Deep Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes

Over the last month I've really become interested in skincare and trying to improve the look and condition of my skin. One very important, but often neglected step in this quest for perfect skin is deep cleaning your makeup brushes. After all, there's no point cleansing, toning and moisturising if you're going to apply your makeup with dirty brushes every day, is there? The build-up of dirt and bacteria on makeup brushes can cause spots, and we all want to avoid those pesky little things. Experts recommend cleaning your brushes every 1-2 weeks, but it's so easy to forget, or to simply avoid as it's not the most exciting job in the world. I'm going to really try and give my brushes a deep clean at least every couple of weeks to make sure I'm applying my makeup with clean bacteria-free tools.
Now, you can give your brushes a quick cleanse using an instant brush cleanser (MAC and Estee Lauder sell these, for example), but you should still deep clean them regularly to make sure you've removed all traces of makeup and dirt.
Here are the steps I take to deep clean my brushes:

You can wash your brushes using mild shampoo, washing up liquid or soap. I personally like to use a delicate soap as I find this is perfect for removing all the makeup from my brushes, and the pump dispenser makes the job so much easier.

Step 1: Wash your hands

You're going to be using your hands to clean the brushes so you want them to be clean too so that you don't transfer the bacteria from your hands back onto the brushes.

Step 2: Rinse the brush

Hold the brush vertically, making sure the water doesn't run down into the brush as this can loosen the glue that holds the brush fibres, causing your brush to moult (and if you've spent a fair bit of money on good quality brushes, you don't want them falling to bits).

Step 3: Dispense the soap onto the brush or into your hand

I personally like to dispense it directly onto the brush, but it really makes no difference as step 4 is the same either way.

Step 4: Swirl the brush and soap around on the palm of your hand

This is the part where you can see all the nastiness that's been clinging to your makeup brush, and if you're like me, you feel a bit guilty that you hadn't washed them sooner! Keep rinsing your hand when it gets covered in soapy makeup residue, then swirl the brush around again until all the makeup is gone.

Step 5: Rinse the brush again

Again, be sure not to let the water run down into the brush - keep it vertical. Make sure you rinse until all the soap is gone.

Step 6: Wring out the excess water

 Don't squeeze or pull the brush too hard as you don't want to risk loosening or pulling out any of the brush fibres.

Step 7: Re-shape the brush and leave it to dry

When the brush is damp, you need to re-shape it so that it dries in the right shape. Then leave the brush to dry on some kitchen roll or a clean towel. You could do this in the evening so that your brushes can dry overnight, or on a day when you don't intend to wear makeup.

And voila! Now you have lovely clean brushes to apply your makeup with.

I'm sure a lot of you already know how to deep clean your makeup brushes but I hope this helped those of you who were a little bit unsure :)
Hope you're having a great week,

Holly xo