WEDNESDAY SELECTION: Artdeco Latest Trends in Makeup

The new products that I showcase in the Wednesday selection post are more often than not something that I receive a PR notification about, but today's post is a bit different, since I got some first hand information about this line. 

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to attend the launch of a new line hosted by Artdeco and Grazia Magazine. I brought baby M along and he had a blast, being one of the two men (the other one was a baby boy one day older than him, so he was in good company) in a crowd of adoring women, meaning I had my hands free to take some good pics for you :)

The new line is all about layering - contouring and strobing, to be more precise. It includes eleven new products:

SUNDAY SPECIAL: My top 10 make-up brushes

I often get asked which brushes are my favorites – do I prefer drugstore brands or is it worth investing into more expensive brushes. I also get asked about fake brushes that you can purchase from various websites – if you want to know about my experience with those, let me know in the comments below!

Anyway, I own both drugstore and high-end brushes – too many of both, to be quite honest with you, since I love buying and trying new ones. As you will see, my favorites consist of both. These are the brushes I use on a regular day when doing my go to make-up look. I listed some prices below, but to find the best deal, check out *this post* I wrote about my favorite online stores and their offers!

FRIDAY SUPERSTAR: Freedom ProStudio Brush Bath

Dear beauties,

I am guilty as charged. Of what, you ask? Of buying overpriced brushes and not taking care of them enough. Of preaching about skincare but at the same time not making sure that the brushes that daily touch my face are super clean. Yes, I am guilty on both charges.

Before I received the Freedom ProStudio Brush Bath, I used the Makeup Revolution brush cleaner to give my brushes proper care. It did the job well, but soaking the brushes and giving them a nice clean used to take me an hour or more which is why I regularly procrastinated on the topic.

A few months back, I was sent the Freedom Brush Bath by the online store Licila.si and at first I wasn't too sure about it since I haven't had too much good experience with the brand Freedom so far. This brush bath is a solution that is supposed to instantly sanitize, cleanse and condition the brushes.

 The packaging is nice and sturdy and closes well. It contains 100ml of the product. The solution itself looks and feels like soap and has a light scent to it. The directions state to wet the brush and swirl it around in the jar, then work the brush on the palm of your hand to really lather it up (you could use any kind of brush cleaning gizmo here, such es BrushEgg etc.), rinse and squeeze the brush to remove access water. Simple enough.

On the left photo you can see that the surface gets quite messy during the whole procedure. I make sure that the brush I'm putting in the jar is not to wet so I don't waste the product. Once I find the whole thing too dirty, and obviously at the end, I simply rinse it under water and it instantly becomes clean again. There are no dirty cups needed - the jar is the only tool you need. 

For this post, I washed five of my Real Techniques brushes: blush brush, powder brush, eye blending brush, concealer brush and a smaller brush I generally use to apply powder to my under-eye area. As you can see, they were quite dirty and really needed a good wash.

The cleaning took me about 30 seconds per brush with the exception of concealer brush which was so dirty it took about a minute. I could easily also wash a couple of eye brushes at the same time this way. 

In all, I am really impressed with this brush bath. It's inexpensive (get it here for just under 11 € - if you own a reasonable amount of brushes, it will probably last you a year to get through it), super easy to use and leaves my brushes nice and soft. I would definitely recommend this product to everyone who finds washing brushes a hassle and wants to get it over with quickly.

Until next time, stay beautiful!