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Do you wash your makeup brushes after every use?
Do you wash your makeup brushes after every use? How often do you wash?
Yup, I do a full wash after every use.
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How many brushes do you have?
Eye brushes are washed daily. Face brushes, weekly.
My personal brushes are cleaned daily with MAC Brush Cleanser, and once a week deep cleansing with baby shampoo. Brushes that I use on clients, are deep cleansed after each use.
Only eyeshadow brushes. I wash concealer and foundation brushes weekly. I’d wash my blush and powder brushes more often, but they take forever to dry – sometimes more than a day. Not very good for me – my brush collection is very minimal.
To make your brushes dry faster you can wrap tissue or around the handle and slide it up to cover the bristles. The tissue absorbs the water and keeps the brush in shape. They will dry shortly.
Nooo.. Too much work.. Lol.. I spot clean them though
Absolutely! I don’t understand why someone wouldn’t.
I spot clean all my brushes after every use. Deep clean every few days sometimes after I do a certain look that isn’t my daily. But always spot clean.
Are we suppose to wash them each use? Foundation/concealer brush since they are wet i wash them every 2 or 3 uses. the powder/blush brush maybe about every ones a week or every 2 weeks. eyeshadow brush since i have alot to switch use about every 2 weeks or so
I do, and I imagine some of it is owed to personal preference. I don’t want my brushes to be stained, so I always wash eyeshadow brushes after I’ve used them. I don’t like colors to mix (especially textures), so I wash my blush brushes often or rotate so I’m always using something clean so if I use a matte brush, I don’t get leftover shimmer from the previous brush. Foundation brush has to get washed after every use for me, because I don’t want the product congealing and hardening in the brush (and it also makes using it the next time less effective, if there is old product in it).
I do after 2 or 3 uses… but I do clean it everytime!
Do you really think this is realistic? I see a tester or artist having to do this but I think this advice would lead normal users to an exceedingly high level of cleaning. Can’t we shoot for once a week?
I wash my personal brushes once a week, and I use brush cleaner on them after every use. My pro kit brushes get washed after every photo shoot.
I wash them with MAC Brush cleaner on a clean paper towel or wash cloth after each use to get the remainder powder, cream or liquid off. Then i deep clean them about every 2-3 weeks. Iv found that cleaning them daily allows me to hold off on the dreaded deep cleaning and drying of make up brushes all over the place!
I’m not telling
lol 🙂 this post made me giggle.
Yes, after every use if I used them with liquid or cream products.
Powder ones I will wash weekly.
I do NOT have time for that early in the morning, haha! I quickly clean my foundation brush with the Sephora spray-on daily cleaner every day, and wash them with the full-on brush shampoo once a week. I generally wear a somewhat similar eyeshadow look every workday, so I only need to spray clean those brushes every two or three days and shampoo them every week and a half or so. The spray cleaner is lovely; it’s antibacterial, and breaks down leftover makeup well, and I feel like my brushes stay working and feeling nicer than when I shampoo them every day.
Usually, yes. specially the foundation brush because it tends to clump together.
I usually wash them every use. But sometimes I get lazy and wash them every 2-3 uses.
i try to clean them after every few uses…some of them take days to dry, so it’s not practical for me to deep clean them every day.
I deep clean my with brush shampoo every couple of days. Is there something else anyone can reccomend for inbetween?
I use MAC Brush cleaner on a washcloth or a makeup removing wipe. If your bristles are completely synthetic, you can use rubbing alcohol instead because they can’t get dried out.
No, I don’t. I mainly use loose mineral makeup so I don’t have to dip my used brushes to eyeshadow, powder or blush pan. The only brushes I wash after every use are lip brush, eyeliner brush and cream eyeshadow brush.
I wash my face brushes weekly and for eyeshadow brushes depending on the brush from every day (after very pigmented or glittery eyeshadow) to weekly (highlighter/clean blending brush).
i wash my foundation/blush/powder/concealer brushes every week, with baby shampoo. only when i have a lot of breakouts i wash them daily!
i wash my eye/lip brushes everytime i need a clean brush for applying a specific light colour!!
Nope :-/ I wash everything once a week!
I have acne-prone skin and wash my face brushes after every use, even if I don’t have active acne spots. Eye brushes are washed weekly and spot-cleaned in between uses.
