How to Clean Make Up Brushes

Hey guys its Lia

How often do you clean your makeup brushes? Although this tends to be the one thing we most overlook, it is one of the most important things we can do!  Makeup brushes are an investment and we want to make sure you get all you can from them. Makeup brushes can be a bacteria night mare and spreading all that bacteria over your face cant be good. Think of how much bacteria is on your face daily.  Bacteria and natural oils transmit onto your brushes every time they come in contact with your skin. Regulaly cleaning can help remove Old Makeup,Dirt and Debris, Dead Skin Cells, Bacteria and Oils

Another benefit of keeping your makeup brushes clean is softness. Makeup buildup on your brushes can make them feel scratchy. Cleaning your brushes on a regular basis will help keep them soft and supple. This is especially great for people with sensitive skin and it also helps apply your makeup with a sooth finish.

So how often should you clean your makeup brushes? You should really clean them once a week if not more, this will help maintain your brushes lifespan, but I know in life we have things we need to do and don’t have time to clean them but what I do is get a big bowl of water and soap and wash them while I watch TV or YouTube but one tip is to wash them a night so they can dry over night. Below I am going to give you’re some of the best and most cost effective ways to clean your brushes.

What You Will Need

Bar of Soap

Sponge

Hair Conditioner

Baby Shampoo or Liquid Detergent

How to Clean Your Brushes

Soap – You want to use an unscented, pure, white soap for this. I generally use Nivea or Dove because they leave them really soft. With lukewarm water, get your brush completely wet. Once your brush has been saturated, swirl the brush onto the bar of soap until it lathers up nicely. Then, rinse the brush in lukewarm water. Make sure you don’t use water that is to hot or too cold. Also, when rinsing your brushes, don’t get water above the shaft or metal part. If you do it will eventually cause rust which will cause the bristles of the brush to fall out. Gently squeeze out any excess water from the brush and lay it flat on a clean towel and allow them to air dry for at least 6 to 8 hours.

Detergent or Baby Shampoo and a Sponge – Take a clean sponge and wet it once again using lukewarm water. You can use either baby shampoo or dish detergent whichever one you prefer. Wet your brush making sure you saturate the brush completely. Squeeze a small amount of detergent or shampoo onto the sponge and swirl your brush on the sponge working up a good lather. Then rinse your brush with lukewarm water. You want to make sure you feel the brush when you are rinsing it to make sure you rinse all the shampoo or detergent out of the brush. If it feels slippery or slimy, continue to rinse until your brush feels clean. Once again, squeeze out the excess water and lay them flat on a clean towel to dry.

Beauty Blenders–many people don’t know how to clean these and because you put water in them before you use them they think the are clean,but the aren’t.So how to clean these,the process is pretty much like cleaning any other of your makeup brushes. You can use either a bar of soap, baby shampoo or dish detergent. Using dish detergent does make it a little easier when cleaning these because you can directly apply it to the beauty blender. Cleaning beauty blenders do take a little bit longer because of the rinsing process. Wet the beauty blender with lukewarm water and squeeze on a small amount of detergent onto it. Roll the Beauty Blender in your hands to help work the detergent completely in to it and rinse until the water is clear. Make sure you rinse these thoroughly until you see clean water when you squeeze the beauty blender. If the water isn’t clear, there is still product in the beauty blender. You may have to repeat this process a few times to get the beauty blender completely clean since they do soak up a lot of product. Once clean, squeeze out any excess water and lay flat to dry. You will know when the beauty blender is dry because it will have shrunk in size.

Some brushes can feel stiff even after washing them. You want your brushes to feel soft and luxurious against your skin. If this is the case, take a small amount of conditioner in your hand and massage it gently into the bristles and rinse in lukewarm water and lay flat to dry. This will give the bristles a soft, velvety feel to them.

And there you have it, easy and inexpensive ways to make sure your makeup brushes are clean and well protected. Remember, cleaning your brushes is vital in helping preserve your makeup brushes.

