How do you store your makeup brushes? Share your technique!
I keep the ones I use on a near-everyday basis in glass jars filled with circular glass beads. Ones I don’t use or rarely use, I keep in plastic containers inside drawers.
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In a glass jar on my dresser. Some of the freestanding brushes are alternately free-standing in various places or laying where I knocked them over and didn’t bother to right them back up. I’m a bit of a slob.
I drink a fair amount of loose leaf tea, so I took a few empty cannisters I had leftover and used them for brush holders. The larger face brushes are in a small, decorative pail that’s allows the wider brush heads space to spread out. They sit on my dresser organized by type (face, eye, lip, etc).
I keep all my clean brushes upright in fancy mugs/vases. Dirty brushes go into a container to be cleaned. I have enough that brush cleaning only has to happen every 2 weeks.
I have a rather large oblong basket which houses cups which hold my brushes (by type/purpose), an empty cup for dirty/used brushes on one side, and old wash rags & brush cleaner on the other. It keeps everything organized, and on-hand for quick, immediate spot-cleaning, and the brushes I use most often in one place.
I have two Moroccan tea glasses, in theory one for dirty brushes and one for clean. My kabuki brush just sits by itself. I only have a few brushes though so storage isn’t that big of an issue.
I keep all my brushes in tall glasses with rice in them to keep them straight
I have one of those big, fold-out makeup cases, and I store my brushes flat in one of the trays. I used to store them upright in a pink plastic jar, until I read somewhere that once you wash the brushes, they need to be laid flat until they dry (so water doesn’t run back into the ferrule). Since I wash them frequently, I’ve stored them flat ever since.
I lay mine flat to dry with the brush head over the sink’s edge and the rest over a towel!
I keep them in the top middle drawer of my makeup vanity, bound together by colored elastics and separated into type (eye, face, cheek, fine detail). I’d love to display them, but my cats try to play with and/or eat them!
I have to keep mine away too because of my cats. They love them and if they get them I have to throw them away. No amount of cleaning seems to make it so I can use them without breaking out.
I store mine in glass jars too but can’t find the glass beads I was initially looking for, so I’ve been using rice! What beads do you use, Christine??
Hi Ellen,
I use these – http://www.save-on-crafts.com/glasspearls1.html
I use round/cylinder glass vases and two Le Creuset utensil holders. It seems like about 1.5 bags of the filler is what I needed for most of the vases I was using.
Awesome – that is exactly what I was looking for!
Thank you so much for listing this site. It is a really nice site for supplies.
No prob!
I put them in a metal makeup case because I want them to stay horizontal. I think the products and dirt left on the brushes accumulate at the bottom in brush holders.
I have the same set up as you, Christine. Well, I’m in brush-overflow mode right now, so some of the containers have yet to be filled with beads
I store the ones I use regularly in a pencil jar (with my makeup). But the ones I don’t use I keep in a makeup bag in a drawer.
I feel like my brush storage would be on pinterest if pinterest showcased things that are creative yet not attractive or probably the best way to do things. I got a brush holder with my Mrs. Bunny Sigma brush set, so I use that, but then I also use the cup that came with my Brush Guard cleaner kit (to put my dirty brushes in), a sugar bowl, and a square box that I think might be for scrapbooking supplies. It’s a mess, but it works.
I use bath and body works three wick candle jars I’ve emptied out!
I have a very overcrowded decorative mug filled with coffee beans that stores my brushes and my favorite eyeliners.
Standing up in cute square boxes with assorted pebbles from Ikea as filler.
I have a brush belt that I never use since I didn’t pursue makeup as a career after I went to school, so I just tacked it to my wall and store my brushes in it instead.
I use a zebra desk pencil organizer thing I got from Hobby Lobby. They sit neatly in the sides (filled with small circular beads) one side is face and the other is eye. In the middle parts is the nail polish on my nails and some random stuff.
http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/zebra-desk-organizer-476200/
That looks cute!
I drink Crystal Light, the packages come in a long plastic tube. I use them for my makeup brush and Electric tooth brush holders. They work great.
Thanks for asking one of my questions, Christine.
I have all my brushes in an empty glass of an scented candle. I think I have to split them up soon, because the face brushes dominate the smaller eye brushes.
I store all my brushes in a brush roll. It’s getting very bulky though. The elastic that keeps it closed is kind of stretching a bit now. I don’t use my makeup brushes everyday because I don’t wear makeup everyday and leaving them out will just beg for them to pick up dust.
I keep the ones I use most frequently in an old, cleaned, brass spittoon! I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who will answer that!
In an old but clean Starbucks Caramel Macchiato cup. 🙂
I love my Makeup Forever Dany Pouches! Great for travel as well. They also came out with a new zipper pouch that can stand up or lay flat however I can’t remember the name.
I store most of mine in a large footed trifle bowl, opalescent marbles on the bottom, short-grain rice above. A few others stand by themselves and a couple lay flat because of double ends or crystal handles. Dirty ones go in a bin under my makeup table to be washed weekly.
I put them in pen holders filled with little beads as well. One holder for face brushes (the Sigma Kabuki set of 5 take up too much space), the other for the rest (but mostly eye brushes).
Face brushes go in a large but short clear glass vase I got as a gift. It has colored glass rocks on bottom. Eye brushes I keep in another glass container. I spot clean my brushes every day so when I use each one I put it down on the vanity in a special place. Then that night I know what to clean and it’s more organized.
Oh and for weekly cleaning I use one of those BenjiBell (sp?) drying racks so the brushes hang upside down and that works really well for me.
I keep mine in a glass cup. I’m not sure how to store my double ended ones though. Right now I have them laying across the rest on the cup. Any suggestions for that?
I keep mine in a drawer when they’re dual-ended!
I keep all of my brushes and makeup tools in the Trina Fiercely Feminine 3 Piece Beauty Organizer from Ulta. It holds massive amounts of brushes and tools and two zip pouches inside can be taken out if needed. I bought the entire Fiercely Feminine collection and have organized almost all of my makeup in them. I really, truly want a Seya Rolling organizer, but they are so expensive.
right now I have a separate makeup bag for brushes, but I really need to find something better – It takes forever to find what I need!