How on earth do you find time to wash your brushes daily?
Takes no more than five minutes – I only wash after each use, so only the brushes I use, and I certainly don’t use all the brushes I own in one sitting, lol!
Hmm.. depends on which one.
Gel-liner brush = every use
Liquid foundation brush, concealer brush, creamshadow brush = 1-3 times a week
Face powder brush, powder blush brush, powder eyeshadow brushs, bronzer brush = once a week
eyebrow brush = sometimes…
Yes, always! Specially the foundation and concealer ones, as I have oily skin and it seems to me they get dirtier than the eyes ones…
pretty much. it annoys me to use a make up brush with another color on it. i’m not a make up artist though, so i’m the only person using them. if i skip a wash it’s no big deal if the eyeshadow is nude or something.
I usually wash my brush once a week! about this, you can ruin your brushes with too many washings?
Eye brushes and 187+194 after every use, other face brushes every week.
I use brush cleanser for eye and cheek brushes after every use, and then I deep clean them once or twice a week using shampoo. For foundation/concealer brushes, though, I do a full wash after every use.
I wash it after every use.
I only wash my eye brushes after every use. For face brushes, I wash them once a week even though I wipe them with cleansing wipes after every use & dry them with tissue afterward.
But, I wash my beauty blender (when I’m not using my Sigma F80) after every use.
On the contrary I tend to want to clean my foundation brushes daily. I spot clean my 187 with MAC brush cleanser (in a spray bottle) every day. I find that because I use the Revlon Color Stay as a foundation the MAC brush cleanser does the best job at removing it. I spot clean my eye brushes from the sephora brush cleanser and the the powder brushes I either spot clean or use baby shampoo.
Nope. I only deep clean once every 2 weeks.=D But I spot clean them with Parian Spirit brush cleaner after every use.
no, ive got a life and to wash a brush after one use is too much i just dust it off on a clean tissue, spot clean once a week, deep clean once a month or so on the brushes i have used alot. never had a spot on my face so it must be sufficient.
I’m so bad about cleaning my brushes… I’m trying to get in the habit of cleaning them all once a week. But honestly, I don’t really use brushes that often… The only brush that I use daily is my powder brush, and sometimes my blush brush; I apply the majority of my eye makeup with my fingers.
I wash face brushes once a week and eye brushes when I use them… but it seems to me they become fluffier after every bath!!
Yes!!! I will not use a brush twice without washing it.
My eye brushes are washed daily and face brushes, weekly. I prefer to deep cleanse them because I have sensitive eyes.
every time with MAC brush cleanser. Once a week with baby shampoo and also conditioner 😀
no, only my foundation brush (which I use like once a month or so) and my countour/blush brushes. e/s brushes I just spot clean if necessary. I deep-clean them once a week.
aaaaaahhh seriously?????????every day????????
Eyeshadow brushes every day with Bare Escentuals Quick Change Brush Cleaner; concealer and foundation brush with baby shampoo once a week; blush and powder brushes once a month.
Yes I wash every brushes I’ve used, except the eyebrow one, with always the same colour. I wash il once a week.
i wash my eye brushes twice a week. If it’s my eyeliner brush, definitely after every use. I don’t use face brushes (don’t like wearing foundation or concealer) but if i did, definitely after every use.
For me, any brush that had contact with a cream-cased product (foundation, concealer, gel eyeliner, cream eyeshadow, etc) gets a full wash after each use. Any brush that was only used for a powder-based product (eye shadow, highlighter, blush, etc) gets spot-cleaned with MAC Brush Cleanser after each use.
Once a week, I deep-clean all of my brushes with shampoo and a tiny bit of conditioner.
I must be missing something here. Every day???? No, not close for me. 4x a year for dry brushes. My face is very dry so I don’t seem to get build-up. IDK, now I feel gross – I’ll wash them all tonight:)
I am so lazy! I don’t wash my brushes after every use. I did just get the MAC brush cleaner so as soon as I put it in a spray bottle I should be doing the ‘daily cleaning’.
brushes i use for foundation i wash every two to three days and brushes i use for face poweder i wash once or twice a week
Since i dont use my makeup on a daily basis i wash my brushes once a week.
