Makeup Organization 101~ Cleaning Brushes

 

Okay, so we’ve got our expired makeup tossed, our broken makeup fixed and now we are ready to get our makeup cleaned up~ sparkling like new!

To start with, lets make sure those brushes are cleaned. This is actually a multifaceted step, since washing your brushes NEEDS to be done regularly and when it is done properly, can prolong the life of your brushes but done improperly can also damage your brushes. How you wash them also depends on both the amount and type of buildup, as well as the brush itself. So you are assessing each brush individually and then deciding from there WHAT and HOW to clean it. Complicated enough? Ha. Hopefully this post will make it a little easier.

For starters: How often do you clean your makeup brushes? Although this tends to be the one thing we most overlook, it is one of the most important things we can do. Makeup brushes are an investment and we want to make sure you get all you can from them. Remember the bacteria we talked about in Part 1? Makeup brushes can be a breeding ground for that bacteria. Bacteria and natural oils transmit onto your brushes every time they come in contact with your skin, creating a buildup of both which can not only affect how your makeup applies but create skin irritation. One more benefit of clean brushes is clear skin!

Another benefit of keeping your makeup brushes clean is softness softness of the brush. Makeup buildup on your brushes can make them feel scratchy. Cleaning your brushes on a regular basis will help keep them soft and supple. This is especially great for people with sensitive skin.

So how often should you clean your makeup brushes?

We get it — thoroughly washing your brushes can take a big chunk of time not to mention the time it takes letting them dry. The good news? You don’t have to do a deep clean every day. As long as your skin is clear and you aren’t dealing with any allergies or infections you can get away with lightly wiping the bristles on a damp towel between uses, wiping until you see no residue on the towel. This will extend the amount of time you can go between washes. You can also employ a a quick-dry method using a spray cleanser every couple of days to a week or so and do a thorough wet wash once a month. *But if you are oily and prone to breakouts, you will want to wet wash more consistently.

*Make sure on all of these methods that you are using a towel you don’t mind staining. Also, avoid using paper towels or tissues because the paper will disintegrate and leave tiny fibers in the brush hairs, and thus on your face.

Also- Professional makeup artists, you don’t get to be lazy here!!!! Makeup brushes absolutely, 100 percent, need to be thoroughly washed after every single client. Period. Don’t make me lose my mind and fill you with the horror story/urban legends that circulate around the makeup world. We can save that for a Halloween post. 😉

Before you start, take your tools into consideration. Just just like different hair textures have different needs, so do brushes. Fine-haired ones need to be treated with the utmost care as they’re cleaned to avoid breakage, while coarse-bristled tools need to be conditioned so they don’t get rough. You will also want to take some extra time washing your synthetic bristles, especially if you use them for applying cream products like foundation. You have to be careful to not let them get coated. This will weigh them down because they aren’t porous and don’t absorb any oils.

Supplies

For most brushes or washes you will want to use a brush cleanser or baby shampoo. I prefer a makeup brush specific cleanser because they are made with antibacterial properties while still protecting the hair. For a deeper clean, use Woolite delicate. It is very gentle on bristles (after all, you use Woolite on your cashmere — so it’s good enough for your tools!). To create a light amount of friction during a wet wash, you can try aSigma cleansing mat ($32) or a towel, but no matter what, use something that has texture, the textured surface grips into the brush hairs which works to pull out pigments and oils.

For brushes that are heavily embedded with makeup you can use olive, almond or coconut oil. This helps break up things like gel liners or heavy cream foundations. Take a clean paper towel and dispense a small amount of the oil and swirl the brush (dry) onto the towel. Don’t use to much oil, you don’t want your brush to become soaked with oil. You just want to use enough to help break down the makeup on the brush. Oil attracts oil and that is why some of the most effective facial cleansers are oil based. This is the same concept. You will then continue the cleansing process like you would any other brush.

