How to Clean Makeup Brushes

Makeup brushes can become overloaded with bacteria so it’s super important to clean your brushes every few weeks. Keeping your brushes clean will also reduce the likelihood of breakouts. Luckily, cleaning your brushes is really quick and easy. It only takes about 5 to 10 minutes depending on how many brushes you need to wash.

There are two ways to clean your brushes: You can either spot clean them or for a more thorough cleansing, you can deep clean your brushes. I spot clean my brushes daily, and I deep clean my brushes about once a week.

Here are a some simple steps on how to spot clean and deep clean your makeup brushes…

Pre Cleaning Tips

• Never get the entire brush wet, try to focus on the actual bristles while avoiding the portion of the brush where the head and handle meet.

• When cleaning flat or angled brushes, sweep the brush in back and forth motions. As for round and domed brushes, move them in circular motions to maintain the brush’s shape.

• If you are planning to deep clean you brushes, be sure to do your makeup before you cleanse. Your brushes will need a few hours to dry after a deep cleaning. I recommend doing it in the morning after you have applied your makeup for the day. By the end of the day, you brushes will be clean, dry and good as new!

Spot Cleaning

What You Will Need:

• Brush cleanser, I like Mac Brush Cleaner

• Paper towels or washcloth

How to Spot Clean:

1. While holding the brush over a paper towel, drizzle or spritz brush cleanser onto the bristles of the brush.
2. Then begin sweeping the brush into the extra cleanser that fell onto the paper towel. Work the brush in the appropriate motion (flat and angled brushes go back and forth, round or domed brushed should be moved in small circular motions).
3. Continue working the brush into the paper towel until the brush no longer has color transfering. You might have to reapply cleanser before the brush leaves behind a clean trail.
4. Next, reshape brush with your fingers into its original shape.
5. Lay bush onto a fresh paper towel to dry for a few minutes.

Deep Cleaning

What You Will Need:

• Olive Oil (only if you need to clean eyeliner brushes that you previously used with a gel-based liner or need to clean your lip brushes)

• Johnson's Baby Shampoo (or any gentle shampoo)

• Sink

• Paper towels or wash cloth

How to Deep Clean:

1. If you use a gel-based liner with your eyeliner brush or you have to clean a lip brush, you will need to use something to breakdown the waxiness before the next few steps. To clean these brushes, put some olive oil onto a paper towel and work your brushes into the oil until the brush no longer leaves color behind on the towel. Now you are ready for the next step!
2. Next, get the bristles of your brush wet.
3. Pour a quarter-size amount of the baby shampoo into the sponge and lightly rub it in so the soap is slightly absorbed and a little bubbly.
4. Take your wet soapy brush and work it into your hand. You will see a lot of color start to run out of the brush.
5. Rinse the brush in running water. You may have to re-wet your brush and repeat step #4 until the water runs clear from the brush.
6. Reshape the brush and lay it on its side on a paper towel or washcloth to dry.

Hope this helps! Happy cleaning!