Brush With Greatness

Happy Monday everyone! I hope everyone is well rested and enjoyed their weekend. This weekend I gave my skin a break and didn't wear any makeup but I sort of missed my makeup brushes so as a way to play with them today I decided to do a post on them. A lot of people may be confused by makeup brushes or intimidated but they don't have to be. So lets get started, shall we?

First things first. If you've never used brushes you need to figure out how much or how little you want to actually use brushes. I, personally, use brushes to put on every aspect of my makeup, from foundation to eyeshadow. This helps keep me from touching my skin too much and keeps me from transferring unnecessary oils from my fingers to my face. So write down what brushes you want so you can figure out what brush set is right for you. There are a million types of brushes but you only want ones that you will use. Do not spend $300 dollars on a brush set that you will only use 5 brushes from. Some brushes you may want to consider are the following:

• Foundation
• Concealer
• Powder
• Blush
• Eyeshadow (all over and lid)
• Blending eyeshadow
• Eyeliner
• Eyebrow
• Smudge stick
• Eyebrow/eyelash comb

Now there is nothing wrong with buying brushes one by one, however, this can end up costing you more than a couple hundred dollars depending on what brand and what they're made of. Brush sets are economical and you can find a set that will be a good fit for you. 

So after you figure out what brushes you want to use you need to think about what kind you want. Brushes come in both natural and synthetic hair. Depending on your beliefs or preference you can find brush sets in both or a mix of both synthetic and natural hair. 

So lets take a look at a few brushes that you can get from brush sets that I've purchased and had great luck with. 

First up are powder brushes-

These brushes are used for applying powder all over the face and neck area. You want to find a good brush that will give you great coverage and not crumble your pressed powder. The brushes shown are from the Sephora Perfect Pink brush sets. You will want to wash these brushes at least once a week to avoid too much oil and makeup build up. These brushes are from two different sets but they both work just as well. 

The next brushes I want to talk about are the foundation and concealer brushes. This brush is perfect for applying foundation. It's a lot easier than you think to apply foundations and there are two ways to do it. You can put your foundation on the back of your hand and apply it that way or apply it to your face with your fingers and work it in that way. But whichever way you put it on you always want to always brush downward when applying foundation so as to make all the hairs on your face lie flat. 

To apply the concealer just dot it under your eye and work it in with the brush until it's well blended and no streaks are visible. 

The brushes to the right are all eyeshadow brushes. The two on the left in the picture are both large eyeshadow brushes, which means they are used to put on a base shadow or all over color. The two on the right are a small eyeshadow brush and a contour or blending brush. The smaller eyeshadow brush is used to put color just on the lid or the edge of the lid. The contour or blending brush is used to apply color to the inner crease of your eyelid or to blend the crease color with the all over color or lid color. That brush is a great tool to avoid having too sharp of a line on your eye lid. So your colors blend and will make your eyes really pop.

The brushes to the left are all eye liner tools. The angled brush is used for eyeshadow, gel or liquid eyeliners. You will need a steady hand to use this but I find it's easier to control the amount you get on the brush than it is to control the amount on the wand that comes with most liquid liners. 

The brush in the middle is a smudge stick and is a great tool to accompish an amazing smokey eye look and to soften any hard eyeliner lines. 

The flat brush that looks like a paint brush is one that I use to fill in my eyelashes. I will use a little black eyeshadow or eyeliner and get as close to my eyelashes as possible and fill them in. This is great if you have thin lashes.

These two brushes are both my most favorite and my most loathed. Not that they're bad brushes in any way or more superior just their functions are on two different plains for me. The brush on the left is a fan brush. This brush is used for wiping away or dusting all over your face. I love to use this brush to dust shimmer all over my face or to wipe away errant eyeshadow from my under eyes. I do use a lot of eyeshadow and this brush keeps the shadow from smashing against my face and coloring my cheek.

The next brush is a blush brush. The only reason I say that I loathe it is that I do not use blush at all. I feel like it makes me look a bit clownish and I don't use it. It is a great brush, don't get me wrong, I did use it to see how effective it is and it does a fantastic job in not crumbling blush. So while it does it's job it is just a wasted brush for me. 

Ok, so these brushes all focus on a regularly neglected part of our face. The eyebrows. Women usually forget about them but if you have sparse or minimal eyebrows then these brushes can make your eyes look more full and really highlight your eyes. 

The brush on the left is meant for eyeliner but it's a bit too fluffy for that so I use it to fill in my brows and it works better than any other brush. 

