Cleaning makeup brushes. We all dread it, waiting far longer in between than we should. If I’m being completely honest, I can’t remember the last time I gave my brushes a good deep clean. I actively put it off because it takes a long time and I just can’t be bothered. Even now while in quarantine, with nothing else to do, I’ve managed to avoid washing my makeup brushes.
With all that being said, I know it’s important to clean my brushes. These tools are touching your face, so any bacteria they harbor is getting placed right on your skin. I just got some new makeup in that I’m itching to play with, and want to make sure I’m not contaminating my new products with dirty tools. A couple years ago I added some accessories to my regimen and it has made the cleaning process so much quicker and easier. So today I’m showing you my favorite products and way to clean my makeup brushes.
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me, at no cost to you!
I like using Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap to clean my brushes. It has a really nice lather and I like that it doesn’t contain any nasty chemicals. This brush mat has been a game changer, the best part it’s under $10 so it’s super affordable!! It suctions to the sink so you can easily swirl your brushes around and get rid of all the makeup residue. I wet my brushes, add a little soap to the mat, and then swirl them around until they are nice and clean. This mat has defined areas for washing face and eye brushes, each with different sized grooves to give the best clean for said brushes.
I always found rinsing all the soap out of my brushes to be the most tedious part of washing. With the brush mat I let the water run adjacent to where I swirl my brush and all of the soap is quickly rinsed away. Like with the specific areas for cleaning each brush type, there are rinse areas for the brushes as well. I used to rinse each brush for what felt like forever, only to find there was still soap in the bristles. This method is super effective at removing all the soap from the brush heads without any water getting into the bevels.
When I’m done rinsing my brushes, I gently squeeze out the excess water. I then lay them on a towel to air dry. I fold my towel a couple times over in the back to raise the brush handles above the heads. By doing this the water travels away from the bevel so you don’t have to worry about the bristles coming loose.
While no one is ever going to enjoy washing their makeup brushes, I think streamlining the process makes it a little more tolerable. I hope you found this post helpful if you’re struggling with getting a deep clean on those makeup brushes.
