A Review: Makeup Brush Cleaners; MAC, Clinque, Cinema Secrets, Sephora andhome made.

Please excuse the empty, half empty and dirty bottles. As you can see, I love to clean my brushes!

I would categorize my brush cleaners into 2:

1) Quick Cleaner for in between makeup applications.

2) Deep Clean every once in a while.

Quick Cleaners:-

MAC Brush Cleaner, $13 for 7.9oz

Clinique makeup brush cleaner, $13 for 8oz

Cinema Secrets, $32 for 35oz

The MAC and Clinique ones work and even look similarly.  For both I spray it only the brush and use a paper towel or kleenex to and wipe the brush clean. These seem to wash off most of the product on the brush and you have to leave them a bit of time to dry before using them again. I tend to slightly favor the Clinque over MAC because it seems to be more potent in it's cleaning power. Maybe the formula is more concentrated.

Cinema Secrets dries very quickly after spraying the product onto the brush. So you have to work quickly to wipe it on a paper towel in order to get old makeup off the brush. A pro about this one is that the brush feels like it dries the brush completely so you could use the brush again immediately after cleaning. Probably good for professional use. It seems to take nearly of the product off however when it dries on your hand it leaves a white dry residue. it also has kind of a pungent chemical smell that seems to be masked with a vanilla scent. I'm not sure if this is related but this product has broken 2 spray bottles I've used to hold it in which has never happened with my other brush cleaners. 

Deep Cleaners:-

Sephora Collection Purifying Brush Shampoo,  $14 for 6.75oz

Baby shampoo

Youtuber EnKore's DIY brush cleaner (linked below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FwklwLsSSg

The Sephora Cleaner worked to me very much like a baby shampoo would. I pump out a little product into the palm of my hand and swirl my brush into it then run the brush under water. I may repeat this step until the water runs clear. I then squeeze the brush dry and make sure they dry in shape. A brush guard may help with that.

Baby shampoo worked pretty much the same as the Sephora cleaner in my mind. Maybe it doesn't contain any anti-bacterial to it though.

I personally wasn't too crazy about the EnKore DIY formula. It smelled chemically and I didn't feel like my brushes looked any cleaner than baby shampoo or the sephora cleaner. Although I initially thought it was a cool idea to make my own brush cleaner and possibly save a lot of money. I found my own mixture to be the least appealing in the end.

Revlon just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain Haul & Review

Makeup Haul:-

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Stain Balm -Rendezvous

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Stain Balm - Crush

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Stain Balm - Honey

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter -  Berry Smoothie

L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion Waterproof

I was so happy to find this L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion on clearance at CVS! I don't pay attention to negative reviews on makeupalley for mascara because a lot of the time the ones with low marks end up working great for me! I've been wanting to try this type of wand since YSL came out out with theirs. The funny thing is that this was the absolute last one at my CVS and I have a girlfriend who is just as crazy about her mascaras as I am. I texted her my photo one evening after the gym and a few minutes later she texted me back the same photo (except it was hers). She ran out to her CVS to pick up one too. A review on this one to come later. I find that waterproof mascara's from the drugstore work like a dream in holding curl. This is the most essential quality I look for in my mascara that I would use as a base. If that holds true, your mascara shouldn't budge and you will have raccoon free eyes for the day!

Onto the Reviews
I have been so excited to get my hands on these Balm Stains as they seem to have taken the YouTube community by storm.

Rendezvous. So Tango Tangerine is the color of the year. I thought this color would be perfect for that theme. It watches tangerine orange on m hand. And every watch on youtube and on other blogs have looked gorgeous. Unfortunately, I can't pull this color off. It looks like I've been sucking on a cheery popsicle or cherry icee. 

Crush. This color pulls way too vampy and I can't pull this off with my skin tone or hair. However, it fades into a nice berry tone. It's nothing special. Unfortunately, I forgot to swatch this one before getting rid of it! Sorry about that.

Top: Rendezvous Bottom: Crush

Honey. This color is the most wearable out of the 3 that I picked up. I am content with this color and may only pick up more of these Balm Stains if Revlon releases more wearable shades.

Honey

New Revlon ColorStay Whipped & ColorStay review

I've been a fan of Revlon's traditional ColorStay about 1.5 years now. I'm usually a cross between 330 Natural Tan/340 Early Tan and 350 Rich Tan (I also use NC30/NC35/NC40) depending on the time of year and how dark of a tan. Lately I've been wanting to try something with slightly less coverage as I feel as though wearing this daily may be causing me to get a zit or two.

