AN EYELINER CHEAT

It's a sad fact of life that I'm not very good with liquid eyeliner. The saying always goes that practise makes perfect, and I am practising, but I've blinded myself more times than I can count. In the meantime, I've come up with my own easy cheat way to achieve the 'eyeliner-on-the-top-lid-look' (I can't think of a name for it) that I am very proud of figuring out. 

My secret is eyeshadow and those cheap sponge brushes that come with eyeshadow palettes. I use the shade 'Noir' (the black shade, obviously) from my Sleek 'Oh So Special' palette, and all I do is pick up a bit of colour with the very tip of the sponge and drag it straight across my eyelid right on the lash line. It goes without saying that a brush is so much easier to control than a pencil or felt tip liner, it's so much easier to create a nice straight line without blinding yourself or making any huge messes or mistakes. The tip of the sponge also creates a slightly thicker line than an eyeliner would, so there's no need to keep having to build up until you get the thickness you want; it's also so easy to build up colour if you want your eyeshadow to look darker. 

I don't know how well I've explained this, in my mind it's simple, but I know what I'm talking about. So to summarise, black eyeshadow, tip of the sponge eyeshadow brush, straight cross the lash line, keeping almost on top of the lashes to avoid any gaps. Simples. 

I'm going to keep practising with liquid liner at home, but for the time being, out in public, this suits me well. 

CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS

Since I am relatively new to the world of makeup brushes, that means I am also new to the world of cleaning them. I watched a few videos and read a lot of blog posts to find the best way of cleaning your brushes, and this is my version of most-of-those-mashed-into-one: 

(Brush set from Cath Kidston). The brushes I cleaned were the third and fourth brushes from the right which I use for concealer, and the brown brush which is my eyeshadow brush. I also cleaned my Body Shop 'Face and Body' brush which I use to blend my concealer in (pictured below).

1. Fill a bowl/sink with warm water.

2. Get a shampoo of your choice (I am using a Herbal Essences one) on the palm of your hand; you need enough to clean the brush efficiently but you should use too much. 

3. Dip your brush in the water and rub it in circular motions in the shampoo. 

4. Wash the shampoo off your brush and dry it (again in a circular motion) on a piece of kitchen roll. In the same way as painting as a child, if your brush is clean then no makeup will come off onto the kitchen roll. If any comes off, then you need to wash your brush again. 

5. Lie your brush flat on a towel to dry (as it's sunny at the moment I also leave mine in a sunny place so they dry quicker); you must make sure that your brush is flat and not upright otherwise the water will damage the ends of the brush inside the handle bit.