Chain of confidence - carie brescia

It is that time of year again. Mailboxes are suddenly overstuffed with the big time serious September issues of all of our favorite fashion magazines. Forget about holiday time, I feel that I should be tipping my mail carrier on August 15th! It is my annual tradition to stuff all of these glossies into my beach tote at once in the hopes of reading them all in one afternoon. I have worked in the beauty industry for over a decade and I can still get my confidence rattled looking at the perfection of the images and trends.

Instead of following the trends perhaps it is time to embrace our individuality. I'm not saying that enjoying the fall trends is a negative, but I think that we should all be careful that we are not losing sight of ourselves. When I am doing makeup on a client it is that unique feature that makes her beautiful to me. It is also usually that very feature that she will be insecure about. If we can find a way to be a bit easier on ourselves I think that all of our confidence levels will get a boost.

Back to school, back to basics! Let's shake off the sand and get organized. Part of what makes me feel confident with my work is making a to-do list and sticking to it. By getting our beauty regimen organized we can go effortlessly into the fall season. Here are a few ideas:

- Go into your makeup drawer, dump everything out and have the guts to get rid of anything that you have not used in the past 6-9 months. If you are not wearing a product on a regular basis it means that it is probably the wrong color or texture for you. Everyone assumes that my personal makeup kit is overflowing-not true! I use the same 10 products every day. I know that the colors are perfect for me so I can do my makeup and get out the door feeling great. Keep the sparkle dust and smoky eye shadows in a separate makeup kit and save it for the weekends.

- Organize and clean your remaining products. Makeup containers tend to get dusty and dirty over time. Take a paper towel with a tiny amount of spray cleanser and get everything looking like new. If you haven't worn a lipstick in awhile get rid of the top of the tube with a papertowel.

- Wash your makeup brushes. Trust me, this is a big one. Brushes can be a magnet for bacteria. I once had a client come to me perplexed that she kept breaking out on her cheeks. When I held up her blush brush we found the culprit-it looked like sandpaper. By cleaning or replacing old brushes you will also get a much better makeup application. Simply take some tepid water and wet each brush. Swirl the brush in a small amount of shampoo and watch the kaleidoscope of color come out. Pat the brush and dry flat over night.