Spare your blushes, clean your brushes!

Something I can never be bothered doing but really should do more often, is clean my make-up brushes.  My brain seems to think that as I only use one or two during the week, that they don't need any love and my lazy body is happy to comply!

So the other night, I set to it armed with 'gone in 60 seconds' on my iPad and some antibacterial handwash.

These are two of my Real Techniques brushes and I use them the most often I would say.  I use the big one every day for powder and even bronzer too and the smaller one for blush or bronzer.  That's often why I don't get round to washing them as by the time I remember, there's not enough time to wash and dry them for the morning!

It's a pretty simple process really and I do this for all my brushes, including my prized Dior set, with no ill effect *phew*.  I rinse the brush under warm water, not really hot as I don't want to burn my hand by the time I get to brush number four!

I then put some anti-bacterial handwash into my hand (you could use baby shampoo, I have no babies and thus no shampoo for them), I've just got Asda's on brand but I'm sure any will do.  Perhaps try and stay away from the more moisturising ones as they may leave a bit of residue on the brush (i.e. Shea butter and the likes).  Give the brush a good swirl around in the soap and RINSE.  You'll be amazed at the colour that comes off! 

Gently squezze out any excess water, being careful not to pull too hard on the bristles or they may start shedding!

Once washed, place them on their sides over the edge of a table, shelf or bookcase or wherever is most convenient and let them air dry.  It is very important that you don't dry brushes with them standing upright as the water can travel into the brush, weaken the glue holding the fibres together and again, you risk shedding.

And that's it! 

10 or 20 minutes on a sunday and you are good to go for the rest of the week.  I find that once my brushes are clean, my make up certainly applies nicer and if I had a big night out planned, I would certainly have clean brushes ready and waiting.

Do you clean your brushes?

What do you use to clean them?

Hugs,

Jodi

Boots - a love/hate relationship!

Hey Chums!

I was in Boots last week and allowed myself a mini splurge, I love it, my bank account hates it!! Haha!

It was my friends hen night and so I thought that deserved a few new bits and bobs, as you do...

I finally bit the bullet and purchased a few Real Techniques brushes! Squeeeeee! I got the core collection and a rather giant powder brush, both from the your base/flawless range, I will post the links to each item on the boots.com site, however, do shop around! I think I will chat about these in another post though or we will be here all night!

I also got the smashbox 'It's your prime' kit.  I have been tempted by their 'try it kit' before but was put off by the fact that it had a lipgloss and a mascara that I probably wouldn't use, so I was delighted to discover this newly released kit.  I had originally wanted to try and get a small size of The Porefessional by Benefit but the sales assistant wasn't particularly helpful.

The smashbox products were very dinky but I had expected more than just a box with the products wrapped in a square of black tissue paper, perhaps even just a leaflet or directions for use?

I was going to be wearing a red dress with black and gold accessories and so I felt this was a great opportunity to try out one of the Kate for Rimmel lipsticks.  This is pretty brave for me as I'm usually a Benetint kinda gal! I got the shade 111 which seemed to be the most true red.

I tried the Kate Matte Lipstick but something about it didn't click with me, I'm not sure what though.  The coverage was fine, the texture was nice, it was pretty matte without being drying and chalky but I just wasn't quite feeling it.  I ended up using a really old lipstick I have had for ages, which wasn't a matte finish.  I don't even know if this shade exists anymore (certainly is not on boots.com) but I think I preferred it as it has a slight blue tone to it, which can help make your teeth look a bit whiter (allegedly!)

I also picked up L'oreal Elnett 'So Sleek' Hairspray, it was 2 for £4 for the little ones but I only bought one as I hardly ever use hairspray. I wouldn't normally wear it out but I was curling my hair and need a lot of help to keep the curl in my fine hair.

For my Nails, I used OPI 'From Me to Q' which is a creme red, I felt very glam with this on my fingers which is not at all what I expected as I usully avoid red on my fingernails! This went on really well and was totally opaque in two coats.

The bracelets were from accessorize and I thought they would break up the red nicely and are simple enough that they will work with loads of other outfits.

Jewellery wise, I also got some hoop type earrings from new look and they were useless! The clasps did nothing to keep them in my ears and so by the time I got to the bar, they were in my bag! 

This is the dress I bought...

It was really comfortable and was only dress number 5 or 6 that I bought! (the rest have now gone back to the shop!)

I wore it with black, high waisted spanx tights, which I didn't feel were particularly worth the hefty £39 price tag.  You can usually get them online for cheaper but as I was needing them for that very night, that was no use! 

I also just wore a pair of black New Look shoes, a new look bag (like this but without all the stud detailing bits, it was more of a black snakeskin) and a black blazer from ASOS (they sent the wrong size but thankfully it was too big rather than too little!)

Again, this has turned out much longer than expected but I hope you enjoy it!

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx