Brushes 101 "Care for Brushes"

Do you treat your brushes right? They need as much caring as pets do. No matter where you get your brushes, expensive or not you need to take good care of your brushes because they are your friend. The better care you give your brushes the longer you can use it, so you don't have to constantly replace it. Believe me you will save a lot of money and maybe spend it on something you like. Now with quality brushes you can probably keep it longer than others, so I definitely prefer and suggest investing in quality brushes. Drug store brushes are just as good but with the quality you may not be able to keep it as long. Now it all depends on you, on how clean and new you want your brush to be. It all starts with taking good care of your brushes.

Taking good care of your brushes include a few factors: Cleaning & Drying.

Cleaning is the first step to taking good care of your brushes and your skin too. Dust and bacteria can form on your brushes through time, and it will be transfer onto your face causing breakouts and much more. Here's a rule of thumb on cleaning your brushes.

-Deep Clean your brushes at least once per week. This means washing it at the sink with a baby shampoo. You want to wash your brushes with a gentle shampoo so don't use your regular shampoo. Wet your brush first and take a bit of shampoo and work your brush on one side/one direction first. Do not sweep back and forth/ flipping side because this can be too harsh on the bristles. This can cause the bristles to be loosen at the ferrel.

-Spot Clean your dirty brushes every day to get rid of any product so bacteria doesn't form. Also the color or product wont transfer on to your face or other product. Spot clean with a brush cleanser you can purchase these at Sephora, any department store, drug store and you can even make your own.

You may see that drying a brush is not a big deal just put it out there and let it air dry. Well you are wrong if you dry your brush the wrong way,it can shorten the life of your brush.

-Never try to scrub dry your brush cause that is never good

-You want to place your brush to dry against something a wall, a book anything to get it to stand up straight. You want the bristles of your brush facing towards the floor and the barrel up the ceiling. This way the excess water wont run down the ferrel and loosen the glue that binds the bristles.

-If you are afraid of your brush loosing shape after stand on the bristles all night. You can wrap the bristles with tissue to keep its shape while it air dry, or you can purchase brush guards instead of using tissue.

So that is how I take care of my brushes, if you do this right you can actually keep your brushes for 5 years. Which than is time to switch your brushes out and replace it with new ones.

Brushes 101-Part 2 "Eye Brushes"

This is the 2nd part to Brushes 101 if you haven't yet checked out my part 1 here is the link http://letsglamup.blogspot.com/2011/02/brushes-101-part-1-face-brushes.html

So lets get started with the eye brushes, there is a total of 7 eye brushes and you can purchase just the eye set from Sigma.

E40-Taper Blending Brush:

This brush is made with natural hair and is slightly tapered to a dome shape. This brush is fluffy which is great for highlight on the brow bone. You can also use this brush to blend out any harsh line on the crease. I personally don't like to use it for the purpose of blending because the brush is too big. I don't suggest using this brush to blend for those that do not have a large lid space to work with. Which can blend away too much of the color, I like to use this brush for setting powder underneath my eyes.

E55-Eye Shading Brush:

This brush is a must have in your collection because this brush can pack on any type of shadow and give you a full concentration of color. This brush is especially good with loose pigment or any shadows that may cause a lot of fall out. This brush can also use to blend out any harsh line too but be light handed and make sure the brush is clean.

E70-Medium Angled Shading Brush:

The brush is shaped in an angle which is great to get into the crease to apply color. I find this brush is too sparse for application of shadow on lids but this brush is great for brow bone highlight.

E60-Large Shading Brush:

This brush is great for apply a wash of color on the lid, this wont give you a crazy concentration of color like the E55. Is great for building up color because it doesn't pick up too much at once. Other than giving a wash of color to your lids this brush can also do a lot more. I like to use the tip of the brush to smudge

shadow on my lower lash line as well as smudge eyeliner out. Sometimes if I don't have a q-tip on hand, I use it to through my lashes to get any clumps out after applying mascara.

E30-Pencil Brush:

This is another must have brush and I would get a second one for back up cause you will fall in love with it. This is taper to such a small point that you can control where the shadow goes on the crease easily.

Contouring your eyes and adding color to your outer corner will be a breeze, you can also use this brush for smudging shadow on your lower lash line.

E05-Eyeliner Brush:

This is a must have if you are the person that likes using cream or gel liner. This brush can make your love hate relationship with gel liner disappear. Is taper to such a fine point that you can get a precise thin line, or you can build it up to a thicker line. This brush is made with synthetic which means you can also use it for lip color, just make sure you wash it out carefully before using it for liner again.

E65-Small Angled Brush:

This can be use for eyeliner but I prefer using the E05 for eyeliner instead. This brush is a tiny bit too thick for eyeliner but is great for setting your eyeliner with shadow.(Setting your eyeliner with a shadow will pro long the wear of your eyeliner as well as filling in any gaps. This trick will also make your eye lashes look a lot fuller.)

