The Great Brush Wash

look how long the queue for a thorough cleaning got! because i have so many, i just put away the dirty brushes and use fresh ones, so about once a month i'd have to spend 1-2 hours with washing all of the dirty brushes.
this shouldn't be your typical brush-cleaning post, i want to share some useful tipps and tricks with you.

my foundation brushes are used up to 3 times until they get into the "to wash"-cup. lucky me, using the BeautyBlender the last months has been cutting down a lot of foundation-brush-washing.
powder/blush brushes are used longer, about a week or two, before they get dismissed. eyeshadow brushes are ok for about 4-5 uses.

first fact: if you love your brushes, don't (!) use brush cleanser! please. the spot-cleaning liquids from MAC and other brands are useful for make up artists, because they do the make up of many people and have to use their brushes frequently (and can't always bring a separate set of brushes for every customer). brush cleansers sanitize your brushes and make them dry extremely quickly so they are ready for action again in just few minutes. that is because they contain alcohol.
have you ever took a close look at the brushes in the belts of the sales associates at e.g. MAC stores/counters? i once did, and thought they are fake because they looked sooo dry, just like straw. they feel scratchy and not like a good brush at all. it is because of the alcohol in the brush cleanser which dries out the natural hair by stripping its protective coating of oils.

so i never do a "spot cleaning" especially with my natural hair brushes. dirty brushes get wiped on a clean towel or paper towel to get out excess product.

fact no.2: use soap, BUT: don't ever buy "Brush Soap"! it's expensive and in fact just the same as your normal cheapo curd soap. a closer look at the ingredients lists reveals that it's 95% the same. 100g of special "Brush Soap" cost about 7-10€ while 300g of curd soap will set you back - what? 95¢? even artists use curd soap for their Kolinsky red sable brushes.

NO! >-/

YES!!!

tadaa! a hybrid of brush soap (box) and curd soap (content) ;)

so, now we'll wash those durrrty boyzzz:

don't let water run into your brushes, always hold the heads down.

wet your brushes with luke-warm water (that's nicer for your hands).

then foam up on your hand with CURD SOAP then wash out.
repeat until the foam is white.

for my waterproof/smudgeproof foundations, i have a special trick to get the brushes clean again:

fact no.3: shower oil! the oil part breaks the waterproof formula which causes the build-up in your brushes and the soap part in this will make it easier to wash out the oil. of course the brush needs one more wash with curd soap to get out all residues.

look how the oil got out all the build up on this brush:

this is even after 2 washes with curd soap - and that is how the shower oil cleaned it.

fact no.4: for my natural hair brushes, i'll have a special treatment - i always condition them with a !silicon-free! (so no silicon-build up) and organic conditioner - but not the blue squirrel brushes from Hakuhodo - the hair is so soft, a conditioner would make it greasy. i let it sink in for about 20 minutes and then it totally transforms your brushes - they'll be soo soft! trust me!

and now look how squeeky clean, soft and smoooth they are again!
the eye brushes are layed down with their heads free in the air on a towel:

fact no.5: the face brushes are hanging upside down with my special gadget: hanging is far superior to "wrapping-into-paper-towels"! this wrapping can hold the shape of your brushes, but will slow down the drying process, the ferrules can loosen, the brushes can get smelly or even mould like damp clothes or sth.

so if you take good care for your brushes, they'll last you forever - with great quality!