Cleaning Makeup Brushes and Beauty Blenders or Sponges.

Okay so I thought I would do a quick and easy post and share with you all how I clean my brushes and my beauty blender. I know there are many videos and blog posts about this and I guess I am just going to kind of show you my way. I mean there really isn't a wrong way as long as you are cleaning your brushes without damaging them then you keep doing you! haha Lets get on with it shall we?

Okay so the things that I use are Mild Baby Shampoo, Olive Oil and a Bar of Soap. So the first thing I like to do is literally just use my hand and put the baby soap in it and then I will grab my brush and swirl it in the soap and then run it under the warm water and just keep repeating until its clean! After I do that to all of my brushes then I move onto the Olive Oil step which is to help condition and clean my brushes even more. I basically do the same process with those and then I am done.

Now for my beauty blenders and sponges I like to use a solid soap. You can do this with the knock off beauty blenders, or even the throw away makeup sponges and just get a few more uses out of them than normal. So what I do is I will just get the soap and sponge wet and just rub the sponge over the soap and then I just keep doing that same process until the warm water runs clean. That is very simple to clean them, I find that using a solid is a lot easier to get rid of all the soap and dirt as opposed to using a liquid.

So for drying my brushes I just set them at an angle with the bristles pointing down that way all of the water runs out of the barrel. I set them on top of a towel and literally propped up with books or something I find lying around. For the sponges I just make sure I have gotten all of the water out of them and just lay them where ever on my towel and they should all be dry by morning.

Now you should clean your brushes every two weeks or depending how often you use them, but lets be real I hardly ever clean my brushes which I know is bad but it is a pain in the but!

Anyways I hope this helped you with some ideas and let me know in the comments how you clean your brushes and sponges!!! <3 Emily

Shellac and Gel Reviews China Glaze, CND & ASP!

Hey guys I hope you are all enjoying your wonderful Wednesday! I am currently laying in bed waiting for my boyfriend to get off work and then it will be movie time hopefully! lol I made some delicious snow ice cream which I love right now. Since for some weird reason there is like 3 inches of snow outside before Thanksgiving but whatever, I get some amazing ice cream from it! Lets get on with the review shall we?...


Okay so I am going to start by talking about the CND Shellac (since I only own 2 bottles) . But to clarify I am reviewing the colors and also the longevity and things like that. You know me I love being in depth! haha

Okay so the first color is called Clearly Pink. Basically it is a clear pink, mainly used for french manicures. Now the second color I own is called Cake Pop. This is a very light lilac pink and I LOVE IT! It is so creamy and pigmented. Although when you apply it, it is streaky so beware of that! For CND's formula it is very thick (which is good) and it stays in place for the most part it doesn't seem to pull away from the tip of your nail, but it does seem to spread more which can be bad if you aren't careful. I really do enjoy CND's packaging but it is very deceiving..meaning it looks like clearly pink is going to be a light nude/peach shade but it obviously isn't. Now I know it clearly states it in the name but hey some clients don't read the name lol! CND lasts for about 2 weeks if you have avoided doing yard work and dishes. This product retails for about $15.00. The size of this product is .25fl oz or 7.3mL. What I really do like about this is that the brush is like a normal polish brush. Sometimes I find that the brushes are really short and just hard to work with but these I have no problem with! You can buy Clearly Pink HERE and Cake Pop HERE. Now keep in mind these need to be cured in a LED light or UV light.

