Happy 1 Year IG Birthday to Me (facts and realities learned)

"Hey Kass, It's Friday, you're late!" yea yea yea! I know! But its better than not doing it at all!

Ok so,Hey everyone! Happy Friday! TGIF and all that good stuff!

So, Yesterday was my 1 year Instagram Birthday, or anniversary, whatever you wanna call it. I'm going with birthday, cause I like that better! lol.

Well, this made me think a lot about the last year. The good, the bad, the ugly. The things I've accomplished and things I maybe could have done without. The last year was crazy! That's all I can say! Over all, there was way too much drama, and not enough good. Even tho I fought like hell to TRY to do good things for people, some of those things just didn't work out.

I did however, make some awesome friends through the nail community, who I couldn't imagine life without now.

@Kaylascreativecuticles
@mscupcake05
@misslynnae

If you didn't know, now you know! lol.

These three girls have been my shoulders to lean on through ALL the drama, and I love them for that! They understand me, my goals, my beliefs and my struggles, and they still love me! Yay for besties! haha!

Over the last year, I even got to meet one of those amazing ladies, Lynnae, and shes just simply amazing!  She gets me. That's all there is to it. Shes my amazing Purple haired model friend, who's going to be around for a long time, cause I'm not letting her go anywhere! haha! You're stuck with me babe! lol!

I also graduated from Cosmo school and got my license. I will hopefully be starting my first job as a manicurist in the next week or so. I'm so excited to start this journey!

Hmmm...lets see.....other than that I cant think of anything else exciting that happened. But overall the last year taught me a lot about who I am. Through random interactions, unnecessary fights and drama with people I don't even know, and through trying to learn new things and creating things on my own with the help from no one. I've learned that I'm my biggest critic, and that's one of my biggest down falls in this nail business. But with the help of my girls, I'm slowly starting to love and appreciate my own work, whether its "liked" on instagram or not.

The fact of the matter is, that only a handful of us "NAIL GIRLS" will be likely to make it big based on our Instagram feed. The rest of us will have to work hard, building a client base to make money. Not all of us have the funding to buy new indies, or entire collections of colors (which leads to free stuff for being loyal customers).Some of us are working with very little, and were the ones who will  have to deal with broken nails and having messed up polish or no polish on at all in order to properly work on a client. But those clients will be happy, and well have more than just people looking at our work and copying it online. We'll have people sporting our work, showing it off to their friends and booking months in advanced to get an appointment with us. And to me, that is a greater accomplishment than simply doing my own nails everyday for others to look at.

So, don't wonder why I'm not on IG as much, just know that I'm out there bustin my ass, workin hard, making clients happy and getting things done, in a real way (not a virtual way)!

2014 is a year for change, a year for success, a year for ME!

How to Clean Makeup Brushes (Learned from Michelle Phan)

So, before I start this post, I want to start by saying that I learned this technique from Michelle Phan (Owner of Ipsy and EM Cosmetics). She posted the video on Youtube (click link to view) almost 4 years ago, and this has been a successful method for me.

As she states in the video, it is really important to clean your makeup brushes because they harbor bacteria! EWW! and no one wants extra bacteria all over their face.

If you aren't aware of some of the things that bacteria can cause on your skin?face here's a short list:

Oily residue (causing a shiny complexion)
Acne
Irritated Eyes
Pink Eye
MrSa (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)

So next time you go to use your brushes, think about the last time you washed them and if its about that time.

Besides keeping your skin clean and healthy, cleaning your brushes regularly also helps to keep them in good condition and ensure that you have long lasting, quality brushes.

Things you will need:
Anti-Bacterial Soap (Such as Dawn dish soap)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
A flat surface such as a plate (I used a Tupperware)
Paper towels
Parchment paper
Glass Cup or Jar
Sink

Why Anti-Bacterial Soap and EVOO you ask?

Well, the soap is easy, to get rid of the bacteria of course! That's our number one goal here! I use Dawn Ultra Original Scent (the blue one). I like the original scent because its more mild than some of the others, and I don't like a strong scent on my brushes. The bad thing about using a soap like this is that it gets rid of grease and oils. While this may be great when your washing dishes, there are some oils in the bristles of your brushes that are needed to keep them soft and in good quality, which is where our EVOO comes in. While the soap would normally cause your brushes to become dry and brittle, the EVOO will keep the necessary moisture needed.

Step 1:  Prepare Work area, Brushes and Soap Mixture

Before I start anything, I lay out some parchment paper to cover my work space. Parchment paper is great because you can set your brushes right on it and the soap wont seep through.

Then I dust off all my brushes to remove any loose particles.

Here are my personal brushes, I will also be cleaning my client brushes as well.


In the video Michelle uses a plate to combine her soap and EVOO, but I used this tupper wear instead cause I had it handy, and I wanted to avoid spillage. 

So on your surface, combine a 3:1 mixture of your Soap and EVOO

Step 2: Cleaning your brushes

 

You can do this one of two ways, combine the mixture before you start, or just combine as you go.

 

I like to just dab my brush between the two, making sure to pick up a little more soap than oil. I like doing it this way to control the amount of oil each brush gets.

(Smaller brushes need less than big brushes)

 

Once you have your cleanser on your brush, rub it around on your hand to work the good stuff in, and work the old colors and nasty bacteria out. then set them on your parchment paper while you finish the rest.

Some brushes may be dirtier than others (like my dark eye shadow brush) and may need some extra attention.

 tip: use paper towels to clean your hands as you go.

Step 3: Rinse with WARM water

COLD water makes it harder to get the soap out, and HOT water can loosen the glue, and ruin your bristles. So use warm water, and rinse until water runs clear and free of soap. This may take a while so be patient and make sure you have the time to focus on your brushes, any delays could cause chemicals or water to sit in your brushes, causing damage.

Step 4: Drying and Storage

This is where your paper towels and your glass cup or jars come in handy.
I don't have the brush guards that Michelle uses in her video, but this method works for me.

I take one paper towel and fold it into a square and place it at the bottom of my jar.
As I rinse, I ring out the brush and place them gently brush side down.
To prevent moisture from getting trapped, I do change the paper towel out as needed.

When I'm done, I normally place my brushes back in the carrying cases they came in, but for my personal brushes, I will be decorating and making  a storage jar with one of these.

I love this method, its the quickest and most efficient way that I have found.

While a lot of people say that Johnson's baby soap is the best way, I found that it does not clean as well, as it doesn't have the anti- bacterial properties.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog! Please, leave me your thoughts and feed back below! I love to hear from you!

Happy New Year to you and yours! <3

P.S. Please leave suggestions for Next Thursdays post!