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Saturday 17 August 2013

How to Wash Make-up Brushes

I like make-up, so I have quite a collection of brushes to apply it with. I want to take good care of my brushes so they will last a long time, and I still wash them quite often. I never use the same eyeshadow brush twice if I can avoid it, so the loose shadows won't mix and get dirty. And since I don't want to be washing brushes every day, this means I have around 10-15 eyeshadow brushes in use. My foundation brush gets washed whenever I wash the other brushes, blush and powder brushes less often. So far my brushes have held up fine, the oldest one is a blush brush that must be around nine years old, but of the more often used and washed brushes the Gosh eyeshadow brushes must be oldest, they are three years old.


I think quality brushes help apply make-up easier, but it's all down to your own preferences. Some people like to use large, fluffy brushes for the whole eye make-up, other prefer small, stiff, precise brushes. The main thing is that a brush should never feel uncomfortable. If it scratches your skin, it's not for you!

Here's how I wash my brushes, I learned my technique from Luna at Toxid Lotus a long time ago :)

You need:
A clean hand towel
Soap (some people like to use baby shampoo, and it's a good option if you have brushes with non-synthetic bristles. I use leftover hand and body soaps and the tiny soaps you get from hotels.)

1. Prepare the towel

Fold the towel in half and roll half of it. You will lay your wet, clean brushes to dry on it later. If you have many brushes, use a larger towel. Brushes usually need at least 10 hours to dry thoroughly, so pick a spot where they are not in the way during that time.


2. Get ready

Grab your soap (mine is tiny, it's the last piece of a bar from Dreaming Tree, I wanted to use every bit!) and let the tap run. Place the soap on your fingers so you have room to swish the brushes on your palm.


3. Wash!

Wet the brush in the running water, the swipe it on your soap. Swish the soapy brush on your palm to get the soap to penetrate the bristles. Rinse lightly and repeat until the brush doesn't let any more colour.

Wet...

Swipe...

Swish!
4. Rinse

Swish the brush in the running water for a while, make sure to bend the bristles so the water gets everywhere. If you can avoid it, don't let water get anywhere but the bristles and the ferrule, if it goes on the shaft, you might end up with the ferrule coming loose or the shaft swelling because of the moisture (only if it's wood). If the handle looks dirty, wash it quickly and dry immediately with a paper towel, or just wipe with alcohol (hand sanitizer works).

Rinse thoroughly!
5. Dry

Squish the bristles between your fingers to force out most of the water, but be careful not to pull them! Set your brush on the half rolled towel to that it's leaning down with the bristles at the lowest point. This prevents the moisture from the bristles from corroding the ferrule or the glue inside it that keep the bristles in place. Never dry your brushes bristles up, the moisture will only seep down into the ferrule and can even cause the glue to grow mold over time!

Squish gently.

And place to dry. My eyeshadow brushes take around 10 hours to dry, but the time depends on what material the bristles are (EcoTools dry the fastest, they have synthetic but very soft bristles) and how thick the brushes are. Large face brushes take a lot longer!

How to position brushes on the half rolled towel.
If you want the brushes to dry faster, you can try putting paper towel on top of the regular towel and changing it a few times over the drying time. For a quick help, I have Elf brush cleaning liquid that's basically alcohol. You spray some on the bristles, swipe the brush on a paper towel, repeat until no more colour sticks on the towel, and let it dry. Alcohol evaporates a lot faster than water, so your eyeshadow brush will be ready to use in about 15 minutes.

I personally think using quick alcohol cleanser often might affect the glue and dry out the bristles, so I prefer to just wash my brushes regularly and have many of the same brush. I don't use quick cleanser for face brushes at all, because they would still take ages to dry, and the alcohol would have a lot more time to dissolve the glue keeping the bristles in place.

22 comments:

  1. Mä luin/kuulin jostain, että ne pitäs shampoolla pestä O_O

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    Replies
    1. Siveltimille on jotain ihan omia spesiaalishampoitakin, mutta mun käsittääkseni ajatuksena on se että luonnonharjaksesta ei saippualla otettais ihan kaikkea rasvaa pois ettei se kuivu. Mun siveltimet on pääosin synteettisiä, jolloin ne ei ole vaarassa, ja vartalosaippuoissa on usein myös öljyjä ettei iho kuivu, joten ne ajavat saman asian :) Tai sitten voi saippuan ohella käyttää hoitoainetta, että karvat saavat kosteutta!

