A Cheaper Alternative To The Sigma Spa Brush Cleaning Glove?

I love most aspects of beauty but there are a couple of things that I do only because I have to, mainly hair removal, and washing my make up brushes. Ask pretty much any beauty blogger or make junkie out there and they'll agree that washing brushes is probably one of the most boring and time consuming tasks that there is. I have a lot of brushes, and because I'm a use once and wash girl in most cases, it means that I spend a lot of time at the bathroom sink.

Personally I use either a mild shampoo, an antibacterial hand wash or a specialised brush shampoo to clean my brushes but whatever you use it's still a time consuming, and repetitive task. Dampen, aggravate the hairs, rinse, squeeze, repeat, till your fingers look like prunes and your back aches. There are easier ways though, and no I don't mean throw them in the washing machine - can you believe that was a retweeted beauty tip from a major clothing retailer? just no! A year or so back now Sigma Beauty introduced their Sigma Spa Brush Cleaning Glove.

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These textured silicone gloves supposedly makes the whole brush cleaning experience quicker and easier. All you do it work your damp, brush onto the various nodules to aggravate  the hairs and remove the rogue make up from deep within your brush.

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Fabulous, I thought but then I saw the price! On the official Sigma Beauty site, the gloves start at $35 excluding shipping, and whilst we can get one for £33.95 from a UK retailer called Beauty Chamber, I still think it's pretty expensive for what it is. I'm not knocking it by any means, I've read lots of reviews and by and large they're pretty positive but just take a step back and actually look at what it is?

What is it? Well the original at least is just a silicone oven glove by another name.I love silicone baking equipment, despite having a rubber like appearance it's an ideal conductor and insulator of heat making it ideal for baking, and of course for making oven gloves with.

When that particular thought hit me I had a look in our our kitchen, and voila I found one, an old but very pretty heart design, silicone oven mitt. Admittedly it's not quite as textured as the Sigma product but you can get quite a bit of friction from the heart shapes and from the different textures on the side of the fingers. The Sigma ones are also lined to keep your hands a bit drier, and whilst my glove doesn't have a lining some of the more expensive ones do.

I've been using my improvised brush glove used for just over a year now I think it does a pretty decent job when it comes to cleaning my make up brushes, it's still a boring task (even Jasper agrees on that one) but at least my fingers don't look quite as prune like as they used to,

I'm not sure where our mitt came from but knowing my mum who detests oven gloves of all kinds (weird woman, she's rather use a towel), she won't have spent a lot of money on it. Just a quick search online brought up lots of different types of gloves ranging from between less than £3 to around £6.

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My tip would be to go for a glove that's either very textured or that features a number of different textures. The more different types and sizes of textures that you have the easier it is to do different sized brushes. My glove only has two or three different types on it so it's isn't the best for smaller brushes, and whilst it's workable I really needed another solution.

Quite a while ago now these little facial cleansing and exfoliating pads from Soap & Glory were all the rage for washing your face. Beauty is a fickle thing though and the introduction of cleansing brushes, and the reemergence of the humble face flannel meant that their popularity waned.

I probably should have binned mine  but I hung on to it and eventually found another use for it. The two different textures on the pad make it ideal for cleaning some of my smaller eye and lip brushes. Like the glove the texture helps to aggravate the bristles making it easier to give them a deep clean.

I can't find this particular Soap & Glory pad anymore, but they do  have a mitt in their range
that would be ideal for cleaning make up brushes and for washing your face :) You can however find similar facial massagers and cleansing pads all over ebay and on the internet for about a £1, and I'm sure that a blogger (I'm thinking Gemsmaquillage?) mentioned that Primark were doing something similar. I haven't seen them in store myself but I've seen them on a few Dutch blogs and videos and I think they are about 2 Euros each.

