When it came to making our third resolution for 2013, we started to think about cleanliness. It's next to godliness, after all. And the fact of the matter is, we're not always that proud of the state of our makeup brushes. In fact, we're distinctly ashamed of them. (Well, Emily's pretty good about it, but not the rest of us.) It's easy to get lazy, and sort of let things sit. It's just my face, you may be thinking, My face, the same product, the same brush, it doesn't matter. Well, it does. The other week, Stila founder/makeup artist/mother extraordinare Jeanine Lobell stopped by and gave us a talking to. This, friends, is ITG Resolution #3. Listen up!
“People are always like, your stuff is so clean! They freak out when I open my kit...but I also have the cutie little assistant who keeps it all super neat and super tidy. I would never, ever, never use dirty stuff on someone. There’s this one guy in LA, we used to joke that we would tent his kit for roaches, because it would be so filthy. You would see kits and it’s like, you cannot go to work like that.
Lip brushes, you want to wash frequently, especially if you change your lip color a lot. Because you don’t want old product in that brush. And then anything that you use for powder, you can just dust off the color, but anything that’s a foundation brush, concealer brush, any kind of creamy product, you need to remove the residue because it’s going to dry. If you don’t, the next time you use your product it’s not going to work as well, with the old dry bits in there. If you have Cinema Secrets brush cleaner, you can literally just dip 'em in the solution, wipe on a towel, and the brush is always clean. I get it at Ricky’s. You don't need water; it's instant and it evaporates immediately. It’s really the best. It basically disinfects and dissolves the makeup. You can also use makeup wipes to clean your brushes. In a pinch, it will work. My favorite are the Amore Pacific Cleansing Tissues. I’ll use those all the time.
If I have time to clean them overnight, I prefer to use a super-mild baby shampoo, like Burt’s Bees or something with no smell, no nothing going on. I’ll make a little puddle of shampoo in my sink on the side and then I’ll wet the brushes in the water, and swirl all of them in the puddle together. And then I’ll lay them in the sink and let the water just rinse them all. Then, I’ll pick them up one at a time and squeeze the ends to make sure there’s no foam that's hiding out in there. Then I pull them into their shape and put them upright in cups to dry; that way it doesn't interfere with the shape. Because if they’re really round and fluffy and you lay them down, you’re going to flatten one side. I only put the double-sided brushes on paper towels to dry.
You don’t need to wash them every day, unless, like I said, you’re using a lot of foundation and concealer and it’s getting clunky. The powder burshes you can leave out for a while. Even if you’re super lazy and you don’t want to go buy special stuff, you can use basically anything you have sitting on your sink. Just wet your brush, dip it on your soap bar even, swirl it around, rise it, and throw it in a cup to dry. Like I said, just wash them. When it starts to look like you can see the product in the bristles, it’s time. But you don’t have to get crazy.”
To scrub-a-dub-dub like a pro:
Cinema Secrets Professional Brush Cleaner
Amore Pacific Cleansing Tissues
Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild 18-in-1 Hemp Pure-Castile Soap
Burt's Bees Baby Bee Tear-Free Shampoo & Wash