My thoughts on the Colorstay Whipped:
1) More sheer than Colorstay. On days where I don't need as much coverage I may go for the whipped.
2) Strange consistency that may need a tad more blending.
3) Not cakey.
4) Does not give quite the flawlessly finished look that Colorstay does. I'd pick Colorstay over Whipped on a flash photography day.


*UPDATE* ok so I've been wearing he whipped shade 320 for 2 weeks now. I need update my opinion on this shade. I still feel like the coverage is more sheer than traditional ColorStay, which I like. However, this gives me a slight white cast which makes me appear ghostly and makeup faced. I need to return this. I haven't quite decided if I'll exchange for a new shade yet.

Lifestyle Fitness Photo Shoot

This past Sunday I had the pleasure in modelling for in a Lifestyle Fitness Photo Shoot. The photos were taken by my amazing friend Lan Swift of Flawless Beauty Studio in San Diego. We worked hard but it was a truly memorable day which I will cherish.

I did my hair and makeup myself and in case you are curious this is a list of the products I used:

Hair:- Garnier Nutrisse in Sweet Cola, Big Sexy Hair: Root Pump Spray Mousse, Big Sexy Hair: Spray & play Harder
Foundation:- Revlon: Colorstay in 340, MAC: Sheer Select in NC30
Cheeks:- TheBalm Stainiac in Beauty Queen, Cargo: blu_ray High Definition Make-Up Blush Highlighter
Eyes:- Too Faced Shadow Insurance, B&C Water Strong Liner (Japanese Brand purchased in Hong Kong at either SaSa or Rainbow Cosmetics), MAC: Technakohl liner in Graphblack
Lips:- Shu Uemura rouge unlimited lipstick in PR 50
Mascara:- Fasio: hyper-stay mascara shock free curl long, Christian Dior Diorshow waterproof
Brows:- Urban Decay Primer Potion, MAC: eye brows in lingering.

Here are just a few of the shots from the shoot. 

Lori Greiner 2 pc Cosmetic Bags

My makeup bags have finally arrived! I do quite a bit of traveling and I've been wanting a new makeup bag for a while now. I first saw this bag featured on YouTube guru emilynoel83's channel. The thing I loved so much about this system was the different pages with velcro and zippered pockets to put various pieces of one's travel beauty products! I was so excited after watching the video I went straight to QVC to order myself one. But then I read a bunch of mixed and negative reviews. So I held off on the purchase. Then I caught on YouTube shadesofkassie's channel her video featuring the same bag. I then left a comment asking her how her bag held up. She replied saying her bags held up and worked for her trip. I immediately went to QVC to buy it! A big thank you to my husband as he actually ended up buying it for me.

If you want to see my first impression of this bag I filmed a video called My first impression: 2 Quilted Cosmetic Cases by Lori Greiner:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWjdI46JNO0

First video I saw by emilynoel83:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5icbOb2i6YI
Second video by shadesofkassie:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G80KUmwFCPc

Where I bought this Lori Greiner 2pc Cosmetic Cases $29.16 + $6.44 shipping 

Though having to pay shipping bugged me, the bag in my opinion was not overly cheap. I mean, hello it's not a Marc Jacobs bag so of course I didn't expect the quality to be to that level. Overall, it only cost a bit less then $40 so I can't complain.

Small bag

Large bag open.

Philosophy & Revlon Mini Haul

So I just watched emilynoel83's youtube video published June 2nd about what is new at the drugstore.

Her post linked:- What's New at the Drugstore -Makeup haul!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joirn16FE2I&feature=g-all-u

And she mentioned a few Philosophy cosmetic products that she picked up for only $3 at her Big Lots. I always think of bath of skincare products when i think of Philosophy as a brand so I was a bit surprised to even hear about them having makeup. I decided to research and it seems as thought Big Lots did have sell Philosophy stuff at the beginning of May. I feel like many makeup bloggers were on top of that and grabbed a bunch of stuff at the beginning. Being a month ago I was pretty certain it would all be gone. I was too busy vacationing with family to be entirely up to date on make up deals. I called 2 nearby Big Lots (live in San Diego) and found that one claimed to have a little bit left. So in the same day I saw Emily's video, I went out to seek it for myself!

There was a tiny little section of it left and unfortunately the eye shadow palette that looked so appealing on some blogs were gone =( I did however pick up the items pictured below.

Philosophy the color of grace. eyelighting shadow duo in heaven and earth.

Philosophy the color of grace. are of blushing in pink dreams.

Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick in Lilac.

  

So far I have only tried the lipstick (my first experience with a ColorBurst) and the color was ok for my NC35 skintone but it felt nice. More like a chap stick than a lipstick so I liked that aspect.