HOW TO: Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Makeup brushes gather a lot of bacteria, especially if they are used every day. Today, I am going to show you how I clean my makeup brushes. I have tried a couple of different methods, but this is by far the fastest and most efficient way I have found of cleaning them. I recommend washing your brushes about once a week if you're doing your makeup every day, but if you only use your brushes once or twice a week, you could probably get away with washing them once every two to three weeks. Cleaning them is important if you want to avoid breakouts from transferring all of that bacteria to your face over and over again.

I did a previous blog post All About Makeup Brushes if you are interested in what kinds of brushes to use for different makeup applications.

These are the items I used:

Obviously you are going to need some dirty makeup brushes, but there are two real stars of this show, and they are the Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap (I like the Lavender-scented one) and the Brush Egg. The big 32 oz. bottle of this soap costs between $15-$18, and I picked mine up at Target. This may seem like a lot of money for some brush cleaner, but this soap is seriously amazing. It has 18 uses, and it is concentrated, so you mix it with water whenever you use it, which means that it will basically last forever. Nothing I have used has ever cleaned my brushes so thoroughly, but you can also use it as a face and body wash, a dish soap, and even laundry detergent. It is made with olive oil which helps to condition your brushes while also cleaning them, so it doesn't strip them dry. 

The brush egg is also pretty amazing.

This is a little silicone device meant just for cleaning brushes, and I'll show you how to use it a little later on. They cost $8 if you buy them directly from the manufacturer, but I found a reputable seller on eBay that was selling them for only $4. The ridges make it perfect for getting out all the makeup and bacteria from your brushes. DISCLAIMER: this little egg is not essential for cleaning your makeup brushes. You can also use you fingers, but if you have a lot of brushes, it can be tiring to try and manually scrub out all of the grime with your hands. 

1. Mix Your Soap with Water

The first thing I did was mix about half a cup of water with about 1/4 cup of the Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap in a bowl. The amount you use really depends on how many brushes you're cleaning, and this was the perfect amount for the 20-something brushes that I cleaned today. If you don't want to spend the money on this soap, I have also used a mixture of anti-bacterial dish soap and a tiny bit of olive oil to clean my brushes before, and that worked really well, but sometime I had to wash a brush twice. Baby shampoo is also effective, but again not as thorough as the Magic Soap.

2. Get Brush and Brush Egg Ready

I'm going to show you the process with two different brushes I cleaned. This method works on all kinds of brushes, and even beauty sponges. The top brush is what I use to blend out liquid concealer, and I use it probably 4 or 5 times a week, so it gets really dirty. The bottom brush I use a couple of times a week for powder blush, and you can see all the product that is caught in the white bristles.

3. Dip Brush in Magic Soap Mixture

This is pretty self-explanatory. Just wet your brush in the mixture. You don't need to hold it in there for more than a second or two.

4. Scrub Makeup Brush against Brush Egg

The Brush Egg combined with the Magic Soap removes all of the makeup from your brush in seconds, and it doesn't leave behind any residue or strip the brushes completely dry. Each brush took no longer than about 10 seconds to clean completely.

5. Rinse Brush Under Running Water

Just hold your brush under some running water - I prefer cold - for a few seconds until you see all the soap run out of it. You can continue to rub your brush against the Brush Egg and just wait until the water around it looks clear.

6. Admire Your Beautiful Clean Brushes

As you can see, there is no leftover makeup in either brush.

7. Lay Flat to Dry

It's as easy as that! Make sure not to leave your brushes standing up to dry because if you do, the water will drip down to where the glue is attaching the bristles to the handle, and your bristles will likely start to fall out. I usually leave mine to dry overnight, and they are always good as new the next morning.

That's all I have for you all today! Thanks for reading, and I hope this was helpful. I'll be posting another video  next week, and it will be the first in a Makeup Tutorial series that I am working on, so keep your eyes out for that! Don't forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter to find out as soon as I post new content.