Saturday, April 26, 2014

How To Wash Your Makeup Brushes!


Today's post is going to be all about washing your makeup brushes! 
Now if you're sitting in front of the computer screen saying
"I need to be washing my makeup brushes? I've never done that!"
It's okay! I have talked to many friends that had no idea this was an important step in their beauty routine. Although, it is extremely important.

The main reason you need to be cleaning your makeup brushes is to clean bacteria that is trapped inside the brush bristles. Bacteria in your makeup brushes can lead to clogged pores and unwanted breakouts so cleaning your brushes often can really help your skin out! It also helps the longevity of your makeup brushes by keeping them nice and clean!! 


There are many different ways to achieve clean brushes, and also many different products you could use. I am just going to show the way I do mine, since I have found it to be the easiest. 

1. Choose a Shampoo


1. Mac Brush Shampoo
This brush shampoo will run you about $15 which I believe isn't necessary to spend that much on a brush shampoo. I have gone through 2 bottles of this in the past and can say that choice #2 and #3 are just as good at a fraction of the price. If you don't mind splurging though, the MAC shampoo is a great choice that will definitely do the job. You can also "Back-To-Mac" the brush shampoo bottles so that is an added plus :) 

2. Baby Shampoo
Baby shampoo is probably the best choice to use. It is super affordable, and also readily available at your nearest drugstore. Baby shampoo is made for delicate hairs which is exactly what makeup brushes consist of. It is effective and I will continue to purchase baby shampoo to clean my brushes from here on out! 

3. Elf Brush Shampoo
This brush shampoo is just as effective as the baby shampoo option. It runs you around $3 and you can find Elf Cosmetics at Target, and recently I have seen it trickling into Walmart, ShopKo, and other stores. This option is just as good as the baby shampoo, it just isn't readily available for everyone. 

Whatever shampoo you use is totally up to you, just make sure it is a delicate shampoo without any added fragrances or weird ingredients! 

2. Cleaning

Now onto the good stuff, cleaning your brushes!! Like I said above, there are different methods you can use to wash your brushes. If the following way doesn't seem familiar to you, I can just tell you that it is the most simple way I have found and doesn't require any additional supplies like a bowl or anything like other methods might require. 

First step, put a squeeze of your shampoo of choice into the palm of your hand. Obviously lets make sure that your hands are clean before we start this process. 


This is the method I use, so use your shampoo sparingly, it doesn't take much and you will be squeezing a dot of it into your palm for each brush. 
For my smaller brushes such as eyeshadow brushes, I do two at a time. It is really up to you and what works the quickest but the most effective way. There is no wrong way to do this, as long as they get clean! 

Next, choose your brush and start swirling the brush in your palm with a tiny bit of water running on to your hand. It should start to bubble up, and you should be able to see the product really coming out of the brush. If you can't see that yet, then keep swirling your brush in your palm until only shampoo is being rinsed off. For some larger brushes, this step might need to be repeated twice. Below I added some pictures of different brushes that I cleaned so that you can see what different sizes/types should look like! 
Foundation/Concealer Brush. These often need cleaned twice
because of the amount of product in the brush and
they often hold the most bacteria. 
Blush Brush. This should be the end result of cleansing
a brush. Only shampoo suds are showing and the
majority of the blush has been cleansed.
Eyeshadow brushes. These should be cleansed a few times until there
isn't any color being deposited onto your hand and only
shampoo is appearing. 
Eyeliner Brush. These often are really stiff, because gel eyeliner
dries hard. This makes cleansing these brushes a challenge.
Keep swirling until the water really helps the bristles loosen up.


3. Drying Your Brushes

Drying your brushes is just as important as cleansing them. The most important thing to remember is to store them as upside-down as you can.
The #1 thing you shouldn't do once you have finished cleaning your brushes is to return them to the normal way you store them, standing straight up in a jar like pictured below.
Please, please, please don't put your brushes back
in their jar right-side-up while they 
are still wet from cleaning. 

The reasoning for this, is because we want to eliminate the possibility of water getting down into the ferrel of the makeup brush. The Ferrell is the silver part of the brush that holds the handle onto the actual brush. If water gets down into this part of the brush, it often will loosen the glue that holds your brush together and potentially ruin your makeup brush. It also will cause brush hairs to fall out.

Below is a picture of how I dry my brushes. It is totally a make-shift idea that isn't something you can go buy at the store. I lay down a roll of tin foil, and cover that with a bath towel. You could use a variety of things to achieve this angle for drying your brushes. Broom stick, bandana, paper towel roll, pretty much anything! I've also seen people lean them up against a wall, with a towel on the floor.


Well, that is it! It sounds like a long process but I can do all of the brushes you are seeing above and more in about 15 minutes. Ideally, you should have around 24 hours to dry your brushes, but the smaller ones dry in about 12 hours I have found so just plan accordingly.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask! If I forgot any details just let me know!

Thanks for reading!
-Jaimie

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask - Review

Today's review is going to be all about a lip product! 

It is a Lip Mask - yes I know, that sounds unusual. But...its amazing
It is called the Agave Lip Mask and it is from the brand 
Bite Beauty


So I have seen a lot of hype going around about this lip mask, and I had to give it a try. I have always suffered from really dry lips, and I tend to lick them quite a bit. I love trying new chapsticks and new lip products so this was right up my alley. It runs you $26.00 at Sephora, which is a hefty price tag, but I can say right now that I do believe it is worth it.

How To Use?
The website says you can wear this overnight or during the day. I use mine overnight, and I apply it right before I go to bed. It is very thick and "goopy" so I definitely wouldn't wear this during the day. I apply a very generous amount, it leaves my lips looking like I have some type of medicine on them, but in all reality, that is kind of what this product is! 

Does It Work?
I have to say, this absolutely works. It leaves my lips hydrated throughout the night, which is really hard for me because I sleep with a fan blowing right on my face, and I am also a dreaded mouth breather, which usually dries my lips out really badly during my 8 hours of beauty sleep.

When I wake up in the morning, they definitely aren't as moisturized as when I went to sleep, but I do believe that it stays on really nice even with my fan blowing directly on my face!! The best way to help this work even better, is to make sure you are applying a good lip balm throughout the day so that at night, your lips are still pretty moisturized and this can keep them amazing instead of having to repair cracked lips every night. 

Any Complaints?
Nope! There really isn't any complaints for me here. If I had to choose something, I would love for this type of product to be in an applicator that didn't require me to use my finger and get it all sticky, but with how thick this product is, it would be almost impossible. A complaint that I saw a lot in the Sephora reviews was that the packaging is hard to get product out but I didn't find that at all. The package is filled as full as it can get (adds to its value!!) so I just suggest treating it like a tube of toothpaste and pushing from the end of the tube first to ensure you're getting all of the product! 

Should You Buy It?
That part is totally up to you. It is $26.00 so it isn't a cheap product, but I do believe it is unlike anything I've used before.. For reference, some of the lip treatments I have used are 
-Kiss Me Goodnight by Philosophy
-Lip Butters by The Body Shop
- Mojito Overnight Balm by Malin+Goetz

The other really popular one that I haven't tried is the Dior Creme De Rose lip balm but I will be trying that soon to see how it compares! I do believe it is a unique and amazing product though. I have been using it for about two weeks now every night and my lips feel great! I will probably be repurchasing this when it runs out. I can only imagine that will be a long time from now though because a little bit of this goes a long way and the packaging is super full! 



Well, that is all I can cover on this product for today. If you have any questions that I didn't cover, feel free to leave a comment down below and I will get back to you! 

Thanks for Reading! 
-Jaimie 

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