Once you’ve made the investment in brushes, take care of that investment by regularly washing and cleaning your brushes. Regular maintenance of your brushes will provide you with years of use, but it will also keep your makeup, brushes, and routine more sanitary. It is particularly important to regularly wash face brushes if you are acne-prone — it is best to do so after every use, especially with brushes that have been used in cream or liquids.

You can use any of the following:

• Brush Cleanser (by MAC or any other brand)
• MAC Cleanse-Off Oil (to remove stains)
• Baby Shampoo (by any brand)

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Tutorial for filling in your brows! :)

No matter how hurried I am, I try to take time to fill in my brows. It really helps define and enhance their shape, and I find it always gives me a more polished look–even if I’m not wearing any makeup otherwise. It’s pretty simple — all you need is a thin, angled brush (like the MAC 266) and a brow-colored powder (I use MAC Espresso eyeshadow). Some common shades for brows by MAC are Omega, Wedge, Cork, and Brun, as well.

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Antioxidants are essential to good health, which also includes helping skin maintain its youthful glow. You’ll notice many anti-aging products market themselves as having antioxidants within them, but you can bolster your regimen by ensuring you consume a few foods that are known to be excellent sources of antioxidants.

• Beta-carotene (e.g. carrots) may neutralize free radicals which effect your skin on a cellular level. Anthocyanidins (e.g. berries) increase your cellular defense system. Flavanones (e.g. citrus) and flavonols (e.g. apples, onions) may increase cellular defense as well as neutralize free radicals. Sulforaphane (e.g. broccoli, cauliflower) may increase your cellular defense system.
• Vitamin A (found in dairy, fish, and liver) and Vitamin C (e.g. citrus fruits) both help to protect cells from free radicals. Vitamin E (e.g. nuts, oils, seeds) can also protect cells from free radicals. Selenium (e.g. meats, tuna) may be preventive in damage to your cells from free radicals. Source

Be conscious of how you touch your face. When you’re washing your face, are you scrubbing vigorously? Harsh, hard, or vigorous movements and touches can stretch and pull at the skin in an adverse way. For instance, you should pat your face dry, rather than rubbing a cloth up and down.

Use brushes rather than your fingers to apply makeup. Brushes apply makeup with a light, easy touch, which means less stress and tugging for your skin. When you use your finger, there is more pressure exerted on the skin, even if it feels minute to you.

Cleanse your face regularly and ensure you remove ALL makeup. It is important to wash your face on a daily basis (twice if you can – e.g. AM and PM), even if you don’t wear makeup, because throughout the day your face does get dirty in some aspect. If you go outside, dust and dirt particles may have settled into your face. Make sure when you cleanse your face, you do a thorough job of removing your makeup, too. Residual makeup can rest in pores and on the skin’s surface, clogging it or preventing daily renewal. It’s good to have a package of makeup removing wipes in the house, just because if you ever get lazy or dead-tired, you can opt for using one of those instead of your regular cleansing regimen (not a substitute, but I recognize that we all have days when we just cannot seem to bring ourselves to do things!).

Wear sunscreen everyday. The best policy is to invest in a light sunscreen (e.g. SPF15) for everyday usage, and just get used to having that as a step in your everyday routine–like brushing teeth or showering. It is also a good idea to have a stronger sunscreen (e.g. SPF30+) to use for days when you know you will have increased exposure to sun. You also want to ensure your sunscreen protects against both UVA and UVB, because both can cause problems later in life! Even cloudy days, driving, etc. can cause you to be exposed to harsh rays, so sunscreen everyday!

Exfoliate once a week. Exfoliation helps to remove dead skin cells, which helps bring younger cells to the skin’s surface. As we get older, the cell renewal process slows down, giving skin an uneven or rough appearance. It is important that you don’t overdo exfoliation, and the frequency may depend on the product you choose. Also, don’t forget about body scrubs, because aging doesn’t just show up on your face!

Moisturize and protect your hands. There is the old addage that you can tell a woman’s age by the state of her hands. The skin on our hands is subjected to a lot of activity, from work and utility, but also substantial washes, so it does go through the ringer, so-to-speak. It’s good to remember to moisturize and treat your hands well when they’re not busy working. Try a heavy hand cream and encasing your hands in a pair of light gloves while you sleep to give them a boost of moisture. Sunscreen for your hands is also a great idea, because we know the sun does a lot of damage!

