Let's Talk About Brushes!

 

Thanks to my lovely followers for your continued support and kindness. I absolutely love sharing my expertise, favorite products and beauty tips with you all and I plan to start blogging weekly in the upcoming months.  I'm often asked what's the most important thing to add to your makeup wardrobe and I have suggestions for all categories.  Please keep reading my posts, following the Makeup by Nel Facebook feeds and I promise that particular area will be covered.

One of the essential elements in applying flawless makeup is having the right beauty tools.  The correct tools will perfect your application, enhance your technique and precisely place the product onto your skin. My favorite makeup brushes in my brush roll come from Trish McEvoy, Laura Mercier and MAC. After investing in the proper tools, maintenance and upkeep is also very important. The essential brushes in any set include but not limited to: eyebrow brush, cheek brush, powder brush, eye shadow, angled eye color, eye shadow crese, and depending on the set it could include other key tools for blending.

Let's shift our focus to cleanliness and hygiene, allow me to share some excellent tips for sanitizing your beauty tools. When is the last time your makeup brushes received a nice bath? Often times, makeup is applied in a hurry and brushes are tossed back into the drawer. As a result from being dirty, they shed and expand thus your brushes loose shape. Once your beauty tools revert into this fluffy, scattered shape they are no longer appropriately placing the product and makeup will look sloppy. Your dirty makeup brushes can potentially cause infections as they harbor bacteria, mold, fungus and other unpleasant germs.

These are all things that you want to avoid from happening, so here is what to do.

(Items needed: towel, a mild shampoo and water.)

1. Lay out and old medium sized towel on your bathroom counter. 
2. Dampen the brush and drop a pea sized amount of shampoo onto the palm of your hand.
3. Build up a good lather and gently scrub at the base of the bristles with your fingers.
4. Rinse well by placing the brush under lukewarm water until the water runs clear.
5. Mold the brushes back into their original shape with your fingers, squeeze well and then place onto the towel.
6. Allow the brushes to dry completely overnight.

I recommend that your use a brush cleaner in between cleanings and shampoo regularly. Try the Sephora brand brush cleaner for a good practical product and it's gentle enough for the brush hairs. Cleaning your brushes regularly in this way will ensure they keep shape longer, reduce shedding and improve application and eliminate bacteria.

Smooches,

Nelvy

Pretty In The City with Nelvy

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Food for Thought

The top beauty secret amongst all experts is that great makeup starts with great skin care. Implementing a balanced and functional skin care routine is just half the battle. The other key component of great skin is your diet. It's clear that what you put into your body is going to have an impact on how your body looks and feels. Simply put, people who want to have skin with a healthy natural glow need to pay closer attention to what types of foods they are putting into their bodies.
Antioxidants prevent your skin from aging by fighting off free radical damage. Examples of common antioxidants include glutathione, beta-carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Selenium, alpha lipoic acid, melatonin and Vitamin E. The United Stated Department of Agriculture has put together a list of the 20 foods with the highest concentration of antioxidants.


The USDA's list:
1. Small red beans
2. Wild blueberries
3. Red Kidney beans
4. Pinto beans
5. Cultivated Blueberries
6. Cranberries
7. Artichokes
8. Blackberries
9. Prunes
10. Raspberries
11. Strawberries
12. Red Delicious & Granny Smith apples
13. Pecans
14. Sweet cherries
15. Black plums
16. Russet potatoes
17. Black beans
18. Plums
19. Gala apples
20. Walnuts

All of the above foods are excellent choices so think about which ones you can easily add to your diet to get closer to a flawless complexion. Another way pack in antioxidants in one sitting is through a delicious salad. People think of salads as lettuce and tomato, but you can make so many interesting salads with so many personalities by mixing all sorts of healthy foods together. I love fresh greens with grilled chicken, fresh veggies, diced boiled eggs and berries.

Incorporating these foods to your diet should go a long way towards improving the youthfulness of your skin. However, it’s just as important to cut out foods from your diet as it is to add foods if you do want healthy skin. Personally this will be a challenge for me because salt is my best friend but like most I also desire more supple skin. Pretty In The City with Nelvy readers let's work together and slowly reduce intake of caffeine, bad fats, salt, sugar, etc. to maximize the healthy benefits our skin. Last but not least, do yourself a favor and drink more water! The most essential thing that you can consume is you want great-looking skin is water. Truly the more water you drink, the more you flush out all the other toxins and the healthier your skin is going to appear.


Smooches,
Pretty In The City with Nelvy