How I clean my Make-up Brushes

Hey all! So I'm really bored of studying right now so here's a little tutorial on how I clean my make-up brushes *special thanks go to my brother for patiently taking the pictures*. I usually give my brushes a thorough clean every Sunday since I tend not to wear make-up on Sunday to let my skin breathe (unless I have somewhere special to go obviously).  You can read more tips and info on brush cleaning here but in the meantime, here's the step-by-step tutorial!

Dirty brushes + e.l.f. Studio Daily Brush Cleaner & Brush Shampoo

The first thing I do is I spray a little of the Daily Brush Cleaner onto a clean face towel to remove most of the make-up from the brush bristles.  I mainly do this to save on the Brush Shampoo which comes in a 120ml format vs the 250ml of the Daily Brush Cleaner.  I also use the Brush Cleaner to clean my brushes in-between make-up applications.  I like to start with my larger and more dense brushes first as they are the ones that take longer to dry.

Next, I fill a little bowl with lukewarm water and add a few drops of shampoo; enough to make a little lather.  I dip the brushes one by one in the bowl and swirl them around a little. When the water gets really dirty, I change it and add more shampoo.

Washing the foundation brush... you can actually see that the water has turned yellowy!

Subsequently, I squeeze the bristles (always pointing them towards the sink to make sure that no water or soap gets in the ferrule) to remove excess water and then I swirl the brush on my palms to work up a lather and make sure that all product is removed. I also apply some regular hair conditioner to the bristles and leave it to act for around 3 minutes before I finally give the brush a good rinse under warm running water and squeeze the bristles again once last time in a towel to further cut down on drying time.  I like to apply the conditioner to the brushes one by one until I wash the next so that it has time to work and then I rinse it off starting from the first brush I applied it to so that the last one has time to get conditioned as well.

For brushes that I use to apply lipsticks, lip glosses, cream eyeliners and any other cream products, I like to use Baby Oil to cleanse them thoroughly and make sure there are no product residues. I just pour a little oil in the palm of my hands, soak the bristles in and let the oil lift the product. When no more product comes off, I wash these brushes in the same manner as all other brushes.

Can you see the eyeliner coming off effortlessly in the second picture?

Finally, I place my brushes horizontally on a face towel to dry.

Recently, I came across a video on YouTube by KlaredelysArt where she explained how you can make home-made brush guards. I actually tried it and it works! Check out her video here!

So that's it ladies! I hope you found this tutorial useful! How do you clean your brushes? Do you use a different method to mine? I'd love to know, so leave a comment in the box below!