How to Wash Makeup Brushes

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Anyone whose work or hobbies require heavy use of various tools can explain to you the importance of keeping your tools clean and well-maintained. That might be your father, husband, brother – or even you if you’re like me and are kicking ass and taking names in a male-dominated industry. Your brushes and sponges with which you apply makeup (or take it off if you like buttons and internet in your cleansing routine like I do) are your tools. In order to get the best performance and longest functional life from them, it is important to keep them clean. Maintenance does not have to be costly or time-consuming, though – I know I wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of cleaning my brushes with expensive brush shampoos and tools.

How frequently you wash your brushes is typically a preference and usage (as well as how many brushes you have) thing – obviously someone who wears a full face every day should wash more frequently than someone who wears a bit of makeup a few days a week. I don’t wear a full face very often, so I usually wash my brushes every 2-4 weeks with regular usage, more often if I think I need it. Eventually, you’ll be able to tell at a glance when something needs to be washed – the greyish-black brush used for last week’s smokey eye is not going to be so great for today’s light, neutral eye for work so you’ll want to clean it beforehand or reach for a different brush.

Turn your tap to warm (not hot – may damage your brush and not cold because good luck getting, say, foundation out with cold) water and – avoiding to get the ferrule wet – hold the brush under the stream with the bristles angled downwards to saturate the bristles and (hopefully!) rinse away some of the product.

How to Wash Makeup BrushesHow to Wash Makeup Brushes

Next, you’ll need to shampoo the brush – you can buy a cleanser specifically for makeup brushes if you want, but I personally use Johnson’s Baby Wash on my brushes (any baby wash or shampoo will do just fine). It is gentle enough to clean both natural and synthetic bristles without overdrying and/or damaging the fibers. If I’m worried my brushes are particularly grungy, I’ll use a drop or two of Dawn dish soap (the anti-bacterial varieties are good for this if you’re concerned about germs – I’m not) in conjunction with the baby wash for a deep clean. Other times, if I’m lazy and only have 1-2 brushes but am also cleaning my BeautyBlender, I’ll just use my BlenderCleanser Solid (left in the photo, white disc).

Some companies (like Sigma!) offer neat brush-cleaning gloves to help facilitate the process, and while these are fun-looking, they are not necessary. Your hands will do just fine – or, if you have a handful of brushes to wash and you don’t want your hands to get prune-y, you can get creative like I did (above photo) and use something like the surface of my Ziploc container lid. In this case, the indents for the logo will help work the soap into the bristles, almost acting like an agitator. If using your hand, dispense a small amount of the soap into the palm of your hand and swish the brush back and forth in your palm, then work the shampoo in further with your fingers. If you’re doing what I am demonstrating above, dispense the soaps onto the lid (or into your fancy Sigma glove), and swish and swirl it back and forth. The suds you create will eventually look dingy and frankly, gross, but that’s normal and fine and means your efforts are paying off.

Rinse your brush in the same way you initially saturated it, under the faucet with the bristles angled towards the drain, avoiding the ferrule as much as possible (exposing the ferrule to too much moisture can work away at the glue and cause the brush-head to come loose). Use your fingers to thoroughly rinse the bristles until they are their original color and free of suds.

Gently squeeze bristles to drain excess water from them, then reshape and dry. Check back on Wednesday for some tips on how to dry your makeup brushes!

Disclosure: None of this stuff was sponsored. That said, some of the links in this post are affiliate links – this means I may get a very small percentage of the sale if you decide to buy something. I’ll only tell you that something is awesome if I have verified it myself!

Milani EasyBrow Automatic Pencil

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I overlooked it for years, but the presence of groomed brows can really do a lot for a face. There are various methods by which you can achieve this – brow pencil, brow powder, tinted gel/mousse/pomade, brow tinting (dye), or if you’re extra-extreme you could go for the whole, “permanent makeup,” bit aka tattooed on awkwardness. If you want to keep things easy, pencils or powders are the way to go. I wanted to try a pencil without shelling out for an Anastasia Brow Wiz, so enter Milani EasyBrow Automatic Pencil (which has a similar idea, packaging-wise, as the Brow Wiz).

 Milani EasyBrow Automatic Pencil - Natural Taupe and Dark BrownMilani EasyBrow Automatic Pencil – Natural Taupe and Dark Brown
The messy cap? That’s why you don’t cap things without looking at them.

