As 2013 comes to a close I have made a few 'beauty resolutions' one being to be that little more organised when it comes to deep cleaning my makeup brushes. I own a mountain of brushes and flit between the same ones on a regular basis, adding a few extras to the mix when I am in an 'experimental mood'. However whilst I am rather good at spot cleaning every day I tend to take the lazy girls attitude towards deep cleaning, and whilst I always aim for once a week that doesn't always happen. So this weekend whilst my boyfriend returned to work after a long Christmas Holiday and to be in prep for the New Year I decided to grab all my brushes and head to the bathroom for the little Brush Maintenance.
My routine for deep cleansing is pretty simple. I tend to favour a good old flannel and a moisturising anti-bac hand wash to do the trick rather than a fancy brush cleaning tool and specialised cleaner. I recommend picking up a few flannels from Primark or any other cheap shop and stashing them away specifically for brush cleaning. They will get stained, but throw them in afterwards with your hot wash and they are ready to be re-used the following week.
Now to get started. I like to lay an old towel out on the floor and roll it up slightly at the edge to create a slope, then when you the wet brushes down water will run down rather than up to the handle. Once I have prepped I like to take the largest brushes first, usually my face brushes and saturate the bristles in warm water. The trick is not to get too much into the handle or it can erode the glue causing the bristles to fall out (RIP Sigma F80). Then pump 1 pump of hand-wash on to the flannel and start working that brush in circular motions and then rinse. If like me its been a while (naughty) then start the process again for a double cleanse. Place the brush on the towel and repeat with all the other brushes. I tend to find that the handles can get a tad grubby, especially the RT brushes due to the rubberised finish, so whilst the brushes are drying I will rub a face wipe over the ends to get them back to their original self. Finally if you have a few that are numbered i.e. MAC, Sigma etc then take the opportunity right now to slick a coat of clear nail varnish over the number to stop it fading. And hey presto your brushes are as good as new, well almost. Now all I need to do is keep this up into the new year.
P.s: If you are lazy like me in terms of brush cleaning then I highly recommend picking up a spot cleaner for everyday which whilst it won't keep your brushes emmaculate it will stop a lot of the build up. My weapon of choice for this is Beauty So Clean Conditioning Brush Cleanser which you can pick up for around a tenner on Feel Unique. Happy cleaning!