I always spot clean daily with brush cleanser on a paper towel, and then I deep clean weekely at the sink with baby shampoo.
I use a daily cleaner spray and about 1 once a week I fully wash them. my concealer and foundation brush are cleaned about 2x a week
I wipe them down with spray cleaner after *almost* every use, then I give ’em a good scrubbing once a week. Sunday is my brush cleaning day 🙂
I wash my brushes that have been in liquid or cream product such as my foundation brush everyday. Eyeshadow I just wipe of and wash them weekly
If it’s my mineral foundation brush I let it got for 2 days. Any ofter brush I clean off with MAC brush cleaner in a spary bottle. I deep clean all brushes once a week that I’ve used.
I spot clean brushes that use light colors and clean them every few uses, and clean any brushes that were used with dark colors immediately afterwards.
Hey Christine , have you ever tried sigma brushes ? If so will you ever review them ?
I reviewed them in full detail about a year ago, actually 🙂 You should be able to just search and it should show up.
daily, no way! i’m up and out the door every morning, no time for that. i wipe my eye brushes clean on the back of my hand or wrist to remove any leftover eyeshadow and that’s it. I really don’t feel a need to wash them daily. I’m the only one who uses them and it’s not like i prod the insides of my eyeballs with them… once a week is enough for me.
I can’t even figure out a 5min face for weekdays, I def don’t have the time in the morning to wash every brush I use. I spray cleanse eyeshadow with Sephoras quick brush cleaner after use, and weekly shampoo them. I shampoo foundation and concealer brushes weekly, but have several so I rotate them throughout the week so I use a clean brush every few days.
I wipe my brushes down with some spray cleaner and a papertowel every day. I try to do a full wash every week. I just don’t have enough time between work, being a mom, blogging, and having some me time to do a full wash. Plus I normally don’t get to cleaning my brushes till the end of the day so no time their to dry a full 24 hr before use the next morning.
weekly works for me. I never share any cosmetics & I toss items according to guidelines. if I use a brush for a dark color wet or cream I’ll wash at the time. otherwise I just wipe off any excess powder or shadow.
most guidelines I’ve read say to do it weekly or monthly. I haven’t even heard daily suggested, unless the brushes are used on different people or need washing to remove product or something.
i wash once a week. e/s brushes i use a spray wash when i change shadow colors.
I try to spotclean them almost every day. I actually ruined my first mac powder brush by using shampoo so I’m kinda not keen on really washing them. Anyone some tips on this?
perhaps an odd question, but… for those who wash their makeup brushes daily, do they also wash hairbrushes, pillowcases, towels, scarves daily? does the sephora brush spray count as “cleaning”?
I do sheets weekly, towels every other day (drying a freshly washed body, hung dry), facecloths every use, brushes aim for weekly but sometimes slack. Scarves I need to work on because I rarely wear them & forget at laundry time. 🙁 I now feel like a total slacker.
But I don’t have 7 sets of sheets or do laundry daily! :-/
For pillow cases, you can turn it over for a clean side so you don’t have to do that daily!
I only wash brushes I use, because I don’t want excess product sitting in there – whether for staining potential or general cleanliness (like foundation) or even so colors/textures don’t mix the next time I use. I only use a few brushes each time, so it’s surprisingly not much of a time sink to do them right after!
LOL I got a huge giggle ty but only because I’m a hugely restless sleeper so I toss & turn & flip my pillows, switch pillows etc like 50 times every night. and I have like 4 pillows I use, each with a pillow case and an inner zippered case. so it’s a bunch of laundry.
I’d wash em more often but I never get in bed unless face is nice & clean etc.. I’m super careful about that.
oh and about colors mixing/sitting, yeah I do that. any brush that I use I wipe down with a paper towel & wash if it still has visible product. I do that between colors too (wipe on towel or switch brushes) I don’t like mixing between products.
LOL! Gotcha. I don’t have the same habit, so that’s something I do. I also make sure to wash my face and let moisturizer absorb before going to bed!
yeah, the 2 times I’ve fallen asleep with makeup on (accidentally), I had to change the sheets & wash the blankets before I went to bed again which I must say is a good motivator not to forget lol
I don’t understand how people can sleep w makeup on. esp mascara. totally uncomfortable & I know I’d rub my eyes & get lashes in them. I can hardly touch my eyes w makeup on or the mascara gets clumpy or I get a lash in my eye. so annoying!
