Cleaning My Make-Up Brushes

Hey Ladies! Now I don't know if its just me but cleaning my make-up brushes is one thing I really need to start doing more? I am so lazy when it comes to cleaning them because I always find it such a mission. It usually means me setting aside a good hour to do them all and to be honest, as I'm using them almost every day I just don't find the time to faff around and leave them to dry for hours? However,  my brushes were getting disgustingly dirty and for hygiene reasons I decided enough was enough and set about giving them a much needed deep clean. I used to use MAC Brush Cleanser for cleaning all of my brushes and the whole process took forever. I didn't realise the brush cleaner was mainly used for spot cleaning so attempting to clean huge powder and face brushes with this method was becoming quite difficult. I was finding myself pouring it onto the brushes just to get them clean and at 8.00 a bottle this just wasn't cost effective in the slightest.

I decided I needed something that would give my brushes a good deep clean so I went and bought some Johnson's Baby Shampoo. When I was thinking of something I could clean them with, I thought, what better product than Johnson's? If its gentle enough for babies, I'm sure it will be fine on my brushes. Plus it is super cheap so my purse would thank me for buying this over another bottle of MAC. Anyway, with the Johnson's in tow I got all of my dirty brushes together ready for the big clean. I didn't actually realise how dirty they were until seeing them all together. The amount of bacteria I must have been putting on my face is gross. Anyway, moving on from that lovely thought.

I wasn't 100% sure how I was going to clean them at first so I started by filling the kitchen sink with warm water and creating bubbles with the Johnsons's. I began cleaning one of my large powder brushes but realised this method wasn't going to work. As all of the make-up began to come off my brush it just make the water a hideous brown colour and therefore I was just going to be washing my brushes in a dirty make-up water mess. I scrapped that plan and decided to clean them by applying the Johnsons's to the actual brush, rubbing it between my fingers to lather it and then running it under a the warm tap. This method worked perfectly and all of the make-up quickly disappeared from the brush. I couldn't believe how quickly it actually got rid of every last bit of old make-up. I continued doing this with a few more of my larger brushes and within five minutes they were squeaky clean.

For my smaller eye brushes I decided I would use the MAC Brush Cleaner as it does work well for small brushes. I use this by pouring a small about onto some kitchen or toilet roll and swirling the brush about until all of the shadow has been removed. I have to say the amount of eyeshadow that comes off a teeny eyeshadow brush is shocking. The toilet paper was a mass of shadowy mess once I'd finished with it. As you can see from the pictures above, my little MAC pencil brush was back to its former white self once I'd finished with it. Once I had cleaned a few, I laid them out onto a small hand towel to dry. They probably took around 2 hours to dry fully but that was fine as I'd already done my makeup and didn't need to use them again until later in the evening. When I did come to use them again, they felt amazing on my skin. I can't believe what a difference a little bit of TLC can make. As well as them feeling and smelling beautiful, I felt good knowing I wasn't using a dirty brush to apply my make-up. Mission completed.

Are you lazy like me when it comes to cleaning your make-up brushes?

What method do you use to clean them?

Lots of Love,