Clean Brushes Create A Clean Face| How to clean your makeup brushes

 

I often get messages and comments on how clear my skin looks; I mainly put this down to good diet and plenty of exercise, but there are other little things that I do that make all the difference. One of these things is making sure I have clean makeup brushes. I admit I don’t wash them every day… I know I should, however I give them a good deep clean once a week. Everyone is guilty of piling the makeup on daily, and we all take the time to wash it off at the end of the day to ensure no nasty bacteria is lying around. However, how many of us wash the same dirt and bacteria off our brushes? I bet there isn’t many! It is essential that you deep clean your brushes once a week, as they can end up clogged full of old makeup, dirt and debris, bacteria, oils and dead skin cells… pretty gross!

So how do you wash your makeup brushes? There are many different ways and many different brush cleaning products you can use. The tools I use are hot water, Johnsons Baby Shampoo and a scrappy towel. I use the Baby Shampoo as it is a gentle shampoo with little chemicals so there is minimal, if any, damage to your brushes. The method I use is as follows;

1- Prepare yourself by choosing the brushes you need to clean, the towel you are going to use and your Baby Shampoo.

2- Wet the hairs and pour a small amount of the Baby Shampoo onto your brush and rub in into your brush. Use some force but not too much, just enough to create a lather. I create a lather by wiping the brush in small circles in the palm of my hand.

3- Next rinse out the shampoo, still wiping your brush in small circles so you are sure to rinse out all the shampoo. Be careful not to get any water on the handle or the ferrule of the brush (the part that holds the brush bristles together), as this can damage the brush fibres and make you brush moult.. not what you need! If the brush is still not clean repeat steps 2 and 3 until your brush rinses clean.

4- Once you brush rinses clean you can now dry it. To do this gently wipe it across your towel. Then leave your brush to air dry for a couple of hours.

Depending upon how many brushes you need to clean, the process only takes around 10 minutes. So 10 minutes of your time to ensure you have a bacteria free, and clean face is definitely worth it! Ideally you should also use an instant brush cleaner for a quick cleanse after every use. Another bonus to having clean brushes is keeping them soft! How lovely and soft are your new makeup brushes? If you clean you brushes regularly they will be kept soft and supple for longer!

How do you clean your brushes? And how often do you do it? Do you recommend any instant brush cleaners that aren’t too pricy?

Why do you wear makeup? | Tag

*Combination of my own images and those from We Heart It*

I have seen this tag floating around on peoples blogs over the past few weeks and it seems to be spreading like wild fire. Now I’m not normally one for tags; I don’t know why, I just never found one that inspired me and if they did, they were quite lengthy. However this tag is short and sweet and gives a little insight into the blogger. So here goes my answers.

When did you begin to love makeup?

Like many others I have forever been a girly girl. When I was a little girl I was obsessed with princesses, pink, glitter, Barbie's and spent my time dressing up, putting on fashion shows and baking mud pies. With this girliness came the love of makeup. I remember I used to have a big pink makeup case at my Nanas house and would stand in front of her mirror applying glitter, stick-on tattoos, peel off nail varnish and sickly sweet perfumes. I have always been gifted numerous makeup palettes for birthdays and Christmas, and as I grew so did my make up case. Obviously as I got older the quality of the product improved.

I first started wearing “proper” makeup aged 12… yes it is a little early, however when I was a younger I wore glasses, which unfortunately made my eyes appear smaller than what they were. I was obviously very self conscious of this and used to (still do) layer on the mascara to make my eyes look bigger. I probably started wearing a full face of makeup when I was 14, again to mask my insecurities, which at the time was my bad skin. When I started wearing a full face my confidence with my makeup improved and so did my experimentation, cue lots of black eyeliner and bright eye shadow… baby pink was one of my favourites for a while. Thankfully my taste has changed and matured, but I still like to have fun with it.

How do you feel without makeup?

A bug! I have a bit of a complex whereby I think my eyes look very small when I’m not wearing mascara, I call them my little bug eyes! As a result I almost never leave the house without mascara, the only time I do is when I’m out running. I know they probably don’t but I just don’t feel very confident when not wearing mascara. I will quite gladly leave the house without other makeup; I choose not to though. When my skin is looking good I will happily just wear mascara and a bit of bronzer and blush, especially during the weekends.

