Cleaning Makeup Brushes

When it comes to cleaning your makeup brushes a lot of people dread it just because of how time consuming and tedious it can be. But I can not stress how important it is to clean your makeup brushes. If you didn't know already every time you put a dirty brush on your face that brush is filled with bacteria from all the previous times you have used it. That bacteria grows from all the makeup on your brush that is not cleaned off and just sits there. So basically your swirling that bacteria all over your face each time you use it with new bacteria growing after each use. EWW! Not to mention this can also lead to your face breaking out. So what I recommend is to deep clean your brushes once every week. What I use is either a bar of soap or some baby shampoo. You really don't need to go out and buy a special cleaner for your brushes. It is not necessary. First I get the brush wet and then swirl it in the soap in my hand until it gets foamy, just like when you shampoo your hair. Then just place it under the water and swirl it around until all the soap rinses out. You may need to repeat this step if your brush is really dirty. Then try and squeeze out all the excess water and place it flat on a towel to air dry. I have to add that when cleaning your brushes it is really important to have the brush head facing down so that no water can get inside of the brush's ferrel (usually the metal part of the brush). If water gets inside the brush it will ruin it. Then you are done with cleaning your brushes. And it's that easy! It may be time consuming especially if you have a lot of brushes to clean but it really is not worth using dirty brushes on your face. If you have time to do your makeup then you have time to clean your makeup brushes properly! 

*Cleaning brushes for makeup artists requires more then this. 

xoxo

Victoria 

Natural Simple Makeup Look

A Simple Look:

L'oreal True Match Superblendable liquid foundation, L'oreal True Match Superblendable powder for contour, Mac Cosmetics Pro Long wear concealer, random brown Maybelline eyeshadow for eyebrows, L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black waterproof mascara, Mac Cosmetics Soft and Gentile, and Maybelline Baby Lips in Peppermint

*Please excuse my burnt body

xoxo

Victoria 

My Favorite Foundation!

So I've discovered this foundation that I absolutely love about a year ago and it is now my go to foundation that I wear everyday. Its the L'oreal True Match Super Blendable Makeup. It retails for around $8-$12 at drugstores and comes in a 1 fl. oz glass bottle with no pump, just a screw off cap. It is also oil free and has an SPF of 17. The thing I love most about this foundation is that it comes in warm, neutral, and cool shades. That just makes picking out a foundation shade so much easier. Once you know your skin's undertone it's pretty much a piece of cake from there. There is also a very good amount of shades to choose from. (I wear W4 in the winter and can go all the way up to W7 in the summer.) Now I would consider this foundation to be a medium coverage foundation that can be built up to full coverage. It is a water based foundation which makes blending this foundation into your skin so incredibly easy, hence the name. It gives you such a natural "skin-like" foundation look, if that makes any sense. Basically if applied the right way it looks like your wearing little to no face makeup on. It also has such a light weight feeling, almost like there is nothing on your face. True Match is not entirely a matte foundation but it does not give you a very dewy look, so it's that in between natural look that everyone loves. I have pretty oily skin most of the time and I find that if I prime my face before hand and then apply a setting powder all over after this foundation lasts all day long without changing its appearance too much from when you first applied it. So basically this is the only foundation that I would recommend to everyone. It really is such a great foundation for all skin types and tones. I hope you try it out and love it as much as I do!

Wearing True Match shade W7 

xoxo

Victoria 

St.Tropez Bronzing Mousse

It's officially summer time which means it's time for that summer tan that everyone wants. My best friend during this season is fake tan. I don't have to lay out in the hot sun for hours waiting for a tan. St. Tropez's Bronzing Mousse is definitely my favorite self tan out there. I've tried many self tanners out there only leaving me orange and uneven. St. Tropez Bronzing Mousse can be found at Sephora ranging from $18-$42 depending on size (1.69 oz- 8 oz). Now I know that is kind of pricey but for me it's worth it seeing it gives me the most natural tan that a self tanner can give me. So first off with every self tanner you need to exfoliate off all the dead skin on your body. What I usually do is shave my legs and then for the rest of my body I will use a loofa and make sure to scrub everywhere. When I get out of the shower I put a light moisturizer on everywhere focusing more on my joints like my elbows and knees. This way the self tanner doesn't stick to dry patches of skin and make the tan look patchy. After all that is done it is time for the self tanning. I know they sell tanning mitt's that help rub in the self tanner more evenly, but for me I just use disposable gloves. Works fine for me. Do not pump the mousse directly onto your skin. What your going to do is pump it onto your glove first and then begin rubbing it into your skin until it is all rubbed in. Now for my legs I use two to three pumps on each leg, my arms I use one pump for each, my stomach I use one pump, my chest I use one pump, and for my entire back I use two pumps. It is important to go section by section like that, this stuff dries fast and you want to rub in the self tanner as soon as it touches your skin. When I get to my hands and feet it can get a little tricky. For my feet I will usually have self tanner left over from my legs and will just rub the remaining onto the tops of my feet. For my hands I will take off my gloves and pump out the smallest amount of self tanner that I can and put it on the back of one of my hands. Once it's on my hand I will take the other back of my hand and rub them together along with the backs of my fingers. I know it may be kind of hard to imagine but basically the palms of your hand should never touch the self tanner, just have the backs of your hands touching each other. After my hands and everything else is done I will usually wait around five minutes for everything to dry. I know on the bottle it says you can put your clothes back on after a minute of drying but I like to wait a little longer just to make sure. So after the five minutes are up I will put all my clothes back on and now it is time to wait for the color to develop. The bottle says to wait at least four hours before getting wet or sweating, I will wait anywhere between four and eight hours depending on what I am actually doing that day. As far as the smell goes it does have that fake tan smell but it really is not as bad as other self tanners that I have used. It is very bearable and you will get used to the faint smell. Now the rest is self explanatory, just wash off everything in the shower. After you get out of the shower you will have that perfect natural "St. Tropez" tan that everyone wants! This tan will usually last me about five days the most and then it is time to start the whole process over again. I have to add though this is only one application. You can keep adding more applications to get the darkness you desire! I added some before and after pictures down below. Enjoy!

Before

After

                            

xoxo

Victoria 

Tag! I Do My Boyfriend's Makeup!

New Video!

Hope you enjoy!

xoxo

Victoria