How I Clean My Brushes

Hey Lovelies!!!

So, I'm going to start off by saying that last week, after posting my blog post, I kind of redesigned my blog a bit. Let me know if you guys like it. I'm obviously planning to do more, but until I finish it and figure everything out, I'll have to make do with what I have to choose from.

Back to the post... Today, I'm going to share with you guys how I clean my makeup brushes. A couple weeks ago, I posted my makeup brush collection, so I figured this would be a good post to follow up with. Funny story, I was actually supposed to post this last week, but I was home and I left my baby shampoo back in my dorm room... GET WITH THE PROGRAM MEG!!! But it's all good because I did the amazing Beauty Scenario Tag and it got great results, so no complaints.

Anywho...

I've heard many different things that you can use, whether you make or buy it, to clean makeup brushes. And this is just my personal preference to use. My favorite is using Johnson's Baby Shampoo. It's gentle enough and makes your brushes stay nice and soft and still cleans them perfectly (plus I love the smell). Before I used baby shampoo, I actually mixed together anti-bacterial dish soap and extra virgin olive oil. The combination of the two got the brushes super clean (took the bacteria out) and also kept them super soft from the olive oil. I tend to prefer the baby shampoo, but either will work just fine!

Here's a little travel sized bottle of the baby shampoo. I always get some of these when I'm at Target because they're so cheap and they actually last a pretty long time for such a small bottle

To clean the brushes, here are the steps that I take:

♥ Get a little bit of water onto the brush (NOTE: make sure the brush is facing down so no water gets into the bristles and glue. That will cause the glue to dissolve and the brush will fall apart)

♥ Dip brush into cleaner

♥ Rub around in palm to get a good lather

♥ Rinse off (NOTE: make sure the brush is facing down so no water gets into the bristles and glue. That will cause the glue to dissolve and the brush will fall apart)

♥ Continue previous steps until there is no remaining soapiness or makeup residue. The water should run           clear when you rinse it

♥ Rub in a circle on a paper towel (lightly) to get out any excess water

♥ Lay brushes flat on a paper towel with bristles hanging over the edge of a counter/table

Here's what it will most likely look like at this stage

♥ Reshape brushes after they have dried for a while by lightly rubbing on the paper towel or in your palm

So, that's basically it. I try to clean my brushes once a week, although it usually ends up happening every other week.. I have found that it takes about 12 hours for my biggest, and densest brushes to dry completely; each brush takes a different amount of time to dry. And I typically stop clean my brushes after each use, which keeps them a little cleaner for longer. If you don't know what I mean by spot cleaning, I mean that I basically get out as much extra makeup product from the brush as I can after each use. You can even buy a spot cleaning spray to spray on a paper towel to get even more extra product out of the brush.

Here's a before and after:

The Real Techniques are awesome at showing the before and after because of the white tips. It's super easy, especially on the blush brush to see the makeup on the brush and then just the white tips.

I'd love to know how you guys clean your makeup brushes. What do you use and how often do you clean them? Let me know in the comments! It's almost the end of the month already! Crazy, right?! And you know what that means... I'll be posting my February Favorites right here, on my blog, on Friday (February 28). So keep an eye out. I'll also have my regular post next Sunday. And as always, stay beautiful!!!

♥♥♥