Brush Cleaning 101

If you’ve read my previous blog posts, I am sure you know that i go on and on about keeping your skin clean.Well, here i am again

Do you use makeup daily? Even if you don’t , have you ever experienced breakouts on your skin or u get pimples even though you use good quality products? I know I have.

There could be some very simple reasons behind breakouts and acne like not taking off your makeup properly, you’re allergic to some ingredient in the makeup or some product you use. One major reason could be the use of dirty brushes.

We have oil glands on our face and when we use brushes to apply makeup the oil gets on the bristles of the brush. The same oil residue can get mixed with the top surface of your makeup(blusher, eye makeup etc). So if there is dust and oil stays on makeup brush for a while it may develop bacteria or other harmful microbes and this bacteria can spoil ur skin when the same makeup is used again and again for applying the makeup.

Therefore, brush cleaning is super important. I’m quite worried if cleaning my brushes would destroy my brushes and have tried quite a few methods. I’m going to share what has worked best for my brushes. Its quite inexpensive and cleans the brushes thoroughly while protecting the delicate bristles.

These are the products required:
1. An anti-bacterial handwash
2. Extra virgin olive.

Other stuff required:
1. A clean napkin
2.A plate
3. A bowl
4. Water

How I clean my makeup brushes

So these are the few makeup brushes I have used in the past few days 

I use the astonish yourself waterlily hand-wash i found it in a local store because
1. Its antibacterial
2.Its doesn’t have a creamy texture like most other hand-washes
3. Its quite inexpensive compared to other super creamy hand-washes.

All the things you need to clean your brushes

So I take about 15ml of handwash and one to drops of olive oil in the plate. You just need a rough estimate. Mix these two ingredients up lightly. Take the brush and dip it in the liquid and while keeping it in the liquid move it only in the direction as illustrated in the picture i.e from the brush bristle root to the end.

Picture 1: Handwash+Olive oil
Picture 2: Stroke your brush in the direction of the arrow
Picture 3: Look how much makeup the brushes were holding in it(I used the same mixture to clean 3-4 small brushes)

I keep using the same mixture as long as i feel like the brushes would be cleaned if i clean them in the same mixture. Usually this mixture is enough to clean a few small brushes. I keep dropping the brushes in the bowl of water after cleaning them in this mixture.

Brushes swimming in the bowl of water :p

I replaced the mixture in the plate to clean the bigger brushes e.g blushes brush. I don’t soak the smaller brushes in water before dipping them in the mixture but I soak the bigger brushes in water a little. I feel  like this makes their cleaning process a little less time taking and it helps get all the products out.

The blusher brush alone held so much product in it

After they r cleaned this mixture i just move let them soak in water a little and then just use water in the bowl to take the hand wash out. Keep stirring them around in the water and replace the water till the water is clear. Put it on the clean napkin, fold the napkin over it and press the bristles once gently so that the napkin soaks up the extra water in the brush while keeping the bristles straight and undamaged.

Placing the brush on the napkin and pressing it lightly after folding the napkin over.

Next thing I do is just put them on a surface in the open air such that the bristles aren’t touching anything as illustrated in the picture.

You can put them on any higher clean surface. What’s important is that the bristles must not be touching anything.

And they’re all clean. Clean brushes are super important if you want to avoid breakouts or other skin issues. Cleaning your brushes daily is ideal but if you don’t do it daily. At least clean the brushes once or twice a week.

Michelle Phan taught me how to clean my brushes. You can watch the video here.