“Whether I’m wearing lots of makeup or no makeup, I’m always the same person inside,” Lady Gaga once said. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to imagine your hardworking makeup brushes to be able to say the same things about themselves as well? Come on, be honest, not too many women get to clean up their brushes on a regular basis. Filthy? Yes but, you got some microorganism problems lurking within those bristles too.
Keeping brushes in tip top shape
After laziness, the next most common reason why very few women bother to clean and clear up their makeup brushes is that they don’t know how to clean makeup brushes. Who can blame them for choosing to leave those brushes as is? Makeup brushes, the good quality ones, can easily cost hundreds of dollars, and cleaning them the wrong way can easily ditch that cold hard cash down the drain.
Despair no longer, here are easy ways to care of your makeup brushes. We promise you three things: your brushes will be clear of product residues, your bristles will be free from bacteria, and your brushes will stay in tiptop shape. Here are 7 tips to get it right:
Tip No. 1: Get a microfiber cloth.
It’s important that it’s microfibre so that it does not leave cotton-like fibers on your brushes. What you want to do is to use this microfibre cloth to tap out dry makeup products from your brushes, that is, for times when you are using powder-based products. After every use, simply bounce your brush lightly against the cloth, and then swipe sideways, up and down, then in circles. Do this gently so as not to damage the shape of your bristles.
Tip No. 2: Run your brushes under lukewarm water.
Do this every time, following application of your cream-based and gel-based products. Leaving these tough clinging products on your brushes even for just a few hours will damage and leave a stain on your bristles. Also, it will harden your brushes. To help avoid this, always use running, lukewarm water to clean your brushes. Tap lightly against the sink to get excess products out.
Tip No. 3: On a regular basis, cleanse your brushes.
The best product to use to soften the bristles and let the makeup residues literally slip and get washed out of your brushes is to use your soap-free cleanser. That’s because using ordinary soap will possibly deposit product residues, including soap hardeners, on your brushes which will toughen your bristles and invite bacteria. When you rinse off your brushes with water, you don’t want anything else to get left behind.
Tip No. 4: On a regular basis, steam your brushes.
To do this, fill your steamer with water. Wait for it to boil and produce steam before placing your brushes across to catch steam. Leave the brushes in that position for a good 15 minutes before taking these out of the steam. Dry by tapping on the microfiber cloth but not pulling on the bristles.
If you have a clean place, like a window sill that catches sunlight, set your brushes there to catch sunlight so as to remove the excess moisture. Take care, not to over sundry or your bristles will harden.
Tip No. 5: Store your brushes in a container.
Proper storage for your brushes is also important to keep these free from bacteria and to avoid deforming your bristles. If you could buy high quality, expensive brushes, it shouldn’t hurt to get them a container for safekeeping.
Tip No. 6: Change your brushes regularly.
The quality of care you give your makeup brushes will ensure that you’ll be able to maximize their use over a longer period of time. However, even with great care, your brushes will still eventually have to be replaced. When you start seeing your brush bristles become deformed or, you start noticing that it is beginning to fail at blending your makeup and making your cosmetics adhere closely to your skin, that’s when you know it’s time to replace your brushes.
Tip No. 7: Know proper use of your brushes.
This tip might not sound like a common tip on how to clean makeup brushes but knowing the proper use of your tools is a good way of prolonging its good quality.
CONCLUSION
Great makeup requires a detailed eye and good quality tools. So, take good care of your makeup brushes, and save yourself from unnecessarily spending your hard earned dollar.