Brush Cleansing

Hello Lovelies!!

I hope you are well. I wanted to do a more functional post today instead of one about products and whatnot. I was cleaning my brushes last night so I wanted to do a quick post about it. Up until recently, I used either MAC brush cleanser or a baby shampoo to clean my brushes and if necessary, a little bit of olive oil to condition them. However, I was out of both so I ended up using a bar of Dove soap instead.

Thank gosh I ran out of my usual cleansers. I was using one of the plain, white bars of Dove and it was so much faster to clean my brushes. I guess since it is a bar and not a liquid soap, it does not put as much soap on the brushes but whatever the reason it took me about a third of the time to clean all of my brushes. My brushes are as clean as when I used the other cleaners but it took so much less time to rinse all of the soap out, a definite plus since less rinse time means less time to accidentally get water where it should not belong in a makeup brush.

One thing I will say is certain brushes that I use in cream products, like my concealer brushes, I needed to go over a few times to really get off all of the product. My foundation brushes, normal paddle brushes and stippling brushes, were not problematic but for whatever reason my concealer brushes were a pain to clean with the Dove soap. Also, the brush I generally use with MAC Paint Pots and other cream eyeshadows was a pain to clean. In the future, I think I will still use either the baby shampoo or the MAC brush cleanser in order to cut through the product buildup a little bit faster on these brushes. That being said, all of the brushes I use with powders, face powders and eyeshadows alike, and my foundation brushes were really easy to clean without any issues.

This is definitely a cheaper and more efficient way to clean brushes in my opinion. Now that we have the soap out of the way, I should probably tell you how I actually clean the brushes (duh). Wet the bar of soap and hold it in one hand while swirling the brush with the other, making a nice lather. Then run water onto the palm of one hand and continue to swirl the brush until all of the soap and product washes out. Be careful not to get any water into the ferrel of the brush (I think that is what the silver part is called - sorry if I'm wrong) because you don't want to losen the adhesive, which will make the bristles eventually fall out over time.

Once all of the soap is rinsed out, gently use a towel to wipe off some of the excess water. Next, reshape the bristles, especially for powder or angled brushes.Then lie the brushes onto a towel to dry overnight. The next morning, I usually put some rubbing alcohol onto a washcloth and wipe down all of the handles of the brushes to remove any product buildup and/or bacteria but you can skip this step if you want to.

One other tip that I have used in the past is to use clear nail polish to keep the numbers from rubbing off the handles over time. If you put a coat or two of clear nail polish over name/number on the brush, you don't have to worry about it rubbing off.

Also, I color code my brushes based on which ones I use for my face, eyes, cheeks, etc. This may be unnecessary depending on how many brushes you have and how you use them. Since I like to use brushes for things other than their specific function, i.e. using a MAC 217 eyeshadow brush to apply my concealer, I like to have my brushes color coded, especially when I have duplicates of the same brush. I picked yellow for my face brushes, pink for cheek brushes, blue for eye brushes, and purple for lip brushes but you can do whatever colors you want. Find a nail polish in the desired color and pour a little bit into a disposable cup, the small the better, and then dip the end of the brush into the nail polish. Hold the brush with the newly-dipped end down and use a hair dryer on low to speed up the drying process. I would recommend using a cheaper nail polish or one that is not your absolute favorite because you do need a decent amount of product depending on how many brushes you are doing and how large the handles are. if you don't want to dip your brushes this way, you can have different brush containers for each of the categories that I mentioned above so that you don't have to really do anything to the actual brushes.

I got bored last night while I was washing all my brushes so excuse the weird tower/teepee thing I "built" with all of my brushes.

Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions about cleaning your brushes or brush care in general. I hope this was helpful!!

xoxo

March Favorites

Hello Lovelies,

I have been keeping my makeup relatively simply this month since the weather has really been warming up here so here are my belated March favorites. To start off with, I picked up a Flo Refillable Fragrance Atomizer. I hate having to carry around a full sized perfume with me in case I need to spruce up my scent during the day; with this refillable atomizer, I can mix fragrances and fill it up whenever it runs out. I have really enjoyed using it this month and mixing fragrances together.

My next favorite is the Lavanila The Healthy Body Butter in Vanilla Lavender. The pure vanilla scent is my favorite but the vanilla lavender is a close second. The body butter itself has a consistency between a normal lotion and a traditional body butter; it is thicker than a lotion but thinner than a body butter. It absorbs into the skin relatively quickly and leaves a faint scent on the skin. I have been trying to use up my all of my various lotions and body butters this month so this will probably be the first of many lotions included.

I switched back to my HG Laura Mercier mineral powder foundation since it is a little lighter and more natural looking than my MAC Studio Fix powder. I have the mineral powder in the color Tender Rose, which is currently a little too dark for me but if I blend it down my neck you can't tell. For me, this is my go-to foundation because it gives a natural finish and makes my skin look absolutely flawless.

I picked up the Sephora Professional Mineral Powder #45 brush and I absolutely love it with the Laura Mercier mineral powder. It is less dense than the Sigma kabuki brushes so you can apply a lighter layer of foundation to give a more natural finish. I find that I need less product when I use the #45 and I can build up the foundation to a higher coverage where I need it. I have been using a lot less foundation and have almost stopped using concealer altogether (except for under my eyes).


My next favorite is actually a skincare product; it is the Caudalie Beauty Elixir, which is a moisturizing toner/face spray. I use it everyday after I wash my face and before I apply my moisturizer in the morning and before I go to bed. Occasionally I will also use this during the day if my face is feeling dry or irritated. This has a relatively herbal smell, really a mixture of mint and rosemary for the most part. The scent is relatively strong until it dries so this may be off-putting for some people. That being said, if you can get past the smell I would definitely recommend picking this up because it has really made an improvement in my skin; I usually have some hormonal cystic acne but with this that has really cleared up for the most part.

My lips have been very dry and flakey this month so I have been using the Smith's Strawberry Salve all the time. I apply it when I put on my moisturizer in the morning and at night, as well as using it as a base for my lipsticks or whatever lip product I'm using that day. It gives your lips a nice rosy glow without really looking like you're really wearing anything on your lips. It smells delicious but I don't think it really has a taste as far as I am concerned.

I have been really lazy with my makeup this past month so I have been loving Tarte Amazonian Blush in Exposed. It is a gorgeous nude that I have been using as a blush/bronzer combo by using an angled blush brush to apply it to the contours of my cheeks and just a dusting on the apples of my cheeks and temples. It gives a natural flush without looking fake or orange. The pigment is great and I have a feeling more Amazonian Clay blushes will be making their way into my collection in the future.

My last favorite is from Arbonne, specifically the FC5 line, and is the mattifying powder. It is a green powder and it works wonders to leave your face looking matte and flawless. The green helps to cancel out any redness in your skin and even out your skin tone.  I always have at least two backups on hand because you do have to order it either online or through an Arbonne representative so it can be a bit of a pain to get your hands on but it is well worth it in my opinion.

So that's it for my monthly favorites. So what are your favorites from this month?
xoxo