Looking after your Make- up Brushes

A question I am always getting asked is “how do I clean my brushes?”

Looking after your brushes is so important- it will add years onto their life if you take care of them. You will need to give them a good clean every couple of weeks if you are using them for personal use or daily if they are for professional use. When cleaning your brushes you should NEVER put them directly under the water flowing from the tap. If water repeatedly gets up the funnel of the brush it will weaken the glue holding it together and you brush will eventually break.

What you need to do is dampen the hair of the brush (I do this by swirling it around in a little bit of water in my hand), next take your brush cleaner (this can be a specific cleaner, shampoo,  face wash or something like fairy liquid). Put a pea sized amount of your product in the palm of your hand and swirl the brush, rinse in a little bowl of water and repeat this until the brush is completely make up free and the water is clean. When drying your bushes it is important never to do so with a hairdryer- this can burn the hairs and distort the shape of your brush. You need to lay the brushes flat on a counter surface with the head of the brush sitting out over the edge of the table- this allows plenty of air to get in around the hairs and make sure it dries out completely, also it will prevent any loss of shape that you would get if you just left them on a flat surface. Leave you brushes to dry (ideally overnight).
Simple as that!
Suzie :-)

www.ayu.ie

Statement Lips for Autumn 2013

Kate Spade

Nina Ricci

Oscar de la Renta

Ayu Lip 401

It looks like the statement lip trend is here to stay this season and the catwalks were awash with them from Kate Spade to Nina Ricci, and Oscar de la Renta. So how do we Irish gals achieve this flawless finish whilst avoiding the usual smothering of product all over our teeth and clothes instead of the obvious landing destination....our lips?! Well here are a few simple steps that will turn you into a sexy siren in no time!

Step 1

Start off with clean, bare, non-chapped lips. If your lips are a little chapped as many of ours are during those winter months then work a little lip scrub to exfoliate them until you achieve a smooth finish.

Step 2

Prep your lips by blocking out your natural lip colour with your everyday foundation or concealer. Alternatively you can always use a product made exclusively for this purpose. Mac Prep+Prime lip primer is a good one. By doing this you will not only help prevent your lipstick from bleeding out but it will also allow the colour to stand out even more.

Step 3

Carefully outline your cupid's bow (the two peaks on the top of your lips) with your chosen lip liner, making it even and symmetrical.The lip liner will help to keep your lipstick in place and stop it from bleeding and this is especially important when using a bold colour.

Step 4 

An optional step is to fill in your whole upper and lower lip areas with the same lip liner. By doing this it will help your lipstick to last longer. You don’t want that beautiful bold colour to fade away inside a couple of hours of application. Using your lip brush (AYU’s lip brush (http://www.ayu.ie/products.html)  go over all of the liner so that you work the colour into any creases.

Step 5
Apply your chosen lipstick colour onto your lips by starting in the center and then work it out to the corners. Use your lip brush to achieve a more precise and even application. Apply some gloss and pat your lips together so distribute it evenly.


Step 6: 
You are now good to go!

AYU attends Social Media Seminar

I always thought of myself as quite computer literate- that is until I launched AYU.ie! With launching our website came the big scary world of social media! You have your Facebook, twitter, Instagram, pintrest, and blogger to name a but a few! I innocently thought I would be able to master them all without much effort...boy was I in for a wake up call! After countless months of trying and failing to put myself & AYU.ie out there online I decided I needed some help! 

Help came in the form of a certain Fairy!

Being a fan of Joanne Larby aka The Make Up Fairy I came across a course she was giving in Social Media so I signed myself up immediately! The course was put on by Sculpt Studio who are opening a new college in Dundrum very soon but as it was not quite ready the course was held in Jury's on the quays which was a lovely comfortable venue for the day! I have to say its been a long time since I've done a full day course that wasn't mainly practical work so if I'm honest I thought I might have found it difficult to keep my concentration for the whole day- I had nothing to worry about! If anything I didn't want the day to end! I learnt so much about all the different medias and how to utilise them for my business & I learnt about blogging(which is how I came to be sitting here writing to you)! It was so interesting to listen to Joanne tell us about her rise as The Make Up Fairy- and really inspiring! I came out of the course totally motivated and eager to start using what I had been thought! Since then I have been really enjoying using Facebook, twitter, posting pictures on Instagram, and the feedback from the public has been brilliant! I love that now I get to show my work to a huge audience and hear their thoughts on it! I would highly recommend the course to anyone who needs a bit if help like I did- it's probably one of the best investments I've made this year as social media is so important to every business these days! Below is a picture of myself and the other social media studies after receiving our certificates with Joanne.

Suzie 😊