Tuesday Tips: Clean Your Makeup Brushes!

Today's tip is fairly simple: clean your makeup brushes regularly.

Photo from http://babebeautybar.com/a-babes-guide-to-brushes/

A foundation brush should be cleaned once a week. If your foundation brush is getting stiff with foundation buildup in it, it's definitely time for a good deep cleaning.

All other brushes should be cleaned at least once a month. I personally like to clean all my makeup brushes once a week or close to that. The idea of the bacteria and makeup clinging to the brushes and going on my face grosses me out.

Not cleaning your brushes regularly can alter the color of the makeup you are applying. It can also make application difficult, which means the end result will not be what you desire.

Taking care of your brushes is important if you want them to last a long time. A good brush can last 5-10 years if your clean it regularly.

I know a lot of you have probably read things like this a ton of times or already know it, but I think it is important.

Have a happy Tuesday!

Tuesday Tips: Makeup Is Only As Good As The Skin Underneath

Many people use makeup, foundation and concealer especially, to cover up imperfections. The makeup will only look as good as the skin underneath though. It is extremely important to take care of your skin and find the right products for you. Here are a few tips on how to find what's best for you.

Protect your skin with SPF.

This is the most important AND most neglected skincare item that you should always use. Your skin needs protection from the sun even if you are outside for five minutes a day. Those five minutes add up over the years and your skin will show it. Sun damage can cause wrinkles and hyper-pigmentation (dark spots) on your skin. To prevent and prolong these things from happening, use SPF! And no, the sun protection in your foundation is not enough.

Moisturize your skin daily. 

I know there are thousands of different moisturizers on the market and it can be overwhelming to find one for you. First let me say to anyone that's reading this that has oily skin, you may think you don't need a moisturizer or that it will just make your skin more oily, but your skin still needs hydration. Your skin needs moisture even if it has excess oil. An oil-free moisturizer is formulated especially for oily skin types.

Now that I got that cleared up, try and narrow down what your main concern is with your skin. For example, my main concern is acne, so I usually look for a moisturizer that has acne-clearing properties and/or is good for acne-prone skin. If you are concerned with wrinkles, find a moisturizer that targets that concern. You get the idea. If you don't have a concern with your skin, look for an age prevention moisturizer. Every women should start using an age prevention moisturizer in her 20's. If you don't try to prevent and prolong visible aging, don't cry about getting wrinkles early on in life.

Exfoliate.

Exfoliation is important too because it aids in removing the layers of dead skin cells that build up on your face everyday. Find an exfoliator that works best for with your skin type and follow the directions on how many times a week you should use it.

Take care of your eyes. 

The skin around your eye is just as important as the rest of the skin on your face. You need to take care of it. It is important to use eye creams around the eyes and NOT moisturizer because the skin around your eyes is a lot thinner and a lot more delicate than the rest of your skin. Moisturizers can irritate the eye area and won't hydrate that skin in the best possible way. The same idea of searching for a product that treats your main concern(s) applies to eye cream just like moisturizer.

Take care of your lips just like the rest of your skin. 

Your lips need care too! SPF is important for your lips like your skin, so make sure at least one of the products your putting on your lips each day has SPF. Exfoliating your lips is a good idea too. I'm not very good at doing that, so I should probably try to do that more. Using a moisturizing lip treatment or balm is a good idea too.

I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. I hope it doesn't seem like I'm trying to get you all to go out and buy a bunch of products because I know this stuff gets expensive. I do think all of these things are important, but gradually adding them into your skincare routine if perfectly fine. 

Also, all the pictures I posted here are of Clinique products. I just used these as examples because this is the skincare line I am most familiar with. There are plenty of other great skincare lines out there, some at higher prices and some at lower prices, so do some research and find what is the best deal for you. 

 I am by no means a skincare expert and I'm definitely not a doctor or dermatologist, so you obviously don't have to follow everything I say. These are just some of my tips for you all. I hope this helps some of you! If you ever have any questions or comments about skincare or anything else, I can always answer them to the best of my ability. Just leave a comment below. You don't have to have an account to comment.

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone! :)

What I Got For Christmas 2013: Clinique Chubby Stick Whole Lotta Candy Set and Clinique Party Tips Nail Enamel Set

I know that Christmas feels like it was forever ago, but I thought some of you might enjoy seeing some things (mostly beauty-related) that I got for Christmas. 

I am going to do separate posts to break everything up, so today I will just show you the Clinique products I received. My boyfriend got me two different Clinique gift sets for Christmas: one for lips and one for nails. 

Whole Lotta Candy is a Chubby Stick set that includes smaller sizes of Pudgy Peony, Voluptuous Violet, and Two Ton Tomato. Both this set and the nail set I received were just around for the holidays, but almost all of these products are available separately in full sizes.

Tuesday Tips: Use a Makeup Remover AND a Cleanser

I think cleansers and makeup removers are easily confused or misconstrued because they are often grouped together, but they are definitely not the same thing.

It's important to remove ALL makeup, eye AND face makeup, before using a facial cleanser. If you wear face makeup and just use a cleanser as part of your skincare routine, you are not getting all of the gunk, dirt, and oil off of your face. Layers of all that gross crap will build up on your face and cause a variety of things like flaky skin, clogged pores, acne, and more. It would be like rinsing off all your dirty dishes with just water and putting them away because you think they are clean. They might look clean, but they still have bacteria and stuff that will build up over time if they are not cleaned with soap.

The same concept goes for using only a makeup remover and not using a cleanser as well. If you are just using a makeup remover to wash your face, you are still leaving behind dirt and oil stuck on your skin and trapped in your pores.

If you don't have a makeup remover, there are tons of different kinds out there. I have tried a handful that I would recommend: Clinique Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser, Clinique Wash Away Gel Cleanser, and Neutrogena Naturals Fresh Cleansing + Makeup Remover are some good ones. I have also heard good things about the Ponds Deep Cleanser and Makeup Remover. The Clinique makeup removers are unfortunately labeled as cleansers but they are just makeup removers and are not to be used at cleansers.

                                       
One thing to keep in mind when searching for a makeup remover or a cleanser is that some products will claim to be both. No, no, no, no, no! Don't believe that for a second! Those types of products are not getting all the gross stuff off of your face. The Neutrogena one mentioned above claims to be both. I use it as a makeup remover and use a cleanser after that. If you really want healthy skin, use two products.

I hope this helps some of you!

2013 Beauty Favorites

There were a lot of new beauty products to try in 2013 and some things I just discovered the past year or fell in love with. I'm sure I could have thought of at least ten more things to add to my list of 2013 beauty favorites, but I didn't want this to be overly long. 

Since a lot of these products were things I had already discussed in other posts like monthly favorites or reviews, I re-used the pictures I had taken before, so they might look familiar.

Anyway, check it out!

Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencils

I knew I loved Urban Decay eyeliners the first time I tried them, but I fell even more in love with them this year. At the beginning of 2013 (maybe in March?) Urban Decay released a ton of new shades in their eyeliners and re-released some previously exclusive ones. The colors are even more wild and vibrant than before. Pretty much all the colors were love at first sight. I bought a ton of new shades this year because I just love everything about these liners! They are pigmented, they have any color imaginable for any occasion, and THEY STAY ON! If I had to choose a favorite shade for 2013, I would say Crave (a dark, dark brown that was exclusive to the Ocho Loco 2 pencil set) is my favorite neautral-toned eyeliner and LSD (a dark blue with lots of shimmer) is my favorite colorful eyeliner.

Tuesday Tips: Tape Trick For Powder Eyeshadows, Blushes, and Face Powders

Have you ever had an eyeshadow that has gradually developed a bumpy, hard surface? It makes is difficult to apply the eyeshadow after a while when the surface isn't soft and smooth. Brushes have a harder time grabbing the powder and the powders might go on clumpy.

This can happen to most powder makeup like shadows, blushes, and face powders for a few different reasons I'm sure. I believe the main contributing factor to this happening is that the oil from our eyelids and face get trapped on the brushes we use. When we are going back and forth, putting our brush in the powder and on our face over and over again, the oil starts to build up on the powder and create that hard layer.

There is a simple quick fix that can take the layer of hard, oily powder off - tape. Take a piece of tape and place it over the powder. Rub it into the powder (not too hard) to get that layer stuck to the tape. Remove the tape and most, if not all of the bumpy surface should be gone. 

I did this with my Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette because the highlighter shade had developed a bumpy surface.

As you can see below, the tape took off most of the rough surface.

I hope this tip helps some of you out! Have an awesome day! :)