Be honest with yourself. How often do you clean your makeup brushes? [If you are a master procrastinator like my lovely sister… you are probably overdue for a makeup brush deep cleaning, so your queen-of-clean-sister Sara steps in for an intervention, just kidding – love you].

What’s hiding in your dirty makeup brush? Oil, dead skin cells, bacteria, old makeup, dust, germies, … all which get re-slathered on your face and cause skin problems (clogged pores, acne).

Please stop using commercial dish soap or baby shampoo to wash makeup brushes. They are full of toxic ingredients that do not need to be spread on your face [yes even after they are rinsed]. Please also feel free to join me in scoffing at the price of makeup brush cleaners. What makes them so expensive? All the solvents, parabens and toxins?

Ingredients

Castile soap is a natural soap made of vegetable oils such as coconut, jojoba, hemp or olive. It is a concentrated biodegradable cleaner and comes in liquid or bar form.

Essential oils like Lavender and Tea Tree are natural disinfectants, being antimicrobial, anti-fungal and antibacterial. They help to remove all the germies hiding in dirty makeup brushes.

How to Clean Makeup Brushes

Gather up makeup brushes. Today… dirty makeup brushes brought to you by my sister… the make-up fiend. Oops I meant friend 😉

Start by putting about 1 teaspoon of liquid castile soap (or more if you have a ton of brushes to wash) into a small glass bowl.

Next add 2 drops of each essential oil into the soap and stir gently. Always add essential oils directly to the soap otherwise they will not mix in properly once water is added.

• Lavender EO (Young Living or Plant Therapy)
• Tea Tree EO (Young Living or Plant Therapy)

{I use and recommend Young Living Essential Oils and Plant Therapy Essential Oils because they are 100% pure quality essential oils. There are other reputable essential oil companies to purchase from. Your local drug store’s cheap essential oil can give you a rash and not have the same positive effects because most only contain about 10% of the pure oil and the rest is filled with synthetics. Do your research and find a company you feel comfortable purchasing from.}

Add about 1/4 cup of warm water. Give the concoction a quick stir and add the brushes.

Let brushes sit in mixture for 10 minutes while the essential oils work their magic. (Feel free to throw in beauty blenders and dry shampoo brushes also). Gently swirl brushes around or use fingers to ‘massage’ the brushes in the mixture to loosen all the debris. Watch your jaw drop to the floor once you see what comes out of those tiny little brushes. Close your mouth and continue on.

Finally rinse under warm water and lay flat on towel or hang upside down to dry. Reshape brushes if needed. Always dry brushes laying flat or with bristles pointing down to prevent water from entering where bristles attach to the handle. (Because this can weaken the glue that holds brushes together.)

Enjoy clean brushes! But not forever… if used every day, makeup brushes should be washed AT LEAST once a week. [*ahem* I’m talking to you sis.]

Happy Brush Cleaning 🙂

How long has it been since your makeup brushes have been cleaned? What do you use to clean them?