Makeup brush cleaning and My Essentials

I wanted to do a post a bit different today it's still beauty/makeup related but I just thought it would be something a bit different to a makeup review or what I'm loving at the moment, and that is makeup brush cleaning! 

Now I personally hate cleaning my makeup brushes as it's such a tedious chore, but definitely HAS to be done! 

Now I don't use anything fancy really, I had started using baby shampoo for my brushes ever since I actually started washing my makeup brushes which was quite a few years ago and I definitely recommend it, as it gets rid of the dirt and I find gets stains out of my brushes the best! 

Baby shampoo is great as it is cheap and can be bought from drugstore shops and in super markets, so it's perfect for picking up from just about anywhere!

You can buy the Johnson's Baby Shampoo here

I have also started regularly using this silicone brush cleaning mitt (well I say mitt but it is tiny!) It has a slot on the bottom which you can use like a mitt which you can hold with two fingers on one hand and then with the other hand you can swirling the brush in water and then using your soap or in my case baby shampoo then cleaning the brush with the mitt. and repeat this process until they are clean! It is super quick (a lot quicker than I made it sound haha) 

The only down side to this little mitt/brush cleaner is how small it is! I did get it from amazon for under £2 so it's great for eye brushes and small face brushes, but for bigger brushes it's not worth using! It works on all my brushes I would say except my Real Techniques powder brush and to be honest it definitely would but just will take a lot longer than the others! 

I definitely want to try another bigger silicone brush cleaner/mitt because I love this method and it makes the process a lot easier and quicker! I know Soap and Glory do one and also 

Products Mentioned:

Johnson's Baby Shampoo - here

Amazon Silicone Makeup Cleaning Mitt - here

Real Techniques Brushes - here

Soap and Glory Face Mitt - here

What are your makeup brush cleaning essentials?

BornPrettyStore Haul

Today I'm bringing you all a little haul, which is a bit different from usual. It's a haul of little makeup related bits from BornPrettyStore and they are all little bits that I've been wanting to try out, so keep reading to see all about the things I got. 

So the first thing I opened was the concealer/corrector palette which actually came with the makeup sponge and the smaller angled face brush, which are both great quality too, you can find it here along with the other two items. The palette itself isn't as great quality as my similar drugstore ones like a makeup revolution contour palette I purchased a few weeks ago (even through that is powder and this is a cream palette) i find they aren't as pigmented as I would have hoped but this is one of the only items from BornPrettyStore that I'm dissapointed with (not including other two items) I found the only shade I would be able to contour using is the darkest one right in the bottom right hand corner as the other shades just blend out into nothing on my skin tone!

On the other hand my other two items that came with this I am super impressed with the makeup sponge works just like my other beauty blender dupes from real techniques and on it's own this would probably be amazingly cheap so if that's what your looking for look on their website and have a browse! 

The other product was the little face brush which is slightly angled this works really nicely with my powder highlighters I have found, and the brushes bristles are so soft too. I am very impressed with the sponge and this brush so the only downside is the palette you can see below.

The set of eyelashes I got to test out and also try on my mum as I thought it would be fun the learn and try them out as they were so cheap and looked good quality too. I have yet to use them so cannot really give my opinions but for the price I think I will be impressed as they work out to be under £2 for the whole pack! I just need to buy some eye lash glue which will hold them in place! You can find them here.

So this is an overview of the palette I assumed it would be pigmented and the colour payoff would be good but it isn't one I would recommend and I wish it was as it looked so good online, I'm sure there would be plenty of palette like this though that would do a better job of concealing/contouring.

So this is my last product to give you my opinions on which is the brush on the left. (the other was the one I previously talked about) So It is a flat face brush -looks like a paint brush, I know, but I thought it looked like the new real techniques brush which is like this but used for contouring. Now I LOVE a bit of bronzer and I definitely love to contour too so having this brush seemed like the perfect addition to my collection so I went for it and I love it! It gives a very precise line but then I use another brush to blend it is so it doesn't look harsh on the skin and I am so happy with this and this is probably the one I am most pleased with as it just works perfectly!

Here are the links to the brushes:
Flat face brush - here
Angled face brush (sold with other two items) - here

If you want a discount code for BornPrettyStore you can get 10% off with my discount code: JVBH10 which is also in the side of my blog under 'discounts' 

*PR Sample(s) included

Amazon Makeup Brushes Review

Look at these beauty's! 

These are my new(ish) amazon makeup brushes which I bought on a whim as I wanted to test them out, but seeing the 5 star reviews swayed me to buy them even more.  I was quite skeptical because of how cheap these all came too! But you'll learn my thoughts as you read this post... The set of 4 face brushes were £3.99 for the set and them the 4 eye brushes were bought for £1.59 so for a total of just under £6 I got these brushes and now I cannot live without them. Let me tell you why!

Firstly, they are the softest brushes, As soft or may be softer than my Favourite Real Techniques brushes. They are so easy to apply your makeup with as they are just so nice to buff makeup into your face. They are also great as each brush can do a lot of different applications of makeup, so you can use one for foundation, and it'll also be great for applying blush or bronzer, which I love as it means I can take less brushes on the go with me when I am travelling.

I also love the way they look, so professional looking and not at all like I bought them from Amazon, I think they are a steal for the price! I will tel you what I have and currently am using each brush for to give you and idea of what they can be used for and what I am using them for!

A guide to Brush cleaning

With Brush cleaning it is a good idea to wash them every week or two depending on how often you use them. When cleaning the brushes it's best to use anti-bacterial soap/shampoo or hand wash, as this will leave them clean and dirt will clog your pores once using the brushes. I either like to use hand soap or use brush cleanser which i will show in a moment.

It is really simple to do and keeps the bristles in good condition so they will last longer.