products i'm loving!

Something very exciting (well, for me) has happened since my last post - i (FINALLY) signed up for driver's ed and have already completed my first week of it.  I'm going to be 17 in March, so i'm way past due to drive.  Really can't wait to just get behind the wheel (am a bit nervous tbh) & be able drive myself places instead of having to rely on other people all the time for rides.  Unfortunately this means i am gone from 7:00 in the morning to 6:00 at night, so i have absolutely no proper lighting to take photos for my blog, resulting in less blog posts :/

I've also rearranged my blog a bit, i tried to go for the two-column layout since it would be a lot easier to see everything on my blog and such, but it just messed everything on my blog up & i just couldn't seem to make it look ok!  So the three-column layout might be here for a while!

I have been really loving certain products lately, so i thought i'd share them with you all.  There's a combination of some things i got for Christmas, as well as some products i've recently gotten that i've been wanting to try out for a while.

♥ Too Faced Shadow Insurance eye primer.  Now i've been a long time fan of the famous Urban Decay Primer Potion, but i can honestly say that i prefer this to it.  The product itself & the job it does is essentially the same as UDPP, but it's incredibly easier to use and so much easier to get the product out of the tube.  Although i love the bottle on the Urban Decay Primer Potion, it's just not ideal & a lot of product is wasted.  If you love UDPP but have the problem many people have with getting all the primer out, i recommend trying Shadow Insurance out.  You get a tad bit more product with the Two Faced Shadow Insurance & it's the same price as UDPP.  Will definitely be repurchasing this when i run out!

♥ Sigma F45 Buffer brush.  I asked for a few Sigma brushes for Christmas and this is one of them.  I don't know why i waited so long to try out their brushes, but i'm honestly so glad i did.  One of the brushes i asked for was this kabuki, the F45 (F standing for face).  It's incredibly soft and blends my blush & contour perfectly, as well as applies my setting powder (which will be discussed below!) amazingly.  I don't have a MAC kabuki brush to compare this to, but this is by far the softest & best buffer brush i have tried.  Highly recommend trying this one out!

Sorry for the dirtiness!  Need to wash my brushes :)

♥ Sigma F40 Large Angled Contour brush.  This is another Sigma brush i asked for on my Christmas list & was the one i was most excited to try out.  This brush definitely did not disappoint, and it immediately became one of my favorite makeup brushes!  I love using this brush with my Bare Minerals All-Over Color in "Warmth" (or any bronzer) to contour my face.  It's dense & super soft, and applies the product super well.  A lot of people also use this to apply blush, but i haven't tried that yet since i already use it to contour.  I'm honestly considering just getting another one of these for blusher :)  Haha.

♥ Sigma E25 Blending brush.  This brush came free with the order.  It's a travel-size (short-handle) brush, which i'm actually happy about - the less room my makeup takes up in my suitcase, the better! This is supposed to be the equivalent to the MAC 217 brush, which i do own (which i love - you really can never have too many blending brushes!).  I don't prefer one over the other really, but since the Sigma version is less expensive than the MAC one, i would recommend opting for the Sigma.  I use this to apply color in the crease & the outer corner, as well as blending my eyeshadow out - does the job nicely :)

♥ Bare Minerals Mineral Veil.  I've been using this since i first started using Bare Minerals, but i've only recently really appreciated Mineral Veil.  I apply this over my foundation, blush, and contour with my Sigma F45 (as said above :) & it's honestly just a dream to put on, as stupid as that sounds!  It leaves the most gorgeous finish to the skin - not at all oily or sparkly.  It just gives a lovely sheen to the skin, making it look younger & more fresh.  Love.

Top L-R: Shroom & All That Glitters.  Bottom L-R: Satin Taupe & Twinks.

♥ Favorite MAC eyeshadow combination of the moment.  As you may have seen in my recent MAC haul & updated palette post, i picked up a few neutral shadows - Shroom, All That Glitters, and Twinks - and i have been loving using them all together, along with Satin Taupe (which i already had in my collection).  I use Shroom as an inner corner & brow bone highlight - All That Glitters all over the lid - Satin Taupe in the crease - and Twinks on the outer corner/outer v.  I then apply black liquid liner on the upper lashline and either brown or black eyeliner to the waterline, as well as a black mascara, and it creates a gorgeous daytime/neutral look.  These four eyeshadows will probably be the four i take in a quad with me when i go traveling - unless i find a different combination i like instead of course :).  If you don't want to go buy all four but still want the same sort of look, you could probably go without Satin Taupe & just blend Twinks into the crease and then build it up in the outer v.  Will hopefully do a face of the day with this combo soon :)

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Spot Cleaning Makeup Brushes! ♥

I've done a post on deep cleaning makeup brushes, which you can read here, so i thought i'd do a post on how to spot clean your makeup brushes - or at least how i do it :)

Spot cleaning is a lot less thorough that deep cleaning, but it's also a lot quicker.  It's especially great for eyeshadow brushes, since different colors are constantly being used on them and spot cleaning them takes the product off the brushes easily & efficiently.

