Easy Make-Up Brush Cleaning

Every time I see my friend’s make up brushes I tell myself to write a blog post about brush cleaning. After being on the road for the last 2 months my own make brushes were appalling and reminded me to sit down to write this post. We all do this, put off the brush cleaning because there is no time. Generally the moment I remember to clean my makeup brushes is when I am using them and I need to run out the door right after. I tell myself I will do it later when I get home… but in reality later when I get home I just want to veg out and watch bad TV and have a glass of wine.

This meant I had to figure out how to get my brushes washed quickly the moment I think of it, and have them dry by the time I needed them again.

I have both natural hair and synthetic make up brushes but I do the same thing for all of them. However judge for yourself if this is right for your set of brushes.

The secret is Shu Uemura’s cleansing oil. I buy the giant bottle of this about once every 2 years. It lasts this long for me because I don’t wear heavy make up often and for daily face wash or light make up removal I use organic cleansers. So the Shu Uemura oil is my big gun make up remover for special occasions like Halloween when make up is literally caked onto my face. Since I wear make up very rarely I only wash my brushes about once every few months. But if you use them daily I would recommend washing them once a week.

If you are not familiar with Shu Uemura’s cleansing oils, here’s the quick run down of how they work. Start with dry hands and a dry face. Rub about 1 tablespoon of oil in your palm and massage onto your face. Massage for a few seconds and then wet your hands. Don’t rinse, just wet your hands. Then massage your now oily face with the wet hands. The oil on contact with water turns into a face wash and will begin to lather. Now you wet your and again (do not rinse) and continue to massage/lather your face. Repeat that step about 3 times and then you can rinse.

This amazing product will remove all make up without the need to repeat or rub your skin. Totally clean skin is so important because any tiny bit of residue, especially make up, is bad for your skin and can pile up over time. Another thing I like about this product is you do not need to wash your face again after. That not only reduces the amount of steps it takes to get make up off, but also reduces how much irritation your skin needs to go through to get clean.

So now that you are acquainted with my secret weapon let’s talk about brush cleaning. This product is  how I get my brushes clean quickly in the mornings right after I’ve put on my make up. I would grab all 5 brushes in one hand. Cup a tablespoon or two of the cleansing oil in my other hand and just rub the brushes in the oil against my palm until all the make up is out. Then I wet my palm rub the now oily brushes in my palm. I repeat 3 times and then rinse. Afterwards I lay out a sham wow type cloth and leave the brushes to dry on the sham wow throughout the day while I’m at work. Voila. Painless brush cleaning that can be kept u on a weekly basis.

Personally I use the pink bottle one which is called Fresh Pores. I used to have acne skin so the sales clerk said the pink one is best for combination to oily skin types. Which one is best for you will depend on your skin type. For your brushes, I don’t think it matters so that is up to your personal preference.