How To: Inexpensively Clean Makeup Brushes

If you are as addicted to makeup as I am, then cleaning your brushes is essential. The pre-made brush cleaners are often expensive, so I have a cheap alternative: Johnson's No More Tears Regular Baby Shampoo. I used to use the Sonia Kashuk one (Target, $6.99) and honestly, I think the Johnson's works better. It's about $2.99 from Target. Can't beat it! Because this shampoo is for babies, it is extremely gentile, even enough for your precious brushes. Plus, it has a great, clean scent!

To clean, all you need to do is place your brush under warm running water (bristles down so that water doesn't get into the brush handle) and get the brush completely wet. Place a small amount of Johnson's into your palm and swish the brush around until most of the brown/pink comes out. Wash off the soap and repeat this process until the soap comes out white and clean with no color. Gently squeeze out the water and place the brushes flat on a towel to dry overnight. Simple as that!

If you have a lot of brushes this can be time consuming, especially for large, dense face brushes. It can sometimes take up to three washes. But it's worth it! Dirty brushes hold bacteria and germs that you do NOT want to spread around on your face. I recommend washing your foundation brushes a few times a week and all other brushes maybe once every 1-2 weeks, realistically. Who is really going to take hours a week cleaning their brushes?? For spot treatment, I know this isn't the most effective thing, but I just wipe my brushes off on a clean tissue. Not the best, but it gets some of the powder off!

Be sure to try this out!

--Ms. Makeup

(Will upload before/after pics later!)