Drink lots of water. It’s an oldie, but it still remains true. Make sure you get your daily intake of water! If you have trouble, try filling up a large jug or thermos of water and keep it by you at all times — you’re more likely to drink it if it’s staring you in the face!

Reduce or remove bad habits from your life, like excessive drinking, smoking, and tanning. Both drinking and smoking can ravage the skin over the time, and reducing both or quitting will serve you well both bodily and skin-wise. Tanning, whether it is in a booth or from the sun, is not at all advisable, especially if you don’t use sunscreen to do it. There are so many self-tanners and sprays these days that you can get your glow without harming your skin in the process.

Make sure you are using your skincare products properly. Some products can multi-task, but some can’t. Don’t use a body scrub on your face because the abrasives in it are too strong for the more delicate skin on your face. Just like a cream for your body may not be good to use on your face. When in doubt, use as intended, because if you aren’t sure, the results may be bad news.

Share your easy and inexpensive anti-aging tips with us!

Brow Bone/Highlight: Generally, a lighter color will be applied to this area; it may be something that has undertones of bolder colors used on the lid, or it may simply be similar to your skintone. For example, say I do a predominantly green look, I might turn to MAC’s Gorgeous Gold eyeshadow as a highlight color because it will bring out the greens and still allow the color to taper off. Some of my favorite highlight colors are Ricepaper and Shroom.

Above Crease: This is my “blend out” area. There is strong color on the lid and the crease many times, and that strong color needs to be diffused as it moves it way upwards towards the brow. The best way to think about it is as a gradient, going from dark to light, starting on the lid moving towards the brow. Sometimes I use a lighter color than the one I used on my lid to help fade the color upwards, other times I may use the same color I chose for a highlight.

Outer Crease: Luckily my eye was lookin’ a bit tired, because you can really make out the “crease,” which is that fold of skin/wrinkle-like detail you can see. It extends from the beginning of your eye (inside) to the end of your eye (the outside). Most often I deposit color in the outer crease, but sometimes I do bring it inward a touch, more to the “middle” of the crease. I rarely go for darkening the entire length of my crease. A great universal crease color is Carbon, if used lightly, it can darken any look instantly. Soft Brown is also a nice, subtler shade.

Inner Lid: I mentally slice my eyelid into three parts–basically into thirds. There is the inner, middle, and outer thirds. In many looks you will see, a lighter color is put on the inner lid relative to the rest of the colors found on the lid.

Middle of Lid: This is the middle third of the eyelid, and since I typically do similar styles in my looks, this is where a “medium” color in terms of darkness would go. Light, medium, dark is a good way to think of how I deposit and choose what colors go where on the lid. On occasion, I might go medium, light, dark, but not nearly as frequently as I do the former.

Outer Lid: This is the outer third of the eyelid, and this is usually where I put the darkest lid color. Sometimes I will darken the very outermost portion of it (say you split the outer lid third into half, so then it’d be the outer half or the outer sixth of the entire lid) with the same color I would put in my crease.

Upper Lash Line: It is not explicitly labeled in this diagram, but it is where your upper lashes (generally the longest ones, the ones that come from your eyelid) meet your eyelid. This is the actual upper lash line. When lining the upper lash line, many create thicker lines than the natural upper lash line, but the concept is still there.

Upper Waterline: The upper waterline is also not explicitly labeled, but it can be found directly underneath your upper lashes. If you looked up, you would see a tiny bit of space, much like your lower line, and some people line this as well. It is called tightlining, for your reference.

Lower Waterline: The lower waterline is sometimes called the lower rim, because it is essentially the bottom rim of your eye. There are dozens of people who cannot put product on their waterline due to sensitivity, and many others who struggle to find a product that does not fade or dissolve because of the waterline (and the fact that it is…watery!). For those looking for longer lasting products, I know many use gel liners, fluidliners, and some even use liquidlast liners.

Inner Lower Lash Line: Not everyone likes to put color on the lower lash line, which is space directly below the lower waterline. Some prefer just a thin line of eyeliner that expands across both the inner and outer lower lash lines. I often use the 219 brush to apply pops of color; usually, a lighter color that is similar to the colors used on the lids is applied to the inner lower lash line.