Now onto the next brand which is ASP. This is actually a great find for me! I found these at my local Sally's Beauty Supply and they are only $9.99 I believe and they are really great quality. Right now their color selection isn't great because they are new this year to the company. The formulation is great and the pigmentation is spot on! The first color I want to talk about with you is Tease Me Turquoise which is a beautiful turquoise and is literally opaque within one coat. I mean I still apply the second layer but that is great, It isn't even streaky or anything which I love! It has a beautiful shimmer to it which is very fine. The next color is I'm Royalty Purple which is a dark plum color with gold and purple fine shimmer in it. The next color is called Passionate Pink which is the typical barbie pink with a gold shimmer to it. The brushes on these are wider than the CND brushes which is what I prefer. The consistency of this product is just like nail polish a little thicker but not much. Now you might all be thinking well for 9.99 they must be a lot smaller than CND and actually they are bigger. You get .30 fl oz or 9mL which is great! For the packaging I really do like it, it is nice and simple and is actually showing the true color. Now I have two more colors which is White Hot and Black Beauty...yes you guessed it a cream white and a cream black. They are both really great and super pigmented, not streaky even though it is a cream finish and OMG they are perfect! So the only thing I noticed that was a lot different from any of the polishes I am about to talk to you about is the smell. CND just smelt like regular polish now these ones just have a distinct smell to them..it almost smells a little more chemically to them so I'm not sure why that is but they are great! Plus since you can purchase these at Sally's if you have a card you can get them for $8.99 or if you are a pro they are $7.99! Purchase your ASP Gel Polishes HERE.

For the last brand I am going to be talking about and that is China Glazes Gelaze. Now these are basically China Glazes permanent and popular shades turned into a Gel formula! These retail for $11.99 and they are .33fl oz or 9.76mL. So you are getting more than CND and ASP but you are going to pay more than ASP and a little less than CND. So as far as the colors that I own I have Orange Knockout, Celtic Sun, Pink Voltage and In the Lime Light, these are all bright neon's which are perfect for the summer. These are again mostly opaque except for Celtic Sun. I also have Re-Fresh Mint and Peachy Keen which are two pastel shades. For this formula they are all pretty opaque and they are the same consistency as the ASP, like nail polish but a little thicker.These polishes also seem to have a different smell to them as well so maybe it just depends on the formulation. Now these polishes do pull away from the tip very badly so I suggest flash curing them in the light for 30 seconds or something.You can also get these at Sally's so again i you have the card you can get them for $10.99 and if you are a pro even less! I really do enjoy the packaging though, the outside actually looks like what you are getting and it is cute with the white caps! Purchase your Gelaze Polishes HERE!

So guys I am going to list my favorites in order best to worst. So my top favorite is ASP then CND and then Gelaze. The reason for that is because ASP is affordable and great quality and then CND is great quality but a bit more pricey and then Gelaze because it pulls away from the tip a lot! The formulation for Gelaze just needs a lot of work.

Let me know if you guys would like to see a review on the Red Carpet Gel Polishes because I have like a ton of those polishes that could literally only fit on one post! haha Anyways have a great Wednesday. <3 Emily

Volumizing Hair Care Routine (Drugstore)

Hey guys happy Monday! I hope you are having a wonderful day; I currently have had a productive day. Took my boyfriend to work, balanced my mom’s nails and now working on this blogpost. What’s up with you guys?

So for the past couple months I have been obsessed with finding the perfect and affordable routine for my hair. SO with that being said I think I found it...for now anyways ha-ha. So let me tell you about my hair. It is VERY VERY damaged from bleaching and I also have a little bit of breakage. I have very fine hair that is getting finer as we speak since my hair is falling out due to my medication and it is to my collarbone when flat ironed and also my hair is naturally straight and currently getting out of a dry spell that it likes to have. Now let’s move onto the products.

So the first one is my shampoo this right here is a life saver! Before I was using crap on my hair that was also from the drugstore and I will get onto that later in the post. But this...has changed my life completely (I know sounds dramatic but it is literally so true). It is the Clairol Hair Food Volume Shampoo Infused with Kiwi Fragrance. Not only does this smell amazing and refreshing it actually gives you volume and it actually like cleans your hair! It doesn't leave any residue from itself or any products you have used prior to your washing which is great! The other cool thing I noticed about this product is that it is Silicone Free, Paraben Free as well as Mineral Oil Free. Now I had no idea why it was a good thing for this shampoo to not include these ingredients so I did some research for you guys and this is what I found out...basically there are two types of silicones and really neither of them is terrible for the hair. There is a water soluble silicone and a non-soluble silicone. The difference between them is that the water soluble can be rinsed away with just water and the non-soluble silicone can't be rinsed away with just water. Either of these silicones aren't good or bad but if you have super dry hair (like me) then they might not be right for you since silicone basically coats your hair to make it appear healthy and it creates a barrier around your hair so that oils and things can't penetrate your hair. But really it just depends on how your hair reacts to it. Now you might be thinking why is parabens a bad ingredient for my shampoo? Well first off you might be thinking aren't parabens good since they are keeping bacteria and fungus from growing in our beauty products? Well there is a huge debate on whether or not it is damaging our health. Researchers aren't quite sure yet if it is actually causing breast cancer or other things but some people can be weary and might like to just stay away from the ingredient completely and I don't blame them. Parabens have been used for over 70 years but hey maybe our bodies aren't liking that ingredient anymore? And finally why is Mineral Oil bad for your hair? Mineral Oil actually does the opposite of what it sounds like...it actually creates a barrier around the hair keeping good moisture and nutrition out.

