Clean Your Brushes Like a Pro

I often get asked about how I look after my brushes… but what tends to follow is being told how little people tend to clean their own brushes. Brushes from my kit I thoroughly clean after every single use… whereas I clean my personal brushes at the end of each week. As with skincare you get out what you put in... if you look after your brushes you can extend their life and help to prevent nasties building up.

You can use any mild soap for cleaning your tools, my personal favourites are Beauty Blender Liquid Blender Cleanser and the solid cleanser for ease out and about.

I start by separating all my brushes and tackle them in order:

1. Powder
2. Creams and liquids
3. Glitters

Hold the brush with the bristles pointing downwards and wet with luke‑warm water.

Add a drop of soap into the palm of your hand and run the brushes through the soap so that it dislodges any product starting with the powder brushes.

Once they look and feel clean set them aside and move on to the cream and liquid brushes, these are not as easy! The process is the same but if they are heavily soiled you may have to go over them again and again.

The next set of brushes are the ones used for glitter… if you are a fan of Huda Beauty, Anastasia Beverly Hills or Marc Jacobs you will know that the shimmer is so fine it can end up everywhere. Therefore it is always best to tackle these last to avoid adding glitter bombing your whole kit.

With the hairs facing downwards again (45 degrees) I then rinse all of the brushes until there are no soap suds, no product….they are squeaky clean!! Once I’ve finished washing all the brushes and they’ve been rinsed I dab each brush head with an absorbent disposable towel to take the excess water (otherwise the left over water can affect the glue in the ferrule) and reshape any heads that have become misshaped.

I then leave them to air dry usually on a piece of kitchen towel with their heads hanging over the edge. I then leave them to air dry. If your brushes show signs of wear and tear such as loss of bristles or are spiky and misshapen it’s time to replace your brush.