Updated: New way to clean my makeup brushes & sponges

Hi there

I have been using a different product / method to clean my brushes and sponges for months now and wanted to share it with you all.

I follow a number of beauty gurus on YouTube and for the past year they have been raving about the infamous Beauty Blender Cleanser to wash their sponges and brushes, which is a bit pricey.

 I have found an alternative that works for me.....

No, I have never tried the blender cleanser but it gave me the idea to try the Dove Cream Bar.

I was at the supermarket in the soap isle and saw the Dove cream bar on sale for R11 for a double pack.  I thought that if it didn't work, I would have only been out of pocket by R11. 

The nice thing about using this, is that the soap foams up and really gets in there and washes all the foundation out of my foundation sponges used with warm to hot water.  Nothing else has cleaned my sponges so well.  Another trick I have learnt is to put your sponges in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute after washing them.  Yes, sounds crazy, but people actually do this.  Normal kitchen sponges put in to the microwave kills up to 98% of bacteria.  I can see and feel the difference when I do this.  Also, bear in mind, that this is not a permanent solution, as foundation sponges are only meant to be used / kept for a specific amount of time and must be replaced when needed.

As for my brushes, I use the Dove Cream Bar on these as well.  Like I said before, this soap foams up, and it cleans my brushes in a shorter amount of time.  Which is great because washing brushes takes alot of time which I am short of these days.  All foundation and eye-shadow stains are gone.

Also I noticed that the brush hairs are softer and they do not shed.  I guess the cream in the soap is working its magic but does not leave any residue behind whatsoever.   

Overall I am thrilled to discover that I can use Dove Cream Bar for my sponges and brushes.  I do still keep my home-made brush cleanser handy.  For spot cleaning the lazy way, I use a makeup wipe as a temporary measure in case I want to spot clean.

Have you ever seen the makeup brush drying rack:

Please see the picture below.  I was reading a blog and came across this post: The non-patented drying box (which won’t cost you anything if you have a cardboard box lying around).

Try the link below and it will show you how this blogger washes and dries her brushes:
http://cucumpear.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-wash-dry-your-make-up-brushes.html

I know it doesn't look very elegant but I think its a great idea.  Instead of looking for space to set aside my wet brushes.  This way, the water does not loosen the glue in the ferrel as the brushes are upside down.  I have an empty Rotatrim box and I am definitely going to try this out.

Or you could cut out the sides so that more air can get to the brushes to dry faster.

Thanks for reading.

Nats