Outer Lower Lash Line: Similarly to the inner lower lash line, I again apply a thin line of color using the 219 to the outer lower lash line. There are times where I might even split the lower lash line into thirds, and it just means that there is a middle part of the lower lash line for application. When it comes to smoky eyes, to “smoke out” the look, one applies a darker color to the outer lower lash line or goes for thicker eyeliner and smudges it out around the outer lower lash line.

Upper Lashes: They are not labeled, but I do hope that the majority know where to find these (though explained earlier!). Most makeup users will apply at least one coat of mascara in either brown or black. Brown mascara is more natural and less dramatic, while black can still be natural, but too many coats or using an amplifing mascara will give you dramatic lashes (but hey, I always want these, so there’s no shame in never going au natural on the lashes!). I look up and bring the wand closest to the roots of the lashes and comb it upwards. Sometimes I wiggle, sometimes I turn the brush as I move upwards – it just depends on the mascara.

Lower Lashes: These are the shorter lashes found beneath your eyeball. I always like to give them a quick coat of mascara after I finish doing my upper lashes, because then they’re blacker and stand out a touch. The best way I’ve found to apply mascara to the lower lashes is to use a mascara wand that is not huge and burly – it is a small space, and why do you want to get mascara all over your face? Since I do not even need a super duper mascara, I may use a lesser, but still black, mascara to coat them. Look up and lightly tap the mascara wand to the lashes. I usually just move the wand from side to side, rather than up and down like my upper lashes because I find it coats them to deepen color, slightly lengthen, and that’s all I need.

Halloween is a little under two weeks away, which means it is definitely getting to be crunch time to have your fabulous costume in order, right? Well, what about your makeup? Halloween makeup is all sorts of fun because you can be over the top and crazy, without anyone thinking you’ve lost your mind. You really get a chance to be creative and let your inner artist come out and play.

False lashes are an amazing way to make your eyes pop and finish off flawless makeup. During the haunting season, all kinds of crazy lashes come out – you can find a good variety at your local drugstore for $4-10 a pop. Make Up Forever also makes an incredible selection of false lashes for all times of the year (pictured above), and you can find them at Sephora (www.sephora.com); they’re really quite reasonably priced for their quality and how different their lashes can be.

Face makeup can totally transform your look–what about a blue face? Green face? t’s actually quite easy to achieve a good level of pigmentation without doing much. Any loose eyeshadow or pigment added to a few dollops of your normal face moisturizer will alter your skin color dramatically. It’s such a quick remedy and substitution for body or face paint if you don’t have it on hand. You could even crush up an old or unused eyeshadow to use the pigment from that instead!

Stickers are an affordable way to accentuate your makeup or add drawings when you lack the steady hands (like me) to do them freehand with liquid liner. Check out a local craft store for a huge selection of available stickers! Add some small star stickers for “stardust” on cheeks while creating the dust by applying body glitter afterwards.  Speaking of the local craft store, take a peek at fake feathers (glue onto wrists or face), sequins (great to use at the outer corner of your eye or on the side of your eyes), buttons (put these in your hair using rubber bands or bobby pins), and more.

Blood, gore, and guts can be accomplished by picking up a liquid latex kit from the Halloween store. Practice a few times on an arm wound before you need to have it perfected, but many have little trouble getting it to look to their satisfaction. While you can purchase fake blood from Halloween stores, you can also use heavy corn syrup mixed with red food coloring as another method.

Go cheap when it comes to buying makeup that you only intend to use for Halloween, or if you intend to use a lot of it. Honestly, I find it more practical to buy an inexpensive, drugstore brand of black liquid liner for building face masks or designing on the face, rather than using an expensive high-end brand. For the purposes of Halloween, I have found drugstore liner to be quite sufficient in getting the job done. Similarly, you can find a decent variety of crazy colored liner at the drugstore as well. Good makeup is not always the result of higher prices, but one-time use makeup should take price into consideration to maximize your creativity without maxing out your credit cards!

Halloween can be such a fun time, so I hope everybody finds a way to get some excitement out of the holiday!