Top Tips For Healthy, Shiny Hair

Rewind about a two years and you'd see I didn't have the best conditioned hair. It felt constantly dry, not very nourished, it was frizzy and dull. Fast forward to now and you'd see I have very healthy hair, that grows quickly, is shiny, healthy and very rarely feels dry. I've made a few tweaks to my lifestyle that have caused my hair health to improve, and I completely swear by them. If you're having issues with dry or lacklustre hair maybe try these things out.

How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes…The Right Way!

Washing makeup brushes is one of the most mundane things, but it's very important.

Why is it important to clean makeup brushes?

Not only do brushes apply products to your skin but they also pick up any oils, dead skin cells or dirt that might be on your face, so when you go to reapply makeup with the brush that bacteria will be transferred back onto your face….yucky! If you get acne or suffer from spots washing your makeup brushes regularly should make a difference. 

Keeping your brushes in good condition will make them last longer! Cleaning them regularly will keep the bristles soft, prevent them from drying out, caking together or falling apart. 

Clean makeup brushes will also apply makeup a lot better!

How should I clean my makeup brushes?

You can buy shop-bought brush cleanser from places like MAC but that can be expensive, these products can often contain alcohol as well which will make the bristles dry out. Using baby shampoo is the best option, I use Johnson's. It's nice and gentle and will do the job well. 

Firstly put the brush under warm running water, then remove it and massage some of the baby shampoo into the bristles gently, and rinse in CLEAN water! I usually repeat this twice to make sure all the product is off the brushes. Afterwards squeeze the excess water out, and place them somewhere to dry.  

This bit is important - make sure your brushes are NOT standing upright when they're drying, the water could go right into the brush and cause it to rot inside. Stand them upside down, a good way to do that is in one of the Real Techniques brush stands that come with their collections of brushes (pictured).

How often should I clean my makeup brushes?

Once a week is ideal, especially if you're using them every single day. I'd say try not to go over 2 weeks without washing your brushes. 

Extra tips

Using olive oil on your brushes before the baby shampoo will give them a deeper clean. So if they're looking extra dirty or you've used a thicker product on them this is a great thing to do. Tea tree oil is also good for this.

Reshape your brushes while they're still wet, you don't want them trying in a weird way and then you're unable to use them properly. 

Make sure your brushes are completely dry before using them again.

I hope you found this helpful!

Also, I announced the winner of my giveaway! To find out if you won 

click this link!

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Choosing Your Foundation

As foundation is the base to your makeup it's important you find the right one for you. There are lots of things to consider when buying a foundation, here are some things to help you.

The Right Formula For You

When you choose a foundation you should consider your skin type. If you have oily skin you might be best going for a matte finish foundation, or one that is oil free. Whereas if you have dry skin it's best to go for something more dewy. Also, if you have sensitive skin it's best to stay clear of fragranced foundations, mineral foundations might be a good bet.
If you have combination skin it shouldn't matter too much which finish you go for, it's down to personal preference.

Coverage

Decide what sort of coverage you'd like your foundation to have. Consider what state your skin is in, if you have blemish-free skin then you won't need full coverage, if you are blemish-prone you'll probably want medium-full coverage. Another thing to consider is the season, in winter skin tends to be in worse condition so you may want a heavy coverage, but make sure it's creamy for that dehydrated skin! In the warmer months it's a lot more pleasant to be wearing a lighter coverage foundation, and something that'll last a long time in the heat.

Finding Your Perfect Colour Match

Normally I find it quite easy to colour match myself - applying on your hand isn't really a good way to judge a foundation shade, your hands tend not to be the same shade as your face. Apply a little tester amount to your neck, blend down and if the colour disappears it's a good match for you.
At highend makeup counters it may be more difficult to colour match yourself, sometimes they don't have samples out, perhaps there's much more choice so you can't decide, or maybe you're in MAC and are confused with the N's and C's (N means warm - best for pinkish skin, C means cool - best for yellow or olive toned skin) - If this is the case then ask for help. There'll be someone who works in the store to help colour match you perfectly. Something important to consider is a lot of foundations will oxidate, which means they can get darker after they've been on the skin for a while, so it's best to go away for a bit and see if this happens before purchasing your product.

