How to Clean Makeup Brushes

Makeup brushes can become overloaded with bacteria so it’s super important to clean your brushes every few weeks. Keeping your brushes clean will also reduce the likelihood of breakouts. Luckily, cleaning your brushes is really quick and easy. It only takes about 5 to 10 minutes depending on how many brushes you need to wash.

There are two ways to clean your brushes: You can either spot clean them or for a more thorough cleansing, you can deep clean your brushes. I spot clean my brushes daily, and I deep clean my brushes about once a week.

Here are a some simple steps on how to spot clean and deep clean your makeup brushes…

Pre Cleaning Tips

• Never get the entire brush wet, try to focus on the actual bristles while avoiding the portion of the brush where the head and handle meet.

• When cleaning flat or angled brushes, sweep the brush in back and forth motions. As for round and domed brushes, move them in circular motions to maintain the brush’s shape.

• If you are planning to deep clean you brushes, be sure to do your makeup before you cleanse. Your brushes will need a few hours to dry after a deep cleaning. I recommend doing it in the morning after you have applied your makeup for the day. By the end of the day, you brushes will be clean, dry and good as new!

Spot Cleaning

What You Will Need:

• Brush cleanser, I like Mac Brush Cleaner

• Paper towels or washcloth

How to Spot Clean:

1. While holding the brush over a paper towel, drizzle or spritz brush cleanser onto the bristles of the brush.
2. Then begin sweeping the brush into the extra cleanser that fell onto the paper towel. Work the brush in the appropriate motion (flat and angled brushes go back and forth, round or domed brushed should be moved in small circular motions).
3. Continue working the brush into the paper towel until the brush no longer has color transfering. You might have to reapply cleanser before the brush leaves behind a clean trail.
4. Next, reshape brush with your fingers into its original shape.
5. Lay bush onto a fresh paper towel to dry for a few minutes.

Deep Cleaning

What You Will Need:

• Olive Oil (only if you need to clean eyeliner brushes that you previously used with a gel-based liner or need to clean your lip brushes)

• Johnson's Baby Shampoo (or any gentle shampoo)

• Sink

• Paper towels or wash cloth

How to Deep Clean:

1. If you use a gel-based liner with your eyeliner brush or you have to clean a lip brush, you will need to use something to breakdown the waxiness before the next few steps. To clean these brushes, put some olive oil onto a paper towel and work your brushes into the oil until the brush no longer leaves color behind on the towel. Now you are ready for the next step!
2. Next, get the bristles of your brush wet.
3. Pour a quarter-size amount of the baby shampoo into the sponge and lightly rub it in so the soap is slightly absorbed and a little bubbly.
4. Take your wet soapy brush and work it into your hand. You will see a lot of color start to run out of the brush.
5. Rinse the brush in running water. You may have to re-wet your brush and repeat step #4 until the water runs clear from the brush.
6. Reshape the brush and lay it on its side on a paper towel or washcloth to dry.

Hope this helps! Happy cleaning!

Other ways to add color blocking to your look

I know not all of you are wanting to add color blocking to your look through clothes. Here are a few simple ways to add color blocking in different ways.

1. Make up

Eyes and lips are a simple easy way to add color. Make sure to follow a few simple tips though.When doing bright eyes make sure to keep the rest of the face muted out. For example if you do bright eyes do nude lips and cheeks.

When doing bright lips make sure the rest of the face is muted out, meaning neutral, simple make up everywhere else.

2. Nails

You can never go wrong with bright nails, when trying to add color. It is a simple and easy way to add a fun pop of color. Try bolder colors you normally wouldnt wear on your nails.

3. Accessories

This is one of the easiest and funnest ways to add a pop of color. Think about adding jewlery, belts, shoes, and hair clips for a little extra color.

Jewlery is a great way to add a pop of color. It is inexpensive and trendy

Shoes are another great way to add a pop of color to any look.

Belts can be a fun inexpensive way to add color as well. I love forever21 belts

This is my favorite way to add color. I love head accessories! I think they are a great way to add simple color to any outfit!

Hope these tips helped you find a way to add a pop of color to your outfit!

Spring Trend: Color Blocking

Color Blocking ...It's back and a high trend for Spring.

Spring fashion colors are usually subtle with pastels and neutrals ruling the scene. But this year spring is infused with bold, daring colors that have been dominateing fashion runways.

Color blocking is a styling technique that hasn’t quite been picked up by everyone yet. It involves some knowledge of the color wheel and a bit of bravery. The main idea is combining different colors that support and compliment each other.

