Clean: Brush Shampoo Review

Rosebuds,

Nobody likes a dirty makeup brush! I've tried so many different brush cleaners over the years and none of them have made me happy, made my brushes super clean and super soft. I've tried home cleaning  remedies, but that didn't even work.

Last month I got word that there was a new brush cleaner on the market that could clean a stained Beauty Blender! 

Considering I had two stained blending sponges and a mess of stained white haired makeup brushes. I thought I'd give it a try. After placing my order with a Clean Brush Shampoo retailer, I couldn't wait for the mailman to bring me my goods!

My package arrived right on time for my next brush washing session. I had just finished a photo shoot and had a ton of dirty precious brushes to clean.

I should probably mention that this brush cleaner is a solid brush cleaner that smells of lemon basil wonderfulness! The fresh clean scent wowwed me through the shipping packaging! So much that I'm voting for a candle to match lol

The label list a total of 7 ingredients! And 6 of them are organic essential oils. CLEAN comes in two formulas, olive oil & goats milk. The olive oil formula is what I brought and currently LOVE!

Washing my brushes has NEVER been this Amazing!! After washing and air drying my brushes I noticed that ALL traces of makeup and residues were gone, my brushes were fresh smelling, and all the bristles were amazingly soft. Even my blending sponges were magically made new again, no makeup stains!

Im done looking for a product that can preform the way CLEAN does. I've found it and nothing else shall touch my brushes!

My Ballerina Beauty

Hey Rosebud,

Naturally the summer months have me in full blown bridal mode. With bridal consultations and weddings, I've been a busy little makeup artist bee lately. However, when the time permits I have been working really hard with an amazing team to update and add value to my artistry portfolio. It's hasn't been easy but when it's good it's great and this past Sunday was great! 

Teaming up with an outstanding group of creative minds, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Kateryna Derechyna, a professional ballet dancer with The Washington Ballet. I have worked with lots of dancers, but never have I worked with a professional ballerina before. I was beyond excited to be apart of this project. My first impression of Kateryna or rather Kat was a very beautiful and gracefully structured woman. After all of the formal hellos we got right to the fun stuff,MAKEUP & HAIR! lol. Kat is a rockstar and  her personality is vibrant, sassy, and carefree. Our hair and makeup sessions talks were to die for. We all had so many interest in common like makeup, music, and social life styles. It wasn't until Kat slipped on her ballet slippers and balanced perfectly still on the points of her toes, that I was reminded that "she's a real ballerina".

As a professional ballet dancer of course every move Kat made was amazing to see up close. I will say this, there is a lot of mental exercise that goes into ballet on top of the intense physical training. Kat was super impressive, she stayed focused and held her pose and balance for lengths of times I could never match (lol) all while making it all look very easy. She was all smiles and full of this "dancer's energy" that I've noticed in other dancers I've worked with.

But trust me hanging on set and behind the scenes with a professional ballerina and being one are two totally different things. As a team we collectively were inspired to show off our unprofessional dance moves to Kat. We all got a huge giggle out of our attempts at toe points, kicks, and twirls. The fun of dance filled the studio and the inspiring music kept our energy and creative juices flowing.

As a team we shot multiple looks on different set locations. But hands down I'm sure my favorite image of the day, which I haven't seen completed in post production, would have to be from the dark dimly lit alley we shot in. This set was everything for the particular concept we were shooting for that set. It had texture, depth, darkness, haze and a rocking ballerina balanced gracefully on her toes!

After a long 13 hour day of shooting some crazy great inspiring images, the entire team finished the shoot just as strong as we started. And a sense of accomplishment filled the studio! It was a true team effort and everyone involved gave their 150%. Hope you enjoyed this peek into my world as a makeup artist.

Model: Katyerna Derechyna
Hair Artist: Kyndra Turner
Makeup Artist: Ivory Perkins (self)
Fashion Stylist: Jennifer Elizabeth
Photographer: Naiffer Romero
BTS Photographer: Tom Turk

Project: Build Me A Vanity

Rosebuds,

Being a freelance makeup artist has me constantly packing and unpacking my makeup kit. At times it can be a tedious task finding space to store and keep the products I'm not using organized and stationed. With every gig I find myself buying more products and having little to no space to keep it all without building clutter. It has been an idea for a while now to invest in a vanity/storage system for myself. However, when I thought about what type of vanity I wanted and how it would function for my needs I would feel overwhelmed.

To give myself a starting point I took 2 whole days to sort, clean and trash the makeup that was taking up usable space. My makeup mayhem was crazy. But once it was all cleaned I was now ready to go out a buy a vanity. But where do I start? There are so many options when selecting/creating  a vanity/ makeup station.  I figured the best option was to just create and customize my space. But this decision had me once again was overwhelmed and looking for another starting point.

If you're not sure Google it! lol Seeing all the fancy and not so fancy setups that others had created, made me see things differently. I needed a blueprint to layout the details of what I wanted.

The Blueprint

1. What's my allowed budget? 

2. Measured space available 

3. What's the look & design?

4. Storage unit setup (designed with additions in mind)

After identifying my needs against my wants I was ready to start shopping. I went to Ikea to start. There I checked out the Malam dressing table but it wasn't (to me) worth the price tag or the raves it has been given online. It's nice but was not what my space needed. Well, what's next? I did a search on "writing table" and found that the size would be a nice cuddly fit for my new makeup space.

So where would I get a nice writing table from that didn't look like a vintage office desk? Walmart!!! I was in Walmart randomly buying extra stuff that I didn't need (that store has that power over me) and I came across the Home department, and BOOM there she was, the MainStay Writing Table for the pretty price of $39!
Now I was on a mission, I then found the framed mirror to match my vision for only $10!  Now I had recently came upon an AWESOME deal at my local Dollar Tree store. They had Clip on table lamps there for a $1 of course. My first instinct "girl get 4" so I did just that. Great thing I did too, because after sharing my amazing find with my other makeup artist buddies they were all sold out when we went back to get more. 

Putting this table together was a breeze and the final look of it is really nice. After lugging everything home and setting it all up I was very pleased with my creation. Who would have thought I was able to find everything in only 2 stores (Walmart & DollarTree) and only spend a total of $60 (factoring in taxes)?

Remember my blueprint? The #1 thing was to stay in my budget. I was willing to spend at least $200 on this project, and only dropped a cool $60. That has left me with a larger budget for storage systems, the real beast of this setup.  Currently I have a medium 3 draw cart that fits perfectly under the table next to my printer, which I plan on moving to put another 3 draw cart there. And a large 4 draw cart on the side of the table, this cart has an acrylic 4 stair stand on top that houses my airbrush makeups neatly.

I'm still in the market for more storage, but as a new setup in my home I'm content for the moment. The table's draw has nice space, but needs a draw organizer that is no taller than an 1/2inch high. This way the draw will close with ease. I do have plans on actually mounting my mirror and the 2 lights attached to it on the wall to give me more table space, there's like 3 inches of space available behind the mirror that I could be using. I need every inch lol :)