Makeup Brushes!

Just finished washing my makeup brushes, something that I used to be so rajin to do till I expanded my collection and then... now I do it whenever I feel like it. Not good.

 

So I didn't really wash my makeup brushes till I think I started to get rashes on my face. Well actually that's not the first time I got rashes, but with the age factor I thought I should get serious with taking care of my skin... So I googled up (yes, I'm a sucker for Googling ALMOST everything) and checked out ways to wash makeup brushes. At first I tried using shampoo and facial foam as suggested by some, (Michelle Phan suggested soap and olive oil I think) (olive oil is expensive lah oi!) but I found the bristles on my brush were always stuck together and looked dry for some reason. Perhaps it was the facial foam that I was using that stripped it dry.

 

I can't recall exactly how I found Sephora's makeup brush shampoo, but I'm glad I came across it. I managed to get it from the US (one of my colleagues, Natasha, was there for a training) so it was way cheaper than in KL. It's $6 (~RM19) for the small 60 ml bottle and in KL it's RM30. Lucky for me, Natasha gave it to me free!

 

 

Pros : It cleans the brush (duh!), most of the coloring (like the blusher, powder) and moisturizes and softens (Ok, maybe that doesn't really make sense in the chemistry world but the fact is it doesn't dry out my brushes and they do feel soft!) the bristles. Smells good and you don't really need to use a lot.

 

Cons : I can't seem to really remove the foundation color of my brush (maybe coz it's thicker and I left it too long on the brush before washing it), the bottle is so dark I can't see how much I've used and how much is left (but that's just me being paranoid).

How to use it?

Disclaimer : This is just how I do it. It's not a cast-in-stone method.

Just pump once or twice onto your hand depending on the size of the brush and swirl your brush in the shampoo (I usually wet the brush before swirling it). Then thoroughly rinse it and leave it to dry. NEVER dry it upright (i.e. bristles on top, handle bottom), always ensure that the bristles are facing downwards or if you cant hang/stand them upside down, lay it flat or slightly inclined. This is to avoid water from trickling into the glue which holds the bristles together.

 

Michelle Phan uses a plastic cover (available online at Sephora) to protect the brushes (which helps them to stand up) but they're not sold here in KL (or either that it was overpriced) nor were they sold in the Sephora store Natasha went to.

Overall I do recommed using the shampoo, especially if you can get your hands on the ones in US since it's cheaper! Or if you don't mind spending, drop by any Sephora store in KL. (I didn't find this particular one in Spore though. They only had the spray kind)
 

How do you take care of your brushes?