How to Clean Face Blush & Makeup Brushes
Makeup brushes are important and useful tools for makeup application. Due to frequent contact with skin and its natural oils, it is important to keep makeup brushes clean to avoid irritation, inflammation and infection. Clean brushes stay soft and last longer. Plus, they feel nice on your face and help you avoid applying too much makeup which can build up on brushes like foundation and kabuki brushes. High-quality brushes require special care because they are fragile and distort easily. Learn how to maintain the optimal condition of your favorite makeup brushes below. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Lukewarm tap water (filtered water provide best results)
- Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo or Cetaphil facial cleansing lotion
- Optional: Chinese calligraphy brush rest
Instructions
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Proper Way to Clean Facial Blush and Makeup Brushes
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1
Wet the brush thoroughly with lukewarm water. All brush bristles must be completely soaked. Do not use any water above body temperature, as the fur-like makeup brush bristles are extremely sensitive to heat. Genuine animal fur is a little bit more heat-resistant than synthetic polyester or acrylic fibers. The finer the bristle, the more easily temperature could damage, curl and deform it.
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2
Apply a rice-sized amount of Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo or a pea-sized amount of Cetaphil to the brush and swirl the brush gently in circles against your palm, paying particular attention to the core (base of the bristles) area that traps a lot of powder. The baby shampoo will foam and lather while Cetaphil won't, but with both you will notice a lot of color residue coming out of the brushes.
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3
Rinse with lukewarm water, squeezing excess moisture out, soak it with water again, and continuing to swirl the brush against your palm. Repeat until the liquid you squeeze from the brush runs completely clear.
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4
Hang dry and air dry the brush--brush tip downward is best. However, having the brush tip downward is hard to achieve without a special brush rack or hanging apparatus. You can use a Chinese calligraphy brush rest (see image) but please make sure you have squeezed ALL excess moisture from the brushes before leaving it to air dry horizontally.
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5
Allow 48 hours to dry, depending on humidity. Do not place near heater vents. You may use a fan to help speed up drying. Brushes should be completely dry before reuse to avoid bacterial overgrowth.
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Tips & Warnings
You can also use Woolite on the brushes--you will only need a couple of toothpick tip-sized drops of the detergent to clean your makeup brushes.
To prevent bacterial and/or fungal contamination, do not share makeup brushes. Do not leave the brushes soaking for longer than 15 minutes--water damages the fine hair of authentic brushes. Be very gentle with your makeup brushes at all times during the cleaning to avoid deforming and warping the fibers and brush shape. Do not use a heated blow dryer on your brushes at all times. Do not use harsh detergents, cleaners and soaps on makeup brushes.
