Tips & Tricks for Cleaning Make-Up Brushes

It is really important to clean your make-up brushes on a regular basis because they hold tons of germs and can get "clogged-up" by the product you're using. I've read several articles on the subject and I'm just here to tell you what I think works best. There are several opinions as to how often you should clean your brushes. I like to clean mine once a month. I feel like by the end of a month's time you can see product in the brushes and they could use a nice cleaning. Also, your brushes will take some time to dry, so don't wash them if you need to use them later in the day. Do this after you have applied your make-up for the day or on a weekend day when you don't need to go anywhere wearing make-up.

I like to lay out a dish towel and use two bowls of warm water to get started.

In one bowl you need to use a cleaning agent. There are many products designed just for cleaning make-up brushes, however, shampoo works just as good. It is best to use a clarifying shampoo or baby shampoo if you have it (these shampoos will clean well while still being very gentle on your brushes). Otherwise whatever shampoo you wash your hair with will work just fine! Squirt a bit into one bowl and swish it around to mix well with the water.

Next, take one brush at a time and first place it into your shampoo water bowl. If you wear as much make-up as I do, you will see your water start changing colors. I usually like to start with my least "dirty" brushes first, such as an eye shadow brush and save the foundation brush for last.

If needed, gently rub into the brush hairs with your fingers to really get a deep clean. Once you are satisfied your brush is product free, place it in the bowl of just water to rinse it off. Continue these last two steps with the remainder of your brushes.

I like to lay my brushes on a dish towel to dry just until they aren't drippy anymore.

Then I move the brushes to a jar to finish drying upright. This way they don't get a weird squished shape from laying flat and seem to dry to bit faster than laying down.

I also like to take this opportunity to empty out my entire make-up bag and give everything a nice wiping down. I like to use either a make-up remover wipe or a Clorox/Lysol wipe to clean the inside of my make-up bags and also to clean the make-up containers. You can also take this time to go through the make-up you have in your bag. If I find a couple things I haven't used during the month, I usually take them out and store them elsewhere for the time being. I like my make-up bag to only have the items I use regularly.

All done! Your bag should now be nice and clean and well organized! Please leave a comment if you have any questions.