Hope you guys liked this little post,all so sorry for no update last week I was really busy with school as it was the last week but now I'm on summer break so get ready for the summer uploads.Leave a comment and follow also check out my Instagram xxlia.beauty.beexx

Love Lia x

L'Oréal Nude Magique Cushion Foundation

Hey guys it’s Lia,

So today’s post is going to be all about the new foundation craze – cushion foundations! This trend started in Korea, and huge brands such as Lancome have released their own versions of this format of foundation, but L’Oreal is the first more affordable drugstore brand to bring out their own, and I knew I had to try it! I’ve had this one for a couple of weeks and given it a really good test, so here’s what I think!

I have tried every single way possible to apply this foundation in the past couple of weeks: with the sponge it came with, with a beauty blender, with a flat foundation brush, with a stippling brush, every which way! First of all can I say that the sponge in the packaging is mostly useless, it just soaks up the foundation and barely any gets on your actual face, so don’t use that.My way to apply this is by dipping a stippling or buffing brush straight into the cushion and applying to my face the same way as a regular liquid foundation. A beauty blender or sponge is a good way to apply too, as it’ll help with that flawless, fresh faced look this foundation promises. This foundation goes on and blends out really easily, and I like the fact that I can just dip my brush into the cushion to get some product on there!

This is advertised as a dewy light to medium buildable coverage foundation, and I was super curious how it would go on, as I normally wear a more satin or matte finish foundation due to my skin type that is a bit heavier than this one,but I was looking for a more natural foundation for days I don’t want a full make up look. I’m surprised with the coverage that this foundation actually gives, as it does give me a nice medium coverage when I apply this with my stippling brush, but still looks very light and doesn’t feel thick or cakey in the slightest, although due to my acne I do use a bit of colour corrector and concealer but even with that it doesn’t look cakey This foundation does give a dewy glow when you apply, which is fab if you want a nice natural look without too much product, which I think is great! It doesn’t cover all of my redness like a fuller coverage base does, so I still need my concealer on top!

Here is where there is a little bit of a problem for me. I have oily skin and I knew picking a base that was going to give me a ‘dewy glow’ would be a little risky. I’m the sort of person that is hugely aware of when my skin looks oily or greasy, and I carry around a little concealer and powder and blotting papers basically everywhere I go. This foundation looked beautiful when applied, and lasted really well, but I noticed my skin going quite shiny and I had only wore it for a couple of hours. This could have been due to the fact that I normally set my makeup with powder, but to avoid the glow being covered with a matte powder, I skipped it when using this foundation, but I reckon what makes me lovely and dewy also contributes to the oil on my face later on in the day.

I love that this foundation has an SPF in it. L’Oreal Nude Cushion foundation has an SPF 29 in there, which is higher than a normal foundation contains if it has sun protection included. I love how it feels super comfortable like I’m wearing a tinted moisturiser, but has the coverage of a foundation. I also think that as this is in a compact it’s so much easier to touch up on the go, however the puff is a bit rubbish. Value for money wise, it’s the first more affordable brand to offer a cushion foundation, so cheaper than the likes of Lancome. It is a little expensive for a high street foundation at £14.99, but L’Oreal tends to be on the higher priced end of drugstore makeup. I paid £9.99 for this on offer at Superdrug, which I think is great value, but as we creep up to the £15 mark I feel like there are better foundations on the high street for me and my skin type I will be using this a lot over summer however, as I like how effortless and natural it looks, I’ll just have to make sure to keep the blotting paper handy.

Overall, I feel like this would work wonders for someone who has drier skin than mine, as I do have to blot more often with this, but the lasting power is really good and it’s super easy to put on and build up to a flawless medium coverage. I will be using all of this up, I’m not sure about how long this will last compared to my regular liquid foundation, but as it’s summer now (despite the weather), this will help me get a lovely more natural base while giving me the SPF that I want.

