The Tedious Side of Beauty- Cleaning Makeup Brushes
By Glinda
By now, anyone who has read this site for any length of time knows that I have oily skin.
As such, I am quite fastidious about my makeup brushes being clean, as I have visions of all that oil from my skin transferring right on to the brush. God knows what happens to the oil after that, but I’m thinking it can’t be good. Probably festering. Festering makeup brushes freak me out.
So this is the way I clean my brushes, from kabuki to eyeshadow:
1. Get my unscented baby shampoo.
2. Run some warm water.
3. Drop a teensy bit of the shampoo onto my cupped palm.
4. Get a little bit of the warm water onto my palm as well, but not a big pool of it.
5. Gently swirl my makeup brush around my palm, mixing the water and shampoo.
6. Look on in fascination and semi-disgust as all the old makeup comes out of the brush.
7. Rinse.
8. Swirl again if necessary until water runs clear.
9. Lay flat on towel and air dry.
10. Feel instantly better about myself now that I have clean brushes.
That’s it!
I know that some people advocate using a specialty product just for cleaning brushes, but I’ve never had any issues with using my baby shampoo. And my skin jumps at any chance to break out. My brushes have lasted forever, although it must be said that I don’t really own any cheap brushes, so that might have something to do with it.
How do you clean your brushes?
February 9th, 2011 at 12:33 am
I use whatever Lush (www.lush.com) soap I have out. Yes, they all have (fantastic) scents, but most of their soaps are entirely vegan and very gentle. I have a similar technique to yours, and I, too am SO fascinated with all the old makeup that comes out! Its so instantly satisfying.
February 9th, 2011 at 8:32 am
e.l.f. Studio Daily Brush Cleaner – anti-bacterial cleaner in a spray bottle. Spritz it on each brush and wipe it on an old towel and you’re done. I use gentle shampoo on them once a month, but the daily cleaner takes care of the “ick” factor and cleans them enough so I don’t transfer Tuesday’s lilac shadow to Wednesday’s sage green.