How to Clean Makeup Brushes To Make Them Last

We women spend a lot of money on cosmetic and makeup brushes yearly. A good makeup brush may be as much as $20. And, these makeup brushes are used daily so they need to be cleaned frequently. Follow along with the tips in this eHow to keep your makeup brushes fresh and clean. You may be surprised how long they last.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. I use Bare Essentuals makeup which is a powder mineral based makeup so my makeup brushes are incredibly important to me. The makeup brushes I need can be priced anywhere from a few dollars up to $25. I try to extend the life of my makeup brushes by caring for them well. Besides, who wants to be putting fresh makeup on daily with a brush that's full of bacteria?

2. 
   Any antibacterial soap can be used to clean makeup brushes

   I used to clean my makeup brushes just once a month or so but have changed my routine to cleaning the brushes every other week as they're aging more quickly now. For cleaning your makeup brushes, you can get as basic as putting a dollop of anti-bacterial soap (or baby shampoo) in the palm of one hand, wet the brush and swish around the soap. Rinse the makeup brush well until the water runs clean. Squeeze out excess water gently by wrapping the makeup brush in a paper towel. Hang up to dry overnight.

3. A better way to clean makeup brushes is to use a cleaning solution that professionals use. You can easily find these online by searching 'makeup brush cleaners' at Google.com. Some good makeup cleaners are produced by Bare Essentuals, Clinique, and Lancome. Whichever one your choose, I suggest you look to eBay for the best cost for your makeup brush cleaner.

4. If you've only invested in a few eye shadow makeup brushes and need to clean them quickly before applying a different color, Bare Essentuals makes a decent quick cleaner called ID Quick Change. You can get it at Sephora for $18 or, I actually prefer to get it on eBay at a more reasonable price (anywhere from $9-13 USD). A quick squirt and a rub with a paper towel takes off last nights deep blue to allow a new lighter shade for today.

Tips & Warnings

• After cleaning, hang the brushes so that the bristles hang down - you want any extra water to drip off and down the bristle. I use hair clips to clip the makeup brushes to a towel overnight for drying.

Resources

• Bare Essentuals ID Quick Change Makeup Brush Cleaner
• Clinique Makeup Brush Cleaner
• How to clean a white sink
• How to spring clean a dog
• View my ehow profile
• More articles by me\
• View my blog detailing travels with my 92 year old mama

[chava812]

on 4/26/2009 Good ideas - I don't swap my make-up brushes around much (only using for loose powder or blush, not for eyes) so I forget how to do this after a while. Glad to read that my natural tendency matches what you said in the quick-n-easy step. Thanks for the info on how else to do it "better" and for getting the word out there about this. Particularly for the eyes, bacteria can be a real problem. 5*

[sonni57]

on 4/19/2009 Thanks for the good tips for cleaning makeup brushes.

[surly-mac]

on 4/19/2009 This is really a well written and resourced article that I'm sending along to my (grown) daughters for their edification. Thanks!