Alexander Straulino/Trunk Archive

Six years ago, a Florida college freshman named Michelle Phan opened up a MacBook Pro, on loan from her school, and uploaded to YouTube a video of herself putting on makeup. She called the clip, which was edited down to about seven minutes with overdubbed audio, "Makeup Tutorial: A Natural Approach." The lesson—which included tips on applying concealer, foundation, liquid eyeliner, mascara, blush, lipstick, and lip gloss—went viral, generating 40,000 hits in one week; today, the total number stands at just over 10 million.

Related: Michelle Phan's guide to taking the perfect selfie

One of the most striking constants in Phan's now 270-clip beauty-video library is her reliance on makeup brushes to distribute concise, concentrated doses of pigment. This technique has also become the hallmark of YouTube beauty gurus such as Kandee Johnson, From Head To Toe, and Blair Fowler, whose recent post titled "My Everyday Fall Makeup Tutorial" included 23 steps and 11 different brushes. Even Kim Kardashian's video tutorial on her trademark lavish eye look, which she affectionately refers to as "The Kimmel," includes 12 steps and nine brushes. By bringing to the masses advanced tricks once only attempted by the pros, videos such as these have ushered in a new era of makeup complexity: Why do something with three easy pieces (or with the no-frills eye shadow applicator that's included in any palette) when you can use a whole arsenal?

Part of the appeal of a brush-happy application is its ability to obliterate any perceived flaw, rewriting features rather than just subtly enhancing them. "I do think this tool movement bred a lot more confidence," says makeup-loving actor Drew Barrymore, creator of Flower, the extensive cosmetics collection launched in collaboration with Walmart earlier this year. "You know exactly what to do with your face and how to achieve it. That's kind of cool."

The end result, however, can be decidedly less so: If the application is too heavy and precise, a look created with brushes can come off as dated, not to mention the opposite of high fashion, which has long favored a more undone look (see Wang, Alexander and McCartney, Stella). Fingers are better "for doing raw, fresh beauty," says Diane Kendal, the makeup artist who created the supernatural glow for the spring 2014 Proenza Schouler show (which starred '90s supes Kirsty Hume and Georgina Grenville). "Lived-in" is the way Gucci Westman describes the specific, Kate Moss–esque finish she's after when she uses her fingers to dab on eye shadow, blush, and lipstick: a casually pretty look the Revlon global artistic director has made a mainstay backstage at Rag & Bone.

Related: Watch Drew Barrymore's brush-free makeup tutorial for ELLE

Inspired by her own beauty education, Barrymore designed much of her line, including her new Eyeshadow Chubbies, to be applied with your fingers. "The makeup artists I worked with when I was a teenager all used their hands. And I loved it. They would smear base makeup on a plate and mush it all together and then pat it all over your face, and you'd have the most beautiful skin you'd ever had in your life," she says. "I feel like I trust myself more than I trust the brush."

Amanda Schwab/StarPix

For most pros, the appeal of finger-painting isn't just that it results in a less contrived look than does the ultraperfect paint-by-numbers approach, it's also more playful, and more tactile. "I like when pigments, creams, and powder shadows melt into the skin," says Pat McGrath, P&G's multitalented global creative design director. "There's nothing better than mixing your foundation with moisturizer in the palm of your hand and then applying it to your face with your fingers like you would a cream, then tapping a bit more moisturizer on the cheekbones. It makes the skin look really alive."

Shiseido artistic director Dick Page relies on the power of touch to help with portion control. "Everyone always overdoses on concealer, so I'm constantly doing this," Page says, swiping his fingers across his cheekbones in illustration. "As you touch the face, you remember there are bones there, there is flesh—it's 3-D." Through touch, a makeup artist can connect to the "canvas" he or she is working on, and use it as a guide for where to apply product.

Though there are some makeup aficionados who fall passionately in either the brush or finger camp, most alternate between the two approaches depending upon the technical requirements of the textures with which they're working: "As a general rule of thumb, powders need brushes, and creams are good with fingers," Giorgio Armani Beauty's international makeup artist Linda Cantello says, explaining that the heat in your fingers can melt creams, making them easier to press seamlessly into the skin—"I love to use my fingers when applying concealers, foundations, and so on, as I just feel the warmth of my fingers seems to help the product blend easier," she says.

Clé de Peau Beauté color creator Lucia Pieroni, who is a favorite among designers such as Rochas' Marco Zanini and Vera Wang for an approach that favors understatement rather than over-the-top theatrics, uses her digits almost exclusively. "For lips, I use my thumb, or I do that," she says, mimicking the motion of pressing pigment into pouts with her index finger. "The ring finger does a lot of things too," she says, reasoning that its position on the hand and the size of its tip makes it an excellent tool for blending shadow and smudging liner on the upper eyelids; she reserves her pinky finger for lower lids. And as for ensuring the longevity of creams that are swept onto the skin with fingers, Pieroni is against setting them with powder. "You defeat the object if you apply powder," she says (the object being a certain level of welcome unfussiness). "The only powder I'd do would be here," she says, motioning between her brows, "or here, just for shine," she adds, sliding her finger down the length of her nose.

For McGrath, finger-painting is a much more "effortless and modern" approach to makeup. At Miu Miu's spring 2014 show, for example, she dabbed pastel-colored cream eye shadow onto models' lids, intentionally applying it unevenly. "We wanted it to be slightly faded in the center, not perfect. It gives it a more lived-in look. It wasn't about, Let's make the most perfectly shaded eye socket. That's great for an Instagram of one eye, but no one wants to live like that."

Using your fingers and following your instincts—as opposed to using brushes and following a diagram or video—results in a makeup look that's "more true" says McGrath. "Women are expected to be perfect at so many things, and then they're sitting at home at night trying to learn how to do a 20-point eye on YouTube? No one should feel pressured to be so skilled. The sexiest makeup is a bit worn off. The sexiest makeup is when it's about self-expression. When you do you."

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