Though a fair amount of women wear make up on a daily basis, how many of us actually take the time to clean our make up brushes? Most women neglect their make up brushes to the point where they are dry, brittle, breaking, and just plain unusable. Believe it or not, you do not need to go out and buy a new set of make up brushes every few months; a good quality make up brush that is well cared for can last up to 2 years!
If you are one of the many ladies out there who believes that holding your make up brushes under some running water for a few seconds is enough to clean them, you’re sadly mistaken. Make up is often waxy and has binding properties that will stay on with a whole lot more than just a bit of water (just think if you were to splash your face with just water – would all of your make up be instantly removed? Probably not).
So just how can you properly clean your makeup brushes? You can purchase a brush cleaner from any beauty store or department store. There are a lot to choose from, so ask for some advice from the beauticians in the store to see which ones they would recommend. Some products involve you leaving the brushes in for a soak, and a lot only require for you to spray the brush with the solvent and wipe it clean with a paper towel.
You do not need to spend a ton of money on a brush cleaner, however; you can easily make your very own brush cleaner at home! For the most basic brush cleaner, take 2 parts of water and mix it with 1 part of vinegar. Dip your brushes into the mixtures and then rinse clean with warm water. Afterwards, lay the brushes on a flat towel to dry. This solution will disinfect your brushes without drying the bristles out.
Another quick trick is to simply wet the brushes and lather them up with shampoo or with a facial cleaner that you have at home. The make up will be completely removed from your brushes, and the bristles should hold up strong to the different chemicals and detergents that may be in both your shampoo and facial cleanser.
How often you need to go through the makeup brush cleaning process is debatable, though a general rule of thumb is that for any brush that touches liquids (such as foundations, concealers, or lipsticks and lip glosses) they should be cleaned thoroughly each and every day. For other brushes that deal with more powdery make up products (such as eye shadow and blush) you can clean these every 1-2 weeks.
The result of not cleaning your brushes is needing to unnecessarily spend more money on replacing them every few months. Mucky brushes that have make up stuck to them are also far less effective and you will risk having your makeup appear ‘streaky’ and uneven because of gunk build up. Take the two seconds to wash your brushes – you’ll be glad you did!
