How to Clean Makeup Brushes With Minimal Effort

We get it: Figuring out how to clean makeup brushes—and then actually getting yourself to do so—can feel like a huge pain in the you-know-what. In fact, we’d argue that it’s right up there with filing taxes and flossing on the checklist of items that we’d rather not do but know we should anyways. Sure, it can be tempting to just pick up yesterday’s foundation brush and reuse it for today’s look, but for a slew of reasons we'll explain below, it’s best you learn how to clean makeup brushes and then integrate doing so into your routine ASAP.

“As makeup and oils build up on brushes and sponges, they create a breeding ground for bacteria and other microorganisms, which can cause breakouts, styes, staph, or even herpes outbreaks,” Hadley King, M.D., Clinical Instructor of Dermatology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, tells SELF. “Using dirty makeup brushes and sponges can lead to not only skin irritation, but also potentially infections.” 

That’s not to mention how cleaning your makeup brushes can affect the longevity of your brushes themselves. Gunk and buildup that gathers on dirty brushes can also cause the brush fibers to deteriorate more quickly, experts note, impacting both how efficiently the brush picks up and applies makeup. So, let’s talk washing. There are a variety of methods you can find on YouTube and Reddit for washing brushes and makeup sponges—from swirling with dish soap and olive oil to putting your Beautyblender in the microwave, which sounds unusual, we know—but, as we often say at SELF, it’s best to seek out expert advice for best results. Here, we asked three makeup artists for their suggestions on exactly how to clean makeup brushes; how often you should be cleaning your makeup brushes; when it might be worth purging your brushes for new ones; and which cleaners and cleaning accessories are best for getting the job done.