How I Clean My Make Up Brushes: Deep and Spot Cleansing

I really should wash my brushes more often that I do, but I tend to go through them all until they're all manky and then finally wash them all in one go rather than to wash my favourites more often.  Some people have the same attitude towards dishes!  I try to deep clean (water & shampoo) my brushes at least one a month, and I spot clean with a brush cleaning fluid more often, normally to remove dark eye shadows or bronzer on a daily basis.  Luckily I don't have problem skin, otherwise I'd need to be deep cleaning them at least once a week.

So, start with some dirty brushes:

Gather the materials you need:

I like baby shampoo.  It's meant to be mild but I it's actually a very good cleaner, it lathers well and I got this big bottle of it in the £1 shop.  I squeeze some into a small bowl rather than have to squeeze a blob from the bottle for each brush.  You go through a lot less of it this way too.

Grab a clean towel:

Grab an any old (but clean) cloth, I use an ex-facecloth:

Brush guards are an optional extra.  You can order these from HERE and they cost around $5.  They're great for helping your brush keep it's shape after a wash, and also excellent for travelling.

And of course, a sink filled with luke warm water.  Too cold and the brushes won't clean up properly, too hot and you will risk melting the glue that holds the bristles together in the ferule.

Grab a brush and dip the bristles into the water.

Dip the tip of the bristles into the shampoo in the bowl.

Swirl the brush with the shampoo on it onto the cloth or your hand until it lathers and you can see the make up loosening.

Dip the brush into the water to rinse off the soap, and you can also run it under the cold tap to make sure it's fully rinsed.  Take care not to submerge the base of the bristles near the ferule or over time, this will ruin the glue holding it all together, your brush will start shedding and will expire quicker!

Squeeze out the water gently and shape the bristles 

There are a few different ways you can leave your brushes to dry.  You can place them on a clean, dry towel.  Leave a bit of space around each brush to speed up the drying process.  You can also balance the brush so that it hangs over the side of a desk, etc, so that the bristles will dry into as natural a shape as possible.  With my favourite brushes I pop on a brush guard and place them upright with the bristles facing down, or lay them on a towel.  However with a brush guard on it does take a little longer to dry.

Never stand the brushes up with the bristles facing upwards as the moisture will seep down into the ferule = bad things will happen.

And remember never to use artificial heat on your brush, like a hairdryer or placing near a radiator as this could damage the bristles, and again melt the glue in the ferule.

All clean!

It took well over an hour to clean them all, one by one.  I left them to dry overnight.

Now, onto spot cleaning...

As I said, I do this on a daily basis and keep a clean cloth on hand.

I have two types of brush cleaners: MAC and e.l.f.  The MAC one (£8) is more slightly more effective at removing product (and pink!).  But the e.l.f. one smells lovely and is much cheaper (£3.50).

The MAC bottle is annoying in that there's no spray, so I picked up the little spray bottle below from Superdrug for about £1.50 and decanted some of the MAC cleaner into it.

I spray the fluid directly onto the brush bristles, or onto the cloth, and swirl the brush onto the cloth until there's no trace of make up is left on the cloth.  It takes a few minutes for the bristles to dry.

Happy cleaning!