Hiya everyone!

Wow... Where do I even begin? A lot has been going on lately, both in my personal life and what I've been learning in school. Everything that I've been dealing with is still kind of up in the air and things are starting to really get down to the crunch. In the end, however, I know that everything will work out the way they should. The best medicine in life is to remain positive and optimistic, and I hope you guys, no matter what situation you're in, will remain positive through the roughest of times. You gotta fight for what's worth fighting for, and in the end it is the greatest reward ever.

Right, so I won't go into too much detail about what's been going on in my personal life... Let's get right to the news about the makeup.

Since being in school, which started July 28th, I've actually only learned the basics--but it's funny what even just the basics can do to teach you how MANY different makeup looks worn by celebrities are actually created. I was watching Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" video -- both the UK and the US versions -- because I felt it was appropriate for the mood I was in earlier today when the makeup she wore in both videos, while varying greatly, I had actually learned how to do in school already. And like I said, I've only been taught how to do just the basics. Funny how that works!!

So here's what I'm going to show you guys how to do:

• Day Makeup: These looks vary from each individual's tastes; they're very light and easy on the eyes during the day. The foundation can either be dewy, to make the skin look youthful and give off a healthy glow (this is particularly helpful for older women with more mature skin look younger, but can help to show more definition in wrinkles), or matte, which will help with younger or oily skin look more normal and mature, or help to blend away any wrinkles and the likes. For day makeup, liquid foundation is typically used with little bronzer and blush. The eyeshadow is typically light, only varying between two to three colors. Eyeliner is also light and complimented with mascara; the lack of eyeliner actually helps to create longer-looking lashes without the aid of false strip or individual lashes. Mascara can also vary between how much each individual wishes to use, and the color. For day makeup, the choice of mascara is typically black or dark brown. The look is already light enough that you still want to draw attention to your eyes, but not in a dramatic fashion.
• Evening Makeup: I see this branch of makeup worn by girls in the daytime more-so than at night, and I laugh knowing how much of a fashion no-no this is now. Evening makeup seems to have been replaced by avant garde makeup, which is 25% decoration (I have not fully learned about Avant Garde makeup so I won't go into too much detail about that). Evening makeup is increasing the vibrancy and "temperature" of a look; usually defined by smokey "V"s, which are really popular and easy to apply, or smokey eyeliner. The amount of foundation is increased, and cream foundation is typically used (cream foundation is the best to hide away blemishes that are impossible to get rid of, and for fuller coverage). Blush is so warmed up and intensified (this just means that more is applied), as well as deepening contouring (which is not only applying bronzer to bring out certain features of the face, or to correct face shapes, but other methods of highlighting, which I will go more in-depth about in a separate post). Eye makeup is typically darker and heavier; false lashes may be used to really give the eyes an extra boost for attention.
• Contouring: As I said when talking about evening makeup, contouring (I always want to spell contouring "countouring", but that is just horribly wrong!!) is not just using bronzer to darken certain areas of the face, like under the cheekbones to add more definition, or bring out cheekbones that day makeup may not be able to do, but also involves highlighting areas of the face. This is easily done and will actually help to save you money in the end -- more on that in another post.
• Celebrity Makeup: This will probably be more into the winter season when I touch base on this, as my course teaches me how not only to do red carpet makeup, but the decades too -- traveling from the 20s all the way to the 90s, and I think we even go and apply 00s makeup (now let's not forget that 2000s does not include 2010s ... and makeup is always changing, and new trends are constantly being created). Regardless, I see makeup that was done in the 40s still being used on women today just from seeing advertisements in fashion magazines, and comparing that to the makeup that was done before I was even thought of!

I'm sure that there will be tonnes more of great makeup looks coming your way, especially going back to more Drag or Avant Garde makeup. But I think just for now, this will be a great starter to get you guys excited.

Now my posting will be a little bit irregular ... I was want to get started on a weekly-look challenge where I apply different styles of makeup and eye makeup looks for whatever the reason: my mood, the weather, a look I've been craving to do, etc., but this probably won't get started until after I graduate from school, and have a good job that will allow me to wear makeup (hey!, maybe I'll finally have a set makeup artistry job that will more or less require me to show my true colors... hehe) so then it's more like a "Hey, this is the look I'm wearing today, and here's how I did it" kind of deal. I think it would be fun. That way, it'll also be easier for me to post regularly, instead of having to work around a tight-enough schedule, and help to really get my mind going on creating new trends in the fashion industry... Which is the field of makeup that I aspire to work in.

Right, now that I've got that off my chest ... time for bed!! I think I left out some important words to make my sentences a little more sense, but that can wait till the morning.

