Makeup Monday: How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes

So, I've decided to have a theme day over here on The Fashionista Housewife :) 

If you've been here for a while now and are getting to know me, then you've heard me mention makeup once or twice! 

Makeup is one of my PASSIONS. And by passion, I mean I am always trying new things with it, it's one of the favorite parts of my day, and it just gets me extremely excited each and every time I get to apply it!

So, we're starting Makeup Mondays :) 

Makeup Monday

How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes

So ladies, I was cleaning my makeup brushes today with a new method... and I have to tell you something REALLY gross...

This new method took YEARS of makeup out of my brushes. Do you know how gross that is? Just years of gunk and bacteria and dried makeup that I'm using to apply makeup to my face. 

But let me tell you. The saddest part of this is that I clean my makeup brushes bi-weekly. And yet there was STILL old makeup stuck in there. 

So, without further adieu, here is what cleaned my makeup brushes.

A dove soap bar. Yep. You heard it right. A $1 soap bar. Not some expensive makeup cleaner solution. Not some DIY concoction. Just a soap bar.

Here's how you do it.

1. Take your dirty makeup brush and wet only the bristles. Do not wet the handle or ANYTHING past the brush hairs. If you do, it will cause rust or cause the glue that is holding the brush together to come undone, thus causing your brush hairs to fall out. #nomoremakeupbrushes

2. Make sure you are holding your brush hairs down and the handle is up in the air. If your brush hairs are up in the air, now your brush hairs are going to come out again because the water is going to drip down into your brush and release the glue holding everything together. 

3. Make sure your water that you are washing your brushes in is lukewarm. Not cold or hot. Wet the brush hairs. Then wet your bar of Dove soap. Swirl your brush in the bar of soap until it is filled with soap. 

(All the old makeup on the soap. Yuck!)

(Blending brush loaded with soap)

4. Swirl your brush loaded with soap in the palm of your hand until the water runs clear. That means there's no more makeup in the brush. Get deep into the brush, because the makeup can get far up in there! 

(Water is running clear! All clean!)

5. If the makeup doesn't come out the first time, repeat the above steps as necessary. 

6. When the brush is clean, lay down some paper towels on your counter top. Shape the brush in your dry hand. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just make sure it doesn't dry all wacky. Then lay all of your brushes down flat on the counter to dry. This will take around 24 hours. Maybe more for bigger brushes. 

7. When your brushes are fully dry, fluff them by just rubbing them across your hand. Then put away! 

How To Clean Your Beauty Blender

If you don't know what a beauty blender is, you need to learn!  They are amazing! You probably saw them in the corner of my drying picture. Here they are:

The pink one is the real Beauty Blender, and the orange one is by Real Techniques, otherwise known as a dupe. But I love both of them! 

Disclaimer: the black spots in mine are NOT mold. They're actually mascara. Because sometimes I go a little too cray cray with the beauty blender. #hello #mascarasnotdryyet

Here we go.

1. Wet your beauty blender and squeeze in and out under the water until it expands to it's biggest size (note that this is how you are supposed to use it when you are applying makeup with it. Just squeeze it into a towel after this and use to blend out foundation or concealer.)

2. Pour your dish soap directly onto your beauty blender. Roll it around in your hands and make sure your beauty blender is being saturated with the soap everywhere. 

3. Rinse underneath the water by squeezing the beauty blender over and over again until the water runs clear. 

4. Lay your beauty blender on the paper towel with the rest of your clean brushes and allow it to dry in open air (just not in a closed container). 

5. You will know your beauty blender is dry when it returns to it's small size again when it was dry. 

Enjoy your clean brushes!!!

Let me know how much you love this cheap and easy way to clean your makeup brushes down below :)