This week’s blog post is a public service announcement: CLEAN YOUR MAKEUP BRUSHES
Some of you may be thinking, why? I’ve had these makeup brushes forever and never had a problem. Well, here are some reasons why. If you do not clean your makeup brushes, then you will break out and you will have an allergic reaction. Also, all kinds of lovely bacterial will grow in the mixture that is your make up and the oil from your face. Every time you use that brush to apply eye shadow you are taking skin cells and oil and all kinds of other things that I will not bore you with (science rules!). Things that will sit with your brushes and eventually grow into something you don’t want on your face. Think of it this way, you are also depositing whatever is growing BACK onto your makeup, your possibly very expensive makeup.
I used to be just like you, until my teacher saw my brushes and explained it all to me. Even as a scientist, it wasn’t sinking in. It took the horrified look on her face when I told her how long it had been since I had last cleaned them.
How often should you clean them? Well, if you can’t remember the last time you did it? Then it’s been too long. I have an extensive collection of brushes so I can get away with not doing it very often and always having a clean brush to use. Now, I am not telling you to go out and by a fancy expensive brush cleaner. It’s not necessary. All you have to do is the following simple steps:
You will need 2 tiny glass bowls, anti-bacterial soap, rubbing alcohol, and paper towels.
1. Into one bowl put antibacterial soup: pour it, pump it, however you like.
2. Add a little bit of water and then take your brush and move it around inside the bowl. You may need to add more water, depending on the volume your brush can hold and how dirty it is.
3. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the water resulting is relatively clear. This may take some time.
4. Take the same bowl and with no soap, just water, rinse the soap out of your brush. I usually do this 3 times or until the water ceases to be soapy.
5. Into the second bowl, put rubbing alcohol. Swish your brush around in this solution.
6. Take a paper towel, set your brush on it, fold it over your brush and essentially blot off the rubbing alcohol. You may see even more eye shadow, etc. come off onto the paper towel. You can repeat the alcohol process if you wish.
7. Reshape your brush while it is wet to as closely resemble what it usually looks like and then leave it out to air dry.
There you have it. You now have a set of clean brushes. See? That wasn’t so bad was it? You are keeping bacterial from growing and being deposited on your face. Also, a clean brush will probably allow you to apply your makeup better than before!