Surprisingly hard to get me hands on in my area (no one seems to carry it! I had to order it), I was excited when the products arrived. The stick has two ends – one end houses the product, and the other contains a spoolie brush, both are protected with a cap. The center of the stick is printed with the product name and color but it is printed in gold (the stick, as you can see, is a light brown or taupe color) and is difficult to read. Fortunately, closer to the spoolie end there is a band with the color printed on it. I purchased Dark Brown and Natural Taupe; my brows either neither color, but I planned to use them in concert with one another and blend them to get closer to my haircolor.

The Milani EasyBrow Automatic Pencil was a bit surprising to me. It is both wider in diameter than I anticipated and it is SOFTER than I anticipated. Softness isn’t usually a quality we think of as negative, but when it comes to a brow pencil, you want a stiff product so you can easily produce dozens (or however many) of feather-light strokes that help define your brows. With this pencil it is entirely to easy to slip and end up with an awkward, hard line because it is so soft.

They have the consistency of a liner pencil (it glides too much!) rather than what a brow pencil should have. That isn’t to say this is a bad product, but there is a learning curve associated with it – you have to hold the product at an angle and use short, flicking strokes to achieve the right look. If you went a little too far, don’t worry – you then blend it out/together with the attached spoolie. Since the Milani EasyBrow Automatic Pencil is so soft, blending isn’t a very big deal…you will want to clean the spoolie off every so often, though, just as you would any other brush.

Milani EasyBrow Automatic Pencil swatchesMilani EasyBrow Automatic Pencil swatches – light hand above, more pressure below
From Left: Natural Taupe, Dark Brown

In all, although the products serve their purpose, I am on the fence about repurchasing. I really like brow powders and feel that I can get a more precise look with powder and wax than I can a soft pencil like this. This product, however, is very purse/makeup-bag-friendly and for those with much darker brows than myself may not be bothered by softness (rather, the ease of getting too bold a line). Someone who has more time to spend on their makeup regularly might be more satisfied than I am but ease and efficiency are both things that come into play, especially when I’m talking about a product called, “EasyBrow.” I don’t hate it, and I’m not immensely disappointed – but I was definitely hoping for greater performance from this product. If you’d like to give it a shot, the Milani EasyBrow Automatic Pencil is available from retail drugstores and drugstore.com for around $5.

Not a Fan: OPI Sheer Tints

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I’ve said before that nails are my thing (though my nails have been bare for the longest time in recent memory because I haven’t had time to redo them, ahem). Even though I do not jump to buy every newly-released nail line, I do like to stay abreast of what is coming out.

The makers of my second-favorite polish to-date (I’m Not Really a Waitress, if you’re wondering) have released a new product that is all over blog-land and twitter: OPI Sheer Tints polish. The OPI Sheer Tints line consists of four glossy top coats that just so happen to have a touch of color. The shades, in classic OPI-wordplay-style, are:

  • I’m Never Amberrassed – sheer, warm yellow.
  • Be Magentale With Me – sheer magenta (pink)
  • Don’t Violet Me Down – sheer, mid-tone purple.
  • I Can’t Teal You Like Me – sheer, mid-tone blue.

I’ve checked them out on several blogs and OPI’s own promotional material, including their tutorials. I just cannot get excited or interested in these things. The yellow (I’m Never Amberrassed) makes nails look discolored and, frankly, kind of gross. Perilously Pale shared some swatches of the polish (please go check out her blog!) and although her assessment is positive, I just don’t care for it. Here’s her photo of I’m Never Amberrassed.

again, this is not my photo – photo is courtesy of Perilously Pale.
credit where credit is due, everyone! don’t be shady.

I am not a fan of seeing the smile line of a nail through polish unless it is a neutral sheer meant for a relatively natural, subdued look. These just remind me of poorly-formulated, cheap polishes in the past (like the kids sets?). OPI themselves tweeted this photo on an, “ombre,” manicure done with the product, and I’m just not impressed, and would definitely not purchase these for $10 each.

I don’t really care for ending things on a negative note – I have seen some pretty cool things done with them by other bloggers, like this rainbow manicure from Lacquered Lover, or this dotted yellow mani layered over white (for opacity) and this gold-striped ombre pink set both from Nail that Accent. While I’m happy these bloggers made these OPI Sheer Tints work for them, I just think if I HAVE to conjure up that much creativity to get a product to, “work,” for me, then it isn’t a very wise purchase.

