How to Clean Your Makeup Bushes

When it comes to brush cleaning, most people are either angels or mingers. Angels religiously clean their brushes weekly, which is obviously awesome as it prevents the brushes getting claggy and gross and a build-up of bacteria from giving you spots. About 0000000.1% of people do this. Well done you, feel smug, top marks.

For all you mingers out there, leaving your makeup brushes looking like this...

From Google Images

..is probably an all too familiar sight and it is NOT OKAY. This is especially true in regards to brushes for liquid products such as foundation and concealer. These makeup products are moist and sticky and basically hold a bacteria party on your brushes.

Everyone is invited to this party, including dust, dirt and germs. Yum.

Laziness is not an excuse, as cleaning them is super easy and takes about two minutes max, and you don't need any special equipment. Plus, if you wash and dry them correctly and your brushes are of a reasonable quality, they will last for years and years. If you have invested in nice brushes you have even more reason to look after them as brushes from a top quality brand can last a lifetime.

So. Let's get started.

All you need is a bathroom sink, some hand soap or shampoo and some loo roll. If you are cleaning some extra grimy brushes, you may also need a bit of olive oil or bath oil to loosen the stubborn dirt.

1) Squirt your soap or shampoo into the palm of your hand. Run the tap and hold the brush under the tap to moisten it.
2) Swirl the wet brush into the palm of your hand, into the soap. Keep swirling the brush  until a lather has formed and the soap has gone.
3) Rinse under the running tap. If the brush is still dirty, repeat 1 and 2 and use the oil instead of soap. This is good for foundation, concealer or lip brushes.
4) When the brush is clean, gently squeeze as much water as you can out of the brush with your fingers. Emphasis on gentle, don't pull the hairs out.
5) Wave the brush around in the air like a mad person to get rid of more water.
6) Take one square of loo roll like so.

Fold it in half to make a triangular-ish shape

Roll the brush up in the loo roll so it looks like this

Leave overnight, pointing downwards at an angle, so that the remaining water doesn't run into the brush. This will rot the wood or loosen the glue that holds the brush together

Step six is a great tip I learnt from a guest lecturer at uni, it keeps the bristles in perfect condition and stops the brush getting old and splayed.

There you have it. Easy. I recommend doing this once a week with your foundation and concealer brushes. For powder brushes, you can be a bit lazier. Do them at least once a month, if not fortnightly.

There is a Vogue article on brush cleaning here which made me giggle.