Cheap Makeup Brush Cleaner

The good thing about having a lot of makeup brushes is that you can have enough brushes to do your own makeup and enough to do other peoples makeup.  The bad thing about having a lot of makeup brushes, is that when you use them all you have to clean them all! 

I have been putting off cleaning them, I usually try to clean them every 1-2 weeks, but some of them have been used for Halloween looks and are now extremely dirty! So what better opportunity for me to show you how I clean my makeup brushes and a few tips I've picked up along the way.

Items I use to clean my makeup brushes and one lonely sponge:

• Dirty, Dirty Makeup Brushes ;)
• A Silicone Textured Oven Mitt *cough* my Sigma cleaning glove rip off (I bought mine from Robin's Kitchen but they can be found on Amazon and Ebay)
• Softly Wool Wash Detergent
• A Small/Medium Towel (for absorbing excess water)
• A Large Towel (for makeshift drying rack)
• Daiso Detergent (for Beauty Blender knock off sponge)
• Mesh Netting *cough, cough* my Brush Guard rip offs (Optional)
  (I bought these from Ebay.  Fifteen for about $2.00)

 It's important to wash your brushes with the bristles facing down on an angle so that the water runs down and away from the brush, as per the image above.  The reason for this is to prevent any water running down into the ferrule, (the shiny metal part between the handle and the bristles) and breaking down the glue that holds the brush together.  

The same principal also goes for drying the brush, laying them flat or on an angle with the bristles pointing down, to prevent any water damage. 

Step 1 - Rinse: Grab your dirty brushes and head to the sink, wet the bristles with warm water.

Step 2 - Remove Excess Product: Put on your textured glove if you have one, alternatively you can swirl the brush around in your hand.  Place a small amount (pea sized) onto the glove or into your hand and gently swirl the bristles around in the detergent.   For smaller brushes, like eye brushes, I use the smaller textured section on the glove.  I keep swirling around until I have most of the makeup out of the brush.  

I have used woolen wash ever since I bought real hair and rather expensive brushes from Hakuhodo.  Hakuhodo recommend wool wash (here) and state that cleaners containing alcohol can harm real hair and synthetic brushes.  I find that the woolen wash cleans effectively, it's cheap and it even makes some of my synthetic brushes softer than they were originally. 

Step 3 - Wash: Rinse the excess makeup off the glove and place the brush under the stream of water while swirling it around against the glove.  Once the excess makeup has been removed and the stream runs clear, make sure to rinse the brush until no suds remain.

Foundation brushes are the most used, soak up the most product and are a pain in the @ass, the hardest to clean.  I mainly use the larger textured part of the glove for face brushes.  If your brush has soaked up a lot of product and it has traveled up the bristles, I apply some detergent with my fingers to the area and gently squeeze and encourage the product buildup down to the end of the bristles and then rinse.

 Step 4 -Shape: Once your brush is clean, gently squeeze out the excess water over the sink.  Take the towel you're using for drying, and gently squeeze the bristles in the towel and sweep it back and forth.  This will help your brushes dry faster as we are removing the excess water.  Then shape the brush with your finger tips as shown in the photo above, this will ensure the brush retains it's shape for longer and prevents the hairs from splaying out.  You can also use the mesh netting to shape your brushes.

Place the netting over the end of the handle and pull down over the bristles until it covers the bristles, pulling them into shape.  Be careful not to pull them in the opposite direction as this will pull the bristles back.  If you go too far past the bristles, just pull it off past the bristles and start again.  The guard doesn't need to be placed on all brushes, just the larger ones that tend to fan out.

Don't forget to also clean the brush handle with a damp towel, baby wipe or even with some of the detergent if it's really dirty or hard to remove (like the ends of the Real Techniques brushes can be).  When we are handling makeup and switching between brushes, makeup can easily be transferred to each handle and if you think about how dirty hands can be...

Step 5 - Dry: Now that your brushes are all shiny and clean, take a large towel and roll up one end, place it on a table or flat surface and out of direct sunlight (it can damage the hair).  

If you have a lot of brushes you can roll up both ends of the towel, like I did in the above image, and place your brushes on the rolled section with the bristles pointing down.   I usually leave them overnight to dry but they are usually dry within 4-6 hours.

I do use a sponge every now and then, I got this one from Ebay.  I stopped using them as I could never find a detergent that would remove all the makeup and I thought it was pretty unsanitary.  That is until I found the Daiso Detergent for puff and sponge, it's amazing!

I know, it doesn't even look like the same sponge but I guarantee it is!  All I did was pour a little over the base of the sponge, massage it in and squeeze out the excess.  I have only ever had to repeat this twice for really dirty sponges. 

How do you clean your makeup brushes?  

If you have any questions or comments I'd love to hear from you!