April 6, 2014

How to Clean Your Makeup Brushes

What a nice way to start off the week...I found this earlier today on Tumblr and sort of ran with it, which brings me to today's post.
When I think of productive Sundays I think of doing things that get me ready for the coming week. To most that might mean starting the two term papers I have due next week or preparing for my Senior presentation but no...what that really means is doing the laundry I've neglected, clearing out my makeup bag, and ultimately...
cleaning my makeup brushes!
Now, while taking on this task I started to notice that I've developed quite a nice technique so I thought I'd share it with you all!
Yay for clean makeup brushes! Yay!

This may seem like the most simplest thing in the world but honestly, if you're doing it right, it can take a little effort so I've actually developed a routine for cleaning my brushes in between cleaning but for now here's the deep clean. 

Start out my gathering all of your brushes!
As you can see, they definitely needed a cleaning. Please excuse that rather nasty looking Beauty Blender, we're about to fix that situation.

Now, gather the rest of your supplies!
I use a small bowl (or mug, in this case) filled about a third of the way full with warm water, some baby shampoo from the Dollar Tree, a wash cloth, and napkins. 
I forgot to include it in this photo but I also use Sephora's Daily Makeup Brush Cleaner spray.

Now comes the messy part but to help the time go by faster I usually check out some of my favorite YouTube channels for their latest videos while cleaning my brushes.
(I watched Tanya Burr's Nicole Scherzinger makeup tutorial and March favorites videos this time around) 
I start out with the smallest brushes first mostly because they don't really hold all that much makeup. 
After mixing a little baby shampoo into the water, I dip a brush in the water and swirl it around a little. 
Then, I take the brush and wipe it in a circular motion on a napkin (I usually save the wash cloth for the bigger brushes) until all of the makeup comes off and the brush looks clean. 

For bigger brushes or ones with a lot of makeup like my foundation brushes, I tend to use the Daily Makeup Brush Cleaner first by spraying it directly onto the brush then swirling the brush around on a napkin or cloth. If it's a brush I haven't used a whole lot, like the pink powder brush, then that's usually all the cleaning it needs but for more heavily used brushes I need to repeat the steps I used for the smaller brushes. 
My foundation brush and my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush required a little more care as they both had liquid makeup throughout the bristles, meaning I had to repeat steps a few times.

My Beauty Blender comes with its own cleaner but to be perfectly honest I don't really like the way it smells so I usually just end up running it through some water with baby shampoo and rinsing it until the water runs clear
Finally, once all of the brushes are done I give them a good rinse making sure all the makeup is off and squeeze out any excess water. Then I grab a towel, roll up one end, place it on a table (or my bed), then prop all of my brushes up against the rolled up end so that the bristles are facing down onto the towel. 
This allows the brushes to dry without getting water down into the glued part that holds the bristles and handle together ensuring that your brushes will last longer.
No, that's not some sort of pink latte that's actually the dirty brush water after everything was done. I think that means I might wear too much pink blush. haha

I hope you all enjoyed this look into my clean brush routine. I'm all set to start this week off fully prepared...I'm about to get started on those papers too, I promise!

Leave a comment below letting me know if you found any of this helpful and also if you have any tips or tricks of your own.

until next time, darlings.
xo
Merisa


April 4, 2014

NYX on HauteLook

Just a quick update for you all just because I knew you'd love what I've got to say...
HauteLook is having a a HUGE sale on NYX cosmetics at the moment!
There are some mega deals going on so I just had to share my picks with you, of course!

The first thing that caught my eye about this particular sale is that everything is bundled into sets so it's a really great way to pick up some favorites while also trying out some new products at low prices.
As you already know, I love NYX butter gloss so I was immediately drawn to this set of lip products that features the butter gloss in Eclair along with 4 other products at just $12.00. A single butter gloss can run almost $5 so this deal is crazy bread!
It is really hard for me to walk away from this next set, so hard in fact it's already in my cart just waiting for me to press the checkout button.
This Spring Set features some of my favorite eye shadow colors as well as a rose gold shadow stick for just $7.50!
Originally priced at $30 this huge palette is a steal at just $18 as it includes: 
- 52 Eye Shadows
- 4 Blushes
- 4 Face Colors
- 8 Lip Colors
- 1 Lip Liner
 - 2 Lip Glosses
- 2 Dual-Sided Applicators
- Face Brush & Mirror

That's a pretty incredible deal if you ask me. Also, in case you didn't know, the majority of NYX products are Animal Testing & Cruelty Free which is a HUGE plus when buying their products as more lines need to make this possible!

To check out the sale head over to hautelook.com and click here for an invite

until next time, darlings.
xo
Merisa