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It just goes to show that it's sometimes worth looking around and having a good think before you spend money on anything. I was fully prepared to spend my money on the Sigma glove but by having a root round in the cupboards I've saved myself a bit of money, and I'm actually getting more use out of some products that I already own. Brush cleaning is still a chore and I guess it will be till somebody invents self cleaning brushes but anything that makes my life even a little bit easier is always well worth it. Do you hate washing your brushes as much as I do? Leave me a comment and let me know x

Barry M and ELF Haul x

OK my last haul for a little while now - first of all ELF they have had a few pretty good discount codes around lately - I used a one earlier in the week for 20% off and picked up a few things, a luscious liquid lip colour in Perfect Pink, an all over color stick in Spotlight and some brush shampoo


I also picked a couple of bits from the mineral line including the mineral foundation in Fair. I already have the light one which is a bit yellow toned so hopefully this one will be better, and I also got my favourite Sheer Mineral Booster

I had to place a little order with Barry M this week - my local stores had loads of stuff out of stock :( I only ordered 2 bits for me including one of the new trio eye shadows in Lavender Lullaby and a Dazzle Dust in the new shade 101 Buff which is probably a little more gold than I would have liked

If you would like any swatches or reviews please let me know xx

A Mini Ramble and an ELF and Superdrug Haul

Ho hum well as you can see I have been a bit short on the posts again this week but hey ho. Tuesday I was at the opticians which always wears me out and leaves my vision a bit all over the place - argh! Never mind the good news is my vision is pretty stable and my prescription hasn't really changed - I still ordered a new pair of specs though surprisingly enough for not designer ones - they have a lovely tortoiseshell effect frame and are a bit different from the pair I already have :)
Wednesday was the biggie I braved a trip to the Metro Centre and did some Christmas shopping - I was a good girl and paid for all my shopping in cash!!!! It's a really good feeling doing that but it also makes you realise that money doesn't really go very far these days :( I also noticed by doing it how few people actually pay for their purchases in cash - hardly any shops had any change because so many people are paying on plastic - what does that say about us as a country no wonder so many people are in debt!!
Anyways I was a good girl and bought lots of pressies and swap goodies, and I only bought three things for little old me - OK I have gone a little over budget this month but it was all paid for in cash!
First of all I picked up a pair of 100 denier black tights from Primark - not very interesting but an essential purchase for this shocking weather.
I also picked up a couple of bits from Superdrug :)
A Sleek Blusher in Pixie Pink



This is so pigmented but it blends down so nicely :)
I also picked up a new Beauty UK Eyeshadow Palette in No.5 - I was so excited as I hadn't seen this one before :)


Its gorgeous all smokes and dark blues - I haven't had time to swatch it but if you would like to see some swatches please let me know and I'll do some for you x

Anyways after my shopping trip I was pretty whacked and felt totally yuck on Thursday I always end up paying the price for doing something I enjoy :( Thursday got so much worse after a lovely conversation with somebody about my disability benefit - my doctor filled his forms in wrong so I potentially have to go for another medical - I hate these so much - as well as causing me stress and pain, they also make you feel like the lowest of the low - for feck sake I didn't choose to be ill, I don't want to be like this - why make me feel guilty - yuck something else I don't need :(
Never mind I was cheered up slightly by my ELF goodies from the new line arriving.
The first thing I got was the Daily Brush Cleaner but unfortunately the bottle had leaked in the packaging so about a 1/4 of it was gone but ELF were kind enough to sent me a new full bottle for no extra charge :)Huge thumbs up to ELF for fabby customer services :D

I have already used this a couple of times and I am really impressed - the idea is you spray the liquid into your brushes after use and wipe them clean with a tissue. Obviously you still need to wash them every week or so but this really keeps them for being too grubby and it prevents them from staining. I love MAC Cool Heat eyeshadow but it's so pigmented I can sometimes stain the brushes but with this the colour just wipes away. It is antibacterial and it smells gorgeous and fruity too!


I also got one of the new 2in 1 Conditioning Lipgloss in Supermodel - a peachy coral.
These are two phase glosses which come out of the sponge covered applicator as one. You get a moisturising clear gloss and the coloured gloss - you do seem to get more clear gloss out but its a nice thick gloss which does seem to be quite moisturising

I also picked up one of the much talked about mineral lipsticks in Natural Nymph

OMG what can I say about this that hasn't already been said apart from how gorgeous is this lipstick! Think the colour of Barry M 101 or GOSH Darling but with a much creamier, smoother texture - this really is a gorgeous nude lipstick and one that I will definitely be repurchasing
So this post pretty much sums my week up - highs and lows and probably something in between - apologies for the length and the waffle lol and I promise I'll post more over the weekend xx