PS Love This Make Up Brush Cleanser

Imagine my surprise when I found a bottle of brush cleanser amongst a stand of beauty sponges and false eyelashes in Penneys in The Marshes, Dundalk - 125ml for 2.50!!!

I wasn't leaving without it, that was for sure! So I bounded to the counter and then toted it home to Chris's house to get the testing underway!!! I armed myself with paper towel, cotton rounds, my dirty brushes and my camera and got to work.

Before

For this post I chose three of my most bothersome brushes under normal circumstances - my RT powder brush, my BCC bent liner brush and my Urban Decay Naked 3 double ended shadow brush (the flat shader end). As you can see in the picture above, there is black shadow, pigmented face powder and liner visible on the respective brushes. I spritzed a few sprays of the cleanser onto a folded piece of paper towel and started with the UD Shader running it lightly back and forth on the product - best to get straight in to the tough stuff. Colour me impressed!! As for the liner brush and powder brush? Absolutely shining, they are!!! Check out the "After" picture, below!

Because this cleanser is alcohol based, it cleans and sanitises your brushes between deep cleans (read how I deep cleanse my brushes HERE), which I do weekly/fortnightly depending on how heavy my use has been. The cleanser dries almost as soon as you've stopped rubbing the bristles through the solution and leaves them soft and lightly scented. I could not ask for better!

After 

For 2.50 in Penneys, this brush cleanser has far exceeded my expectations. I would not have been upset if it was poor quality, because it was so inexpensive, but it's wonderful. For spot cleaning my brushes, I will definitely be repurchasing!!!

Have you tried this brush cleanser?

Amy 

xx

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Brush Cleaning 101

Brush Cleaning. I bet you shuddered reading those words. I'm not a huge fan of the process either. I've so many brushes that by the time I'm finished, by back is broken, my hands are prunes with acrylic nails attached and my spirit is crushed.

When I clean my brushes, though, I follow a specific routine. For all of the large brushes I use a plate and a small damp facial sponge from Penneys.

Brush Cleaning 101 by redlipsredhair featuring set of brushes

Foundation Brushes - 1tsp Olive Oil and 2tsps of Baby Shampoo. I swirl the tips of my brushes around in both the oil and the shampoo breaking down the foundation, then I swirl them around on the damp sponge to really work the product into the brush hairs. When I'm done, I set the brushes aside on a paper towel until I'm ready to rinse them. The foundation brush cleansing routine is less tedious than the others because I clean it every other day.

For blush, powder, contour etc I forgo the olive oil, and swirl the brushes around in either baby shampoo or a dove soap bar, working the product into the fibres on the damp sponge. I skip the oil for powder brushes as powder is not as stubborn as foundation is on the bristles. These brushes are set aside until I'm ready to rinse them, too!

To spot clean my eye-brushes, I take a tiny amount of micellar water on a cotton round and swirl the tips of my brushes in it. To deep cleanse them, I simply take them through my powder brush cleansing routine. I find Dove soap bars are better for eye brushes as the ferrules don't risk having any product coming into contact with it.

For gel liner brushes, I swirl them on a cotton round with a small amount of waterproof eye-makeup remover on it, and then deep cleanse with the same step as the eye and powder brushes.

For rinsing, warm water, not too hot but not too cold is perfect. Rinse until the water runs clear and then gentle squeeze out the excess water. If you want to dry your brushes in a nice shape, you can even go onto E Bay and buy a length of brush-guard, which is porous but allows your brushes to dry in a proper shape. You can find similar HERE. For large brushes especially, this is an important step. I've found large powder brushes have a tendency to spread and flay out if they're uncared for.

To dry my brushes, I lay a large towel out doubled over, and fold the edge over twice, to create a lifted edge, and lay my brushes with the end of the handle on the lifted edge with the ferrule and bristles pointing downwards, and leave them to dry away from too much heat and sunlight.

I even keep a small bottle of Baby Shampoo in Chris's house for cleaning my foundation brush away from home. I keep a rubber band in my travel kit, and use it to hang my foundation brush on a wire hanger, with the bristles pointing downwards to dry.

How do you clean your brushes??

Let me know! 

Amy 

xx

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