The Easiest Makeup Brush Cleaning and Care Guide: How to Clean Makeup Brushes

Makeup brushes help you use many makeup products correctly, keep them clean, and leave a smooth finish on your makeup. The most important reason your skin looks vibrant, fresh, and smooth is that it's clean. And clean skin starts with the makeup products you use being hygienic. That's why in this post, we'll walk through how to clean makeup brushes, which are in constant contact with your skin, along with a care guide full of tips to keep your brushes performing the same way for a long time.

Why Should You Clean Your Makeup Brushes?

You should clean your makeup brushes to prevent unwanted problems like skin imperfections, dark spots, pimples, acne, infections, and bacteria. As long as you use your brushes, dead skin cells, skin oil, and bacteria build up inside them. If you don't clean them, you'll use unhygienic brushes for your next makeup look too, and after a while you'll notice redness and breakouts on your skin.

Dirty makeup brushes also keep you from doing great makeup. The residue left on the brush and the colors from your previous looks get in the way of achieving the best makeup for you. Why use a dirty brush when you could do your makeup with a smooth, clean one?

If cleaning your makeup brushes after every look becomes part of your routine, you'll also extend their lifespan. The bristles of dirty brushes lose their shape and flexibility, while clean brushes stay durable for a long time because they're well cared for.

What Can Happen If You Don't Clean Your Makeup Brushes?

You won't believe what happens to makeup brushes that aren't cleaned regularly! After reading this, you might want to run and clean yours right away.

• Clogged Pores: From the moment your makeup brushes touch your skin, they get coated in skin residue. When you don't wash your brush, you transfer this residue back onto your skin during your next makeup look. As a result, your pores get clogged. Clogged pores keep your skin from breathing and also cause blackheads.
• Bacteria and Germ Buildup: Not just makeup brushes, anything that isn't cleaned builds up bacteria and germs. Makeup residue, dead skin cells, skin oil, and environmental dirt create an ideal environment for bacteria and germs to grow. Just imagine doing your next makeup look with all that bacteria and germs built up... Every time, you transfer bacteria to your skin. In that case, infections, pimples, and acne are the inevitable result.
• Ruined Makeup: A dirty makeup brush always holds residue from your previous look. This residue changes the colors of your new makeup and gives it a muddy look.
• Shorter Brush Lifespan: If you don't clean your makeup brushes, they wear out quickly and eventually become unusable, because the bristles lose their structure and the brush loses its flexibility and smoothness. That means you'll constantly need to buy new brushes.

How to Clean Makeup Brushes

There are two different ways you can clean your makeup brushes. The first way is completely effortless and requires no prep at all. You grab a makeup brush cleaning spray, one of the newer innovations in the makeup world, and with a few quick motions you have spotless makeup brushes without any soap or water. All you have to do is spray the makeup brush cleaning spray onto your brushes from about 10-15 cm away, or follow the steps below.

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1. What you'll need: Baby shampoo or liquid soap, olive oil (for heavy makeup residue), lukewarm water, a small bowl, and a clean towel. Step 2: Set up a spot for cleaning your makeup brushes. This can be a bowl or the sink.
2. After filling the bowl with lukewarm water, add baby shampoo to the water. If your brushes have very heavy makeup residue, you can also add a few drops of olive oil to the water. It will help dissolve the residue.
3. Be careful to keep only the bristles of your makeup brushes in the water. Otherwise, exposing the handles of your brushes to water can damage their structure.
4. Dip your makeup brushes into the mixture you prepared in the bowl, then gently work up a lather in circular motions in your palm or on a textured surface. This will easily remove the makeup residue and dirt from your brushes.
5. When rinsing, gently squeeze your brushes under lukewarm water again. Don't press, wring, or pull the bristles. To remove excess water from the bristles, gently blot them with a clean towel or paper towel.
6. Letting your brushes dry is just as important as cleaning them. If you don't dry them properly, you may have trouble picking up product with the bristles. Lay your brushes flat on a towel to dry and wait until they are completely dry before using them.

How Should You Clean a Makeup Sponge?

We can follow the same steps for makeup sponges that we use for makeup brushes. The only difference is that makeup sponges are a bit harder to clean than brushes, because removing the makeup residue inside the sponge can take time. Unlike makeup brushes, you need to squeeze the sponge.

How Often Should You Clean Your Makeup Brushes?

How often you need to clean your makeup brushes depends on how much you use them. If you do makeup very often and use brushes for most of your looks, cleaning your makeup brushes should be part of your daily routine.

How often you clean your makeup brushes also varies depending on what they're used for and how they function.

• Eye Makeup Brushes: Eye makeup brushes include every type of brush used for the eyes and brows: eyeshadow, eyeliner, and brow brushes. These brushes are used on the eye area, which is very delicate, so it's important for them to be hygienic. A deep clean once a week protects your eye health and keeps colors from mixing in your makeup.
• Foundation Brushes: Foundations and concealers are usually liquid, which makes it easier for bacteria to grow in these brushes. You need to clean your foundation brush and concealer brushes once a week; in fact, if you use them heavily, cleaning them a few times a week is even better for your skin health.
• Powder and Blush Brushes: Since powders are dry, they breed less bacteria than foundations. Blushes behave like powders if they're powder formulas, but like foundations if they're liquid or gel. Cleaning powder brushes and powder blush brushes once a week is ideal, but brushes used with liquid and gel blushes should be cleaned a few times a week.

What Should You Keep in Mind When Cleaning Makeup Brushes?

• Avoid harsh chemical cleansers. Chemical cleansers damage the bristles of your makeup brushes. And if cleanser residue stays in the brush, it can also irritate your skin. Use baby shampoo, liquid soap, or a makeup brush cleaning spray instead.
• The water you use to clean your brushes shouldn't be too hot or too cold. Hot water causes the bristles to shed and loosens the glue in the handle. Cold water isn't ideal for an effective clean either. Lukewarm water doesn't damage the brush and still cleans it effectively.
• Don't keep the handles of your brushes in water. Otherwise, you may damage the glue that holds the handle.
• Don't damage the bristles while rinsing.
• Brushes should be dried flat on a clean towel.

Can You Clean Makeup Brushes at Home?

Yes, you can clean makeup brushes at home. Just pour enough of any shampoo or liquid soap you already have into a container filled with water, then clean your brushes without letting their handles touch the water.

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Deep cleaning your makeup brushes will keep residue from your previous look from coming into contact with your skin. You can clean your makeup brushes at home by following the few cleaning steps we mentioned in this post, or you can easily rid them of bacteria and dirt in one step with the Alix Avien Paris makeup brush cleaning spray. The choice, and the time, is yours! Of course, before that, you can also check out our post where we take a detailed look at why makeup brushes matter and the uses and functions of makeup brushes when doing your makeup.