I like the feeling of bare/clean skin, especially if I’ve been out and about wearing makeup all day. I wash my face almost as soon as I get home. If I do early enough in the day, I’ll do a gentle cleanse right before bed, too.
me too. I hope you don’t ask how often people wash their hair next. that’s a hairy question in a lot of ways. but we all have different comfort levels on these things. I’ve read stuff saying how often you should & I’m always like how can people go that long!
I wash my hair once a week. Yep. There I said it. But I wash my makeup brushes after every use and I NEVER EVER go to bed without taking off all of my makeup.
I never wash my brushes but do clean them with a spray or two of MAC brush cleaner after every use.
No. I deep clean them about once a week/week in a half. Too lazy to wash after every use.
I wash my brushes weekly with a gentle shampoo. Alot of my brushes I’ve had for 10 years or more and are still like new. So, I’m convinced that once a week is sufficient and I don’t get eye infections or anything so no need to wash more than this.
I usually do clean them after every uses but when I don’t feel like cleaning them, I’ll put it in my empty jar for later cleaning and use the other brushes I have, I never use a foundation brush twice If I did I probably would get breakouts
I wash my foundation brush, paint pot brush, and fluidline brush after every use but my dry shadow brushes are just swatched clean on a paper towel. I only wash the dry brushes monthly.
I spot clean my foundation brush with MAC brush cleanser pretty much everythime I use it. I deep clean my brushes with baby shampoo weekly. I don’t have time for more than that, and besides I don’t have enough brushes to wash ’em daily.
Best answer so far:
“no because I’ve got a life”
so grouchy it’s hilarious
I spot clean with MAC’s brush cleanser after every use (so bummed the price went up!! But it was only a dollar and I still feel that it’s a good deal considering how much you get), and I deep clean with baby shampoo once a week.
No way! I’m to lazy to wash them after every use. but I do spot clean the ones I use daily…speaking of washing brushes I REALLLY need to do that soon
Nope.. I’m too lazy haha. But I do try to wash them every week.
I sort of rotate things like eye shadow brushes because I find I can get away with not cleaning them until I run out of fresh ones. Then I do a major clean. This usually takes a week or so. When it comes to eyeliner/wet eye stuff brushes- I rinse them out right after so they don’t dry super hard. I usually use the MAC brush cleanser for that. In terms of face brushes, same applies for wet products. I probably push my bronzer/cheek brushes a little too far (about 3 weeks or so) because I tend to use the same products every time. I try to coordinate the cleaning of the eye brushes with all the face brushes because I’m super lazy and only want to do it all at once or not at all.
What’s spot cleaning and how are you supposed to do it? The only cleaning I know of is shampooing like.. once a week.
Nope sure don’t. I probably wash my brushes twice a month if that. I’m ashamed….
Deep clean every use! Sanitation freak here.
yeah I mean come on, its your face we’re talking about. It grosses me out when people don’t wash their brushes!
I wash mine every day too, with the exception of my finishing powder brush which gets washed once a week. I use an organic dish soap (the horror! lol) They perform better when they are clean, and if you wash them gently it will not be harmful to the brush. Quality brushes are very durable, I find it amusing when people treat them like glass, lol.
It doesn’t take that long either! 3-4 mins tops. I have 3-4 eyeshadow brushes, concealer, gel liner, brow, blush, and foundation. I wash certain brushes together, so its not like I’m washing them one at a time. I wash them as part of my nighttime routine before I take out my contacts and wash my face 🙂
people probably treat good quality brushes like glass cause they cost a lot of money
I really only use powder products, so once a week. I sanitize my powder products the same day I wash my brushes as well.
I spot clean every day, but as for “washing” I do that every week and a half. Thing is, its cold here. My brushes take about 3-4 days to dry when I deep clean them, so no I dont deep clean them everyday. I wouldnt be able to wear makeup if I did that.
I wash my brushes with Dove moisturizing bar soap after every use.
i use the mac brush cleaner on my foundation brush every day, and deep clean that and my concealer brush once a week. i usually use the brush cleaner on my eye brushes if i’m using another color, then i will deep clean every two weeks.
