Brush Hour

Here's my latest post at All Kinds of Pretty

Hey there girlies. Today I want to talk about something that I think is important but often goes overlooked, BRUSHES! Please don't click away, please.

Dammit, don't brush me off.

Buh-dum-cha!

For the most part I think women and trannys focus their cosmetic attention on the make-up itself. In most cases, it's not so much the type of make-up you're using as it is the tools you're using to apply it. Brushes are key. Up until last year, I've pretty much spent my entire cosmetic life using the brushes that came with the make-up. Total cosmetic no-no. My sister Gabrielle, a complete make-up GODDESS bought me this for Christmas last year



A 40 brush MAC make-up sachel. I know, I've got a great sister. But the truth is, this sassy little sachel sat unused in my drawer for months. Months! All because I didn't know how to properly use the brushes. I was overwhelmed. I didn't know the difference between an angular blush brush and a synthetic concealer brush. I mean, they all looked like, well, brushes. So she decided to give me a brush breakdown, and oh my goodness. There is a brush for everything. Wanna make your nose look a little leaner? There's a brush for that. Wanna make your cheekbones a little higher? I've got a brush for that. But c'mon on who has the time to create a slimmer sniffer? Not me. But I do think that these 5 brushes are a must have for any make-up bag



Behold, from left to right, dense eyeshadow brush, synthetic concealer brush, angular brow (and eyeliner) brush, full coverage blush, and contour blush. These 5 brushes can transform your face. Toss out your those foam eye shadow brushes and cotton circle pillows that come with every single Cover Girl compact (ahh, remember the days when we'd splurge on Wet-n-Wild and rock our Bonne Belle kissing potion? Tee Hee). I've learned to use these brushes daily and I swear by them. However, when my sister came over the other day and took a gander at how I was upkeeping my brushes, smoke emitted from her ears. She couldn't believe how careless I was. She looked at the brushes, then looked at me and asked me if I've even cleaned them since her last lesson? My rather loud and defensive response was, "look Mary Kay, I just freakin' learned how to use these things, now you want me to bathe them?" WTH! So, like the great sister she is, she gave me another brush breakdown: the art of maintaining hygenic brushes. Oh shut up, like you really wash your brushes. Sheesh, I barely have time to wash my hair.

But dude, it totally works!

Gabe mentioned the best product to clean your brushes is this



But if you don't have an official brush cleaner, any mild shampoo would do the trick. Add a little bit of cleaner or shampoo to your palm, run your brush under luke warm water and begin to carefully circle the brush onto your palm. Proceed to dry heave at all the crap that comes off of your brush.







Yowsa! After cleaning and rinsing the brushes, it is now time to condition. In fact, any hair conditioner will do. Apply conditioner to your palm, and in the same circular motion, rub the brush through it.



Rinse it off ladies, and let em' dry. In a couple hours you will be amazed at how soft and clean they feel. Don't forget, we should do this cleaning process to new brushes as well to help keep shedding to a minimum. What about you? Got any advice on how to maintain your brushes? Got any favorite brush recommendations you can pass on?