The brush on the left is meant for lips but I use it to blend my eyebrow color and make it less severe if I use too much brow filler. 

The brush in the middle is probably my least favorite that comes with any brush set, not just this set. I find that the bristles are too hard and if your bristles are too hard you will develope flakes in your eyebrows. Who want's that? Another thing I can't stand about these cheap brushes are the flimsy plastic combs, the teeth break and bend and then it's a useless brush. But like I said it's not just this brush set it's almost every brush set in the world. So I ended up replacing the brush in the middle with this beast... 

This brush is from the Sephora Professional line and is not only softer but the comb is actually metal so it doesn't bend without a lot of force and the teeth don't break off if you accidentally drop it or hit it against something.

I'm not exactly sure if the brush is full synthetic hair or a mix but it is light enough that I don't get flakes in my eyebrows. However, this brush is not feather light or anything it does still have some stiffness but it won't take off any skin with it's bristles.

The bottom picture has a better view of the comb, now, in the first picture you see the comb has a black plastic covering and the bottom one does not. This is to show you that you need to be sure you keep up with this plastic cover. I know a lot of the times when a product or tool comes with some little protective piece it's usually lost down the drain, dropped in the trash or in the toilet where it's lost forever. You want to be sure you keep this covering. If you happen to just throw this in your makeup bag and go to reach for it later or reach for something else it will draw blood. It does amazing work separating eyelashes and making them look full and long. But I do want to also caution against the sharp teeth if you poke yourself in the eye with them or prick your finger you will be finished with this brush for a while. But it's an amazing brush if you're careful and is well worth the money.

Now there are a million different brush sets out there. These are just the two that worked for me and were as reasonably priced as I could get without breaking the bank or sacrificing quality. Some places you can check out are any of these sites.

www.ulta.com
www.sephora.com
www.eyeslipsface.com
www.sigmabeauty.com

I hope I was able to help you or explain what brushes do and make them less intimidating. Using makeup brushes will also help your skin and give you a more flawless finish to your makeup that your hands can't do.

Have fun and stay beautiful!

Can't Touch This!

Ok Pretties, how many of you have constant breakouts? Whether it's just one or two around the mouth, cheeks or on your forehead or a ton all over your face. A lot of these breakouts can be avoided if you just try a few simple steps. Steps that I've personally used and have had great success with. Ready. Set. And away we go!

The reason I'm putting these steps out there is because they have all personally worked for me. I was having breakouts on my cheeks, chin, hairline and around my nose. So, I thought to myself, what could be making me breakout so badly? Aside from drinking plenty of water (which is still one of the best ways to keep your skin glowing and healthy) and keeping my skin clean but not TOO clean, why am I still going through this? And as a 26 year old woman I thought I was done with that stage in my life. I have improved my skin 10 fold since I became conscious of my face and how I treat it. 

Step 1: Observe Your Daily Routine

After I would get out of the shower I'd do my bathroom routine and then go and put on my make up. Not really noticing or caring what I did before. So one day I took extreme care to remember everything I did before I put on my make up and the results shocked me. 

I noticed after I got out of the shower I touched the following things:

• Deodorant stick
• Water faucet knobs
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• 2 door knobs
• Drawer pulls
• Face cleanser bottle
• Makeup bottles and containers

Now, that may not seem like a lot but if you think about how many times a day you touch those things and how many germs and how many hands touch those things you'd be surprised how much stuff your transferring from your hands to your face. Especially if you don't wash your hands before you put on your makeup with your fingers. Which is what I would do. I figured, hey I just got out of the shower my hands are clean enough. Tsk tsk on me! 

The next thing that may help you is not touching your face at all when applying makeup. It sounds crazy but just hear me out.

Step 2: Brush It Out

Since I have started using brushes to apply all makeup to my face, my skin has improved dramatically. In fact, I only touch my face a maximum of 3 times when applying make up but you don't even have to do it that many times. I use my fingers to apply moisturizer, cream eyeshadow base and my foundation to the starting points on my face. But after that I use a brush for everything from foundation and concealer to eye shadow to powder. I'll go into brushes in another post but even if you have to use a sponge keep your hands off your face. Which brings me to my next step...

Step 3: Paws Off

I took a page from the first step and observed myself a little more closely throughout just ONE day and I was shocked to see how many times I touched my face. Whether it was to scratch or putting my hands on my face out of boredom. You know when you're bored at school and you put your chin in your hand? Stop that! Because not only are you putting those oils on your face, your hands are dirty from touching door knobs, books, pencils, desks, computer keyboards and so forth. I have since kept my hands off my face and my skin looks great and there are no more little blemishes here or there. 

