Good makeup brushes can cost you a fortune, and most don’t think of the brushes when it comes to the cost of buying makeup. The makeup itself isn’t the only thing that contributes to that beautiful face – but the brushes are doing half the work, too!
But over time your brushes collect makeup residue, and some even fall apart after some time. This all depends on what you pay for, but most don’t even know that you can salvage the brushes you have without purchasing new ones all the time!
I have about 5 or 6 different foundation brushes alone – all of them are Bare Essential Foundation Brushes – and I circulate through those brushes month by month, and when I’ve reached the last one I wash them. Bare Essentials brushes are great since I’ve had them for YEARS, and I highly recommend them. They’re expensive in places like Ulta and at the Bare Essentials store, but on Amazon they’re cheaper than actual retail. If you’re interested in trying one out – you can buy one here!
It’s very simple and it can SAVE the brushes you have and make them last a long time. Also, your face will thank you. All of those built up oils those brushes are just masking over your face is a lot to what contributes to break outs, skin irritations, and excessive oily skin. Plus, you’re basically putting bacteria back on your clean face when you put makeup on. Ew!
*this post contains affiliate links, and if purchased from, I will receive a teeny weeny commission!*
How To Clean And Reuse
Your Makeup Brushes
Ingredients:
Cetaphil Antibacterial Cleansing Soap (Bar or liquid)
1. Fill sink with warm water and let brushes soak for a few minutes…
This will break up the makeup contents so they are easier to wash. You will notice the color bleeding out fairly quickly. If there is a lot of color, then that will mean you went far too long cleaning your brushes. I clean my brushes every 4-6 months, and they mildly bleed. But I also switch and alter between 5-6 brushes so each one will have a decent amount of color on them.
2. With the Cetaphil liquid or bar cleanser, begin by gently massaging brush heads with the soap…
Very gently. You don’t want to damage the bristles – otherwise they won’t remain their shape or softness. If you use the bar soap, then you can just swirl the tip of the brush on the bar of soap until it has collected enough of the cleanser, then you can massage it in more with your fingers.
As your massaging, make sure you hold the brush upright so that the soap can drip down into the base where A LOT of the color resides that your fingers can’t get to.
When you’re done massaging all brushes, drain the sink and fill again with warm water. Allow them to soak again for another couple minutes.
3. Rinse the brushes thoroughly with water…
This is crucial. Making sure you get the soap off is the most important. In the sink filled with water, swirl the brush heads on the bottom of the sink. You will notice the color just oozing out at this point – you may not even be able to see the bottom anymore!
If you need to refill the sink a couple times – do it! It can only help more.
Then take each brush head and aim it upright to the sink faucet. Let the water from the faucet fall on the bristles so that it can get more of the color and soap out from the base of the brush. Gently squeeze the brush head in your palm a few times to get more of the color out as you are rinsing.
4. Spray apple cider vinegar on the brush heads…
I use a spray bottle for this, so that I’m not dowsing the brushes in vinegar, but if you don’t have one – just use a small bowl with half parts water to half parts apple cider vinegar. Dunk the brush heads into the cider bowl for a few seconds, swirling the brush around. Or spray the apple cider vinegar onto the brush a few times and gently squeezing the brush heads to evenly distribute the vinegar.
Then you can rinse the brushes under warm water again.
5. Allow brushes to dry on paper towel or cloth towel…
Before just laying them on a dry towel, with your hand smooth the bristles while gently squeezing excess water out so that they can dry completely straight. You don’t want any bristles bent or facing other directions as they will dry that way and can ruin the quality of its job.
Allow to dry for up to 6-7 hours. Do not use if they are even damp to the touch (you can test on your face). I tend to clean them at night before going to bed so I know I won’t have to use them til morning.
When you use them, it will feel like using a brand new brush – I promise you that! This solution is also great using on eye shadow brushes and hair brushes as well.
Enjoy saving money on brushes, saving your skin and learning a whole new way of taking care of your makeup brushes!