How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes Like a Pro
Can we ask you a dirty question? How often do you clean your makeup brushes? If your answer is “not as much as I should” then listen up! Cleaning your makeup brushes once a week is super important and oddly enough it’s one of the steps makeup lovers seem to put on the back burner. Let us tell you why this step needs to be a must in your routine.
Makeup brushes aren’t cheap
Makeup products don’t grow on trees (wouldn’t that be nice). Any makeup product can be pricey and this is especially true for makeup brushes. When you are spending anywhere from $10-$30 on a single makeup brush, you really should take care of them as best you can to make sure you are getting longest life out them.
Makeup brushes can carry bacteria
EEWWWW! Just think of how much bacteria is on your face daily. It’s actually terrifying to think about because everytime you touch your face or walk outside tons of little bacteria particles are sticking to your skin. The bacteria along with your natural oils transfer onto your brushes every time they come in contact with your skin. And if you are a MUA who does makeup on clients, you may be picking up germs and transferring them from client to client. Not cool dude.
Clean brushes = better makeup application
Clean brushes mean soft bristles and better makeup application. Makeup buildup on your brushes can make them feel scratchy and cause streaks in your foundation. So not cute! If you have this problem when doing your makeup try these next steps on how to clean your brushes and we promise it will make the world of difference.
If you’re a brush cleaning amateur don’t worry we’ll tell you just what you’ll need to make your brushes like new again.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
- Liquid Soap – Ex. Dawn, Baby Shampoo, Cinema Secrets
- Olive Oil or Almond Oil
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Cotton Pad
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR BRUSHES
Step 1: Wash your brush bristles with soap & oil
In a bowl, mix one part soap and one part oil. The soap will help breakdown built up makeup residue and the oil will condition the bristles leaving your brushes as good as new. Now, completely wet your brush bristles with lukewarm water, avoiding the handle (we will get to that later). Once your brush has been soaked, swirl the brush into your brush cleaner cocktail. After you’ve scrubbed them super well rinse the brush in lukewarm water. Gently squeeze out any excess water from the brush and lay it flat on a clean towel to air dry for at least 6 to 8 hours. It’s easiest to clean your brushes at night so when you wake up they are squeaky clean and ready to use.
Step 2: Clean the handle
When you use your makeup brushes you are transferring germs, bacteria, and makeup onto the handles of your brushes. So please remember to also clean the handle really well. To clean the handle of your brushes, pour rubbing alcohol onto a cotton pad and rub over the handle of your brushes. This will not only clean but also disinfect the handles. Yay!
HOW TO CLEAN BEAUTY BLENDERS
So many of you ask how to clean these and the process is pretty much like cleaning any other of your makeup brushes. You can use the same soap you used to clean your brushes, but this time skip using any oil. Wet the Beauty Blender with lukewarm water and squeeze a small amount of soap directly onto it. Roll the Beauty Blender in your hands to help work the soap completely into the beauty sponge. Once you’ve rubbed in the soap really well rinse it out until the water is clear. If the water isn’t clear yet, there is still product in the beauty blender. You may have to repeat this process a few times to get the beauty blender completely clean since they do soak up a lot of product. Once clean, squeeze out any excess water and lay it flat to dry. You will know when the beauty blender is dry because it will have shrunk in size. (Pro tip: keep your beauty blender packaging to use as a drying rack for your clean Beauty Blender.)
And there you have it, an easy and inexpensive way to make sure your makeup brushes are clean and ready to use. Thanks so much for reading Makeup Geeks!