How To: Clean Makeup Brushes

Before I purchased quality makeup brushes, I would treat my brushes like crap.. I didn't know any better. Now I wash my brushes weekly and do spot treatments whenever it's needed.

 

Half of any break outs could be due to dirty brushes, it's gross to even think about. Besides the gross factor, nourishing the bristles is going to keep them soft and will make them last longer.

 

If you'd like to see how I clean mine, keep on reading.

 

What you'll need: Dirty brushes, a brush cleanser, a bowl, running water and a towel.

 

* You can check out my brush cleanser here. You do not need a "special" brush cleanser like this one. Johnson's Baby Shampoo is cheap and gentle enough to clean your makeup brushes.

 

 

Just so we're on the same page:

Step 1: Pour a small amount of your cleanser into a bowl.

Step 2: Run your brush under luke-warm water.

* Always hold your brush upside down while cleaning it. Holding the brush upright can cause water to travel down the ferrule and loosen up the bristles.

* Never let the water go past the brush ferrule and onto the handle. Allowing water into this end of the ferrule can loosen the glue and cause the ferrule and the handle to come apart.

Step 3: Dip your dampened brush into the cleanser.

 

Step 4: Swirl your brush into the palm of your hand, creating a nice lather.
Rinse and repeat until the lather is white and clean.

Step 5: Gently squeeze out any extra water and lay flat to dry on a towel.
* Shape your brushes while damp so they dry nice and compact.


I like to wash my brushes before bed so they have the entire night to dry.
There are fancy racks that you can buy that'll hold your brushes upside down to dry faster, but this technique works just fine for me.

If you have any comments/questions, feel free to leave them below!

 <3

 

Vibrant Purple Smokey Eye (Tutorial)

Smokey eyes are great for any sort of night out look. Once you start experimenting with smokey eyes, you realize that there are different kinds. This particular one focuses the dark shadows in the inner and outer corners of the eye.

 

 

This is my vibrant smokey eye of the night:

 

 

Before I get into it, I want to explain some things. The color purple may not be the best color choice for your particular eye color. Whenever you're putting eye shadow on, always try to choose colors that enhance your eyes. Enhancing is the entire purpose of makeup, after all. This purple shade can be switched out for any shade of your liking.

 

 

 

Step 1: Take a vibrant color of your choice (purple looks awesome on brown and green eyes) and place it right in the middle of your lid.

 

 

 

Step 2: With a fluffy brush, add some dark brown to the inner and outer corners of your lid.

 

* You will be adding black shadow, so the purpose of laying down the brown first is so that everything blends together with more ease. Brown is a nice transitional color.

 

* The color used was Buck from Urban Decay- Naked Palette.

Check it out here.

 

 

 

Step 3: With a pencil brush, add some black shadow in the inner and outer corners of your lid. This is the step that you should take your time with. Always start with a little black and work your way to your ideal black shade.

 

* The color used was Crave from Urban Decay - Naked Basics Palette.

Check it out here.

 

 

 

Step 4: Add eye kohl to the top and to the bottom. You could do a crazy cat eye with this, or keep it simple like I did. Both would look great.

 

* The eye kohl used was Smolder by MAC Cosmetics.

Check it out here.

 

 

 

Step 5: Lastly, add your favorite mascara to your top and bottom lashes.

 

* The mascara used was Benefit- BADgal Lash.

Check it out here.

 

 

 

And that's it! If you have any questions or comments, leave them below. If you recreate this look I'd love to see it. Tag me @aubreyhannah on Instagram so I can check them out!

 

 

Favorite Nude Lip Products

Let me start off by saying that it's taken me FOREVER to start this blog today! Why? Shark week of course! haha. Talk about addicting television. Anyway....

I decided to show you guys what my favorite nude lip products are. I have some high-end favorites and some low-end favorites. I'll post a link below the pictures in case any of you are interested in buying these products or just want to scope them out.

Here are the products as a whole, (with a fancy filter). If you'd like to know more about each specific product in detail, keep reading!

I'm going to start off with my all-time favorite lipstick. This is MAC- Creme D'Nude. It's a cremesheen finish, so it's a little on the sheer side. This allows you to wear it throughout the day without it looking like you have a heavy night time lipstick on.

Here is a swatch of CD'N. As you can see it has enough pigmentation to nude out your lips, but is very sheer at the same time. You can check out this lipstick here - MAC Cosmetics- Creme D'Nude.

This is Revlon- Soft Nude (070) and it's my second favorite nude shade. It's very similar to CD'N but has a bit of a thicker formula. Besides the fact that the lipstick is nice, the packaging is so cute. As you can see it has a quilted pattern.

Here is a swatch of SN and you can see the comparison between it and CD'N. Very similar. Both have more of a brown/peachy undertone. You can check out this lipstick here - Revlon - Soft Nude (070).

This lipstick is MAC- Viva Glam Gaga 2. It has an amplified finish, a.k.a. this lipstick is so pigmented that you have to be careful using it. If you swipe this lipstick on like any other lipstick, you could very possibly look sickly. I apply it by dabbing it onto my lips (not swiping) and gradually getting the color I desire.

Here is a swatch of VGG2. You can see that the color is much deeper than the first two swatches. They all have brown/peachy undertones. Unfortunately, this specific Viva Glam lipstick isn't sold at MAC anymore. They are no longer selling the Gaga version. They have the new Viva Glams for sale, which is Nicki Minaj/Ricky Martin's version. If this is a shade that you are extremely interested in, I'm sure you can find the shade on eBay.

