My first Mac brushes!

I've been wanting Mac brushes for like ever but always end up spending money on other makeup so i don't have enough for the pricey brushes that Mac has to offer. So my darling boy surprised me for my birthday and sent me this limited edition set of travel sized brushes from the Holiday A Tartan Tale collection. Kudos to guys that go to Mac for their girlfriends seriously LOL!

This particular set is called "A Lady & Her Tricks Buff & Line Brush Collection" and it contains a total of five limited edition brushes including the 168SE, 187SE, 209SE, 219SE and 252SE. They all come with a super cute satchel thats green/blue and had plaid design with heraldic crest and metal rivets. It's perfect for traveling i love it! 

I'm really lovin the quality of all the brushes and i've been using them every single day. The 187SE is my new best friend and makes foundation applycation so flawless and easy i love it. It did shed a bit at the first, like all new brushes do when their new, but nonetheless im madly in love.

 

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Did you pick favorites from this collection?

Thoughts?

How i organize my makeup brushes!

I thought i would dedicate a post to makeup brushes. I rarely talk about brushes because i don't really spend a lot on them, since i spend too much on makeup. Having good brushes is very important. They can make makeup application a lot easier if they're good quality. If you're just starting out with makeup and don't know where to start, try to focus on getting good brushes. Drugstores have cheap sets. Or you can check out Target, they have a great variety. If you're looking for good quality and decent price, i highly recommend the EcoTools brushes, they're very good. Those are the first brushes i ever got. Other places you can get good brushes is online at either coastalscents.com or elf.com (i plan to look into these soon). I think so far i have a pretty descent collection of brushes. Most of them are from the Kirkland set i got the past winter from Costco. If you want to see a more details see the full review HERE.

I keep all my full sized brushes in a round glass container, which is like the Sephora style brush holder. If you're familiar with the style, you know that it can have a bow tied around it. Instead of that, i just bought some butterfly stickers and added them all over the container. They're not actual stickers that peal off; i had to scratch them onto the surface so they look really nice.

Inside i have these clear beads to help hold the brushes up straight and in place. All of these i got from Michaels craft store. I think you can also find them at a Dollar Tree store if you're looking not to spend too much on things like these.

For my little mini brushes i use a smaller jar, which is from a candle lol! The candle burned out so i washed the jar (pain the butt btw) and filled it up with the small beads and its perfect for the few tiny brushes i have =)

Please excuse the dirty brushes, i really have to make time to clean them up lol
(here's how i clean my brushes)

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How do you organize your brushes?
Do you recommend any specific brushes that are a MUST-HAVE for my collection?

Cleaning makeup brushes...my way

I decided to clean my brushes today and thought, why not make a post about it. Here's my way of cleaning the brushes. I know a lot of people have various ways to do it using special brush cleaner and whatnot but this is what works for me. I learned how to do this by watching videos on Youtube and i forgot which one specifically but you can find them.
Here's what you need:

Baby Shampoo (any will do)

Olive Oil (yep)
Paper Towel
AND
Your dirty brushes (of course)
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These are the dirty brushes i decided to clean today. I didn't do all of them in case i was in need of a brush. Once these dry, i will work on the others. I don't have too many brushes that needed to be cleaned anyway.

Step 1:
Pour some olive oil on a folded paper towel and smudge the brush in the olive oil. This really helps get the color out (as you can see by the nasty eyeshadow dirt lol). It also leaves your brushes really soft that's why i love using it.
Step 2:
After you feel you removed the makeup from the brush, go ahead and pour a little baby shampoo on your palm and run the brush through it. Once you washed the brush hair go ahead and rinse it with lukewarm water (not hot and not cold)
Step 3:
Make sure you lay them flat on a towel or whatever works for you. This is to avoid letting the water drip into the brush handle and damaging it.

Look at all the dirt from all the brushes!!!
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That's basically all i do. I haven't really thought of investing in a brush cleaner yet. For now this is what works for me.
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What are some of your methods?