Clean Your Brushes & Brush 101

Happy Monday!!  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I think something that a lot of us forget to do is clean our makeup brushes.  But even more than that, our hair brushes!!  Both of them accumulate dirt, oil, bacteria and all that fun stuff.  Who wants that on our face and our head??  I know it is time consuming and I keep waiting for Ryan Gosling to come do them, but it has to be done :)

This is just a quick post on cleaning makeup and hair brushes and also going over the different types of makeup brushes that I use.  There are SO many options out there.  I like to think that I use most of the basic brushes but I can always learn more so make sure to let me know if I need to add one to my collection.

I clean my brushes every week.  That, plus eating the right foods, is part of a great foundation for keeping your skin clear.  I mean honestly, I thought by 30 I wouldn't get acne anymore but that is a lie! :)

Okay so here are my brushes, on the way to the bath :)

I include my Beauty Blender in with my weekly cleaning, but sometimes I clean them more often.  I know a lot of people use the fancy Beauty Blender Cleanser, but I don't.  I don't know what half of the ingredients in it are and I think I can do just as good of a job for much cheaper. (PS-I always use the generic beauty blender from Walgreens, but I got these ones with points from one of my monthly beauty subs.)

When I wash my brushes, I use some dish washing liquid and some olive oil.  The olive oil helps give back what oils are stripped from the washing of the brushes.

I just mix a little in the bowl at a time and take my fingers and rub it on the brushes and clean them under the water.

Here is how amazing the beauty blenders look after cleaning.  Just make sure that you squeeze them until all the soap is out.

After they are clean, I lay them out to dry overnight.

Now for the hair brushes.....

First thing you want to do is get all of the hair out.  Pull out what you can with your hands but then take scissors and cut the remaining hair out.

Fill up the sink or a bowl with hot water and shampoo.  I use a clarifying shampoo to do these.  I don't recommend using your expensive shampoo but go for it if ya want :)

Soak them for about 15 minutes in the soapy water.

Rinse them very good with hot water and let them also dry out overnight.

Your hair and your face will thank you for taking the time to do this, I promise!

So now let's get back to some Brush 101.  Most of my brushes are from E.L.F.  They have good, quality brushes for the cheapest prices around.  I have never been disappointed.

Eyeshadow smudge brush:  Blending eyeshadow on your lid
Eyeshadow large eye brush:  Applying one color to your whole lid
Eyeshadow angled brush: Applying a darker color in your crease or just on the outer lid of eye
Eyeshadow highlighting brush: Applying highlighter below brow bone or lighter color on top of lid
Angled eyeliner or eyebrow brush: Applying eyeshadow or doing eyebrows
Eyeshadow "C" brush: Perfect smokey eye brush
Concealer brush: Blending concealer
Fan brush: Applying blush, bronzer or highlighter, very lightly

Angled brush: Applying brush or bronzer targeted for contouring
Eyeliner smudge brush:  Blending eyeliner on your lid
Eyeshadow medium eye brush:  Applying one color to specific part of your lid
Small concealer brush: Applying concealer
Small stipple brush: Applying foundation or BB cream to face
Large face brush:  Applying face powder

Foundation brush: Applying foundation or BB cream to face
Kabuki brush: Apply and blend loose powder to face
Beauty blenders: To apply foundation or BB cream to face or to blend entire face

PHEW!! So after writing this, I think that I need a brush intervention??  And yet in the beginning I asked for your input on what other brushes I should have :)  Well I will just remain in denial :)

What are your go to brushes??

Any tips for application?

How often do you clean your brushes?

What brushes would you like tutorials on?

Please let me know in the comments below!!

Have a great day!!