Cleaning My Makeup Brushes (on a budget)

The reasons to clean your brushes are pretty clear. From the health aspect: dirty brushes are breeding ground for bacteria. Ew. To the aesthetic: brushes are just prettier and softer when they're clean.
But there are a million ways to clean them.

You could buy a cleanser specifically marketed for cleaning them. elf has a brush shampoo for $3. I've also heard that the blendercleanser, $19.95 at Sephora, works incredibly well, but it's more marketed towards the beautyblender.

Or, you could be cheap like me.

There's a million mixtures that people use. This is just what I happen to do at the moment. It's cheap, easy, and was one of the first ways I saw a year ago when I went Googling "how to clean makeup brushes".

So here is what I got up to a little while ago when I felt like I need a little more productiveness in my day.

What you'll need:

Dirty brushes

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Antibacterial soap

A sink (and some entertainment via an iPad placed far enough away from the water)

A towel

A plate

The antibacterial soap cleans the brush, but the extra virgin olive oil conditions the bristles. I don't know anyone who wants scratchy brushes all over their face.

Start off by taking the antibacterial soap and filling the plate about halfway. The soap will expand more on the plate because that's what liquids do. Just take the Extra Virgin Olive Oil and fill the other side of the plate until you've got a mixture that looks something like this:

The darker yellow is the soap.

Once you have that set, you're ready to dip you're brushes on in!

Dip the brush right into the middle where the two meet and swirl your brush a bit. 

This is where I have no pictures because I needed both hands. 

Turn your water on, but make sure the water is warm. Not too hot, not too cold.

Once you have the mixture on your brush, swirl the brush on your hand to really get it into the bristles. At this point, you'll see color coming off of your brush.

As you're swirling the brush, put your hand and the brush underneath the water to begin rinsing. Make sure you're only getting the bristles portion of the brush wet. There are three parts to a makeup brush - the hair/bristles, ferrule, and handle. The ferrule is what connects the bristles to the handle. You don't want water to get beneath that as it can make your brushes come apart.

Swirl the brush on your hand while underneath the water for a few seconds and then rinse the rest of the mixture out.

Once you're brush is rinsed, you need to set it aside to dry. The brushes should be dried while facing down. This is so that the water doesn't run back into the brush and the ferrule. Some people hang their brushes upside down, but I just use a towel and roll one end so that the brushes are on an angle. Like so:

Before you set the brush down to dry, gently shape the brush so that no stray bristles are out of place. Again, some people use brush guards. Again, I'm on a budget (and lazy).

What feels like an hour later, your brushes will look something like this:

 

And if you're anything like me and don't use rubber gloves when washing brushes (or dishes), your fingers might look something like this:

Now you're done and I'm off to find some lotion.