How to Deep Clean and Store your Makeup Brushes

My cleaned brushes laying out to dry

I designed my brush holders using stickers from Michael's

I got the jars from Michael's, and I store them using beads like Sephora

Yay! I finally got around to cleaning my brushes. I typically deep clean my brushes every three to four weeks. I lightly clean them every two to three weeks. Though with all the bright makeup looks I've been doing lately I had to clean them earlier.


How I Deep Clean My Brushes

Regular cleaning of your makeup brushes will help your brushes last longer and prevent your skin from bacteria which can lead to clogged pores and pimples -- ew. You don't want to keep using those dirty brushes on your skin. It's important to try to clean them at least once a month.

I have purchased MAC's Brush Cleanser before, but with the price and it being a pour cap instead of a pump or spray cap, it made me waste a lot of product. I used the MAC Brush Cleanser only 4-5 times before it was all out. I didn't want to keep spending $12.00 for 7.9oz on MAC's Brush Cleanser, so my friend told that I can use Johnson's Baby Shampoo, or any gentle shampoo with warm water. I figured that made sense since the brushes are made of fine hair, so why shouldn't we use the same things as we use on our hair, right?  The Baby Shampoo leaves my brushes clean, soft, and fresh. This is my normal routine for cleaning my brushes.

To clean my brushes I use these steps:

• Step 1: I pour a small amount of baby shampoo into a small cup
• Step 2: I grab my brush rinse it quickly under the water
• Step 3: I then dip the brush into the baby shampoo
• Step 4: I gently massage the bristles, working the shampoo into the brush (make sure the brush is upside down so water does not go into the brush handles)
• Step 5: I rinse the bristles under the running water (you will see the dirty makeup cleaning from your brushes -- lets you see how dirty your brushes really are!)
• Step 6: After rinsing, I shape the brush back to its original shape with my hands and make sure there are no stray bristles 
• Step 7: Finally I lay them flat on a towel and allow them to air dry overnight

Storage

As you can see in the pictures, I store my brushes in the rectangle and square jars (which I bought from Michael's). The black square jar is used to hold my face brushes, since I have less face brushes than eye brushes. The white rectangular jar is used to hold all of my eye brushes. I use beads (from Michael's too) to hold my brushes up right.

I love these beads because it makes it so much easier for me to see all of my brushes! I stick my brushes in them and they stay standing up because of the beads. It's so much better than simply sticking them in a jar (where you have to meddle through just to find the brush you need). And to put a little of me into it I had to get stickers and personalize them! You'll see that this is the best way to store your brushes and it looks great!