Hugs and kisses and love to you all, C. xoxo

Hey guys! I am so sorry that I haven't written a blog post in a while! I have been terribly busy adjusting to my new surroundings ... and now that I finally am, I can finally start cracking down on some makeup tips! So yes, in case you were wondering ... I am still alive, and doing well!

Okay, so as the majority of us who have makeup, we may or may not like to use brushes to apply our makeup with. If you don't use makeup brushes, it might be a good investment -- Sephora sells some really nice makeup brushes, but don't even bother going to MAC. The brushes sold at MAC are horribly expensive and are not the greatest quality from what I hear. Eco Tools sells some fantastic brushes, which you can buy at your local Walmart for dirt cheap, and they are really good. I think I have one, but this was before they released their Bamboo handle line. Anyway! Brushes are your bread-and-butter for makeup application. You can go all-out and have 25 brushes, or have the minimalist 16 brushes -- the number of brushes you have in your own personal kit does not limit you to the looks you can achieve. Just make sure that when you go brush shopping to not stock up on flat shading brushes, like I did. I will be buying new makeup brushes soon, just so then my brushes are not all mix-matched...


Right, okay. So we've used our brushes for quite a while and we haven't really taken proper care of them. Oops! It happens to the best of us. Especially me, and I am a clean freak... But lately, I just have not been able to get around to cleaning my brushes. The weather isn't that great outside, I have nothing better to do than to sit here and blog and listen to my music, so I thought, hmm, let's clean my makeup brushes too! And what better way to restart blogging than blogging about my experience cleaning my brushes?

First off, I do want to acknowledge that, for those of you who watch my Youtube videos, that the way Michelle Phan cleans her brushes is still a perfectly logical way of cleaning your brushes, and is still effective in disinfecting and cleaning your brushes (for those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, click here). However, makeup artists in the industry have a completely different process than just dish detergent and olive oil. The process in cleaning brushes can be lengthy in time, but there are some neat tips if you're in a time-crunch situation.

Let's get started:

So these brushes are my own personal brushes. I can't even remember the last time I've cleaned them -- the one and only brush I'm really concerned about is my foundation brush. It is literally caked in cream foundation ... EW! The rest of my brushes all just have various pigment on them, which isn't a big panic at all.


The first step I'm going to do to clean these brushes is use 99% isopropyl alcohol to really give my brushes a nice soak. (The products I'm going to be mentioning in this post, by the way, are cheap and available at your local drug store!) By using a medium-sized cup, I'm going to pour a fair amount of the 99% alcohol into the cup and soak my brushes in the liquid. Try not to breathe in the fumes!! HA HA. Once I've given the brushes a good soak, I'm going to dry them (not completely!) with a paper towel ... or that's what I would typically do. But since I cannot find anymore paper towel I'm going to use a regular cotton towel, which I do not recommend.

This is my foundation brush -- there was still foundation coming out of the brush even during the disinfecting process!

Now that those are done in the 99% alcohol, I'm going let my brushes soak in 70% isopropyl alcohol for 5 minutes to disinfect the brushes completely. Don't you think that's strange that only 70% alcohol disinfects, but 99% doesn't?! Oh well, I'm not the scientist here, I'm just going with what I've been told... You can use a big cup for this, just so your brushes aren't falling all over the place.

Journey is the perfect band to listen to while cleaning your brushes... HA HA.

For my larger brushes, which is my Large Powder Brush and my two Bronzing Brush(es), I'm going to just shampoo & condition them. After cleaning my small(er) brushes, my supply on my alcohols are running low. The bronzing brushes will benefit greatly, especially, from the shampoo & conditioning as they kind of lost their softness.

I recommend shampooing and conditioning your brushes twice every month, unless they are real-hair brushes. Then once at the end of every week is mandatory.


When you have finished cleaning your brushes, rest them on a table with the bristles/hairs of the brushes over the ledge, so make sure you're putting them somewhere where they won't be bumped or knocked off. What this will do for your brushes is let them dry on their own terms, and reshape themselves. Depending on how wet your brushes are, leave them overnight to dry.

And there you have it! Beautiful, clean, and sparkling brushes.

A little FYI on your brushes:

• Your brushes can be the cause of breakouts on your skin. Brushes are most susceptible to carrying bacteria, dirt and oil from the air and from previous use, respectively.
• Your brushes should NOT be broken in when you buy them -- they should be perfect when purchased. If they're not, then take them back and get your refund, gurl!
• The best kind of brushes to buy are blue squirrel-hair brushes. They are luxurious and picks up/deposits color in a smooth and even fashion.

Labels: alcohol, cleaning makeup brushes, cleaning tutorial, how to clean makeup brushes, how to take care of your brushes, how to take care of your makeup brushes, howto, makeup artist, makeup tutorial