HELPFUL HYGIENE HINTS FOR MAKEUP ARTISTS

SEPTEMBER 2010 - TIP # 10 - Kit Bags
When you think about your kit bag, try and imagine all the hidden germs and bacteria that might be lurking in, on and around the bags, in the product and on the packaging!  Yuk.  Don't be fooled and think that just popping used and dirty burshes back into your kit is OK.  It's not, germs will grow and multiply if your used items are not sanitized properly.  Use you common sense and clean all your products and tools before you put them back into you kit bags if you have time.  If you don't have the time, before repacking, DO NOT PUT USED PRODUCTS into your normal kit bags, but into a separate bag for used products. When you get home, this "dirty" bag of items can then be cleaned properly with our Izo Pro alcohol wipes, a tissue for powder products with any pro brushes and single use applicators being washed thoroughly with a antibacterial washing liquid, allowing to dry before popping back into your kit bag.  TIP - have a used kit bag with a red ribbon or tie that signals "danger = red = dirty" . Next month's tip - hands.

AUGUST 2010 - TIP # 9 - Tweezers and Eyelash Curlers
This is were the hidden dangers lurk!  Think about the fact these items are put near a client's eyes and around sensitive skin picking up and transferring nasty bacteria.  Eyes are specially prone to catching conjunctivitus, so simply wipe your eyelash curlers, tweezers and other tools with one of our Izo Pro alcohol wipes before using them on your client. Leave about 10 seconds from wiping to actually using the product as the "fumes" from the product will affect the eye.
TIP - always "wipe in and wipe out" your tools/products - before and after using them as this will ensure that bacteria is not left to fester.  Next month's tip - kit bags.

JULY 2010 - TIP # 8 - Loose Powders
Loose powders and pigments whether eye colours, finishing powders or mineral should be decanted with a spatula, metal or plastic.  Metal spatulas with a scoop are excellent.  Don't be tempted to put your brush, sponge or puff directly into the product and back again (no double dipping and it's easy to forget).  Decant into a small jar, a palette or a petri dish.  Remember not to blow on your tools to remove excess powder! TIP - remove any sponge, puff or brush that comes with your powder product on purchase then you won't be tempted to use it an put it back. Next month's tip - false lashes and curlers.

JUNE 2010 - TIP # 7 - Eye Shadow
Modern eye shadow comes in many textures and finishes and include power, silk, gel, cream, crayons and loose pigments.Whatever effect you are after and whatever range of products you are using, eyes are extremely sensitive and appropriate respect and care must be given.  Ensure you cut off any gel, liquid liner applicators and use disposables and sharpen any crayon before application.  Wipe with Izo Pro alchol wipes any tube applicators. Powder is less prone to cross-contamination and you should not be double dipping ensuring you have enough good quality natural and synthetic brushes at hand not to mix up your palettes.  Wipe any powders with a tissue at the end of a session to lift any potential bacteria. Remember to use disposable mascara wands with only "one" dip into the tube and you can mirror image all your favarite professional mascara wand brushes by selecting the same disposable from our great range. Click here to see our range of eye disposable brushes and applicators.

MAY 2010 - TIP # 6 - Liquid & Gel Eyeliners
Liquid liners are loved by many professional makeup artists and consumers for one main reason - the little applicator brush or pen that sweeps the product on smoothly and effortlessly for that perfect flick or that precise application of chic glitter.  But as a makeup artist, you will have to open a new liquid liner or pen for every single client to avoid double dipping.  This is expensive and in reality, it's simply not done.  You can't decant the fluid, so what do you do?  Use our special "Liquid Lily" disposable liquid eyeliner applicator.  Are you prepared to give your client conjunctivitis or blepharitis?  What about an insurance claim?  Don't risk it and cut off the applicator of each and every one of your liquid and glitter eyeliners and eye shadows  Don't buy any products with pens.  Gel liner is another ground for breeding germs.  Don't be tempted to double dip with a favourite eyeliner brush.  Use our "Precision Penny" disposable eyeliner applicator and remember you must decant with a spatula and only use from the back of a clean hand, a sanitized palette or petri dish.  Eyes are so sensitive, you must take precaution, just as you would use a disposable mascara wand, use the right disposables for all you makeup. Click here to see our range of eye disposable brushes and applicators.