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  2. I wash my brushes just like you do)))

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  3. so important to wash your brushes! Also, I really like the color of your sink and the part of the faucet I can see is the kind I really want!!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I really loved the black sink the first time I saw the apartment, it's a bitch to keep clean but it's so pretty!

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  4. I've been painting -- both watercolors and oils -- since I was about 13 and I've always had brushes in my possession that I cleaned and conditioned constantly. I still have many of the brushes from when I first started painting. When I started to wear makeup in high school I just treated my makeup brushes the same way I treated my painting brushes. By then, washing and drying brushes was a habit and I never gave it much thought. I used to buy many of my makeup brushes from art supply shops because I always felt that the real fur/hair brushes for painting were always the best ... but I can be a little biased. ;)

    Great post!

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    Replies
    1. I think I have a few miniature brushes that I use for eyeliner :) Some synthetic brushes are really nice, but the real fur ones never let you down. And I remember so well the small watercolour brushes I used to paint with, all the synthetic ones totally shredded after a few uses with bristles pointing every which way!

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    2. And when the art supply shops are having sales you can get some nice brushes cheap! Much, much cheaper than many makeup brushes. :)

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  5. Your bathroom looks lovely! I tap my brushes on the side of my hand repeatedly after squeezing them out and this gets a surprising amount of water out of them! If I can I dry them in the same room as my dehumidifer and this helps them dry faster too!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the compliment and the tip! I'll have a go at the tapping, sounds like an excellent idea :)

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  6. I use the same technique as you! :)

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  7. Propping on a rolled towel is a great idea! Great post!

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  8. I never would have thought of propping them up like that! Love it!

    What brand are those turquoise brushes? They're so pretty!

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    1. Thanks! The turquoise ones are by Cailap, of a line designed by a make-up artist called Mariela Sarkima. I'm not sure if they are sold outside Finland, but I can definitely recommend them, they are of the softest synthetic fibre and just the right size for doing your eyes :)

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  9. I wash my brushes once a week, but never heard about the propping method. I'll try that tonight, thanks for the hint!

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  10. I wash my brushes after every use, and my method of drying is exactly like yours, though my method for washing is different:

    I use a recipe for brush cleaner that EnkoreMakeup on youtube has, and it's super super effective. I scrub my brushes over a textured silicone pot holder, because it gets deep into the bristles; similar effect to what the silicone brush cleaning glove by sigma offers. Then after I rinse them, I comb them with a little beard comb to make sure all the soap and water is out of the bristles... it's surprising how much soap is missed during rinse out in the middle of the brush.

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  11. Piti tulla asiakseen kommentoimaan tänne, kun sain pestyä kaikki käytössä olleet siveltimet viimeinkin ;D (ja niitä on ihan liikaa..) Asiahan ei varsinaisesti ollut kuitenkaan tuo urotyöni, vaan pesuaine! Kokeilin miljoonan suosittelemaa Marseille-saippuaa, ja karheimmistakin siveltimistä tuli niiiiin pehmeitä ja sileitä. Ostin Le Chat-merkkistä (oliivi- ja palmuöljyä) Sokkarilta, hintaa oli alle 3e ja pala 400g.
    Luin sen olevan hyvä tukanpesuunkin, kokeilin pari kertaa ja sen jälkeen siirryin suosiolla takasin shampooseen ;P Ehkä jos sais laitettua sitä _vähän_, ettei se jäisi tukkaan töhkäkerrokseksi. Ekalla kerralla tuli ainakin kivan tuuhea ja mattanen tulos, joka kesti.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Piti tulla asiakseen kommentoimaan tänne, kun sain pestyä kaikki käytössä olleet siveltimet viimeinkin ;D (ja niitä on ihan liikaa..) Asiahan ei varsinaisesti ollut kuitenkaan tuo urotyöni, vaan pesuaine! Kokeilin miljoonan suosittelemaa Marseille-saippuaa, ja karheimmistakin siveltimistä tuli niiiiin pehmeitä ja sileitä. Ostin Le Chat-merkkistä (oliivi- ja palmuöljyä) Sokkarilta, hintaa oli alle 3e ja pala 400g.
    Luin sen olevan hyvä tukanpesuunkin, kokeilin pari kertaa ja sen jälkeen siirryin suosiolla takasin shampooseen ;P Ehkä jos sais laitettua sitä _vähän_, ettei se jäisi tukkaan töhkäkerrokseksi. Ekalla kerralla tuli ainakin kivan tuuhea ja mattanen tulos, joka kesti.

    ReplyDelete

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