Beauty Tips: How to Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Makeup can be a girl’s best friend. We use it to enhance and accentuate our features in a process that, in some ways, is like painting a blank canvas. Thus, one of the most important tools we use in “painting the canvas” is – you guessed it – makeup brushes! There are different brushes for nearly every step of makeup application, including eye shadow, blush, foundation and smaller detail or “smudg-y” brushes, etc.

Since these brushes are so essential to pro makeup application, the number one mistake many of us tend to make in our busy daily routine is not keeping these important tools clean. It make come as a surprise to you that we are calling this out as such an important step for your beauty routine, but unclean makeup brushes can wreak havoc on your skin and affect the way makeup goes on your skin.

Why Clean Your Makeup Brushes? Let Us Count The Reasons…

Like most people, you probably don’t clean your makeup brushes often enough. How do these dirty makeup brushes affect your skin? Brushes not only pick up pigment to apply to your skin, but they also collect dirt, oil, and bacteria. When you apply your makeup, some of that dirt, oil, and bacteria can be transferred to your skin which may cause you to break out.

Dirty brushes have been observed to affect women with sensitive or acne-prone skin the most although those skin types are not the only ones who should worry about cleaning their brushes. If you start to notice your skin breaking out more, especially in the zones of foundation or blush application, take a look at your brushes and you may find the problem.

Cleaning your brushes should be a normal part of your beauty routine. It is recommended that you give your brushes a good cleaning at least every 2 weeks, but if you have acne-prone or sensitive skin then you should clean your brushes as often as daily.

Simple DIY Steps on How to Clean Your Makeup Brushes

There are many different ways to clean your brushes, and the way you clean a makeup brush also depends on what kind of brush it is. Some beauty supply stores like us carry a daily brush cleaner called “Brush Off”. This type of cleaner removes light traces of makeup between applications and helps remove bacteria. But a rigorous cleaning should also be done once every 2 weeks.
Don’t know how to clean your brushes ? It’s simple – kind of like giving them a bath…

1. Gently rinse your brushes to remove any residual makeup from their last use.

2. Apply a baby shampoo or gentle facial cleanser to each brush in the palm of your hand. You’ll see excess makeup residues coming off. (Repeat this step again if your brushes still seem to be bleeding color.)

3. Once the water from the brushes is running clear, rinse them with water to remove all remaining soap suds.

4. Squeeze out the water with a hand towel or paper towel. During this step, you can also reshape your brush bristles that may have gotten a little misshapen during their “bath.”

5. Lay flat to air dry on a towel. (It takes a few hours for them to dry fully, so don’t plan to use your brushes again right away.)

There are other methods of how to clean your makeup brushes, but regardless of what method you use make sure you’re cleaning your brushes often and thoroughly. Doing so can actually make your your brushes last longer and, most importantly, clean brushes apply makeup better than dirty brushes, so definitely be sure to add that to your beauty routine.

Stay tuned for more great makeup tips from our beauty team here at Botanica!

Love, Gen