New face, skin, and season equals overhauling your collection of makeup and tools. Let’s begin the overhaul, it’s important to remember when you purchased your current makeup and brush collection, how long ago was it? The following information is actually personal preferences that I recommend for my followers, as I am a part time makeup artist! These are definitely fun and cheap makeup products to get your hands on.

Usually, for powder and liquid foundation make up, these should be able to last between 6 months to 1 year of regular use. During this time your brushes should be cleaned once a week with a gentle (preferrably non-fragranced soap to ensure zero chance of future breakouts) soap, squeezed (not twisted, watch the bristles!) and laid flat out to dry for a few hours. As for your eye shadows, liquid or powder can last the same time as foundation. The time periods described all depend on the cleaniliness and upkeep of your make up in general.

Important: Eyeliner, mascara, and other eye related makeup and tools should and always be replaced after 3-4 months. If you think about it, everyday use of eye make up should not last you longer than 3-4 months, unless you use pencil eye liner! Furthermore, there will not be a thorough explanation for eyeshadow or product listing. In order to join the bandwagon of what’s in and what’s affordable (steering away from Saks Fifth Ave & Nordstrom counters) it’s time to do your research of what makeup and tools are great for your skin this Spring. We consider starting from a clean slate to be a part of Spring cleaning, revamp it all if you can!

Here are some top rated and popular makeup and tools, everything is at a reasonable affordable price with similar or if not the same effects as a high end makeup line. These products are available at your local drugstore.

Foundation & Concealer: The base of color for your face and working palette, our personal favorites to use is a liquid or (here) mousse textured foundation. We like “Dream Matte” by Maybelline, the advertisements were not kidding, by the far the most comfortable and even application of foundation. We pair the foundation with a light concealer by L’Oreal True Match (in a shade lighter color). To throw on top of that to settle and blend even more so is our personal favorite and go-to powder foundation is Bare Escentuals, mineral foundation. We recommend mineral foundation as the last layer of foundation because it’s light, non-comedigenic, healthy, and has SPF in it. Do not fret, there will be a video with similar products to use and how-to use them!

Blush: We recommend L’Oreal mousse blush. A warmer color such as peach which will actually help contour your face. Making it warmer and more likely to glow on your cheekbones.

The best way to achieve a flawless and natural look is the application process which also means brushes and the different types, earlier in the year we had a brief tutorial on brushes and how to use them correctly. For this Spring, we are bringing them back with a small piece. In the side picture, we have “Essence of Beauty” makeup brushes. These are very affordable brushes and you will absolutely get what you pay for, is that such a bad thing? We think not! It still feels amazing when you buy a fresh batch of makeup and brushes, you feel renewed! The brushes shown are the essential tools you need for the best makeup and contouring application. Starting from left to right, the blush brush, small eye shadow brush, small concealer brush (for hard to reach spots), large eye shadow blending brush (to mix those colors well), large concealer brush, and lastly the blender brush. What these brushes have in common are a flawless and neat application. Also, for the set which you can find at your local drugstore, prices range from $15- $20 for the set, not bad!