This sum up all of my brushes I will also be doing a Brushes 101 "Care For Brushes" which will conclude my Brushes 101 series. I will also be posting a full review on the Sigma Brush Kit. Remember to visit my Facebook page & "Like", also to comment about any of the post and ask me any questions you may have.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Glam-UP/183783444995398

Visit Sigma: http://www.sigmabeauty.com/?Click=1755

Cheri

XoXo

New Facebook Page

Hello all my blog readers thanks for reading my blog, hope you are enjoying it and find it helpful. Thank you once again for leaving comments down below as well as sending messages and face book chatting with me. I like the interaction I have with you all and commenting really helps get that interaction going. I know that Blogger only permit you to comment only if you sign into your Google account. That can be annoying at time, so I have decided to open a face book page where you can comment there instead of here. Is a lot more convenient, since most of you go through my face book status to check on my blog.

This face book page is pretty much my connection to you, you can ask me questions there. Feel free to ask me about anything, I can do my best do give you suggestions. You can also throw a question out there and any of you can respond because you may know something about it that I don't. So please visit my new face book page on Lets Glam Up and "Like" the page. Thank you so much for all your support again.

You can find my page by typing in Lets Glam Up under community or you can click the face book Badge on my blog.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Glam-UP/183783444995398

Cheri

xoxo

Brushes 101-Part 1 "Face Brushes"

If you haven't yet read my "Explanation" post you should read that first to get an overview of what this post is about.

F30-Large Powder Brush:

The name of the brush pretty much just tells it all. This brush is shaped in a dome and is dense. Any thing you have thats close to this brush is great for using it with loose or press powder to set your foundation. Now I don't recommend to use

this brush to apply mineral makeup, is not

quite as dense as a kabuki brush to handle the buffing process. You can also use this brush for bronzer this is actually my

favorite way of using this brush. I don't mean contouring cause this is way too big for that purpose, but to give my face a healthy glow. I take this brush and dip it in the bronzer lightly and sweep the brush on your temple, down your cheeks and your jawline. This should make a 3 shape or E shade on the side of your face. (This is call the 3 or E method for bronzer application)

F50-Duo Fiber Brush:

This brush is also known as a stippling brush or a skunk brush. So if you ever came across these terms you now know what it is and how it looks. This brush is made with 2 different type of hairs, the top is synthetic and the bottom is natural hair. This brush is great with liquid foundation,

because of the flat top design. You have a large area to work with and it cuts down your foundation application time. (Take the tip of the brush and dip it into foundation, now stipple the product on one side of your face. This will evenly

distribute the product than buff the foundation in a circular motion to blend it

out.) You don't have to just use this brush for liquid

foundation is also great for applying cream blushes, highlight color on the cheek bones or to just sweep any fall of eyeshadow under your eyes.

F40-Large Angled Contour Brush:

This brush is made with natural hair some times is made with goat hair. This brush is create for contouring your cheeks because is angled. For those that don't know what contouring is for, is basically to define the shape of your face more. "Is pretty much know as making your face look thinner."(Take a little bit of a matte bronzer and suck in your cheeks, to make a fish face. Now take your brush and sweep it where the hollow of your cheeks are, and sweep it around the jaw line and also the bridge of your nose.) You can also use this brush for blush which is what I like to do (take your favorite blush and dip your brush in, tap off any excess. You want to start with less product and build up the brightness. Smile big and you will see part of your

cheeks pop up slightly, this is the "apple of your cheeks." Sweep your brush on that area and blend out to your hair line, repeat the process to build up the brightness.)

F60 Foundation Brush:

This is a classic foundation brush is made with synthetic hair, taper to a point and is pretty flat. This brush is great with liquid or cream foundation but don't let the name limit you to just foundation. This brush is also great for applying product that contains quite a bit of moisture, like moisturizer and face primer. This brush comes in handy when doing work on client, is not always sanitary to use your fingers to apply primer on your clients. Sometimes if you are out of brushes to use for blush,

you can take this brush and spray a bit of water on this brush. Make sure is not too wet and pick up some product to apply on your cheeks. Tip: when applying foundation with this brush you will experience streak marks, to avoid as much of it as possible. Take your brush and apply the foundation in a criss cross motion, to eliminate as much of the streak marks as possible.

F70 Concealer Brush

This is another brush made with synthetic hair, I like the shape of this brush is small but dense. Which is great for doing spot concealing, I don't specifically like using this brush for concealing under eye circle. I prefer to use my fingers for that, but overall this is a great brush to use for concealing any imperfections.

