One of my New Years Resolutions is to clean my makeup brushes more often, I mean I'm really bad at it. I've been known to leave them dirty for a good month or so, which I know ladies, it's grim... right? But it's just so time consuming. Over the years, I've collected a heck load of brushes ranging from cheap eBay ones to trusty Real Techniques ones to the low and behold Zoeva Rose Gold Collection. All of them are great, but when you have about 50 brushes clogged with never ending products, finding the time to clean them thoroughly is really the last thing I want to be doing. But after much experience I've found a routine which will have you as sorted as Simon... (that's a new one - hmm, anyway...)
Prioritise: Right, it goes without saying, having cleaner brushes will stop you from breaking out as bad. I suffer from acne, but with a simple skincare routine (did someone say Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm... yep that stuff rocks) and a set of clean face brushes you'll be sorted. If you're like me and rock the same eye look pretty much everyday, there's not really any need to clean those as often as your face brushes as it's not really going to clog up as much bacteria... just more pigment and product which will make your eye look seem more intense anyway.
Routine: After you've prioritised, just find a routine. Maybe spare an hour or so every Sunday to clean your Face Brushes and then every other Sunday do your Face Brushes too. I usually do mine on a sunday with a face mask in, tunes in and pair that with the chores of Ironing too. Oh what us ladies have to do, eh?
The Product: I've tried endless products to clean my makeup brushes, from the likes of Mac to the good ole Beauty Blender Soap Bar but it still comes down to it that good ole Johnsons Baby Shampoo is just the bomb.com. It's just increds. It isn't too harsh but it cleans the brushes with ease when paired with luke warm water, isn't too expensive and is easy to get. What more could you want? After all, you're going to be putting those products back on your face and you're bound to have some shampoo / brush cleaner / soap left lingering, so why use a super strong, chemical one when you can have something more gentle that won't irritate the skin? (p.s. the Dr Bronner Liquid Soaps are awesome too!)
Letting Them Dry: I learnt this from all those embarrassing moments where I actually resorted to googling how to clean my makeup brushes, and that's to just dry your wet, clean brushes with a light hand on a towel and then reshape them and leave them so that your brush is hanging off the side of a table. That way, the water won't get into the mechanism of the brush and won't therefore break down the glue meaning your brushes will be in better shape for even longer... bingo - rant over!
Hopefully this helps some of you who are a bit of a Makeup Brush Cleaning Noob like myself. If you have any tips be sure to share them below!