APRIL 2010 - TIP # 5 - Lipsticks
This is one of the most obvious makeup products for passing on germs if not used correctly and because of the way lipsticks are made for application by consumers, you can't exactly "cut off the applicator".  Two top tips - firstly put a bag clean plastic spatuals on the top of your bag of lip products so you always have to move the spatulas to get to the lipsticks and, therefore, remembering to take one out.  Take a little of the product off with the spatular and put into a sanitized mixing palette, petri dish or the back of a clean hand before using your lip brush to apply colour.  Tip two - ensure your lipsticks are germ free by cleaning them with our Izo Pro wipes - these will disinfect the product.  It's so easy to use a lip brush and go from lip to product and back again - double dipping!

MARCH 2010 - TIP # 4 - Foundations
Modern day foundations come in a variety of types from the latest silcone based airbrushing products to mineral pressed powder.  Firstly check the contents to understand what's in your product so you know how different products will react to bacteria from use. Check the shelf life date too. As a makeup professional, storage of foundations is really important so you don't turn up at a job with a foundation in the right colour, but hasn't been used for two years and has gone off! Decant fluids into small bottles that you can easily transport and keep clean and keep the original products in a cool, dark, dry storage area.
Decant liquids into palettes, petri dishes or on to the back of a clean hand and always use clean foundation brushes - , never double dip into the original product packaging - and if using fingers, make sure your hands are 100% clean.  Latex free sponges work well ensuring that your client doesn't have a reaction to latex.  Do not use twist any products directly onto skin

FEBRUARY 2010 - TIP # 3 - concealers
Concealers are usually cream based and come in different types of packaging, from jars, to palettes, from liquid tubes to twist brush applicators. Bacteria will thrive in all these products and, therefore, it is important to avoid double dippping. Do not to use the applicator that comes with the concealer on your client.  You must decant either on to a clean palette, a clean hand or petri dish.  Cut the applicator off any concealer that comes with the product and take out any brush that is included in the packaging.  Do not use twist products directly onto skin. These are the ones that tend to slip through the SAFE BEAUTY hygiene tips, so put some red sticky tape around the tube for danager.  This works!

JANUARY 2010 - TIP # 2 - lip gloss
Just like mascara, it's really easy to forget to use disposables when it comes to lip gloss and lip colour.

Remember that if you cut off  the foam applicator head or the bristle brush when you unpack your new products and before you put them into your makeup kit, you will have to use a disposable or a spatula to get the product out. Don't risk contaminating your clients and your products by NOT using the right tools and following SAFE BEAUTY practical tips.  Just like our mascara tip, this works!

Bacteria & Lip Gloss/Colour - the risks

The dangers of catching a serious infection (think cold sores) from lip gloss and other lip colour products is genuine.   It's so easy to borrow your best friend's lip gloss on an night out, or try your big sister's new lip stick when she isn't looking, but lurking in these products is bacteria.  The moment the product or applicator is shared, then the risk of cross-contaimination increases.  Bacteria thrives in dark warm environments.  Can you be 100% sure that the person you are sharing your product with doesn't have herpes?  As a makeup artist, this is even more important as you are responsible for ensuring your clients don't catch anything nasty.  Remember, you don't know what your last client might or might not have!  Don't risk it - it's not a game of Russian roulette! The dangers of double dipping any makeup and beauty products are real and can lead to a number of serious infections such as conjunctivitis, blepharitis and corneal ulcers.

What is DOUBLE DIPPING?
See below our advice about double dipping.

The new way, the modern way and the right way is "mono dipping"!

DECEMBER 2009 - TIP # 1 - mascara

Cut off the mascara wand as soon as you have bought your new mascara and throw it away - you will never then be tempted to use it and risk infecting your client and will be forced to use disposables! This works!

Makeup application and the risks

Hygiene is an important part of any daily professional practice and the makeup and beauty practitioner should adhere to a high level of hygiene, both personal and client-side at all times. Dangers of cross-contamination through unhygienic application of makeup can cause a host of health problems through the transference of bacteria and viruses across products, brushes and skin.

