by Vanessa Roberts
Eco fashionistas, let’s keep it real. How many of you make it a habit to regularly clean your makeup brushes? I mean, really clean them, and not just wipe them on a tissue and say they are clean.
I bet not many, and I’m just as guilty as you. I was living in blissful ignorance, doing my makeup, and not giving a second thought to how much bacteria was living in my brushes. That is until I made the mistake of watching an informercial which demonstrated just how dirty our brushes can really get.
To say I was gagging is an understatement.
Then I had an epiphany. Since I had never cleaned my brushes, it only made sense that the reason I consistently broke out in the same spots was probably due to my dirty brushes, and I decided to do something about it.
I researched, experimented, and tested out different recipes until I found a solid solution that used only natural ingredients and effectively cleaned my makeup brushes.
So, what is this miracle natural brush-cleaning-solution? Well hold onto your brushes ladies because I’m about to reveal the only makeup brush cleaning recipe you will ever need. Even better? It costs under $2 per batch. I’m fist pumping like a maniac over here!
How to Clean Your Makeup Brushes Naturally
The Ingredients
Some makeup experts may try to convince you that you need to buy a certain brush cleaner, but you don’t. They may tell you that you need a certain type of cloth, but you don’t. They may even tell you that you need to replace your brushes every year or so, but you don’t.
All you need is a quick visit to your natural food store and to fill your cart with:
- extra-virgin olive oil
- liquid castille soap (like Dr. Bronner’s)
- white or apple cider vinegar
That’s it.
The Process: Step 1
Begin by grabbing a fresh washcloth. Pour a teaspoon of your oil onto the cloth, dab your brush into the olive oil, and wipe your cloth with your brush.
Now it’s important to note that you shouldn’t get oil into the upper half of your brush as you don’t want the top of the bristle to get oily and eventually shed.
As you are wiping your brush onto your cloth you should start to see a lot of makeup coming out of the brush, so much so you might think it’s clean. It’s not. All you are doing with this step is essentially conditioning the fibres of your bristles and helping to pre-clean your brush.
Step 2
After you are done wiping your brush, grab a small bowl and mix one teaspoon of castille soap with an equal amount of warm water so that it covers the bottom of your bowl.
Then simply rub your fingers around the bottom half of your brush while keeping the ends immersed in the soapy water.
As in step 1, it is important that you don’t get the upper half of your brush wet.
Once you think you have cleaned the bristles well enough, squeeze the water out. If you have never cleaned your brushes, you may want to repeat this step one more time.
Step 3
Good news! By this step you are basically done which means this step is optional, but I like it so I’ll explain it.
For this step all you have to do is pour a little bit of your vinegar into a bowl and dip the tips of your brushes into it. Then just squeeze the bristles and rinse them under hot water to ensure all the vinegar and oil is out of your brushes.
Once your brushes are all clean and rinsed out lay them flat on either a clean towel and leave them in a sunny area so they can dry.
And there you have it. 3 easy steps to clean makeup brushes that requires little effort, little money, and uses natural ingredients. It’s a clean and natural way to give your brushes a little DIY TLC. And yes, I’m into acronyms today.
Vanessa is a skincare bloggin’ babe whose work can be found on websites all around cyberland, including a review on Meladerm . The best part about her job? She gets to help her readers look and feel their very best.
Image Credit: Makeup Brushes photo via Shutterstock