Sigma cleaning glove alternative | Make-up brush cleaning saviour!

Now I don't know about you, but I find cleaning my makeup brushes to be somewhat of a chore. It's time consuming, boring and just a general pain in the bum. I aim to wash my brushes once a week, sometimes it's left to two if I'm super busy (gross I know) but any longer and it'd upset me!

I'd heard people talking about the Sigma cleaning glove and thought what a brilliant idea until I came across the price tag... Ranging between £30-£35!? Sod that. So I did some hunting for a cheaper alternative and came across this baby on eBay for £2 with free p&p!! Bargain or what!?

It's a silicone oven glove which looks very similar to the Sigma cleaning glove and although it doesn't have specific areas to clean specific brushes, the texture does the job and cleans my brushes beautifully. It takes a lot less time and helps the soap to froth up lovely. You can also have the water really hot as the oven glove is designed for high temperatures (obviously!) It saves my poor hand from having brushes mashed into it and having water on them for long periods of time. I have sensitive skin so more often than not my hands are very dry after cleaning my brushes.

So this is my top tip if you're looking for a cheap alternative to the Sigma mitt and want a quick way to clean your brushes! Hope this was helpful and if anyone has any tips on how they clean their brushes, let me know :-).

Kat

Xxx

Nail art lovin'

So recently I've really been getting into nail art. It's definitely grown in popularity over recent times and I love to see people's creative designs on Instagram!

The only problem for me however is a) I have a job which requires me to have short clean and polish free nails b) trying to do nail art left handed for me is a nightmare- it looks like children have attacked my nails and fingers!! So I've come up with an ingenious method which makes my life a whole lot easier and yet stylish when I'm away from work! In the wonderful world of eBay I purchased 500 plain false nails for something daft like £3? Not only does wearing false nails help with doing the designs with a steady hand, I can pop them on whenever I like as I paint them in advance :-). The only slight set back is the glue marks my natural nails slightly but I use a nail file to remove any excess and cuticle oil to recondition my nails and keep them healthy. 

The nails I purchased are super long which is handy as I can cut them to whatever length I want but can be annoying as clipping and filing them is a bit time consuming and boring. I use a marker to mark roughly the length I want them before filing them down.

From painting these a few times I've found that sticking the nails onto cocktail sticks with blue tack is the best way to paint them so you can get to the whole nail without fingers smudging! It also makes it easier to pick them up :-). 

I then paint on whatever design I fancy/ feel I can muster! I don't have an extensive set of tools. A couple of models own nail art pens and nail art tool from Avon with a brush on one end and a dotting tool on the other. I highly recommend giving it a go, I've had lots of compliments on my nails and my girlfriends want me to do a nail art evening! I love having unique nails from everyone else and matching them to my outfit like I did on Friday! :-)

And I do my tootsies too ^_^. Anyway I hope you've all had a great weekend! Link me to your nail art if you do yours and check my Instagram (Laydey_Katabella) for my next designs :-) 

Kat

Xxx

How I style: Big Bouncy Curls Hairstyle

 Good day to you kind sir! Today I'm doing a hair post, accompanying my hair tutorial on Youtube! It's my first hair tutorial and I've come to realise I'd make a TERRIBLE voice over lady haha. But onto the products and tools....

• Loreal Elvive Extrodinary Oil
• Tres Semmé Heat Defence 
• Umberto Giannini Curl Friends Smoothy Curls Anit-Frizz Serum
• Tesco Firm Hold Hairspray
• Remington Pearl Wand
• Batiste XXL volume dry shampoo
• VO5 Give Me Texture

So basically I use 3-4 pumps of the hair oil and run it through my hair whilst it's damp. I then spray the Tres Semmé  heat protector all over my hair before I blow dry it randomly until it's dry!

I then use either batiste XXL or VO5 give me texture to basically...give me texture! Lol. When my hair has been freshly washed it needs a bit of grip to hold the curls so I sprinkling or a spray of these products do the job.

I then use my curling wand, dividing my hair into four sections from the bottom upwards and curling each section. I always curl the hair away from my face as its much more flattering and curl random sized sections so it doesn't look unnaturally uniform.

Once I've curled all my hair I spray it with hairspray and then use my tangle teaser to brush the curls out to form a looser curl. They look less ringlet-like and to me they flow better. I then top it off with a touch more hairspray and voila! That's my hair did!

 

This style usually lasts 2-3 days once I've curled it once. The curls just become a little looser (which I prefer) and all I really do on days 2 and 3 is brush my hair and re-hairspray it! It also means I'm not using heat repetitively on my hair so I like to think it won't become too damaged.

Anyway I hope you found this helpful, a subscriber on Youtube requested the tutorial so if you'd like to see it click below!

Kat

xxx