What do you like about makeup?

Quite a difficult question I think as sometimes I love makeup (like 70% of the time) and other times I feel like its an evil necessity and more like war paint than makeup. The days when I love it are obviously days when I’m feeling on top of the world. I love that makeup allows me to look and feel more human. I like that it can help enhance anyone’s natural beauty, and draw out a persons individual and beautiful features that they may not have been aware of before. I also love how colourful and pretty makeup is, the colour combinations and collections are never ending… it’s always great finding a new favourite lippy.

The days when I don’t love makeup are obviously days when I’m not feeling quite my normally self, perhaps a little blue. On days such as this I tire of applying my makeup but I would never leave the house without it. Like I mentioned, I feel like it’s a necessary evil; war paint; a mask that myself and many others apply to hide behind. I wish there was a national day where us girl don’t wear our makeup and show and (try to) embrace our natural beauty, as no matter how much we fight it, we all have something unique and beautiful about out face.

Three “Holy Grail” Items:

Mascara- I’m not fussed on which brand, however I do love L'Oreal Telescopic False Lash Mascara and Maybelline Colossal Mascara

Urban Decay NAKED Palette- A god send for eyeshadow lovers! I use mine all the time, perfect for both day to day looks and for dramatic night out looks. The pigmentation is great and the colours all compliment each other perfectly.

Rimmel Blush Pink Rose- A bargain high street product, but one that is very pigmented, lasts forever and is a great match for my skin tone. Great at giving me some colour on these dull days and a daily wear for me.

I hope you enjoyed reading my answers and learnt a little more about me. I look forward to reading some of your answers, if you do write your own be sure to Tweet me or comment below so I can give them a read.

Vampy Lips| Rimmel Kate Moss Matte Lipstick Wine 107

Just a quick post for you today, as I wanted to share with you my new vampy lipstick. Firstly I apologise for the quality of these pictures, they were taken on my iPhone in bad light. I am really missing the sunshine, these dark days make taking pictures for my blog very difficult. I have actually resorted to taking the majority of them at the weekend when I actually see some daylight! So if someone wants to buy me a new camera to help my fight for good pictures then I will love you forever!

Anyways onto the lipstick; I picked this Rimmel lipstick up at Asda as it was on offer for £4 and I needed a blood red shade to wear for Halloween. It’s from Rimmels new collection with Kate Moss, which has been hyped up a lot. The 107 shade is actually more of a deep wine red shade, not blood red, but still perfect for Autumn. It is described as being matte, and it is more of a matte finish than my other lipsticks however I would say it is more of a demi-matte as it is applied quite easily. I can’t believe how pigmented it is, the pictures above show me wearing two coats. I would definitely pick up another lipstick in this range as the quality is great for the price I paid.

It is actually the brightest and boldest shade of lipstick I have ever owned, I normally go for a nude or slight plumb shade. However after wearing this around the house it is growing on me; I don’t have to confidence to wear it outside yet, but watch this space!

Have you tried Rimmel Kate Moss Matte Lipstick range? Do you wear bright shades such as this often? If so can you give me some confidence tips to help me pull these bright shades off!

An English Rosy Rose| Rimmel Blusher Review

I decided to create this post after receiving may comments on my blusher shade. I am a bit of a blush fiend, as you can see by the photos; sometimes its a little too much after I wander out into the daylight, and realise I resemble a clown. Blush is probably my second must have day-to-day daily make-up product after my beloved mascara. On days when I want to give my skin a rest, I will happily venture out with only mascara and blusher; as long as there are no monster spots on my face.

The blusher I use is only a high-street brand in the UK, which does a large range of products in many colours at reasonable prices. This blusher is a product and shade that I have been using for at least 4 years. It is cheaply priced at about £4.50, and I think the colour is very pigmented; once bought and used daily it still lasts about 3 months, showing that little is needed to make an impact on your face. When looking at the blush in the packaging is looks a rosy pink, as the name implies, however when swabbing it on my fingers and hand it looks a little bit more peachy. Overall it gives the face a warm flushed look that on olive skin such as mine is quite natural.

