Am I having an allergic reaction to my makeup and brushes?

I would give your face a break for a few days.

Try a gentle cleanser and lotion, like Cetaphil.You could also apply a hydrocortisone cream to calm the inflamation. If your skin hasn’t recovered from the irritation, it will be prone to growing inflamed again. When your breakout’s done, you can isolate and figure out what the problem is. Try new brushes first.

Same thing happens to me when I use certain brushes. For me it never wasn’t the makeup because when I put it on without a brush I’m fine.

It also could be that your skin is so dry/sensitive the roughness of the brush is irritating the skin.

If it is the brush use a soft makeup puff instead.

Oops! I mean it never was the makeup ^^^^

Not that you necessarily want to do this test, but you could try (for a week) putting makeup on half of your face without the brushes at all and the other half with the brushes and see if there is a difference.

I wonder if there is any latex in the bristles of the brushes, some people are allergic to latex.

You said the first makeup only recently caused this problem. Did you use a different kind of brush with the first brand of makeup before? Or did you start using the first makeup and then you switched to the synthetic brush?

But it could also be that you are just sensitive to both of these types of makeup. It sounds weird, but you can actual develop allergies and sensitivities to things that previously didn’t cause you any problems.

If you can manage to go without any makeup for 2 weeks, that might give you some indication of whether it’s the makeup, or whether it’s something completely different like your soap or shampoo (or kissing dogs, guilty as charged).

Be careful with Cetaphil. I was using it and it made my skin very dry!

Cetaphil ingredients:
aqua (purified water/eau purifiée), cetyl alcohol, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, stearyl alcohol, methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben

ABSOLUTELY not a gentle cleanser. sodium lauryl sulfate is the harshest of surfactants.

My skin is sensitive and I can’t wear the powder ‘all natural’ mineral make ups. It feels like it’s working into my pores and making me itch.

Give your skin a break for a while.

Are you washing your brushes regularly? Here’s a good youtube tut. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhA2ovS2Fgc These look like natural hair brushes.

Its hard to say. A number of things could be affecting your skin.
You may simply need to exfoliate a little and clean thouroughly at night before bedtime. Or it simply can be a change in your hormones. Your hormone levels will change a few times in your life time. Does this primarily happen during your cyle or close to or when you are ovulating? Are you on birth control? Have you started a new diet or exercise routine or are taking new meds or vitamins? Have you changed your soap? Has your sleeping habits changed? Have you changed your detergents on your sheets? New perfume?
Make sure none of the above are a factor in you breaking out.
For now I would just purchase new brushes and go back to what you were using before you broke out and see what happens.

Thanks, everyone…going to apply with clean fingers and sponges to see. So far so good.