tools

How to: Care for Your Hairdryer

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How to Care for Your Hairdryer

Confessions from a Dusty Apartment: That is my hairdryer’s filter and yes, it is dusty and covered in lint. No wonder it was failing to perform!

We clean our homes. We clean our brushes (or at least pretend we do). Frequently, though, styling tools get neglected. Sure, you might be removing excess hair from your brushes as it accumulates, but are you cleaning your hot tools? What about your hairdryer? Yeah – didn’t think so! Fortunately, it is super easy (inexpensive, and quick!) to care for your hairdryer.

Like many people, I left my hairdryer to face neglect. My dryer isn’t a fancy, performance dryer like a Neuro or Speed Freak. Instead, it is a modest (yet delightfully effective) Conair that my husband gifted me a few years ago. I was sad, earlier this year, when its performance started to wane. One day, I noticed that the dryer itself started to seem a bit hotter than usual although the air it was outputting was not. To top that off, the airflow wasn’t as powerful, either. After first giving it a quick blast with a can of compressed air to dislodge some of the fluff, I noticed an immediate improvement in my dryer’s performance. Shockingly, the picture above is after the compressed air. Oops. Then, I set out to do it, “right.”

The Right Way

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Worth it? Cinema Secrets Brush Cleaner

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Cinema Secrets Brush CleanerCinema Secrets Makeup Brush Cleaner, $24 for 8oz

This was a legacy post that I gave a facelift because I seriously cannot tell enough people about this product. If you’re an artist? Lifesaver. If you aren’t, it means you can avoid buying thirty seven thousand brushes, because you can use the same one over and over in a look.

I’d seen this brush cleaner in blog posts and on YouTube. I was curious but…really, how good can it be? It’s a brush cleaner. I had come close to buying it a few times for myself but always talked myself out of it. My current system is good; why invest in another product – especially with that price tag? Fortunately, a wise friend sent this wee little spray-bottle of it to me.

I tested it that night, but was not prepared to record or demonstrate my findings. Spoiler alert: I was blown away and wondered how the ever loving hell I haven’t had this product in my life before.

Let me just show you.

Before

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Worth it? Color Switch by Vera Mona

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I picked up the Color Switch by Vera Mona during the most recent BI sale. I find myself using the same few brushes again and again, even in the same look. Wiping brushes off on a tissue doesn’t do much, and although I love Cinema Secrets, I don’t want to use it in my brushes every day I wear makeup.

Okay, but what is it?

The $18 Color Switch is a tin filled with a disc-shaped, rough mesh sponge not unlike the material used in a bun ring . As bristles are drawn across the surface, product is jostled away and falls down into the cells of the sponge.

There is a slightly smaller $14 one as well.

Does it Work?

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2016 Holiday Gift Guide

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With Thanksgiving coming up, I’m adjusting my posting schedule for the upcoming week. There will be this post (Saturday evening), the normal Monday post, and the normal Wednesday post, but no Friday post.
We’re officially in holiday shopping season! In the interests of self-preservation, I completed my holiday shopping a month-and-a-half ago. Here’s the Beauty Skeptic 2016 Holiday Gift Guide for those of you still in the thick of it.

Before You Shop

eBates

If you aren’t signed up for eBates, go sign up now. Their commercials are weird, but they are absolutely legit. I’ve been a member since January 2012 and am just cents shy of earning $900 cash back over the lifetime of my membership. Here’s a screenshot from my eBates dashboard:

ebates

It is free to join, and just like not contributing to a contribution-matched 401k, to not do so is to throw away free money! Don’t leave money on the table, sign up and earn cash back on nearly all of your online shopping. They pay out quarterly via PayPal, Check, or gift card. Disclosure – I do get a referral credit if you use the link above and YOU get $10 in your eBates account, too.

Honey

If there’s a promo code, I find it. That said, finding them does take time; usually several websites and then time to apply them to check for validity. Honey makes the process easier via a browser plugin that auto-applies the best-available promo codes for you. It operates via user submissions, so you can add your promo code finds to help the community if you’re so inclined.

It’s also free, and you can sign up here. Disclosure – Like eBates, I get a small referral credit if you sign up with that link. Whether or not you sign up with that link, I use and recommend it myself.

Shop!

Skincare

biore aqua rich watery essence

It isn’t often that you can give the gift of health. I love sunscreen as a skincare gift particularly for those who may be a bit lax with their skin. If you’re interested in prestige options, Coola apparently makes some good ones; that said, when it comes to facial sunscreen I can’t be talked off the Biore AQUA Rich ($9) ledge. It’s SPF 50, suitable for all skin types, and not something you can just grab off the shelf in CVS or Target…but even being imported, it is really inexpensive!

Everyone can benefit from some Vitamin C, but especially if your recipient has expressed anti-aging concerns, this is a good pick. This duo from Ole Henriksen ($25) is a cute gift that can boost collagen production and make the skin appear more radiant.

Palettes

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Trim Portable Manicure System

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Trim Portable Manicure SystemTrim Portable Manicure System, $8

I had something similar to this cheap, battery-operated electric file years ago. The motor ultimately burned out, and I hadn’t seen a replacement until I came across the Trim Portable Manicure System while out and about.. Admittedly, I didn’t give the tool much scrutiny in the store when I picked it up. For under $8 and running on non-included AA batteries, my expectations were low.

First Impression

Upon unboxing the tool I confirmed that its construction matched its price-point. The body is made of cheap, lightweight plastic. The handle is long (read: awkward to handle), and it doesn’t seem as though the bits have a locking mechanism to hold them in place. The battery compartment was easily accessible, but there aren’t any markers to indicate which way to insert them. I determined that negative should face the bottom of the compartment, positive towards the top.

No dial, switch, or series of buttons means no variable speed control. This little guy is a one-speed.

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Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette

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Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette, $15

If you’re like me, the idea of shelling out for a Sigma Spa Glove is uncomfortable. It isn’t that there’s anything wrong with it as a tool, I just prefer to allocate my beauty budget to other things. Fortunately, the Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette that is 1) inexpensive, 2) gets the job done, and 3) does not require a ton of storage space. I thought I published a post about this back in June, but when checking my archives, it was nowhere to be found – so new photos and a rewrite it is!

For I while, I was (ridiculously) using the lid of a Ziploc container lid to help agitate cleanser into my bristles. Did it work? Sure. It’s a frugal solution, and it worked well enough. But then I was misplacing lids (oops)…it was time to get a dedicated tool. I picked the Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette on sale at Ulta for $8 (regularly $15) and have gotten a TON of use out of it in the last three months. I use Cinema Secrets for quick-changes, but brushes do require proper washing from time-to-time…so I recommend both methods to keep your brushes clean

Easy to Handle

rt_palette_holder

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