples). This may look very slap-dash to the inexperienced eye, but actually what I’m doing is letting my brush do the work. By using exactly the right size brush, I can contour my face really simply with a few strokes.

The 20B is the perfect size – very similar (perhaps slightly smaller) to my trusted Prescriptives brush, but a whole lot nicer in quality, if truth be known. This is a brush for life, so expect to see it in bronzer videos and makeup demonstrations from this day on!

The 20B Powder Brush, £41 from Shu Uemura.