These are not guaranteed and are only a few things you can TRY. If these still don't work for you the issue may be more serious and you should consult a dermatologist. But just give these a try and the results may surprise you. 

Have fun and stay beautiful!

Makeup For Everyone

Hi everyone! Welcome to my makeup bag! I am a makeup enthusiast but not a professional artist...yet. But in the mean time I'll keep this blog up to show you what I currently have in my makeup bag and things that I test and love along the way. So, I hope this is helpful to all who read it. Alright here we go!

This, ladies, is your average makeup bag. Having too much stuff in it could cause problems with confusion of products and breakage amongst your makeup (i.e. powders, eye shadows, blushes and mascara explosions.) However, if you have too little in there, you're limiting yourself to a few products when you find yourself in need just one or two more things in there. More often times than not I find myself wishing I'd thrown in a lip gloss or balm. Or my compact or just one more thing. So here are a few tips to keep your to-go makeup bag well stocked but not overstocked. First lets take a look at what kind of makeup girl you are, shall we?

The I-don't-wear-a lot-of-makeup-because-I-don't-need-it girls:

If you're this type of girl then you're pretty lucky. Having naturally glowing, flawless skin must be such a burden to you. What's that? You don't need foundation or concealer? Wow, must be tough! But all kidding aside, you are pretty darn lucky. Whether you're chugging water or just have good genes, don't mess it up by using a ton of makeup, especially if you're able to recognize that you don't need it. The only thing you might need in your makeup bag are the following.

• Powder- to keep the shiny away.
• Eye Shadow- Maybe a nice champagne shade to touch up after any type of practice or rehearsal of any sort. 
• Mascara- Of the waterproof variety if you're going to be sweating it out on the court or field. 
• Tinted lip balm of some sort preferably with SPF to keep your lips smooth and protected.

The next girl is one where most teenage girls and a few in their 20's SHOULD fit. I say SHOULD because if you've ever seen a high school girl on Facebook and she has more dark around her eyes than a panda then she wears too much makeup. Being a teenager is about being young and fresh and not looking like you're trying to get into a bar. So I call this girl...

The I-only-use-a-dab-of-makeup girl. 

She's the girl who wears makeup but isn't so over the top about it. She's fresh faced even if she isn't naturally so. Now, if you fit into this category then here are some things you'll want to keep in your makeup bag.

• Foundation- to keep up your fresh faced facade.
• Powder- this will add extra coverage and keep away the shiny.
• Eye Shadow- try a colored rosy shade or eye shadow duo to add a little more pop to your eyes.
• Lipstick- a color that really matches your natural lipshade or as close as you can get. 
• Mascara- waterproof if you have sweaty after school activities.

This next girl is one we know all too well. Whether you've seen her in a mall, on Facebook or she's your little sister. She's the girl who wears a lot of makeup whether she needs to or not. I'm not going to lie, up until about a few weeks ago I was one of those women who wore a ton of makeup. And felt like I had to because I had a lot of problem areas on my forehead, cheeks and chin.

The No-one-can-see-me-in-public-until-I-have-on-my-2 million-dollar-makeup-job- girl.

I had a friend when I lived in Dallas who would invite me over to his house. I would decline to go if I didn't have makeup on. So then he would start to call and the first question would be, Do you have on your 2 million dollar makeup job? I thought it was funny so I'm using it here.

• Foundation- Maybe a little heavier foundation to get more coverage.
• Concealer- Cream for blemishes and illuminating for dark circles
• Powder- Pressed is best for a heavier coverage.
• Eye Shadow- If you use a lot of eye liner and mascara please go easy on the eye shadow 2-3 colors at most. Anymore than that and you're giving the illusion you're going clubbing after school.
• Eye Liner- I use a gel stick liner. It goes on clean and I don't have to worry about getting too much on a brush. However, if you do a dramatic cat eye daily then a smudge pot or liquid liner is best.
• Mascara- Non-clumping or lash plumping if you're not using any type of fake eye lashes. 
• Lipstick- Preferably one that moisturizes and lasts a long time. 

Remember, this is only for your on the go makeup bag. You don't want to be burdened with a heavy or clunky bag. As I said previously, too much in your makeup bag will cause different products to hit together and break or leak. But, that being said, too little and you'll regret not having added that compact or lipstick. I hope this helps!

Have fun and stay beautiful!