How to Get Your Makeup Brushes Clean -- Quickly, Easily & Cheaply!

Getting your makeup brushes clean is definitely a must but, must you spend a fortune on brush cleanser? Not really! Want to know how to cost effectively clean your brushes with just a few simple steps?

Here's what you need:

First, let's talk for a second:

Before I go into detail about the first step, let's take make a side note and talk about the products that we'll be using today. First, lets talk about Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap. I've used multiple products to cleanse my brushes, some expensive and some home made, but nothing has gotten my brushes so clean so quick. Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap comes in two different forms, bar and bottle. I've used them both, and personally prefer the bottle. It's a lot less messier than the bar and easier to store, but both are equally effective; it's just a matter of personal choice. Also, if you are big on how a product smells, just like I am, Dr. Bronner's comes in different "smells" like, Almond, Citrus, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Peppermint, Rose and Tea Tree. In this tutorial, I'm using lavender, which is my favorite. I could go on and on about other ways you could use the Castile Soap, but I'll save that for another post (stay on the look out).

Those in the U.S. can find Dr. Bronner's soap here:

and those of you who live outside the U.S. can find Dr. Bronner's soaps here:

We're almost done but, let's talk about the silicone pot holder. I know you're probably thinking, why on earth would you use a pot holder. Well, as you can see, a silicone pot holder has ridges and what I call "little pockets". The ridges help clean the brushes and the "pockets" help keep the soap on the pot holder. Plus, the biggest reason why I use the silicone pot holder... it's cheap. I found the one I'm using today on sale at Walmart for under $5. Silicone pot holders can also be found on Amazon for about $8 for a pack of two here.

Now, let's get to business:

Place your pot holder in your sink (I prefer to place it in the sink to keep the mess to a minimum) and turn your water on. As you can kinda see in the picture, the running water is towards the back of the pot holder. As the water runs, the  little holes will fill up with water and this is exactly what you want. Pour a couple of drops of the castile soap onto the pot holder. At this point, if you are using the Castile Soap Bar, as shown as an option above, rub the bar back and forth against the pot holder, to get the suds onto the pot holder in preparation for the next step. 

Take your dirty brush and move it in different directions against the pot holder, to give it a nice scrub. Circular motions tend to work best and get the job done a bit faster than rubbing up and down or side to side. You want to keep "scrubbing" the brush until the soap suds are white.

Now rinse under the running water and...

Voila! Now you have a nice clean brush that looks just like new!

So I bet you have some type of makeup sponge, whether its a Beauty Blender, a Real Techniques sponge or a generic one. There's no doubt in my mind that you want that clean and looking just like new as well. Follow the exact same steps as shown above and watch your sponge transform.

I hope you found this helpful! Do you like to see these type of pictorials & want more? Let me know what you think in the comments.