We use makeup to cover up our imperfections, right? Well what if your makeup brushes or beauty/skincare products are causing your breakouts because they're home to pore blocking bacteria? These tips will have your products squeaky clean and might even clear up your skin:
Part 1: Cleaning Brushes
I clean my brushes every day after I apply my make up. I simply use an anti-bacterial brush spray like this one from Sephora, and wipe the brush on a piece of tissue or a towel and allow the brushes to air dry. This takes about 10 seconds per brush, but doesn't get all of the bacteria off. So, once a week I deep clean my brushes (okay, sometimes more). To do this, I use three ingredients: antibacterial dish soap, olive oil (or coconut oil works too) and water. To do this yourself, pour about 2 tablespoons anti bacterial dish soap and two tablespoons of olive oil onto a dinner plate. You can mix them around if you want, but it honestly doesn't matter. Take one brush and dip it into the olive oil and dish soap. The dish soap sterilizes the brush while the oil conditions the bristles so they don't become brittle. Swirl the brush on the back of your hand or on a clean plate to loosen up the product that is on the bristles and evenly distribute the soap. Then run the brush under lukewarm water and squeeze the bristles. The water should come out a bit murky. Continue to run the brush under water and squeeze the bristles until the water comes out clear. Then dip the clean brush into the oil/soap solution and rinse one final time. Leave these laying flat to dry so water doesn't get into the handle and loosen up the glue that connects the bristles to the wood. Do this for all of your brushes and they'll be squeaky clean!
Part 2: Sanitizing Makeup & Skincare Products
You will need rubbing alcohol for this.
Sanitize your make up once per month or anytime you share it. Do not share anything that goes into a tube such as mascara or lipgloss as these cannot be sanitized.
Lipstick: Dip the bullet into the alcohol and allow to air dry. Alternatively, you can pour the alcohol into the spray bottle and spray the bullet.
Foundation/Concealor: Clean the pump or dispenser part of the product with alcohol and squeeze out a little bit to make sure you're starting with a fresh product.
Powders: Powder blushes, bronzers and eyeshadows don't usually house much bacteria. Wipe these off with some tissue but do not spray alcohol on them as it will change the texture of the product.
Tubes with applicators: While you can't really sanitize mascara or lipgloss, at least clean off the tube and the cap with a bit of alcohol.
Part 3: Expiration
Throwing away makeup that isn't fully used up or face cream that still has a little bit inside may seem like throwing away money. It isn't worth keeping old products though- they look bad and can cause breakouts- or even worse, infections/allergic reactions. Toss anything that smells funny or has reached it's expiration date. It is helpful to write the date you first used a product in permanent marker on the container (not glamorous, I know), somewhere on the packaging. A product's expiration date is marked like this:
This means that you have 12 months to use the product from the date you opened it before it expires. Keep this in mind if you're like me and try out new products all the time- the best way to prevent waste is to use one item up completely before opening/purchasing a new one (okay, except in the case of eyeshadow).