This is the end of my Brushes 101 Part 1 "Face Brushes" Stay tune for my Part 2 "Eye Brushes"

Visit Sigma for more brushes and accessories

http://www.sigmabeauty.com/?Click=1755

Cheri

xoxo

Brushes 101 "Explanation"

Its been a while since I posted and I have a good reason for that, I have been doing a lot of thinking on rather doing this particular post in video or blog format. I really wanted to do this in video and I actually filmed it. However there were some technical issue, which my camera couldn't pick up enough sound. So now I am forced to do it the blog way, which I don't mind however is going to be divided into a few parts. So I got my bf to do some product photography for me on these brushes. I am featuring my Sigma Complete Kit Brushes with the brush roll in thee upcoming post. If you look at the Sigma website recently you will know they are currently promoting the Make Me Up Collection. The Brushes in the Make Me Up Collection is the exact same as the Complete Kit, however the packaging and numbering is different. I had my brushes for 2 years now and these brushes are under the old number system. However I will be referring the brushes to the new numbering system, to make it easier for those of you who are looking to buy or own the new ones. I am going to give you a full review on the Sigma Brushes in another post under "Review of Sigma Brushes."

So if you are wondering if I am not doing a review in this Brushes 101 blog post than what am I doing.

Well thanks to one of my besti Karin, she reminded me that not everyone knows what each brush is used for and what else it can be used for. So in these two upcoming blog post, I will be pointing out it purpose and tips.

Sigma Makeup Overview:

Sigma is known for their high quality brushes that are comparable to Mac and is extremely affordable. Therefore you don't have to loose quality over value, Sigma do ship internationally so anyone can enjoy these quality brushes. All brushes from Sigma are handmade to perfection under high quality standards. Sigma offers multiple of kits for each consumer to choose from to attend to their specific needs. Customizing your own kit is now available at Sigma to put together brushes for personal or professional uses. Sigma also offer the choice to purchase brushes individually to replace a specific brush in a kit.

http://www.sigmabeauty.com/?Click=1755

Stay tune the Part 1 of Brushes 101 will be up tonight

Cheri xoxo

NYX Sales

Your in luck if you want to purchase any NYX Products at a discounted price, because

HauteLook will be hosting a NYX sale on February 3 2011 at 8AM Pacific Time.

HauteLook is an online retail site that runs different type of sales event for 48 hours. Sales events includes various categories such as; fashion, beauty, home decoration, lifestyle products and even getaways.

Urban Decay, Rock & Republic, True Religion and much more brands can be spotted on HauteLook at various time.

The Downside to HauteLook is they do not ship internationally so I am afraid those don't live in North America wont get to take advantage of this event. (If you have a friend that lives in North America, ask if they can do a favor for you :))

What to look forward to on the NYX sale:

-Single Eyeshadow (very high quality and pigmented)

-Palettes (they are great for the value base on how much you get)

-Concealer in a Jar (They are creamy and have good coverage)

-Blushes (cream or powder they are all great)

-Lip Gloss (variety of color and are great to just start your collection off)

If you are interested in this sale check out HauteLook and be sure to get ready because it will go quick.

http://www.hautelook.com/invite/CLeung058

http://www.hautelook.com/content/5478 (NYX EVENT)

Cheri

xoxo

Face of the Day

Just a short post before my extremely long post on "Brushes" is up. Thought maybe some of you would like to know what I have on my face today.

Face:

-MUF HD Primer in 0

-Skin 79 Triple Function BB Cream in Hot Pink

-Rimmel London Lasting Finish 25hr foundation-200 Soft Beige (half pump)

-Maybelline Liquid Dream Mousse foundation-Sandy Beige in Medium 1 (half pump)

-Sonia Kashuk Hidden Agenda Concealer Palette For Blemishes.

-Maybelline Mineral Power Liquid Concealer in Sand (medium 1) For under eye circles.

-Maybelline Shine Free Loose Powder in Light 01

-NYC Bronzer in Sunny

-NYC Blushable Creme Stick in Plaza pink

-Mac Sheertone Blush in Pinch O Peach

Eyes:

-Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Original

-Coastal Scent 88 ultra shimmer Palette (light yellow,hot pink, light purple, indigo and black)

-Maybelline Expert Eye Studio Cream liner in Eggplant

-Maybelline The Falsies Volume Express in Blackest Black

Lips:

-Revlon Color Burst Lipstick in Blush

-NYC Lip Slider Tinted Lip Balm in Sugar Kiss

Tools:

Eco Tools Foundation Brush

Sigma (SS194/F70) Concealer Brush

Kirkland Large Powder Brush

Sigma (SS239/E55) Shading Brush

Sigma (SS252/E60) Large Shading Brush

Sigma (SS219/E30) Pencil Brush

Sigma (SS209/E05) Eyeliner Brush

Sigma (SS168/F40) Angled Contour Brush

Stay tune for the "Brushes 101" post & a tutorial on this particular look.

Cheri

xoxo