Beauty 911

How to reset shattered powders and brushes:

Blushes, eye shadows and powders can be pressed into little plastic containers that are sold at Sephora, Mac, or the container store. With sanitized hands, gently pressed the broken pieces or powders with your fingers into the new vessel. Make sure your fingers are dry, as well as the new container. Make sure not to drop, knock or store these in places where they can fall or be knocked down. Keep at temperatures of 70 degrees or colder, never warmer. This especially applies to cream blushes or concealers, which are better stored at 65 or bellow. Water mixed with alcohol can clean all brushes, airbrush, makeup valves and needles, tweezers, spatulas, etc. Do not overuse as it can dry out the make up.

How to salvage broken shadows:

Using the wooden-stick technique (scrape the top of makeup items with it to remove the used surface). The wooden sticks are sold everywhere at beauty supply stores. They look like miniature popsicle sticks, and can clean lip sticks , shadows, and dry blushes or bronzers. 

How to wash applicators:

Using disposable mascara wands is ideal. Ensure that everytime you insert the wand into the rest of the mascara, it is clean and sanitary and you don’t risk introducing impurities in to the entire mascara tube. 

How to keep eyeliners sharp and soft:

Every time a decent manufacturer makes an eyeliner, they make a corresponding eyeliner sharpener that is the exact match in circumference to the pencil. This is the only sharpener that should be used with the liner, which can be cleaned with Q-tips that have been dipped in a mix of alcohol and water. Make sure to dry really well with a towel and not leave any moisture in the blade as it can rust and or become dull. Liners will describe if they are hard, soft, creamy or wet. The manufacturer will also include at what temperature it’s best to store the liner, so it’s best to follow these instructions . Most liners live in women’s handbags. So long as they have their cap on and are in a makeup bag inside a handbag, they will be safe – providing the bag is kept out of the sun.

General beauty tips:

I love to keep live-cell facial creams in the fridge to prolong their life

I love a cocktail moisturizer with my SPF foundation that also has a moisturizer.

Once a month I heat my grapefruit scrub to 88 degrees and, after a hot bath, scrub myself with this warm scrub. Then I cocktail a heavy moisturizer with warm tangerine oil and put it all over my body. 

I keep a huge bag of makeup (out of the sun) in my closet. Not the bathroom, to avoid the humidity showers can create, since I don’t want to mess with my shadows an blushes.

I carry two small make up bags in my hand bag, one wit all of my moisture products, i.e., under-the-eye cream, all-over-the-face moisturizer, and vitamin E lip balm (devoid of any petrochemicals, as they tend to dry out everything). The other holds my face, eye and lip liner, SPF tinted moisturizer, cream blush, eye-lash curler, mascara, brow pencil, and a white pencil for the brow bone. And that’s it!