Bacteria & mascara - the risks

Bacteria live in all our lashes and using mascara, whether on yourself or as a professional makeup artist on clients, means that it's very easy to contaminate not only the mascara tube, but your customer. The moment the mascara wand touches the lashes, bacteria is transferred to either the product tube or directly to the other eye. Bacteria thrive in dark warm environments, and with four to six months, a mascara tube will be overrun with bacteria.
The dangers of double dipping mascara wands are real and can lead to a number of serious infections such as conjunctivitis, blepharitis and corneal ulcers.

What is DOUBLE DIPPING?

Double dipping is a term that all professional beauty and makeup artists should be aware of and it means reloading the same mascara wand (or any other applicator) by dipping it into the tube/product more than once. The only way to avoid cross-contamination through double dipping is to use disposable mascara wands, but remember one dip into the tube. Just by using a disposable wand, but double dipping, completely defeats the purpose. It's the double dipping that is the biggest issue together with germs passing from skin to skin - so don't get caught out.

The new way, the modern way and the right way is "mono dipping"!

The facts you need to know

Bacteria lives in all our lashes and so using mascara , whether only on yourself or as a professional makeup artist on clients, means that it is very easy to contaminate not only your mascara tube, but also your customers. The moment the mascara wand touches the lashes, bacteria is transferred and either then transferred into the product tube or perhaps directly to the other eye. Bacteria thrives in dark warm environments of containers, and eventually breaks down the preservatives in the product.

NEVER “double dip” mascara brushes or any other makeup cosmetic applicator or tool. Double dipping defeats the purpose of using a single use, disposable applicator or brush and it is a term that all professional makeup artists and beauty professionals should be aware of. It means to reload the same mascara wand with mascara by dipping it into the tube a second time (or more than once). Respect the published shelf-life of the products. A mascara tube will be overrun with bacteria after six months.

Conjunctivitis (“pink eye”) is commonly caught from double dipping and more serious eye infections such as blepharitis and corneal ulcers which affect vision are a side effect of dirty mascara as well as the transference of acanthamoeaba – a waterborne organism which will gradually ‘eat’ your cornea.

©thepromakeupshop.com

Hygiene Watchpoints for Professional Makeup Artists

• Personal hygiene – clean hands and wardrobe (have your hand sanitising gel with you at all times - a tube attached to your belt and a pump on your work space) - even more important with swine flu
• No false nails as they harbour bacteria.
• Keep your hair out of your face as you won’t be tempted to keep brushing it aside and then contaminating your client.
• Only use single use ahdn disposable brushes and applicators .
• Single use means single use – one loading of product, one application and into the bin. NEVER double dip into products.  The new term is mono-dip!
• Cut off the brush or applicator from a new mascara, eyeliner and lipgloss and throw it away, then you will never forget to use a single use, disposable applicator.
• Ensure your kit is hygiene-friendly (don’t use any tools that can’t be 100% sanitised or thrown away). Keep it spotless.  Dirty kit = dirty makeup artist.
• Ensure you have enough single use  and disposable tools to do the job at hand so you are not compromising your client and your reputation.
• Don’t use makeup straight from the container – transfer with a spatula to a mixing palette, jar or to the back of a clean hand before applying.  Decant, decant, decant!
• Don't blow on your brushes, on your product palettes or into pans of any cosmetics.
• Don’t touch a client’s face then your own face or hair and then the client’s face again (double dipping of a different kind).
• Never share personal or professional makeup tools and products. 
• Respect the published product shelf life.
• Use common sense – if something doesn’t look or smell right, don’t use it.
• Be responsible and ensure that you have the appropriate public liabiliyt insurance.  Without this, you and your client are exposed and it  demonstrates that you do not take your trade and therefore your client's health and wellbeing serously.
• To become a member of the new SAFE BEAUTY ASSOCATION (www.safebeautyassociationc.com) you will be required to have current public liability insurance.

©thepromakeupshop.com

What is "safe beauty" and why should I be bothered?

We all instinctively know if a doctor or dentist practised their profession without adopting the highest level of hygiene in all their activities, we would be exposed to potential infection and disease.  SAFE BEAUTY is simple, it's about bringing to the makeup and beauty worlds the same level of professional hygiene practice that one expects and demands from the medical world.  No more double-dipping and cross-contamination through bad practice, just safe, simple and straight forward ways of ensuring that either, a profesional makeup artist, or as a consumer you know what's the right thing to expect and demand.

The new professional standard for our industry.

