Recently one of my cousins looked at my makeup brush collection starting with awe and then with the assertion that you just can't have enough nice makeup brushes. I AGREE. I have to admit that my brush collection just seems to keep growing as I keep wanting to try out new and different brushes, but this year there have been a handful that I always go back to and that I pretty much use every single time I put on my makeup. In all honestly, as I sat down to make a list of my favorite brushes for the year, it was very, very clear exactly which ones I would be choosing. These, to me, are just the most favorite of favorites in a very large collection of brushes.

Keep reading to take a closer look at my favorite, most used brushes from the past year!

We've all heard about the amazing performance of the original beautyblender by now and how it gives a beautiful, airbrushed finish to every makeup look... But I think a lot of us balk at the price point, because over $20 for a sponge is just a little more than we can justify. And then, when Real Techniques released their Miracle Blending Sponge everyone was pretty much dying to get their hands on it and everyone was talking about it's a dupe for the beautyblender at a much lower price point. But how do they stack up? And for us Canadian girls, is there a comparable drugstore dupe at an even lower price point? I wanted to take a look at 3 different blending sponges and put them to the test in a SPLURGE VS. SAVE Faceoff! Like my other Faceoff's, I'm going to compare them by 3 different categories: Value, Design, and Performance.

For the full comparison and my ultimate pick, keep reading!

My brush collection exploded somewhat in 2014. I feel like there's a kind of path that most people take when they start to get more and more into beauty products, with the focus shifting through different products over time, and I think that the brush obsession stage hits all of us at some point. Or at least, that's what I'd like to think. Not gonna lie, my collection is kinda ridiculous at this point and I know that I should probably go through and pare down my collection somewhat... but why would a junkie collector like me want to do that? Anyway. Even with a huge collection of brushes, I find that there are the ones that I find myself reaching for every day over all the rest. This was actually the hardest list to compile so far, but at the end of the day I feel pretty good about my choices because they really are my most used brushes this year. I suspect, however, that this list could end up being very different next year.

Keep reading to take a look at my Top 5 must have brushes of 2014...