Now I know that was a lot to take in so let’s take a breather and move onto the fun stuff. What really drew me to this product was actually the packaging and then of course the scent. Packaging is very nice and sleek and it is actually a pump instead of having to squeeze it out which is nice. Now the scent oh my god...it is delicious. It isn't overpowering and like oh your hair smells like kiwis..It smells great in the shower and then once it's dry it just smells fruity but not like a strong scent...ya get what I'm sayin'? Ha-ha.

So this product is more on the pricey side at the drugstore but what it does for me is amazing so honestly it is worth it! It retails for $9.99 and I picked mine up at Target you can purchase yours HERE. The size of this product really makes up for the price you get 17.9 FL OZ which is equivalent to 530ml. So to apply all I do is just lather it into my wet hair and then I move onto the next step which is the conditioner. Now it is not the matching hair food conditioner but I am definitely going to try it once I am done with my next product although I love this one too ha-ha.

For my conditioner I use the Palmers Coconut Oil Formula Repairing Conditioner (this also has a matching shampoo but I just opted for the conditioner at the time...but I will definitely give this shampoo a try as well.) This product retails for $4.99 and can be purchased HERE. The reason I wanted to try this product was because I have heard such great things about putting coconut oil in your hair but I could never find coconut oil at my grocery store so I decided to give this a go and I absolutely love it! This product also has some great benefits to it as well. It doesn't contain sulfates and it is also paraben free. Now I you aren't sure why sulfates are bad for your hair (because honestly I didn't know either) I did some research for us all. Sulfates are cleaning agents. Sulfates are what make the product lather up. Now why it is bad for your hair is because it dries out your hair and can also cause scalp irritation and maybe even worsen your dandruff or eczema for example and it can also clog your pores. Now I just apply this product to the ends of my hair and sometimes I will apply all over but that’s a once a week kinda thing for me. Then I just use a Conair clip and clip up my hair and wash my body and whatever else a girl has to do in the shower.

Now enough with all of that complicated talk. The scent of this product is not an overwhelming scent of coconut. I know some people aren't a huge fan of the scent but hey if it is helping your hair then why not? Also this product states that it is for fine, limp hair...now that doesn't mean you can't use it on thick coarse hair it just means that it isn't going to weigh your hair down if it is fine. Which I have found with deep conditioners that they do end up weighing down my fine hair and that is just not cool lol. I need all the volume and help I can get. Some other benefits is that it contains Vitamin E, Keratin and of course the obvious Coconut Oil. Now you might be asking yourself why these ingredients are so beneficial. Well you already know I am going to tell you I did all of the research for you so let me go on and explain. Vitamin E is great for preventing hair loss and promoting hair growth. It is also great for pre-mature greying, giving us lustrous hair and repairing our split ends. Keratin is actually a huge debate as well...sometimes it isn't good for your hair and sometimes it can be. It is kind of like the silicone I talked about earlier. If you like to use keratin on your hair then you won't mind...if you don't like keratin then maybe stay clear of this product but I don't think there is a huge amount of keratin for anyone to be concerned about. Now for the coconut oil it is just super hydrating to the hair and gives the hair good nutrition.

The size of this product is 8.5FLOZ which is equivalent to 250ml. This product also claims to repair and renew dry, damaged hair and let me tell you it has for me. I definitely recommend this product to anyone if their hair feels like straw or if you have a lot of split ends or breakage just try it!