I have no intentions on ever changing my choice of blusher, Rimmel have created a shade I love and a product that is pigmented, stays on my face all day, lasts for many months, and is reasonably priced; why would I consider choosing another?

The overall range of products offered by Rimmel, I find to be a bit hit and miss, some I love and regularly purchase, others I wouldn’t even use more than once. However many high-street brands are the same, I suppose due to them offering such a wide range, they aim to satisfy everyone’s needs, so not every product will satisfy mine.

What do you think of the Rimmel brand? Is it a high-street brand you use, or avoid?

L'oreal False Lash Telescopic Mascara Review

One coat of Mascara

Two Coats of Mascara

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am a mascara fanatic, you will never ever catch me leaving the house without my mascara. In my opinion if I am mascara-less I look like a bug... not attractive. So because of this obsession I am forever trying out new mascaras, I am yet to find my all time favourite. 

This month I bough the newest mascara L'oreal has to offer- False Lash Telescopic, endorsed by Cheryl Cole herself. 

In L'oreal's opinion using this mascara will give me lashes that are off the scale, they will look elongated beyond their tips, resulting in telescopic length. 

The Good

• Small brush which is great for lower lashes and the corner of your eyes.
• Quick drying, so applying layer upon layer is easy
• Builds up quickly.. I felt happy with one coat of mascara
• Did not clump

The Bad

• Small brush which did not pick up a lot of mascara

Overall- 4/5

I am really impressed with this mascara. The only downside is I would like a bit more volume, but with the extreme length it gives I can't be too fussy.

Glamorous Eyes| FOTD

Argh...Eyelash problems 

Another look that I call glamorous casual, as when the eye is closed, the makeup looks quite dramatic, but when the eye is open and paired with a simple face overall, the look is casual. I wore this to dinner and drinks one night. 

To get this look I used

Face-

Foudation- Rimmel Stay Matte

Bronzer- Rimmel Sun Shimmer

Blusher- Rimmel Blush, Shade- Pink Rose

Eyes-

Eye shadows- Urban Decay Naked Pallete- Darkhorse, Smog, Sidecar and Virgin for highlighting.

Mascara- Rimmel Scandeleyes

Fake Eyelashes- Eyelure

Topshop Makeup Brushes| Review

A while ago, actually during the January sales, I bought this makeup brush collection from Topshop. I had previously not owned an entire makeup brush collection, just a few cheap brushes here and there, so thought I would splurge. 

The brush set cost me £26 if I remember correctly (so not so much of a splurge) but I thought it was a bargain, a good starter set, and loved the cute little case it came in too. 

So for the review.

The Good

• The brushes were soft
• There is a good variety of brushes, including brushes for face, bronzer, blush, lips and eyes. 
• Nicely shaped brushes

The Bad

• Quite thin bristles, not good for packing on colour. 
• The brushes have started to shed quite a lot... very annoying!
• After washing the brushes, they do not seem as soft.

Overall I would give the brushes a 2/5. At first I was very happy with them, but it seems that after continually usage they have almost disintegrated as they just get worse and worse. 

I am definitely looking at investing in some new brushes. Anyone got any favourites that don't break the bank? Or does one have to pay money for quality make-up brushes?

FOTD

This is actually my first FOTD, and to think I've been blogging for 3 months now... what have I been chattering on about!

So this is my face I wore for a few celebratory drinks last Friday after I had handed all my assignments in. We went to a lovely new bar in Newcastle near Central station (really can't remember the name!) Anyways I had a few glasses of Prosecco to celebrate, and went for a glamourous casual look.

Please excuse my messy hair, and the hairs on my face from a makeup brush, only just realised them now.. amateur mistake.

For this look I used;

Face- Concealer- Rimmel Match Perfection

          Foundation- Rimmel Stay Matte 

          Bronzer- Rimmel Sun Shimmer

          Blush- Rimmel, Shade Pink Rose

Eyes- Mascara- Rimmel Scandaleyes

          Eyeshadow- Urban Decay- Naked Pallette- Shades- Sin and Half Baked.

I'm showing my Rimmel addiction here!