Thanks for the reminder. I usually spot clean them if I use a blue eyeshadow foe example, but if not then I clean them with MAC’s product every week. And I washed them a few times in the past (with baby shampoo) but I’ve forgot to do it lately. And there’s no shampoo, I will have to buy a bottle. I’m on vacation too so I only put on makeup like once a week, so I have been a little lazy lately with washing my makeup tools.
I wash my brushes with MAC Brush Cleaner and water daily.
Question – what do people mean by “spot cleaning” vs. “deep cleaning?”
Spot cleaning is just spraying a cleaner on the brushes to get said color off. Deep cleaning is when you actually wash the bristles with a brush shampoo to get the brush very clean. its a more tedious process.
I wash after every use. I don’t want colors to mix and I hate the feel of a used brush against my face. My powder brush is the exception. That can go for up to 3 days before I have to deep clean.
I wash my foundation and concealer brushes after every use, spot clean my eyeshadow burshes daily, and deep clean all of my brushes once a week with baby shampoo
eye brushes: spot clean daily
face brushes: weekly
(Foundation brush washed weekly)
every night faithfully and let them dry-
If I use them for anything ‘wet’, like foundation, cream/liquid brush – yes! Brushes for powders, eyeshadow – no, they wouldn’t even dry till the next day if I washed them after every use, and I love brushes and have and use so many that I would spend more time washing them than applying my makeup.
I clean my eye brushes daily with MAC brush cleaner and all my brushes once a week with baby shampoo and olive oil.
I want to do a full wash everyday but really it’s closer to once a week on eye shadow brushes, I rarely use face brushes so that’s pretty much after each use.
My absolute WORST beauty pet peeve is when I watch tutorials or stash tours and someone pans to a jar filled with mungy brown brushes that look like water would just run off them. God you touch that to your face…your EYES for pete sake
no worst is watching a tutorial & the girl says she’s going to apply it wet… so she LICKS the brush to wet it… and then puts it on the pan of shadow. (and you lose all interest in swaps forever)
oh my goodness! thankfully i haven’t had the pleasure of witnessing that myself. grossssssssss
tell me about it. I think she was pretty well known/rated too. bet she didn’t do it in many of them…
No, i washed it with Mac cleanser after 2, 3 times use, but I deep cleanse them once a week. I am just too lazy, plus I think this is already quite ok, cause I don’t have breakouts with this regimen. bUt I think that people who use a brush for a liquid foundation should really wash it after every use, as for me the only brushes that I use are the 187, for blush application and the 182 for powder setting, so I think, there’s no real need to clean after every use…
No, but I have eye brushes to last a week without washing ans as for my face brushes, I spot clean them after every 2nd or 3rd use. However, before I use any MU brush, I spray some 99% Alcohol and tissue and wipe every brush (even if they are clean & un-used) so as to remove any bacteria that may be on the surface of the brush.
This is a trick I learned from a Professional MUA many many years ago and I swear by it.
no, i have better things to do. however, i do wash them once a week. i clean them with a paper towel after uses though. i have many of the same brushes so that helps
I use a Beautyblender for foundation so I clean it before every use. But for my makeup brushes, I don’t really clean them that often, if I was to be honest, LOL. I guess I feel that since I’m the only one who uses them, and I have very NON-sensitive skin (I don’t break out for any thing!), I don’t personally see the need. But I’ll try a little harder to be more hygenic. 🙂
I know that I said before to someone that I don’t make New Years resolutions, cause they never stick, but if I had one, it would be to be more resolute with cleaning my brushes more often…I should get right on that!!!
Every single time. Anything creamy (foundation etc.) needs to be washed daily after each use. Using MAC Brush Cleaner is the easiest way to maintain your brushes daily. I do a deep clean weekly with baby shampoo and let them dry overnight. Don’t blame your skin problems on makeup if you are using dirty brushes!
No. Since almost all the products I use are powders, I dust wipe them after each use. I deep cleanse them once a week though.
No! I only use them on me 🙂
usually i lightly dust them off evryday and then deep clean at the end of the week. unless i use an intense color then i spot clean right after
I have about 4 sets of face + eye brushes from different brands (EcoTools, MAC, e.l.f., Smashbox) so I wash them after every use – not everyday such as if I only have 1 set of face and eye brushes, but when I need to yes.