Color Wheel Basics

The color wheel explains how colors evolve and some colors organically pair well with each other. First we have primary colors: red, yellow and blue. Mixing these colors in different combinations, creates your secondary colors: green, purple, and orange. Lastly, your tertiary colors results from further mixing. Some colors innately pair well together. Analogous colors are three colors lined up on the color wheel. Complementary colors are directly opposite one another on the wheel. These are your go-to pairings. Also consider tint and shade when color blocking. Shades are colors mixed with black. Tints are mixed with white. The amount of white and black added varies and creates different results. Consequently, shaded and tinted variations pair well with other shades and tints.

To recreate this style, first become well acquainted with the more successful portrayals of color blocking. Well known designers Prada and Stella McCartney have also devoted part of their collection to color blocking. If you are willing the shell out the extra dough, Gucci and Prada are a great starting point. If your wardrobe budget is a bit more modest, it is still very easy to try out this trend. Just visit your beloved retailers and pick up your favorite bold colors. Using your recently acquired knowledge of the color wheel, start mixing and matching. Happy pairing!

The Rules

1. Three is the magic number

Stick to two or three colours, anymore than that and you might end up looking like a Rubik cube. Two’s fine but three makes for a more interesting and effective contrast.

2. Don’t be afraid to clash

The normal rules don’t apply here, don’t be afraid to combine colours you usually wouldn’t, pinks and reds work well!

3. Keep it in the family

It’s also effective to contrast two tonal variations with a more contrasting jarring colour, for example pinks and purples against a vibrant lime green.

4. Be loud and proud

This trend is all about bold bright colours and works best with the most vivid shades.

5. Keep it simple

The look works best with plain neutral accessories; break up the colour blocks with cream, black or grey shoes/belt. Never attempt to introduce prints or patterns.

Hope this spring trend finds you!

MY Pet Peeve's

I have found myself very annoyed lately. I have been face to face with some on my worst pet peeves in the last few days and wanted to take the time to share them with everyone, so you know what annoys me!

So to begin lets see the meaning of Pet Peeve. I took this right off of Websters website

Pet Peeve: A pet peeve (or pet hate) is a minor annoyance that an individual identifies as particularly annoying to him or her, to a greater degree than others may find it

Pet peeves often involve specific behaviors of someone close, such as a spouse or significant other. These behaviors may involve disrespect, manners, personalhygiene, relationships, and family issues. A key aspect of a pet peeve is that it may well seem acceptable to others

So here are a few of mine:

Eating loudly or with your mouth open - Hello people shut your mouth, have some manners!

Leaving crumbs behind in the butter - Yuck, this is just plain gross!

Driving 65 in the fast lane - It is the fast lane for a reason, move over people!

Inviting yourself to events, that you were clearly not invited to - Hello we obviously didn't want you there for a reason!

Being late - Set your clock 15 minutes fast if you are constantly late!

Smoking in houses - Yuck this is not healthy for you or for me, so just stop!

Dirty cars - Just suck it up and pay for it to be washed once a month!

Canceling last minute - Now I know I have been known to do this a few times, and I greatly apologize for it. Just let us know a day before so we can get someone else to go!

So far the is all I can come up with. But yes these are the things that bother me the most. I cant stand it when people do these things. So please as a consideration to me PLEASE STOP DOING THESE THINGS!

Hehe, thanks!

Do's and Dont's of Zit's

Zits are like that unwelcome(and annoying) friend who shows up at the most inopportune times. I have a few tips, on what to do and what not to do.

While it’s impossible to make a pimple go away with the wave of a wand, you can draw less attention to it with these 3 easy tips:

Don’t pop it! This will only cause irritation and draw even more unwanted attention to it.

Spot it! When you find the zit, apply a spot treatment containing a mild dose of salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. Press the ointment into the blemish and re-apply throughout the day (up to 3 times, depending on how dry your skin is). My personal favorite is the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion . Now, this is meant for blackheads, but it is my FAVORITE spot treatment for big pimples as well! It completely dries them out in two nights, leaving your skin clear again. Little advice though... you will be left with little pink dots all over your skin where you apply this, so make sure you apply it right before bed so you don't get caught looking silly! Also, don't shake the bottle! The pink needs to stay at the bottom, just dip a q-tip down through the clear liquid to the pink and pull straight out. Then apply to affected area.

Make it up! Dab concealer on and around the spot, tapping product on in quick motions, until it blends with the skin around the pimple. 

Once the concealer is set, sweep a translucent powder over the zit along with the rest of your face. 

Depending on the location of the blemish, only accentuate features away from the zit while downplaying makeup near it.

Hope these tips help you!