Washing Make-Up Brushes

Hello all, I'm going to give a quick bit of advice/tutorial. This one will be an important yet simple make-up related post :).

Any women or men out there that wear make-up frequently most likely use make-up tools, such as brushes. These brushes touch our faces and make-up usually on a daily basis. The numerous times we use the brushes builds up bacteria, oil, and ingredients from the make-up all throughout the bristles. If you don't wash your brushes, all this bacteria will touch your face and spread onto your make-up. This can lead to clogged pores, black heads, and acne.

Many people wear make-up to cover their imperfections, yet we are also ironically causing more of it when we don't wash our brushes.

There are different ways to clean make-up brushes. One would be to use a make-up brush cleaner which can be purchased at drug stores, or beauty stores such as Sephora and Ulta. Another product you can use is baby shampoo. Third, you can make your own make-up brush cleaner from products you already have at home -- extra virgin olive oil and antibacterial dish washing soap.  You could also use your face wash to cleanse the brushes as well. Brushes should be cleansed at least once a week.

I'll be demonstrating how to clean your brushes with baby shampoo. This is my favorite way because it's cheap, quick, and safe for your skin (babies use it!). Many baby shampoos are tear-free and hypoallergenic as well.

My brushes I use most consist of a liquid foundation stippling brush, a powder brush, a small and large concealer brush, two eyeliner brushes, and a duo smokey eye brush. Here you can see my dirty brushes that are crying for a good cleanse.

The method is simple-- pour some baby shampoo into your palm, wet your brush's bristles in lukewarm-cold water, and swirl the brush in circles on your palm in the shampoo until it runs white and clean.  Note: Do NOT use hot water when washing/rinsing your brushes. This will loosen the bristles from the brush and cause them to fall out over time.

The eyeliner brushes are extremely dirty, and very important to wash. They contain bacteria as well and are put close to your eye, which is a very delicate part of your body. If the eyeliner you use is waterproof or has a strong staying power, I would suggest first swirling your eyeliner brush in a bit of waterproof eye make-up remover. This will help loosen up the eyeliner and make the brush easier to cleanse.

See how dirty this brush was? You can see chunks of the eyeliner on my hand, along with some tar colored soapy water. Yuck!

 You can also use your daily face wash to disinfect the brushes afterwards. I like to use Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser. Rinse your brushes in lukewarm water and gently squeeze the soap out of the bristles in your fist.

 Let your brushes air dry. The best way for them to dry would be hanging with the bristles facing the floor. This allows the water to flow down and away from the glue that holds the bristles into the handle.

For a tutorial on the EEVO and soap method, please check out Michelle Phan's video:

Happy cleaning :)!
xx