Tuesday Tip!

Before I started my road to taking make up artistry seriously, I had never washed a make up brush in my life.  I had been using the same brushes for as long as I can remember and had never known you were SUPPOSED to wash brushes, much less how.  So, lets get started!!
1. Prepare your supplies: dirty brushes, one clean towel, shampoo or brush cleaner, warm water.
2. Rinse your brushes under warm water.  Be sure to wet only the brush and the metal part of the handle, not where the metal meets the wood portion of the handle.
3. Pour a nickle-sized amount of shampoo into your hand and swirl your brush to make a lather.  Rinse well. Repeat if necessary until the water runs clear.
4. Squeeze out the excess water with your clear towel and reshape the brush to its original shape.
5. Lay flat to dry with the brush hairs fully exposed to air (360 degrees such as hanging off of the end of a table).

If you are only using your brushes on yourself, clean them once a week.  I clean my professional brushes after every use! Washing helps reduce brush shedding and risk of infection.  The type of shampoo does not matter, but most artists recommend baby shampoo.

Tuesday Tip!

Everyone wants the secret to anti-aging.  We pay money for products ( I won't tell how much if you don't) that advertise less wrinkles/dark spots/under eye circles/puffiness.  There is one true secret to reducing wrinkles and it's as unfortunate as the weight loss secret (no, not the lemonade diet...it's called exercise and healthy eating, people).  The only way to reduce wrinkles is......(take a breath from all the suspense!)........SUNSCREEN!  Yes ladies, the only way to prevent wrinkles is using sunscreen.  Sunscreen also prevents aging spots, cancer, and dry skin.  Make sure at least one product used in your AM routine includes SPF.  We all wonder, do I use 15 or 235?  Honestly, the number on the bottle is irrelevent.  Unless you are looking at tanning oil and I am sorry to say that an SPF of 4 will not cut it.  The number does not matter, just make sure your sunscreen covers UVA and UVB rays.  But wait Mary!  I work inside all day!  I don't need sunscreen!  Even the unflattering fluorescent lights of your office can harm the skin, so use sunscreen every day.  I recommend Mac Studio Moisture Fix SPF 15 or Clinique Superdefense SPF 25.  If you will be out in the sun all day, reapply!  For the beach scene, you'll see me lathering Aveeno Continuous Protection Sunblock Lotion.

Tuesday Tip!

Want to create the perfect winged eyeliner? Take your eyeliner (or eyeliner brush) and angle it from the tip of your nostril up to the end of your eyebrow.  Follow this angle to prevent a sagging lid.  I use Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner in True Black with the MAC Precise Eye Liner Brush 210. Position a mirror so you are looking down at yourself.  Start at the inner corner of the eye as close to the lash line as possible.  Move with slow, steady strokes to the outer edge.  Before you reach the end of your lash line, start your wing up toward the tip of your brow.  Draw the angle first then pull from the wing tip back towards your lash line, forming a skinny triangle.  Fill in the middle with your liner being careful to not go outside the lines. Make your tip as long or as thick as you like but take time to get a nice point at the end. Voila!
Disclaimer: These are my eyebrows before the threading experience.

Tuesday Tip!

Here are a few tricks to getting fuller (looking) lips!  After brushing your teeth, run your toothbrush along your lips to exfoliate.  Moisturize your lips frequently.  To apply lipstick, start with lightly moisturized lips.  Use a light dusting of shimmer powder or cream on the top of the cupid's bow (in between the peaks on the top lip), right below the center bottom lip on the chin, and on the center of the bottom lip.  Use lip liner to outline your natural lip line. (I emphasize NATURAL because if you go outside the natural lip line, it is not flattering.  Also, you can use lipstick and a brush as lip liner). Fill in the rest of your lips with lip liner to make your lipstick last longer. Apply lipstick as usual. Apply gloss to the center of the bottom lip.  Avoid loads of gloss (too much ages your face and attracts away from your eyes), and apply the most gloss in the center of the bottom lip to avoid looking like you are drooling from the corners of your mouth.  If you have very small lips, avoid dark lipstick shades.

Tweezers, Wax, Thread....Oh my!

My eyebrows have been a problem area ever since I hit puberty and they sprung like fat, fresh catepillars and landed kirsplat on my forehead.  When I was young, I let them flaunt themselves thinking I was some thirteen year old version of Audrey Hepburn.  As I reached my teen years, I started plucking away but it was hard to cage beasts such as these.  During college, I discovered waxing.  Oh, the answer to my prayers!  Yes, it takes off a fine layer of skin and your face is red as a beet for six hours but to not pluck daily was a relief!  After college, I started to notice a small rash after every wax session.  It would clear after several weeks, but I was really getting annoyed.  Then, the rash stopped clearing and I had to break up with my lovely esthetician at Earthsavers.  I ran straight to the dermatologist and after an extremely painful procedure (because the rash turned out to be a horrible mix of white and black heads) my forehead was clear again.  Back to the tweezers I went with regret.  I started getting wind of a new fad for removing hair: threading.  With the use of cotton thread, my eyebrows could be whipped back in shape.  So, Thursday I went to see what this was about.  I had heard rumors of less pain, longer results, and of course no side effects that you have with waxing.  I walk in and am greeted by a small Indian woman named Bhavanna.  She tells me to lay back in the chair and pulls out the thread.  I am still explaining my life's battle with my gigantic eyebrows as she works busily getting the thread ready.  She does pause to exclaim "Your eyebrows too thin."  At this point I give up the small talk and try to relax.  She starts threading and the worst pain I've ever felt comes with it.  It felt like she was ripping my eyebrows, skin, and underlying flesh right off my face!  I tried to hold back the water building up behind my close eyelids, but it started leaking from the corners and running down my face.  I am thinking a couple things at this point 1) OWWW!! 2) Do I get a break from this agony? 3) What is going on up there because the burning is everywhere.  After a minute and a half, she is finished with one eyebrow.  Another excruciating minute later, I am finished!  She laughs and hands me a tissue to wipe my tears and we head to the register.  So, my final thoughts on threading are its dirt cheap ($10), very painful, but also very quick.  She said I should follow up every month for maintenance. I would definitely go back because I had redness for about 20 minutes and my eyebrows look fabulous!  I'll see you next time Bhavanna, and this time, I'll bring the tissues.