You expect a dentist to wear gloves. You would be horrified if your doctor didn’t open a fresh, sealed syringe to take blood. Because you instinctively understand the health damage that cross-contamination could wreak. You wouldn't share your toothbrush because you not it's not hygienic.

And yet with makeup, it seems, anything goes. Brush to face, brush to product, person to person, skin to skin. What about the risks?

Makeup? Risks? Really?

Really.

First, think about where it goes. Around sensitive eyes, into the moist corners of the mouth, onto facial skin which as you know to be semi-permeable and thinner than body skin. Now think about the micro-organisms that can transfer through makeup use, breed in the product, and contaminate brushes and applicators. Bacteria, viruses, fungal spores.

These are just a few of the health problems they can cause:

• Conjunctivitis: a viral infection of the eye, easily transferred by mascara wands.
• Blepharitis: a nasty bacterial inflammation of the eyelid. Mascara wands again.
• Impetigo: a staphylococcus infection transferred by brushes and applicators.
• Ringworm: not a worm but a fungus that multiplies rapidly in product such as blusher.
• Herpes simplex: the highly-contagious cold sore virus, easily transferred by contaminated lip brushes.

This is the unacceptable face of the beauty industry.

And it’s one which, at THEPROMAKEUPSHOP.COM, we’re passionately determined to change by ensuring that all makeup and beauty professionals have access to high quality professional single use and diposable brushes, applicators and essential tools and accessories. And by working with the newly launched SAFE BEAUTY ASSOCATION (www.safebeautyassociation.com) to encourage a more responsible work practice for members.

Single Use means exactly that. A single loading and application before disposing, to avoid all risk of cross-contamination.

And professional quality?
Well, we understand that better methods won’t take hold unless professionals can achieve the effects they need. So our products are a world away from the ‘disposables’ you may have seen in the past.

The quality of both brush and handle are superb. Vitally, you’ll always experience that elusive, professional ‘feel’.

So our Big Bertha single use mascara wand, for example, will produce a full, dramatic, false- eyelash effect. Our Blushing Belinda natural haired blush and contour brush will help you achieve subtlety of colour, highlight and contour and Pouting Poppy deluxe lip brush, in your hands, will ensure wonderful definition and precision.

At THEPROMAKEUPSHOP.COM we don’t want to take away any of the fun and glamour of the makeup industry. We don’t want to take away any of its expert artistry. We certainly don’t want to take away the sheer joy of beauty.

We just want to take away the risks.

©thepromakeupshop.com

Introducing the Safe Beauty Association.  The vision is simple – to bring about change for good by leading the way for a new professional standard for the makeup and beauty industry.
THE SBA'S VISION (www.safebeautyassociation.com)
To change the unacceptable face of makeup and beauty industry by working together.

The Safe Beauty Association’s goals include the following:-

• - Educate, inform and raise awareness amongst the trade, consumers and businesses of the health dimension in the beauty and cosmetics industry.
• - Promote behaviour change at all levels
• - Work with the industry to introduce an appropriate Code of Practice.   

• The face of the beauty industry hides an ugly truth

  Cross-contamination. Infection. Brushes and tools that transmit micro-organisms from person to person, brush to face, face to product, product to brush, skin to skin via bacteria, viruses and fungal spores.  Conjunctivitis, blepharitis, impetigo, ringworm, acne and herpes are a few of the potential infections caused by bad hygiene and poor working practice from the catwalk to the beauty counter, from the bridal makeup to TV makeup preparation, from the spa to the photographic studio.

  This is the unacceptable face of the makeup and beauty industry and it’s one that the Safe Beauty Association and its “Hidden Truth. Safe Beauty” campaign is setting out to change.

• Posing a real threat to the industry, makeup artists and beauty practitioners trusted with and responsible for the health and well being of clients and models, are all too often providing an unhygienic and unsafe service, putting both their customers and career at unnecessary risk.

  Research conduct by the SBA found that over a third (1) of makup artists choose to use only their professional brushes over disposable and single use brushes and applicators and over half (2) had no public liability insurance.  Clearly, these professionals are either unconcerned or unaware of the risks of cross-contamination – a direct result of hygienic application of makeup and beauty products with double dipping (3) a key cause.

• +research base 360 makeup arftists

• To find out more about the SBA, to become a member and support the campaign for change visit

• www.safebeautyassociation.com