Zoya Earth Day Polish Exchange

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Zoya Earth Day Polish Exchange
photo courtesy of the Zoya blog.

Health- and eco-conscious polish brand Zoya is known for their awesome promotions such as free bottles of polish (you just pay shipping). The promo du jour is actually a re-run: Zoya’s Earth Day Polish Exchange, which runs this year from April 21 – 28 with promo code ZDAY2014.

Add as few as five bottles of polish to your cart and as many as twenty-four, then enter the promo code – the polish should drop from its regular price at about $9+ per bottle down to $4.50 per bottle OR $5 for their fancy glittery PixieDust products and special effect toppers. Unfortunately, it does not include their newest summer connection line(s), but I think you’ll live. You’re looking at spending $22.50 for five (regular) bottles of polish – not bad, especially considering that some drugstore polishes are more costly and these are 5-free. Additionally, carts over $30 currently receive a free gift – a 2oz. bottle of Zoya Remove Plus Nail Polish Remover.

Once you receive your new, fancy, 5-free polish from Zoya’s Earth Day Polish Exchange, you can then send them old, unwanted polish to be safely disposed of in accordance with EPA guidelines (FYI – you aren’t supposed to toss them in your regular, residential trash). Zoya will accept up to as many bottles as you purchased – so if you purchased 9 bottles of polish, you can send up to (but not more than) nine for disposal. You could also just send three, if that’s all you wanted to purge. You are not, however, required to send in any old bottles to take advantage of this neat promotion.

This would be a great way to start someone’s polish collection (especially considering you are not required to send in old bottles) or try Zoya products while getting some variety without a huge cost-commitment. It also may make a nice Mother’s Day gift (right around the corner, people – May 11) if your Mom enjoys having lacquered nails. You might also just be looking for justification to buy more polish – so you’re welcome. I haven’t tried any Zoya polish yet, but I look forward to doing so!

Also, Zoya doesn’t know who I am and they didn’t ask me to write about this promo – I, as a polish junkie and sale-stalker, just wanted to look out for my fellow polish-fanciers.

Chatter: Adventures in Hair Drying

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Adventures in Hair drying

I’d just like to share with you a brief anecdote from Tuesday night.
All products mentioned are in the picture above!

1. Wash hair. It’s time, you know? Plus, you need to get that dry shampoo buildup out (it is awesome, but is not meant to stay forever). Condition liberally, leave it in for a few while you wash your face and body.

2. Procrastinate about leaving the warm shower. It’s cold on the other side of the curtain. Pout like a child, grudgingly dry off and step out.

3. Hastily towel dry hair so it isn’t sopping or considering becoming icicles. Start a blowout with drenched hair? You’re gonna have a bad time.

4. Comb through your mane with a wide-toothed comb to detangle. We’re civilized folk, after all.

5. Rummage through the drawer o’ hair goop. Grab your Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum and Ion knockoff (from Sally Beauty, left) of Aquage Uplifting Foam (real, right) .

6. Toss most of your hair to one side and section about an inch above the ear. Try to spray it on like Kate from the Small Things Blog shows us.

7. Instead, do a horrible job at it and somehow wind up with it on the door of the bathroom (I don’t even…). Wipe off the door before your fiance thinks you were doing grade-school science experiments in the bathroom with hair products as reagents. Don’t be like me.
Also, don’t use hair products as reagents – a lot of them are pressurized and/or flammable. The more you know.

8. Deal with the now-intrigued cats on the other side of the door who were curious about what was getting the inside of the door (aka you wiping the root-lifting mousse off the door).

9.  Apply one pump of Super Skinny to the mid-lengths and ends. This step was pretty anticlimactic. Wipe your hands off because it feels weird.

10. Rough dry upside down with an easily-obtained dryer (though I guess a difficult to obtain one would work just as well), trying to get the scalp area (where you applied too much foam goop) driest. Flip back over, make sure the roots are dry.

11. Move onto the ends with an awesome gigantic round brush (4″!) that you require (because your hair is almost waist length when it isn’t being wild and crazy and using a 2.5″ barrel would be awful).

12. Get bored 7/8 of the way through your adventures in hair drying (with nearly-dry hair!) and decide to go finish making dinner.

This is a pretty normal DIY blowout for me. Occasionally, I’ll really take the time to go through the process properly. But really, it is important that your routine feels like something you want to do, and not like a chore. You do not have to take it so seriously – the world won’t end if you get root-lifting mousse on the door, after all.