How to properly clean your makeup brushes

Makeup brushes collect a lot of dirt, oil and bacteria every day, so it's necessary to clean your make up brushes often. By cleaning your brushes, you're helping to keep not only your brushes clean, but your face clean as well. Dirty brushes can lead to breakouts and other imperfections of the skin, so make sure you take care of your brushes!

You can buy a makeup brush cleanser from your favorite cosmetics line, But, they can be a little pricey considering their size/daily use.
Smashbox's Brush Cleaner runs for $15.

M.A.C's Brush Cleanser runs for $11.


Personally, I bring Smashbox's Brush Cleaner with me on shoots to clean my brushes while shooting since it has a great spray function. But, once a week I like to do an intense cleaning of my brushes to REALLY make sure all makeup, dirt, and bacteria has been removed.

The best way to do this (and cheap too!) is to mix equal parts anti-bacterial dishwashing soap and olive oil.
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Mix both on a plate and swirl the brushes around in the mixture. (I like to use Dawn's Hand Renewal with Olay Beauty since it's softer on the brushes, but still has great fighting power to give the brushes a deep clean and suck out all the bad stuff). The Olive Oil can be any kind you have in the kitchen, and re-conditions the brush fibers that have been dried out from the soap.

After swirling the brushes in the mixture, rub the brush around in your palm and then rinse in warm water. (Make sure it's warm water, as rinsing in hot water can actually damage your brushes).
After rinsing them, pat them dry with a paper towel, and then store them UPSIDE DOWN in a cup (handles sticking out of the cup).

If you store them with the brush head up, you're allowing dirt to fall on the head of the brush, and letting excess water in the fibers drain down into the brush handle which can actually loosen the glue that keeps all the fibers together. Once the glue is loosened, brush hairs will begin to fall out and your brush is ruined :(

So make sure you take care of your brushes!
XOXO!