5 Essential Makeup Brush Cleaning Tips

Your blush brush and your foundation sponge are essential to flawless beauty application, but are you cleaning them correctly? These 5 tips for cleaning your makeup brushes ensure your skin stays clear and bright no matter how often you use them. Brushes collect dirt and bacteria with use — that should come as no surprise. For that reason, cleaning is necessary to make sure you're not accidentally clogging pores while trying to cover pimples and trapping yourself in a never ending cycle of irritated skin.

Before we get into tips, lets talk routine. Brushes should be cleaned daily with a simple brush cleaner. That's right people, daily. Additionally, getting in the habit of deep cleaning your brushes once a week is definitely a good one!

If you're feeling like "yeah, whatever, that can't actually be necessary," just commit to trying for three weeks. I was all "ain't no one got time for that," but then decided to stick with the routine for a month. I noticed my skin had definitely cleared dramatically after 11 days of regular brush maintenance. I'm willing to bet you'll encounter similar results.

A quick google search will reveal there are countless brush-cleaning strategies. Below are my favorite tips, but by all means, try out several and figure out what works best for you. After all, you're the one that knows your face and makeup habits best!

Here are 5 essential tips to consider when cleaning out your makeup brushes.

1. Daily Brush Cleaner

Lauren Conrad recommends cleaning your brushes daily with a simple spray cleaner. My favorite is Sephora's Master Cleanse!

(Master Cleanse: Daily Brush Cleaner, $8.50, Sephora)

2. Gentle Bar Soap For Deep Cleaning

IntoTheGloss spoke with professional makeup artist Tom Pecheaux on his favorite deep cleansing brush soap. He always goes for Savon De Marseille Olive Oil Soap, and prefers the bar so he can rub the brushes right over the soap.

(Olive Oil Soap, $7, Savon De Marseille)

3. Dish Soap

Though only a good idea on synthetic brushes, dish soap will remove stubborn cosmetic oils and silicone in certain products. (Honest Company dish soap, $3.95, honest.com)

4. Drying Your Brushes Correctly

How you dry the brushes determines whether you'll be tossing them out or not have to purchase new ones for years. Makeup artist Kayleen McAdams told Elle, "After the brushes are rinsed out thoroughly, lay them on a flat towel or McAdams suggests using the Benjabelle Brush Tree as a drying rack. (If you place them in something standing, the water will run down into the handle and cause rust.) After about six to eight hours, the brushes will be dry and you can do your makeup once again, bacteria-free." (Brush Tree, $34.95, Benjabelle)

5. Stick To Your Routine

If you already know there's no way in hell you're going to spritz your brushes daily and wash them once a week, at least build some kind of regular routine. Cleansing once a month is infinitely better than nothing at all!

Image Credit: Sephora; Savon De Marseille; Benjabelle; Dafne Cholet, Matt Trostle/Flickr