Squeaky Clean Brushes

I hate cleaning my brushes if I'm honest but I love using spotless clean brushes- do you see my problem? To achieve a happy medium I try to wash them all once a week which isn't too often that it feels like a chore and I get clean brushes for a healthy amount of time. So I thought today that I'd share with you how I do that because when I first got into makeup no one told me that you had to wash brushes regularly or how to do so. 

Firstly you'll need all your brushes you want to wash and some baby shampoo/bath (I usually use shampoo but they both do the same thing) The reason it's better to use BABY shampoo is because it's designed to keep skin soft so it makes your brushes so soft and it smells amazing.

Now for the actual washing. I put a small amount (about the size of a pea) of the baby bath in the plam of my hand, swirl the brush in it until it lathers and then put the brush under running water pinching the bristles until the water runs clear and the brush is free of product.

To dry them I just lay them all on a piece of kitchen roll and set the near a radiator and they dry in about 6 hours. This is why I wash them at night so they will be dry for the next morning to do my makeup with.

I hope this was helpful to you. If you have anything you use to wash your makeup brushes that I didn't mention feel free to leave them below. 

Ray xx

What's on my face?

HAPPY SUNDAY!
I haven't written in quite some time, there has been some issues in my personal life but not to worry I am back with a "what's on my face?" post. Today I felt a bit lazy and that is reflect in the I-couldn't-be-bothered-ness of this look. So here it is:

 

 

For this "face" I started with the MUA primer, this is a water based primer and it's nothing special really. I moved onto foundation next and I mixed W7 photoshoot foundation with my MAC studio fix fluid and I buffed that in with my Real Techniques expert face brush. For concealer I went with a beauty cult product which is the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer. To make sure my face doesn't blind anyone with shiny-ness I used Collection pressed powder which smells incredible and does a great job. For blush I used my Sugarbomb blush from Benefit "in my Sugarlicious kit". For highlight I used an oldie but goodie High Beam which(after inspiration from Vivianna does makeup) I blended with my ring finger instead of a brush and I love the effect it gives. On my eyes I have "Foxy" from the Naked 2 palette just to make the lid an even colour. For filling in my brows I used "Tease" from Naked 2 also. I lined my eyes with "Blackout" AGAIN from Naked 2 which I blended out for a slightly smokey effect but I thought liquid eyeliner would be too harsh since I was going for a no-fuss look. For mascara I chose one of my all time faves with Maybelline Pulse Perfection. Finally, because of my neutral eyes I went a bit more bold with a pink lip colour. I used my Revlon Colourstay Liquid Lipstick in Premium Pink.

And that's it-my guide to a simple sunday look.


Ray xx

Current favourites!

I've decided not to commit myself to writing monthly favourites because I know I'll never stick to it so every once in a while I will just collect together a few skincare/haircare/makeup items to share with you guys. Here is what I have been loving over the past few months:

 Garnier Pure deep pore wash(£2.53 Boots) Simple light moisturiser(£3.79 Boots) Topshop Blush in "Flush" (£6 Topshop) Rimmel Lycra Pro nail polish(£4.59 Boots) Real Techniques expert face brush(£9.99 Boots) MUA Lipstick Shade 7 (£1 Superdrug) Maybelline Pulse Perfection vibrating mascara(£7.99 Amazon) Osmo Deep Mositurising shampoo and conditioner(£14.20 feelunique.com) Garnier Refreshing Gel-Cream(£2 Boots)

(Sorry about the flash but it's so hard to photograph gold packaging) This combination is incredible. I have very heat damaged hair and thought that a deep mositurising shampoo and conditioner would do wonders for my hair and I wasn't wrong. They left my hair feeling lightweight and the conditioner was especially good, the ends of my hair were super soft I just wanted to run my hands through it all day. While washing your hair the products do have a strong scent, it's not a bad smell (infact it's quite delightful) but it is strong although it's not noticeable when you're hair is dry.

This mascara is by far my most used of the past month or so. I'm not a fan of the vibrating feature as I don't feel like it does anything for my lashes, it simply doesn't vibrate strong enough to have any noticeable impact but the brush and the formulation are wonderful. It's not flaky, it doesn't smudge, it will stay put all day and it adds a lot of length and volume.

I chose to talk about the 2 skincare items together. First, the moisturiser. The main reason I purchased this was for the promise "absorbs instantly" and I wouldn't say it was "instant" but substantially quicker than any other mosituriser. I have the grape scent and it smells super fresh and it's nice to apply. Next, the deep pore wash. This works wonders for my skin. I use it every 2-3 days and if I miss even 1 session of using it I would breakout or get bad dry patches so it just keeps my skin under control. It has microbeads in it to exfoliate which helped with the dry skin on my face and I just LOVE this product.

I'm really enjoying the Simple light moisturiser because it does exactly what it promises without being too greasy so I can use it everyday. My MUA lipstick has been a favourite of mines for a while because it is a very wearable colour for a natural look and it is shimmery but not too much plus it smells really nice which is important to me because you can smell it all day as it's right under your nose.I've been loving the Topshop cream blush because I absolutely adore the formulation. Usually I'm a bit scared of cream blushes but the cream-to-powder formulation of this makes it easy to work with although I wished I'd have picked a slightly more subtle colour.(That's just an excuse for me to go back and buy another). Lastly, of course everyone in the beauty world loves the Real Techniques brushes but my favourite has to be the "expert face brush". I find it so useful for everything. I use it for foundation, cream blush, highlighter and bronzer(which explains why it's so dirty in the picture ew gross). 

I have not stopped wearing this nail polish for the past few months, I switch it up for a few days but I always go back to my trusting Rimmel Lycra Pro in 440 "orange bliss". It's the perfect bright orange/coral(it shows up more red on camera but it's more orange than it appears). It has the wide brush for mistake free application which is important to me because when I paint my right hand it usually goes everywhere so I find the maxi brush very useful. I'm going to have to go get myself some more colours.

That's it for my current favourites, I hope you found this post informative and sorry if it's a bit long! 
Until my next post,

Ray X