I will still post a link to MAC's Viva Glam lip products because each product sold helps a great cause. "Every cent of the selling price of VIVA GLAM Lipstick and Lipglass is donated to the M·A·C AIDS Fund to support men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS."

Here is the link to check it out - MAC Cosmetics- Viva Glam.

This is my least-favorite nude (but it's still a favorite!) It's E.L.F.- Nicely Nude. It's my least favorite for 2 reasons. When I bought this shade offline, it was described as a lighter color than what I received, so right off the bat I was disappointed. It's also my least favorite because I tend to want to wear more of a peachy/brown nude and this definitely has pink undertones.

You can see here how much more pink NN is compared to the other swatches. You can check out this lipstick here - E.L.F. Cosmetics - Nicely Nude.

Onto the lip glosses! This is NARS- Sweet Dreams and it's my absolute favorite. My brother got this for me for my birthday. (he went into Sephora and bought me a $24 lip gloss, if that's not love I don't know what is.) As you can see it has a doe foot applicator which I love.

Here is a swatch of SD. It's perfectly pigmented with a pink undertone and fine gold shimmer. You can check out this lip gloss here - NARS Lip Gloss- Sweet Dreams.

This is Beauty Rush - Slice of Heaven by Victoria's Secret. This gloss is on she sheer side but has beautiful pink/gold shimmers.

This is my go-to nude gloss if I don't want such a pigmented shimmer. You can see how much more sheer it is compared to SD. You can check out this lip gloss here - Beauty Rush - Slice of Heaven.

Last, but certainly not least, my lip underwear a.k.a. lip liner. This is Maybelline - Toast (25). A lot of people are nervous of lip liner because they don't want that ridiculous Pamela Anderson look. What a lot of people don't know is how beneficial lip liner is with your lip stick. Lip liner will give your lips a crisper line, along with longer wear of your lipstick.

Here is a swatch of Toast (T) and it looks a little harsh but I pressed down pretty hard to make sure that the color would show. Not only do I use this underneath my nude lipsticks but sometimes I wear it on its own. It has a beautiful color and its mattifying. So if you're looking for a matte colored lipstick and you can't find one, try looking for your color in a lip liner. It'll last long and it'll look great. You can check out this lip liner here - Maybelline Lip Liner- Toast 25.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! I know it was long but I really wanted to go into detail for you guys. I hope that the swatches/info was beneficial. As always, feel free to leave any comments/questions below.

Aubrey

Smokey Friday Night Eyes (Tutorial)

I decided to create a tutorial showing you all how I do my smokey eye-look. You can always substitute these colors for something lighter/darker or more colorful.

The first tips I have for any smokey eye is, 1. Use quality shadow. Using shadow that is finely milled and nicely pigmented will help you blend better and you will have a smoother application (a.k.a. it'll be a lot easier to create a smokey eye). 2. Don't use those sponge applicators that come with some eye shadows. A smokey and sultry eye-look is made by going from dark to light. You'll need a decent blending brush to create this. If you'd like to know how I created this look, keep on reading!

What you'll need ::

Eye shadow primer :: I'm using Urban Decay - Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Eye shadow :: I'm using Urban Decay - Naked Palette

Eye kohl :: I'm using MAC Cosmetics Eye Kohl - Smolder

Mascara :: I'm using Benefit Cosmetics - BADgal Lash

These are the eye brushes that I used to create this look. They are all Sigma brushes and you can find them here. From left to right :: E05, E55, E40, E30, E60, E25

Step 1: Apply eye shadow primer on your lid and blend up to your brow bone. This will keep your eye shadow from creasing and will intensify the colors of your shadow.

Step 2: Take your E40 (blending) brush and sweep the shade "Naked" (a light brown color) into your crease. You will hardly see this shade when it's all said and done, but it's put down first to help your darker shadows blend easier.

Step 3: With your E60 (flat shader) brush, pack on the shade "Sidecar" (a sparkly champagne color) all over your lid. Don't go into your crease with this shade. You want to use your sparkly colors on the lid and your matte colors in your crease.

Step 4: Take your E25 (flat blending) brush and apply the shade "Buck" (a dark brown color) into your outer-V. I will be applying a black color into my outer-V but putting this color down first helps the black blend easier.

Step 5: With your E30 (pencil) brush apply the shade "Creep" (a black color) into your outer-V.

Step 6: Use your E25 (flat blending) brush again, to blend out the black and browns in the outer-V. This may take a few minutes. Blending is key. Use a windshield wiper/circular motion until it's blended the way that you prefer.

Step 7: With your E55 (eye shadow) brush, apply the shade "Virgin" (a sparkly off-white color) to your brow bone and in your inner corner.

Step 8: Take a black eye kohl (here I'm using MAC- Smolder) and apply it above your upper lashes. To create more of a precise line, use an eyeliner (E05) brush to smooth it out and create a sharp point.

Step 9: Apply your mascara. Here I'm using Benefit Cosmetics- BADgal Lash.

Step 10: Take your eye kohl, and line your lower water line.

Step 11: With an E30 (pencil) brush, sweep the shades "Buck" (dark brown) and "Creep" (black) under your lower lashes.

Step 12: Add some mascara to your bottom lashes and you're finished!

I hope you all enjoyed this smokey friday night eye-look! It's one of my favorites to do! As always, if you have any questions/comments, feel free to leave them below!

Happy blending! ;)

Aubrey