I use unscented Dr. Bronner liquid soap diluted with water! I have a cup of the water + soap, dip my brush in it, and then swirl in my hand to breakdown product to rinse it clean.
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
I use a drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid and a small silicone brush cleaner mat. It works really well and doesn’t harm the brushes.
Me too! My brushes are synthetic not natural hair, don’t know if that makes a difference, but I figure 1 drop of Dawn will take the grease out of duck feathers and my brushes. : )
Lol! That was my thinking, too, when I started using it (duck feathers)! I only use synthetic brushes.
I use a sigma silicone mat, either baby shampoo or soap bar meant for brushes
I just add Castille soap (unscented) and water in my brusholder, turn the brushes hairs down, stir a little to get some foaming and wash them individually. After a good rinse I lay them flat on a thick microfiber cloth.
I use Sephora’s solid brush cleaner, which comes with a silicone scrubbing brush.
I use makeup remover balm or oil — work gently into the bristles — rinse with tepid water. Then swirl in Dawn + water. Rinse again and dry on their sides.
Generally I have used Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo or a very old facial/hair/body cleanser from PUR Minerals way back in the day but lately, I’ve been using Saje Safe Hands Foaming Hand Soap which has the lovely scents of lavender tea tree and patchouli so smells really nice but is also gentle on my hands AND my brushes.
Ummmmm, I don’t!!
If you have been on the blog a long time then you probably know my answer. I may have washed some brushes once or twice but in general, I don’t. I know it sounds horribly unsanitary but I started wearing makeup when I was 13 and just never learned that you are suppose to wash them. Seems like common sense now but then, it never dawned on me. I have brushes in my possession that I have had for 25-30 years, still use on the daily and have never washed them. I have no problems with them. I don’t get acne breakouts and never did. I am 70 now so not likely to have issues at this point. I have a couple of brushes that came in cheap makeup collections that I purchased back in the late 70’s and 80’s that have not lost a single bristle and still work great. The one exception to my not washing is my two Artis brushes which probably explains why I don’t really use them anymore. They seemed to get a greasy feeling after using for awhile and I had to wash them to regain their suppleness and I just didn’t want to do it.
Oh dear, this is embarrassing…I clean as I go using Sephora Daily Brush Cleaner Spray. Just before I’m about to do my makeup, or the night before, I’ll pick out which ones I plan to use, spray then and wipe them off on a clean microfiber cloth or a clean paper towel.
I used to use a shampoo+conditioner-in-one but now I either use Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap (Almond) or whatever hand soap I have in the bathroom seems to work fine. Washing involves getting some soap on my fingers and scraping, swishing, and/or smearing the brush on my fingers until it’s clean, then rinsing with water and reshaping if necessary. I wash whatever I’ve used once a week, alcohol off my brush roll, and put the brushes back in the open roll to dry. I usually wash them at night and they’re dry and good to go by morning.
Usually I just do quick cleans with Cinema Secrets, but for deeper cleanses I use a Dr. Bronner’s bar and a silicone mat from Sigma.
Dr. Bronners is great soap. Never thought of using it for makeup brushes, how does it work on natural and synthetic brushes?
I, too am a Dr. Bronner’s soap girl.
I use a Sunlight laundry bar on all my brushes and sponges. I put some warm water in a bowl and dip the brushes in it and then swirl them around on the soap lightly. Then i massage them with my hand to break up the product and get it out, then rinse them really well. I squeeze the water out with a towel, and I use brush drying racks to dry them Bristol side down.
I use Sigma brush shampoo and an ELF handheld brush cleaning mat
Forgot to mention my drying process! Sigma Tower for my smaller brushes, spin dryer with the little bowl from Amazon for my face brushes 🙂 I love the Sigma tower, I might get another purely to store clean brushes
I use a shampoo to wash the brushes – and do it a couple of times to ensure that the colour on the brushes is all out and then I give them a good rinse in warm water. I allow them to dry naturally on my ensuite bench.
I use a mild hair shampoo for all my natural fiber brushes and liquid soap for all the man made fiber ones. I wet the brush, add some shampoo on my hand and swirl the brush around, then I rinse it and let it/them dry hanging bristles down on a drying rack.
Sometimes I also use a conditioner on the natural hair brushes.
I use Cinema Secrets Makeup Brush Cleaner or BeautySoClean Wipeout Brush Cleaner after every use for eye shadow, blush, and highlighter brushes. Then I usually shampoo / deep clean once a week with The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver Soap. (I know it was created for paint brushes, but it works great on make-up brushes.) And I wash foundation and powder brushes after each use with The Masters Brush Cleaner.