November 5, 2014

I was not feeling well this evening so I decided to take advantage of some down time and give my brushes and tools a good cleaning. How often and how much is really dependent on how much you use your products but if you’re using them regularly you should think about doing it weekly or bi-weekly. It might seem like a lot, but remember these things are touching your face over and over again and trap bacteria, dust and dirt. You don’t want that on your face, do you? Me either. So let’s get down to it.

Make sure you have all your brushes and tools ready before cleaning. Put a dry towel or a few paper towels down flat next to your sink where your brushes can be left and dried after washing. You want to wash your brushes with a gentle soap and ones specifically made for cleaning are the best. You can find them anywhere now – I have one from Sephora that has lasted forever but you can buy ones at the drugstore or specialty makeup store. If worse comes to worse you can also use Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo as its gentle (and cheap!). Take your first brush, put it under running warm water and then put a little bit of soap on the brush. I then rub the brush on the back of my hand until I can see all the makeup coming out. I repeat this as well as run under warm water again until the water is clear. I give the brush’s hair a gentle squeeze and then lay it flat on the towel to dry. I fan out the brush strands so that they are not clumped together. Repeat with all your brushes and tools. Make sure you’re drying in an open, dry area. I would avoid the bathroom if its warm and damp in there.  It can take a few hours to have those babies dry so I like it do it overnight so I can use them in the morning. Below is the link to the Sephora product I use as well as a picture of my brushes drying.

There is also a spray that you can purchase from Sephora called a Daily Makeup Brush Cleanser. I would use this for items like eyeliner brushes and eye shadow brushes because if you leave that kind of product on, it will make the brush almost not useable for the next time so it needs a quick removal of product even if its not a deep cleansing.

Happy Cleansing!

Maureen