Books Beauty Bling

I gotta spill. I really hate cleaning my makeup brushes. It's so tedious, and time consuming, am I right? When I was in Makeup School, we had to clean our brushes between each makeup application. So, I definitely used a professional grade brush cleaner which I was able to buy at a discount in the school's store. I also got a discount at two local professional beauty shops, and that was awesome, but once I stopped doing makeup on the reg, I stopped shelling out for the professional grade stuff. For a long time I would use baby shampoo, and then I was a fan of Beauty Blender's cleaner in both the solid form and liquid form, because it was pretty easy to use without over using product. However, both of those, and even sometimes the professional cleaner would take a bit to dry (I used to use B urman Industries Cleaner , and it was quick drying). Plus, it felt like it took FOR-EV-ER to get all the makeup out, and rinse the brush clean, then fix the bristles, and then I'd...

I am a makeup and skincare product junkie, but on a day-to-day basis, I frequently go makeup free. Sometimes, it's all makeup, sometimes I wear eye make up and no foundation. There was a time, in my early 20s when I wouldn't think of leaving the house without even a little bit of makeup, but the older I get, the less I care, and it's actually done a couple of things for me. One, it's made me realize that you don't *HAVE* to wear makeup every day, nothing really happend when I wasn't wearing a full face of makeup, and two, my skin got better. I don't know if some of my skin getting better also came with age, or was in part thanks to not putting stuff all over my face,and then removing it each night. The world may never know. That said, I do keep face makeup for those times when I want a flawless face to start with. A friend of mine from childhood is a Younique presenter, and I have tried the mascara - which I found to be mostly great, so when she invite...

I may not have been blessed with thick, beautiful hair, or long, amazing lashes, or the height of an average person (Yay 5'3!) But, I did get really lucky in the skin department, and that is thanks in part to genetics, as well as my skin care routines. I say lucky because even as a teen I didn't have a ton of skin issues in terms of acne. I would get breakouts, but not awful. I mention my skin care routine because I have very fair skin, and while I have absolutely been stupid, and had my fair share of awful sunburns, I do a lot to keep my skin healthy and happy. It's a big part of why I don't look my age, which is almost 34. Sunscreen is your friend, ya'll.  Anyway, as an adult, I do still get breakouts, and I've tried a number of different products to treat them. A challenge I face is that my skin can be on the sensitive side, so a lot of acne products can be overly drying which only makes my skin worse. Most of the time, I'm lucky enough to be a...

Growing up a girl , especially in Los Angeles, means I have been subject to hundreds of messages about beauty each day of my life. In my hometown, perfect beauty really meant having smooth, tanned skin. Being tall, but not too tall, and willowy, not "athletic." Prefered hair color is blonde, but brown with well placed high lights would do. You should be thin, and delicate looking, small wrists, and ankles, but be strong enough to surf on occasion, just to prove to the boys you can. You should wear makeup, but not a lot of makeup, just enough to look "natural," and "fresh faced." You should wear whatever is trendy, meaning your body type should be on that can support whatever the current fashion trend is. You should wear bikinis, never one pieces, what, are you a prude, or worse, a child?  Looking back , I didn't meet a lot of that criteria, and it made me feel bad about myself. I was small and delicate looking, but I had a mouth on me, and di...