There are hundreds of articles on the web about how to clean makeup brushes. I have tried a lot of them… well, four to be exact and have found one that I will stick to until I can get my hands on a brush washing machine and see if it works better than manual cleaning.
Before I get to the process I have adopted, I thought you might find it useful to learn about (and maybe try) the ones that did not work as well for me, too.
Just Soap
The first method I tried was no-fuss and in-your-face. I cleaned my brushes using soap. I started with Dove but later switched to Safeguard because I got paranoid that the former might not be cleaning them as much as the latter because it does not have antibacterial properties. While it worked well, I also wanted to test the waters and discover if there would be something better.
Borrowed from My Baby
The next one I tried was the baby shampoo/wash. I have a three-year-old so I didn’t even have to go out and buy the material. I liked how my brushes felt after I cleaned them that way, but I felt like I could still try something else.
Oil Breaks Down Oil
Most foundations are oil-based. Considering that and the notion that oil breaks down oil, I assumed Michelle Phan’s way would work well. It did take away the dirt from the brushes, but it also left them feeling oily to the touch no matter how much I rinse them.
The Mad Cherry Way
I won’t have this method patented, though, because I did not come up with it. It was actually adapted from Katy of Lustre Lux. In one of her videos, she showed her method and I tried it for myself. I replaced Castile soap with shampoo, though, because I don’t own any.
I also thought it would be fun to show you how to clean makeup brushes using the method I currently enjoy so I made a video of it. Watch it below.
