I’m sure not everyone uses make-up brushes. (Especially the guys, hehe) I just started using them about a year ago and I absolutely ♥ them. I would never go back to sponge type brushes again, because they are messy, sometimes unsanitary and the quality isn’t at all the same. If I travel and forget my brushes, then I will use them because brushes are too expensive to replace temporarily, but if you don’t use them – I would definitely recommend them. Later down the road I’ll try to do a blog on them. They deserve their own spot.
For informational purposes: The brand of make-up brushes I use are from Prescriptives**. . I have the powder brush, a contoured cheek brush, a foundation brush, mini foundation brush (I call it), a concealer brush an all-over eye brush and a dual ended liner/blender eye brush. They are all fantastic brushes. NOTE: They may have different, technical names or numbers, but I’ve had them awhile now and can’t remember exactly. I call them my own names. Just be glad I don’t have them named Becky, Tricia, Lou-Ann, etc. 😉
Today though, I want to brag on a new method I used to clean them. They say you should clean your make-up brushes every week. Who has time for that, though?! HOWEVER, now that I know how SIMPLE it is to get them clean, I’ll be making this a habit!
Anyway, I was in Sephora a couple of weeks ago; I was about to spend about 20 + dollars on a brush cleaning set, and I asked them about how they clean their brushes. Mine have only been deep cleaned probably twice since I got them almost a year ago. YUCK! The following is what she suggested and I tried. It worked amazingly!
Things I used to clean my brushes:
Small bowl (Prep bowl, cereal bowl, coffee mug)
Shampoo or a gel face wash (Something very gentle. I used my Garnier Fructis. I would have used my face wash, but shampoo is cheaper!)
2 wash cloths – 1 dark color and 1 light color (Or 1 light-colored hand towel.)
Sephora’s Anti-Bacterial Daily Brush Cleaner (About $6 from a Sephora store or http://www.sephora.com – where you can score some free samples too)
Warm tap water (Not hot because it could maybe mess with the glue that attaches the bristles?? to the brush, and not cold because it won’t help sanitize at all!)
Baby oil (I just used Equate brand from Wal-Mart)
Steps I used to clean my brushes: (WAY Easy!!)
NOTE: If you decide to clean your brushes, be very, very ultra gentle with them. Handling them too roughly can cause them to “shed”. Sometimes when brushes start shedding, they never stop! And that can be a pain when putting on make-up. No one wants bristles strewed across their face!
- I took the small bowl, put the shampoo in it and ran some warm water into the bowl.
- I dipped my brush, one at a time into the shampoo water. Then I scraped it on the side to get out any excess water. NOTE : If you place the brush on the bottom of the bowl and swish it around to clean it – which is a very natural instinct to do, you’ll have to change the water because it WILL get dirtied by the make-up out of the brushes making the other brushes harder to clean
- I took the dark-colored towel, and very gently rubbed the brush getting the excess water and make-up out of it. (The reason I used a dark-colored towel is because my foundation brushes were VERY coated in nasty foundation. I didn’t want to stain my beige towel)
- I repeated steps 2 and 3
- I sprayed it with my Sephora Daily Brush Cleaner. The way I did this was on the very mildly “dirty” brushes I sprayed my light-colored towel and just rubbed the brush until it came clean on this. If they were very “dirty” or covered in make-up, I sprayed the brush on each side over the towel, and then rubbed it in the towel. (The reason I used a light-colored towel for the mild ones is because they were pretty much just my eye shadow brushes and I wanted to be able to see when they were completely clean and not still “leaking” color)
- After doing these steps I took my foundation brushes because they weren’t completely clean and back to their original color, and I used a little baby oil on them. The baby oil sort of lifts the foundation off of the bristles and uncovers the original color and bristle; therefore, making it cleaner than what the spray or water did alone. I wouldn’t use much baby oil because the bristles will absorb some of the oil and no one wants oily brushes, but it helps get tough make-up out.
- I then took my bigger brushes (powder brush, cheek brush, foundation brushes) and rinsed them very gently in warm water. The reason I did this is because they are thicker, they held more of the water/cleanser mix. If you left the shampoo on there for them to dry it might damage the bristles. And you definitely DO NOT want to leave baby oil on the foundation brushes.
- After rinsing, I made sure all the water was out of them, I re-shaped them gently with my fingers and laid them FLAT to dry. If you stand them up they will hold some water, which can lead to wooden handles breaking, rust forming around the metal parts and if you turn them back over there may be some water hiding, and your brush won’t be ready to use. If you place them brush head down, you’ll ruin the shape of the brush.
- Dried them overnight!
It took me about 15 minutes to clean all 7 of my brushes, because of the severity of them. (lol) If I made a habit of cleaning them it’d only take a few minutes each time. However, the time was well spent. The difference in these brushes was truly amazing! They looked, smelled and felt brand new again. No kiddin’.
Another benefit of the Sephora Daily Brush Cleaner is the fact that you can use it daily. Since it is an anti-bacterial formula, if you were using it daily, you wouldn’t necessarily have to sanitize them weekly. I’m sure any brush cleaner is like this, but personally Sephora’s brand is my favorite. It has a light scent, as well. (Maybe I should just do a review on it!) Using it daily all you have to do is after using the brushes – spritz a Kleenex, and gently rub the make-up out. TIP: With your eye shadow brushes and Sephora’s Daily Brush Cleaner – After rubbing the make-up out on the Kleenex, the brush is dry and can be used on a different color eye shadow. This is my favorite feature about this cleanser. This way I’m not creating new eye shadow colors by accidentally blending two or three together.
Clean make-up brushes not only are healthy, and beautiful in themselves, but they also help to keep us and our make-up beautiful and clean!
** – Prescriptives is no longer in operation. Esteè Lauder shut them down. I was sad, disappointed and temporarily depressed when this took place back in January 2010. I wanted to let you know though, so you wouldn’t try to find them. I’m just glad I got the products I did before they went out of business!
Do you use make-up brushes and if so, how do you clean them?? Any easier tips than what I’m doing? I’m always looking for a faster, healthier method!
To BE[auty] or Not to BE[auty] 