Keeping your Makeup Brushes clean

Ola beauty lovers! Today's discussion is going to be make up brushes, and how to keep them clean. Now I know that make up brushes can be expensive. So you want to make sure you take care of them so they last a life time. God knows that ain't no girl got money to blow on make up brushes every couple months to replace a good set that you have already spend money on, and used to the ground.

Now there are plenty of different make up brush brands you can choose from when you purchase yours. Me personally, I have a wide range of brands. Sigma Beauty Brushes, Elf Brushes, MAC Brushes, Real Techniques Brushes, Sephora Brushes, Sedona Lace Brushes, Urban Decay Brushes, Quo Brushes etc. As you can tell I have a wide range of different brands. All their prices range from less expensive brands and expensive brands.

No I did not get all these brushes at one time. Yes I purchased these brushes with my own dollar bills. These brushes are my collection of brushes over the years of doing makeup on myself and we are taking like as of Grade 8. Makeup brushes are like an investment. Sure you buy makeup and you use it and once you finish the product you toss the package and move on, BUT Makeup Brushes, if they are taken care of properly are with you for LIFE. So I want to take care of my investment so that I don't have to keep replacing my investment. Make sense? Well to me it does.

Moving on, there are two different ways to clean your brushes. If you daily need to clean your brushes because you use a whole bunch of different shadow colors or pigments then you would need to do what is called a "Spot clean". That is just a quick disinfectant to remove any surface bacteria and color on the brush if you plan on dipping it into another product when you are applying a face of makeup. I have two options in spot cleaning. The first is the more expensive root, and that would be purchasing the MAC Makeup Brush Cleanser, pour some into a little spray bottle, and spot clean by spraying the solution on your brush and wiping the brush back on forth on a Kleenex or towel. The second option is least expensive, take a small spray bottle, pour distilled water and a few drops of tea tree oil in the water. Close the top, shake well and spray, there you have a cheap BUT effective solution to spot clean your brushes.

The last cleaning type is called "Deep Clean". If you are a makeup artist and use your brushes regularly on clients then a deep clean for your brushes is a must after you use them on each client. If you only do makeup on your self then I suggest a deep clean of your brushes between once a week, to every other week, or once a month. My skin is very acne prone, so I try to deep clean mine once a week. If your skin is not as sensitive or acne prone you could wait longer if needed. Deep cleaning your brushes is when you take these suckers to the sink and use a deep cleanser for brushes or shampoo (regular or baby shampoo), or gentile dish soap. There are so many expensive deep cleansing brush soaps that are probably great, but realistically not everyone has the money to blow on stupid things like makeup brush cleaners when you have other important expenses. Therefore, the least expensive way to deep clean your brushes would be taking shampoo/dish soap or hand soap that is already in your house and rinse the brushes under water then swirl them around in the soap in a bowl making sure that soap gets deep into those bristles to kill any germs or bacteria and wash out any of the left over make up in between the bristles. Once its swirled around, rinse the brushes thoroughly and re shape them with your fingers, and lay out to air dry. If you find that your shampoo is to drying on the bristles mix in some conditioner in your soap solution and there you have a cleanser and conditioner for those brushes.

I know you are thinking girl I ain't got time for this, but listen to me, if you don't make time for this, your are going to be putting on your makeup with the most disgusting bacteria filled brushes that you will begin to break out, or your skin will look horrible when you apply your make up on if you don't cleanse your brushes.

It ain't pretty when you buy that expensive NARS Laguna bronzer and you go apply it with a bacteria filled brush. NASTY. I can't stress enough to make sure you clean your brushes!

That is as simple as it gets. Below I have included some photos on the products I use to clean my brushes.

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Until next time beauty lovers! xo
MacGirl25

Mac Brush Cleanser

Mini Spray Bottle

 

Shampoo

Dish Soap

Hand Soap

A quick glance at my brush collection

Garnier BB Cream Review: Oily Combination skin

Ola beauty lovers! Hope you all had a great holiday. I am back with a review, and it is with one of the most impressive product I have yet to experience. The Garnier BB cream is by far the best drug store BB cream brand that I have tried to date. I got the great recommendation from Lizzy at Whatwouldlizzydo on YouTube. I honestly did not think this product was going to WOW me, but Lizzy tells no lies.

For a drug store BB cream it can be a bit pricey depending where you purchase this product it ranges $14-$22.

There are two types that you can select from, normal or oily combination skin. I have combination skin so that is the one I chose. I am loving this product. With it being -20 here in Canada at the moment, my skin is drier the most times, but I still do get oily in my T zone. The bottle is pretty large considering other high end brands of BB creams. You get about 60mL of product and that is more then enough to last you a long time.

They have two different shades to choose from, Medium/light or Dark/Medium. I use the Dark/Medium shade and even though I am more tanned now that I every been, this shade is workable. If I feel that it makes me a tiny bit lighter then I will bronze up my face a bit to bring the color back. So the only down fall I find is the shade selection is minimal.

The texture of the cream is on the runny/cream side. Yes it can be runny and creamy at the same time. But I love how it meshes with my skin. It feels just like how a BB cream should feel. When you apply the cream on your face it has this cold cream feel where it is cooling to the skin. I use my Real Techniques buffing brush to apply this baby and it just works so well with it. You do not even need to apply a lot, I would say that you apply less than what you apply a foundation.

After applying it to the face, your skin looks and feels so hydrated. You can add a powder to the T zone if you wish but sometimes I just use the BB cream on it's own and I love the look it gives. It provides quiet a bit of coverage and does hide the redness on my cheeks. When I wear it, through out the day I check myself out in the mirror ( I am not Vain I swear) and my skin just looks glowing and healthy!

So I decided to do a bit of research on this product to see what ingredients are included, and this is what I found: don't judge that I researched after I purchased the product. It's the beauty lover inside of me.

Caffeine: we all know that caffeine is well known for as a stimulant and also as a decongestant property.
Mineral Pigments: these are light and blend instantly into the skin, this allows for a light comfortable product that can be blended flawlessly into the skin, also absorbs quickly.
Mineral Perlite: I did not know this but, this is a volcanic rock extract that is well known apparently for it's ultra absorbing properties. It is suppose to assist in keeping your skin matte through out the day.
Vitamin C: We all know Vitamin C is amazing for skin. It acts as an anti oxidant and helps brighten and even out the skin tone.

Where I found this info is on the Garnier web site:
http://www.garnier.ca/_en/_ca/skincare/sc-nutritioniste-skin-renew/bb-cream-combination-to-oily-skin.htm

After reading those ingredients I was impressed with this item. To say the least it was nice to see that companies actually do put beneficial ingredients in products that we use. I swear I have faith in the beauty retail industry, just sometimes I have to wonder.

All in all this product is a thumbs up in my book. Love the texture, love how it applies, love how it leaves my face feeling hydrated but not oily. My suggestion even if you do not have oily skin, I would still suggest the oil-combination formula any ways. I found this item at any local drug store, or Wal-Mart, Target etc.  Definitely worth the hype!





Until next time beauty lovers <3
MacGirl25