The final product I use on my hair is the its a 10 miracle leave in product. Just something a little extra for my dry hair. I apply this all over my hair and I will just comb it through my hair. The size of this product is 2FLOZ or 59.1ml. It just smells like a salon hair care product, which in my opinion smells really good. This product retails for 11.99 and I actually picked mine up at Ulta. Then from there I will either blow dry or air dry depending on what I am in the mood to do ha-ha.

Okay guys so pretty much the result is I get bouncy, clean moisturized and volumized hair with just 3 products and it costs me $26.00 every 2 to 3 months! (Not bad if I do say so myself) I hope you guys enjoyed this post and if you have any products that work for you let me know in the comments because I always love trying out new hair products. <3 Emily

Foundation Review: Loreal Paris True Match Lumi

So I wanted to bring you a review of the Loreal Paris True Match Lumi Foundation. This item retails for 9.99 and can be purchased HERE.

So I guess lets talk about the Pros for this product I do like the packaging, I like that it does have a pump, plus it is very sleek and simple. I also love the finish of this product as well. I don't think that this item is over priced for a drugstore item. Really there isn't much else that i enjoy about this.

Here are the Cons: I can't find the perfect shade for my skin tone because it has too much of a pink undertone for me no matter what shade I try, I can make the shade classic ivory work for me. Then also I find that this really is attracted to my dry patches which is weird and I also finds that this takes forever to set on my face and it still feels sticky on my face and slides everywhere, with or without a primer and I have even set it with a powder but that kind of defeats the purpose, AMIRIGHT? haha anyways this is just a quick review for me for this wonderful Saturday. 

If you guys can think of anyway this product might work for me let me know in the comments! I don't want my money to go to waste so I will be mixing this in with my new foundation I bought that I love and if you are interested in my updated drugstore foundation routine then CLICK HERE. 

Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy yourselves! <3 Emily

Updated Foundation Routine!! (Drugstore)

Hey guys so before I get started I just wanted to say HELLO again haha...I know it has been awhile actually almost a year before I have posted on here but I plan on posting more frequently about life, beauty and what not. So anyways without further adue here is my updated drugstore foundation routine!!


So first thing I like to do is apply my moisturizer and I am in love with this product it is the Garnier Nutrisse Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel Cream for Normal/Combo skin. This retails for 5.99 and you can get it HERE. I apply this all over my face and then I let that sit and absorb into my skin which literally takes seconds and I just bought my second jar!

^ OBSESSED with this ^

Next I apply my concealer which is the Revlon Colorstay Concealer. This product retails for 9.59 and you can pick it up HERE. I use it in the sahde 02 Light. This is the first time I have ever used this product and so far I am enjoying it, but I can't tell you all of my thoughts on it just yet. Be on the lookout for the review. But I apply this to any redness I might have on my face which is currently my T-zone. I blend that all in with a beauty blender ( which mine is a knockoff but I love it) 

^ Good Coverage ^

Now time for my foundation I am currently using Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 and I am in the shade Classic Ivory. This retails for 9.99 and you can purchase it HERE. This is my second bottle of this foundation but I kind of took a break from it and I definitely missed it! This has medium to full coverage and I will be doing a more indepth review of this product in a seperate blogpost probably coming out sometime this week. But anyways I will apply this anywhere that I feel needs more coverage and my cheeks because I don't have any redness on my cheeks and I will either blend that out with my beauty blender or I will blend it out with a Sonia Kashuk Buffing Brush (but that hasn't been my go to lately.)

^ Full Coverage ^

Then I go under my eyes with that same concealer again and I tap it out with my finger and then my beauty blender!

Now to set everything so it last all day!! I use the Loreal Paris True Match Naturale Mattifying Mineral Finish Powder. I am not over the moon about this product but it's getting the job done. Literally I went through my makeup collection and I found this and thought I would use it up. I like it and I don't if you would like an indepth review just let me know in the comments!! This product retails for 10.00 and you can purchase it HERE. I just tap that into my face with a large powder brush and I mostly put it on my T-zone and under my eyes.

^ Okay ^

That is pretty much it for my foundation routine, drugstore edition! I am currently listening to blank space by TSwift which is suprisngly good haha!! Anyways if you have any questions about anything here let me know in the comments! Love ya and I hope you have a great weekend loves!! <3 Emily