Spot cleaning your brushes is fine, but you shouldn't abandon deep cleaning them completely.  It's important to clean your brushes at least once a week (i'm a total failure when it comes to this haha, i try though!) to get all the product out & to prevent bacteria buildup.

The brushes to be cleaned :D

Does the MAC label / number of the brush come off as easily on your brushes as mine did?!  I can barely tell which brushes are which.

What i like to use to spot clean my brushes is MAC Brush Cleanser, it really gets the colors out & dries very quickly.  The only thing i don't really like about it is how it dispenses the product.  It just kind of spills out & a lot of product is wasted.  I do like the pretty pink color though hehe :)

Step 1: Dampen the hairs of the brush with your brush cleanser.  Be sure not to tip your brush over (brush hair above the handle), because if the cleanser were to go down into the metal/handle part of the brush, it could  potentially damage your brushes.

Step 2: Gently rub the bristles with the cleanser on it onto a clean towel.  See how easy the eyeshadow's coming off? :)  Be sure not to keep swiping the brush in the same dirty spot, as this would be quite counterproductive ha.

Step 3: Lay flat to dry - with an alcohol-based cleanser like the MAC Brush Cleanser, it really doesn't take too long - an hour or two really!

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Spot cleaning is much less of a hassle & a lot quicker than deep cleaning, but you still shouldn't rely just on spot cleaning :)
Hope i helped you girls!  I'm off to my sister's graduation party...Hope you are all having a lovely Saturday!


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Deep Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes. ♥

As you may already know, it is very important to deep clean your make up brushes at least once a week, to get all the colors you used on them out, but to also prevent bacteria buildup.  If you let the bacteria build up in your brushes, you're more prone to breaking out - never a good thing!  Cleaning your brushes regularly can also lengthen the life of them!

So, what's the difference between deep cleaning & spot cleaning your brushes?:

Spot cleaning is a good, but temporary cleaning of your brushes.  There are many spot cleaning brush cleansers out there to use, and i use the MAC Brush Cleanser for this.  I use spot cleaning mainly for my eye brushes, since i use different color eyeshadows, as it allows me to get the color out & use a different shade of eyeshadow.  I also use it on my face brushes when i don't have enough time to allow them to completely dry.

Deep cleaning is obviously more thorough & 'deep' than spot cleaning.  How i think of the difference between the two is if you were to just rinse your hair under your shower head, without using shampoo, it gets out some oil & dirt, but doesn't truly clean your hair - as opposed to using a deeper cleaning agent, like shampoo!  Kinda make sense? :)

Now, onto the procedure! :)

Note the dirtiness & product still on the brushes - yucky!

So what you want to do is find a good deep cleanser to clean your brushes.  You don't want to use a shampoo that you use on your own hair, because that will be way too harsh for the brush's hairs.  My favorite product to use is Johnson's Baby Shampoo - it's super affordable & works really well!  This massive bottle costs under $10 & will last me for ages!

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♥ Step 1: Lay out your brushes on a towel next to the sink or wherever you're cleaning them.

♥ Step 2: Grab one brush & run it under warm water, make sure not to tip the brushes with the hairs facing upward at all after doing this, because it can cause really bad damage to your brushes - trust me!

♥ Step 3: Squirt a bit of your shampoo into the palm of your hand - the bigger the brush, the bigger the puddle needs to be!  Less is usually more, but if you didn't take as much as you actually needed, you can always take more shampoo or wash it twice.

♥ Step 4: Swirl the brush around into the little puddle of baby shampoo.  It'll lather up really nicely!  Occasionally squirt out the foam from the bristles between your fingers & thumb.

♥ Step 5: Once you think you're done, rinse hair under warm water & squirt out everything until the water runs clear.

♥ Step 6: Reshape & lay brushes flat to dry on the towel!  Depending on the brush, it may take a couple hours to a day.  I usually wash mine in the afternoon & leave them overnight to dry to be ready to use in the morning.

Voila!  You should be left with gorgeous, clean, nice-smelling brushes ready to use!


Hope i helped some of you girls :)



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My New Favorite Makeup Tool!

here the thing ma-jig is compared to a regular q-tip, same size - different end bits :)

One of my favorite handy little makeup tools and also my product of the week this week are the Studio 35 Beauty Dual-Tip Applicators.  I like to call them the "advanced q-tip" because they are like q-tips, but instead of having the loosey-goosey cotton buds at the ends, it has two different shape, stiff bits at the ends.  One side is skinny & comes to a point at the end, while the other side is wider & flat.

I use these mainly to fix and mess-ups that i make while doing my makeup (trust me, i make a lot ;D), especially liquid eyeliner and mascara.  They're also great for fixing up the shape of eye shadow in the crease/outer corner, touch-ups throughout the day, and touching up on nail polish.

Another thing i really love about this product is the packaging.  I don't have to worry about finding a more suitable container to store these in, because the lid flips up and down - super convenient!  Sure the packaging isn't gorgeous or fancy, but it's very functional.

My sister actually gave me these so i don't know how much they cost, i'm pretty sure they were around the $3-$5 range - sorry about that!  Studio 35 Beauty Dual-Tip Applicators can be purchased at Walgreens or online.

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