That’s it for todays blog hope you guys like this little haul. Leave a comment and follow also check out my Instagram xxlia.beauty.beexx

Love Lia x

My Mini Boots Haul

Hey guys it's Lia,

The other day I was scrolling through the Boots website and doing some 'window shopping' online and when I clicked on my basket I saw that the items that I picked where not actual going to bankrupt me so I clicked the check out button and here’s what I bought...

Quick disclaimer I haven't received these products yet but once I have I will give you my opinion anyway on with the products.

Item number one is the Soap & Glory Kick Ass Blur and Brighten Crayon, the website stated that it was a 'multi-action, no-nonsense concealer crayon blurs imperfections and banishes shadows for a flawless finish. With long-lasting coverage that leaves skin looking revived and refreshed, this roll up, multi-tasking concealer crayon is perfect for girls on the go!’. This really stood out to me for use under your eyes to make you look more awake(face it girls we all need those on those school days!)and also to give your face a bit more of a subtle glow for the summer also it pares greatly with my next item...

Item number two is Soap & Glory’s Kick Ass Fake Awake so apparently 'Dark under-eye circles are banished with our mini-wonder for girls who just want to have fun. Dark Circles Concealer is ultra-blend able and provides amazing coverage – and the heroically handy size makes it a take-me-anywhere. With green tea extract, our soon-to-be-icon makes skin feel firmer and more hydrated. Eye believe in miracles – do you?' I have to admit that I love reading the Soap&Glory descriptions when shopping and plus they are one of my favorite brands! I chose this over any other under eye concealers because it's small so I can just pop it in my bag and also I like that it is a stick instead of a liquid just because they are easier to apply when on the move and also my friend had it and I have been told it's a great concealer.

Item number three and I promise this is not a Soap&Glory product. So because it's now summer we are all going to have to deal with sweat, I know it's gross but we all have to deal with it so to combat my already slightly oily skin I bought the Revlon PhotoReady Prime + Anti-Shine Balm.'PhotoReady Prime + Anti-Shine balm- this versatile, lightweight compact balm and primer provides smooth, mattified skin with one application. Skin appears virtually airbrushed, erasing the look of pores and imperfections, whilst minimizing the appearance of fine lines. Wear it alone, under or over makeup for a perfected shine-free look’. I have used this before and I loved it I just apply it on my t-zone and it really helps keep that sine down and it's worth a try if you suffer from oily/shiny skin.


So that’s all my make-up purchases so now onto skin care...


Item number four is the Garnier Skin Naturals Pure Active Intensive Anti-Spot Exfoliating Scrub,now I didn't actually buy this for the Anti-Spot properties that’s just a bonus for us teenagers, I bought this because its an amazing exfoliator and also works well as a normal cleanser because its not a harsh exfoliator, but this product makes your skin feel so clean and especially after of day of full-on make up it makes your face feel clean and re-freshed and I love this so high recommendations.

Item number five is the NIVEA Daily Essentials 3-in-1 Deep Cleansing Exfoliating Wipes,this doesn’t need much explanation these are simply for make-up removal but one thing I would say is that I find that exfoliating wipes remove make up nicer that normal wipes but never just use a wipe make sure to wash with your choice of cleanser just to make sure your skin is completely clean especially before you go to sleep.

And the last item is the Garnier Summer Body Lotion Deep Sun-Kissed,now it's becoming summer everyone want's that tanned summer look but personally I am not a fan of intense fake tans I'm more of a gradual/subtle tanned look.Now this product is necessary for British people cause all of you who live in England that our summers aren’t the best we get a few days of sun the we get rain and clouds and its not the best, but we all still want that tan for when we go to some sunny place for holidays so this is product I recumbent for you British people I also recommend the Palmers Gradual Tanners which I have purchased before and I love it.

That’s it for todays blog hope you guys like this little haul. Leave a comment and follow also check out my Instagram xxlia.beauty.beexx

Love from Lia x