Wet Washing With lukewarm water, get your brush completely wet. Once your brush has been saturated, swirl the brush into a drop of the cleanser in the palm of your hand until it lathers up nicely. Then you will use the cleansing mat to really work out the pigment and oil build up. For super delicate brushes, just continue to softly swirl in the palm of your hand until they are clean. When you’re actually washing your tool, let its shape guide you. Domed or round brushes can be swirled, while flatter shapes should be dragged from side to side. If you work against the shape of the brush, you can end up distorting the hair pattern or damaging the hairs. You want to keep those bristle patterns as intact as possible since mussed or broken bristles means a messy application. Which may not seem like a big deal for your bronzer but when you are creating highly precise looks like a cat eye or small space conturing, you want your tool working with you, not against you.

Then, rinse the brush in lukewarm water. Make sure you don’t use water that is too hot or too cold. Also, when rinsing your brushes, don’t get water above the shaft or metal part. If you do it will eventually cause rust which will cause the bristles of the brush to fall out. You will want to feel the bristles while you are rinsing. If it feels slippery or slimy, continue to rinse until your brush feels clean. Gently squeeze out any excess water from the brush.

Brush-Drying Tips
When it comes to preserving the shape of your brushes, it’s all about how you let it dry post wash. You will want to gently squeeze wet bristles in a paper towel to soak up extra moisture then reshape them with your hand. Do not be rough! Just like your own hair gets frizzy when you roughly towel dry as opposed to combing it gently, your brushes will too. Plus, it will increase the chances of excess water finding its way into the shaft and loosening the bristles.

The VERY best way to dry your brushes is suspended upside down, letting the water drip out, away from the shaft and full air circulation. I clothes pin mine up. If you are unable to do this try setting the bristles over the edge of the counter. You can put something heavier like a few magazines on the handles to keep them in place. This keeps them from getting matted on one side if you lay them flat on the counter. However, laying them on a towel flat on the counter is FAR better than just storing up right to dry- this is the most damaging way to dry them as all the water runs right into the handle. I have seen the metal rust, bristles falling out, the lacquer on the handle peeling off, even the wood of the handle splintering in some cases. Such a waste!

Beauty Blenders (what are these?) So many of you ask how to clean these and the process is pretty much like cleaning any other of your makeup brushes. Cleaning beauty blenders does take a little bit longer because of the rinsing process. Wet the beauty blender with lukewarm water and squeeze on a small amount of cleanser onto it. Roll the Beauty Blender in your hands to help work the cleanser completely in to it and rinse until the water is clear. Make sure you rinse these thoroughly until you see clean water when you squeeze the beauty blender. If the water isn’t clear, there is still product in the beauty blender. You may have to repeat this process a few times to get the beauty blender completely clean since they do soak up a lot of product. Once clean, squeeze out any excess water and lay flat to dry. You will know when the beauty blender is dry because it will have shrunk in size.

Now that your brushes (and blender) are perfectly clean, we need to focus on another aspect of thoroughly cleaning your brushes…the handle! When you use your makeup brushes you are transferring germs, bacteria and even makeup onto the handles of your brushes. Remember, anything that is on the handle of your brushes is being passed to everything else you touch. To clean the handle of your brushes, fill a small spray bottle with rubbing alcohol (you can get them at pretty much all beauty or drugstores) and spritz lightly over the handle of your brushes. This will not only clean but disinfect the handles as well.

Another tip to keep your brushes looking great is to apply clear fingernail polish over the numbers or names that are written on the brush. This will keep the name or number of the brushes from eventually wearing off and make the brushes easy to identify. If you are a professional MUA dip the end of your brush handle in a unique nail polish color, this helps differentiate between your brushes and others when you are at a show or runaway when the chaos is crazy. It is pretty much a rule for me to lose a few brushes each big show. But I have found them a few shows later when working with the same model or artists…. I’m sure they just got mixed up ;).

And there you have it, steps to make sure your makeup brushes are clean and well protected. Remember, cleaning your brushes is vital in helping preserve your makeup brushes. If you are uncertain which makeup brushes are worth investing in, let us know. We will be doing a post soon on our favorite brushes, the MUST HAVE brushes and releasing an in-depth guide to the different brushes for email subscribers. Make sure you are receiving our emails for updates when this is posted.

XoXo~ M&D