SPF or No SPF

For an everyday foundation SPF is always a good idea, most foundations will have an SPF in them but it's always good to check. If they don't then make sure your moisturiser does!
However, if you're looking for a foundation for nighttime use only (going to clubs, parties, dinners) then an SPF free foundation will photograph better - you won't get that ghostly white face SPF gives you with flash photography.

I hope you found this post helpful!

Happy foundation shopping!

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Real Techniques Role Reversal

The Real Techniques range is my favourite brand of makeup brushes. There are so many to choose from, they're affordable, they look pretty, they're easy to clean, they dry quickly and I love the way they make my makeup look.

Two of the brushes I own are the Brush Blush and the Contour Brush which is part of the Core Collections kit. I adore both of these brushes and use them daily, however I do use them for different things. The blush brush I find is best for contouring, and the contour brush is brilliant for applying blush, so there's a role reversal going on!

The blush brush is practically just a larger version of the contour brush. They both have those tapered bristles which make them great for blending in your product. You apply the powder to the top bristles and then the bristles on the outer part of the brush will help to blend it all in, so you're not left with an awful harsh line.
The reason I prefer to use the blush brush to contour is because it is larger and has more bristles to help blend my bronzer. Although the contour brush is perfectly great at doing it's job I found I was sometimes left with too harsh a line, it was too precise for a daytime look, so I'd always go in afterwards trying to blend it out…but I don't need to do that with the blush brush!
The contour brush is amazing for applying blush though, it's the perfect size! It's also a dream to apply highlighter with and even help to blend in concealer.

If you have both of these brushes I suggest swapping the uses around and seeing how you get on!
If you don't have these brushes I highly recommend them…and any of the others from the Real Techniques range!

Eyebrow Tips And Tricks!

Whether you believe it or not eyebrows make a massive difference to your face. Shaping and shading your brows correctly can frame your face, help balance facial features, if you're older they can give you a more youthful look by opening up the eye area, make you look more 'put together', and just generally make you look more 'done'.

I have put together some of my best eyebrow tips, from plucking to filling your brows in.

1. Before you get plucking you should brush your eyebrows upwards and trim the long hairs with brow scissors, this will determine the natural shape of your brows before plucking.

2. Determine where you need to pluck! Don't just go straight in with those tweezers or you could easily over pluck. To find out where your brow should start grab a pencil and place it parallel to the side of your nose, that's where your brow should begin.
Next find out where the arch should be, grab that pencil again and align it with the outer edge of your iris, this is where your arch in the brow should be. Finally your brow shouldn't go further than where your brow bone ends.

3. Now you're ready to pluck.  A lot of people find plucking painful, I never have but here are some tips on making plucking a bit more bearable.
 - Pluck after having a hot bath or shower, the pores will be more open.
 - Soak a flannel in hot water, wring it dry and place it over your brows for a minute or two, remove it              then pluck.

4. Don't over pluck. To maintain a natural look don't pluck more than 2 rows of hair and don't pluck too much from above the brow, but you probably will need to pluck some from outer part above to create a very subtle slope.

5. Now you've shaped your eyebrows it's time to fill them in. Decide on your method, either a pencil or a shadow. I personally like to use a shadow because it looks more natural and gives a nicer effect in my opinion.

6. Get the right colour match. Most girls I see use entirely the wrong shade when filling in their brows…it's normally too dark. A rule that often applies is the shade should be 1 or 2 shades lighter than your current hair colour.

7. When filling in your brows it's best to follow your natural brow shape, rather than drawing on a whole new shape like some girls do. But if you have very sparse brows or have a bare patch it's best to use a thin eyebrow brush or even a eyeliner brush and do soft like upwards strokes to mimic the natural hairs.

8. I always start by defining the arch of my brow, just by gently brushing the powder with a brow brush through the brow. Once that's done I move on to the rest of the brows. It's a bit like colouring, don't go outside of the lines! Only ever do this very slightly if you want more definition.

9. Brush through your brows to make sure the powder, or pencil if you decided to use that, is distributed evenly.

10. For unruly brows use some brow gel, or brow set to make sure your brows are set in place all day.

There you have it! Now you should have perfect brows.

For a great budget buy brow kit look here!

I hope you found those tips useful, 

let me know if you try them out or if

you have any more brow tips!

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