How To: Clean Your Makeup Brushes

There are two ways to clean makeup brushes: deep-cleaning and spot-cleaning. The first entails having to wash and dry your brushes while the latter is a much simpler method which requires a brush cleaner and tissue paper. 

Why clean your brushes?

It’s simple. If you’re a painter, it would make sense to clean your brushes after painting so you can reuse them again. Otherwise, the paint which remains on the brush will dry up making it difficult and even impossible to use. The same concept applies to makeup brushes except this time, think of the paint as the makeup product. If you let the product sit on the brush for long durations, bacteria and dirt will cluster on the bristles which can transfer to your makeup products and infect your skin. So, play it safe and devote five minutes of your time to spot-clean your brushes everyday and an hour to deep cleanse when you have more time to spare. 

How to spot-clean?

There are several brush cleaners available in the market which you can purchase. The more popular brands are the MAC Brush Cleaner and Parian Spirit. 

MAC Brush Cleaner is available at all MAC stores. This product comes in 235ml.

This one product will clean, disinfect and condition the brush fibers so that brushes will last longer. It is convenient to use and is specifically designed to extend the life of high quality brushes. Brush Cleanser leaves your brushes smelling fresh and clean, and helps shorten their drying time.

Parian Spirit, on the other hand, is available at Suesh stores (SM Megamall, Trinoma, Greenhills, Market!Market!) 

I use this one more because it comes in bigger sizes and is relatively cheaper compared to the MAC brush cleaner. 

Note: If you live near a makeup school you can also check if they sell brush cleaners as they usually do. I got my Beauty So Clean! Brush Cleaner from Makeup Design Academy. They also sell one which you can use to sanitise your makeup products. 

Instructions:

Place some of the cleaner on a tissue paper and rub the used brush bristle against it in a circular motion. You’ll see its effects immediately as the product from the brush transfers to the tissue. 

When there is no longer product transfer then your brush is ready to use again.   

It's a quick way to get your brushes clean in an instant. Professional makeup artists actually use this method when they need to clean their tools in-between clients.

How to deep-clean?

Deep cleaning your brushes is much more tedious but necessary. It gets the dirt and makeup that couldn’t be removed by spot-cleaning.

What I usually do is after spot-cleaning my brushes, I wash the brush with soap (which I specifically use for cleansing brushes only) in the same manner as I would spot-clean.

I rinse the brush first then rub it against the soap in a circular motion until soapy. 

I then rub the brush on my palm which helps clean the bristles

then squeeze the excess water and soap off. If makeup residue is still present, I simply redo the process until there is no longer any product that comes off when rubbing. 

When drying your brushes place them upside down so water can trickle downwards instead of staying inside the brush. This will promote longevity for your brushes. 

There are also other ways to deep clean your brushes that are available online. A popular one is by using olive oil and shampoo. The olive oil conditions the brush hairs while the shampoo helps clean it. I’ve tried this before and it also works but I find it easier to use soap instead. 

I hope you found this post helpful! 

BESOS,

Bambi xx