How to Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Cleaning makeup brushes is weirdly something I take pretty seriously. I always can’t help but think back to when I first started wearing makeup dabbling between a variety of sponges and cheap useless makeup brushes including that unusual spongy applicator eyeshadow brush (I still don’t understand them) and I cringe thinking of how I never cleaned my brushes. Cleaning my makeup brushes is only something that really came to me when I really got into makeup and I started to learn more about it thanks to blogging. Just to think that I used a makeup brush on a constant basis that had never been cleaned and sat in a pot to gather dust makes me wince. I know that many people still aren’t great when it comes to brush cleaning but its pretty important, so important that someone nearly died from a unclean makeup brush – true story, check it here, apologies for scaring anyone. Anyway here is how I clean my brushes…

Daily Clean

Now the word ‘daily’ may seem slightly over the top to many of you when it comes to makeup brush cleaning but strangely to me its part of my daily makeup routine. After applying my makeup I like to give each brush a quick spritz of makeup cleaner and wipe the brush on a paper towel to give them a little refresh ready for the next use. I used to use the Elf Brush Cleaner however I have found that the MAC Brush Cleaner is actually must better value for money considering the size of the bottle. The only annoying thing with this product is that it comes with a pour style lid rather than a spray so I usually put the product in my empty Elf cleaner bottle which has a spray making it so much easier! Again this step of daily cleaning is something most people wouldn’t do so this is pretty optional, if you were to clean your brushes I wouldn’t just use a product like this alone.

Thorough Clean

Now this step is a lot more important. If you were to pick one out of the two then this is the one to go with. Daily cleaning is simply something I do to refresh my brushes and take off the top layer of makeup from the brush while thorough cleaning does what it says really and gives brushes a good deep cleanse by clearing out all the dirt left behind. It depends on how often I wear makeup to decide how often to give my brushes a deep cleanse but this can vary from weekly, fortnightly and monthly. For thorough cleansing I go for an affordable but effective option: baby shampoo. By putting a drop of the shampoo in the palm of my hand, I then swirl the brush around and rinse under hot water. It is also important when cleaning your brushes with water to lie them down flat with the bristles hanging off a table to prevent the water from damaging the bristles in the brushes. If you are a newbie to brush cleaning then this is a step I recommend.

So are you guilty of not cleaning your brushes or are you a clean freak like me!?