My Makeup Opinion.

WARNING: THIS PAGE CONTAINS EXCESS MAKEUP CONTENT!

Makeup YOUR mind

Monday, July 26, 2010

Don't BRUSH me the wrong way!

My friend recently asked me, "how do you know a good quality makeup brush?" I honestly only know what I've tried and the brands I love are Nars and Sephora Collection for myself. On clients I use MAC, Nars, and Sephora Synthetic brushes. Her question really popped some imspiration..



It's something alot of us forget.. to clean our brushes. I pay tons of money for these baby's and then it slips my mind to clean them twice a month. My brushes I use on clients I clean almost every second, but the ones I use on my own face everyday are starting to look alittle shabby. So today I motivated my behind to antibaterial my everyday brushes.

These are some my brushes I use on the daily:

Top row, From left to right: Bare Minerals Limited Edition Double ended shadow brush (I love it because it's animal print), Stila double ended smudge brush no. 15, Smashbox Bronzing no. 19, Sephora Silver Professionnel Collection Blending no. 10, Sephora Collection Professionnel ergonomic blush brush, Sephora Silver Professionnel no. 40, Sephora Silver Professionnel no. 42, Sephora stippling no. 44, Sephora all over shadow no. 21... Bottom row, left to right: Sephora no. 22, Hana K. Cheek Blending Brush, Sephora brow comb no. 11


Of all these brushes my favorites are my Sephora brow comb, Sephora Professionnel all over shadow no. 21, and Sephora collection ergonomic blush brush.


My least favorites: My Smashbox Bronzing brush was about $45 and it's such poor quality, it's always shedding hairs, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. My Hana K brush also feathers but I paid about $3 for it at Target, so I don't mind.


I washed all the brushes above with a gentle Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo. This shampoo cleans nicely without leaving any residue on my bristles. It's hard to find products that don't have too much alcohol. That's why baby shampoo worked out so well. All these brushes are made with animal hair which makes them very sensitive. So alcohol free products are the best for this type of brush.

Above are my daily synthetic brushes: (from left to right) Sephora Professionnel no. 51, Sephora Professionnel angle liner no. 22 ( I have two of these brushes, one I use for my cream eyeliner and the other I use on my brows), and Sephora no. 24 Smokey eye. You can use alcohol on these brushes because they are made with synthetic materials. I use synthetic brushes on my clients because they can sustain the harshness of alcohol and I would skeeve using a brush on someone I wasn't confident was clean.


Here I'm washing my real haired brushes with baby shampoo. I squeezed the shampoo on my hand and massaged the brush into the palm of my hand:

Animal haired brushes can hold alot of bacteria in the barrel of the bristles. Which is definitely why I should wash my brushes more:

After washing them all I lay them over a counter to let them air dry, which takes about 24 hours. The reason I hang dry them is so the brushes don't mis- shape when they dry:


My favorite brush in the world: Nars blush brush!!! I've had this brush for 4 years and it has NEVER shed on me. It's pricey at $55, but totally worth the doe! I can use alcohol on this brush, even though it's goat hair, and it still looks like the first day I got it! This brush is made awesome, and I would definitely suggest snagging one. I now have 2 of these brushes, another to use on cleints because I love it that much! This is the brush below:
Below is the MAC blending brush that I've wanted for awhile, I've seen so many artists with this brush and I love the way it blends in the outer corner of the eye. I will be getting this brush before summer ends, hopefully ;)

My brushes are still drying but tomorrow morning they will be ready to use, and I can't wait to get them dirty again, is that bad? lol


xox Laura Beth

7 comments:

  1. I'm awful at remembering to wash my brushes :| except when they touch cream products, then I wash them after every use. But if it's for powder products (particularly eyeshadows) I just wipe it off and am like 'errrr....that will do'

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow, you have influenced me to clean not only my brushes but my makeup drawer. I had some makeup for years that needed to go. Thanks for the brush tips, lol. I love your blog.Interesting, funny & cool.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Soo true! I never remember to clean mine either! I don't know why, perhaps because I'm just lazy! The greatest thing is the feeling of them once they are clean! Its like how the heck did I not realize how amazing this feels on my face! I suppose you have a pretty good idea what I'm on my way to do! Thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post on washing brushes. It does take a lot of work and time to wash them especially when you have so many. I also use baby shampoo since they're gentle on the brushes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wonderful, lovely post! I love the detail you put into it. You put a lot of hard work into this post and it shows!

    I learned a lot!

    Best wishes from one blogger to another,

    ~Zabrinah

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for reminding me to clean my brushes!

    I've also just given you an award on my blog here:

    http://themakeupdrawer.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-heart-your-blog-award.html

    Have a great day! =)

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Silhouette: Yeah, I agree, right after creams you need to wsh right away, because they'll dye your brushes.

    @Rosey: That's awesome, I'll be waiting alittle while before I attack the makeup drawer, it'll take a few days to do lol.

    @Corrine: Just a friendly reminder! lol ;)

    @Kristie: Yeah, it does but, it's so worth it!

    @Zabrinah: Thank you, that means alot!

    @ kali: I know right, I always forget to work brushes into my daily agenda. I need to get myself into a good habit. Yesterday I used the fresh brushes on my face, and it felt so soft and healthy. :)

    xox Laura Beth

    ReplyDelete

Some pictures may be downloaded from other sources. This blog is just my opinion. If you choose to use some of the products listed, use with caution.