How to Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Washing makeup brushes can be a dreaded task. And if not done properly, your brush life can decrease significantly or even cause immediate damage or breakage. If you want your makeup brushes to last a life time, follow these simple steps to ensure squeaky clean brushes that last forever!

Spot Cleaning:

After each use you should be spot cleaning your brushes. This will prevent your colors from mix together and creating an undesired shade and also keep bacteria from spreading.

How to Spot Clean

1. Separate your dirty brushes from your clean.

2. Take a paper towel or tissue and lay down it on a flat surface or stabilize with your hand.

3. Spray or dispense a small amount of brush cleaner onto the towel.

4. Take a dirty brush and move the brush head in figure eight motions onto the area of the towel with brush cleanser. This will remove the build up of product from the hairs.

5. Spray the brush with alcohol(70% or higher) after the brush is clean.

6. Repeat this process for each dirty brush.

Deep Cleaning: 

To ensure that bacteria is not spread, brushes should be deep cleaned every 1-2 weeks. If you are a professional makeup artist, you should deep clean your brushes after each day of clients.

How to Deep Clean

1. Compile all of the dirty brushes and gather them to a sink area.

2.  Wet your brush head under warm water. (Try to avoid getting the handle wet)

3. Dispense a small amount of shampoo (or soap) into your hand.

4. Swirl your brush head into the shampoo under the running water in figure eight motions until all the product is removed.

5. Squeeze out excess water and reform the brush head to its original shape.

6. Lay brush flat to dry. (It works the best if the brush head is extended over the countertop. This allows for the airflow to get the brush hairs faster).

7. After your brushes are dry, spray with alcohol (70% or higher).

After all my brushes are squeaky clean, I like to store them in little buckets that I find in the dollar section of Target. This keeps them organized, upright, and ready for the next use!

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