It’s Friday, 5:30pm. You’re meeting your friends at 6:30pm, but you’ve only just wrapped up work. You could go home to shower and get changed, but then you’d be really late for drinks. So instead, you go to the ladies bathroom, you whip out your makeup bag (you packed it because you had a feeling this would happen) and you reapply a fresh layer of everything you put on this morning. Except this time, your face isn’t clean. Unless you wash it throughout the day? Didn’t think so. The moral of the story? Your makeup brushes have gathered some 9-5 grime, and they need cleaning.
Turn over a clean makeup brush.
Cleaning your makeup brushes is actually really easy. A lot of beauty brands stock and sell “makeup brush cleaner” which is really just bottled alcohol with an added drop of whatever. We don’t blame them, if there’s a need in the market, why not supply it? But since we’re not in the business of selling “makeup brush cleaner”, we’re going to level with you, and tell you just how easy and affordable it is to maintain and clean your makeup brushes that you already spent more than you would have liked on. R655 for one makeup brush? That’s like two really nice dinners out! WITH desert, AND coffee...
TO CLEAN YOUR MAKEUP BRUSHES, YOU WILL NEED:
- Alcohol aka Surgical Spirits (you can buy a 100ml bottle from Clicks for R21,99)
- 3 minutes away from social media
IT’S AS EASY AS 1 2 3…
1. Rinse the makeup brush you’re cleaning under lukewarm water. You want to rinse out all of the residual makeup before you invite alcohol to the party. (One usually does it the other way around)
TIP: Don’t let the water touch the part of the brush where the handle meets the head, this can loosen the glue over time and then you’ll have to buy another makeup one!
2. Decant some alcohol into a small bowl, (a soya sauce dish works really well) dip the makeup brush into the alcohol and swirl around for a few seconds.
3. Wipe off any remaining alcohol (you can use toilet paper or a clean towel for this) and lay flat to dry on a clean towel.
TIP: If you have a window sill that allows for it, place the brush on the window sill, some sunlight and air will speed up the drying process.
“BUT WAIT, YOU HAVEN’T TOLD US HOW OFTEN WE SHOULD BE CLEANING OUR MAKEUP BRUSHES!”
Good point!
For concealer, foundation and powder brushes, at least once a week to prevent a build-up of product. Also, these brushes are used ON YOUR FACE. The thing that you’re trying to make look nice by buying the makeup brushes in the first place! You really don’t want to risk clogging pores or transferring bacteria. Enlarged pores and acne will NOT make your face look nice.
As for brushes that are used around the eyes, those you should clean at least twice a month.
Lip brushes can be cleaned once a month. FUN FACT: Our lips have a self-cleaning device. It’s called “The tongue.”
Now head to Clicks on your way home, pick up a bottle of Surgical Spirits and give those filthy makeup brushes the alcohol bath they deserve.
Date Published: 29 August 2018
