Make up brushes cleaning

Mahin did link to this video in late May, and because I was another one that was using MAC cleaner and not really having results that I liked, I decided to give the whole system a try. So yes, this is one of those posts where I do the stupid things so you don’t have to. Ok, not quite “stupid”, as this method works WONDERS. I managed to find the exact Da Vinci brush soap; I got it with a pack of mixed Brush Guard, and a separate 15-unit unbranded “guards” too. And then I got washing.

I was amazed. I had a few brushes that I thought were permanently stained with pigment or gel eye liner suddenly looking *clean*. And I mean fully clean, with white bristles recovering their original colour. Even better, the Brush Guard suggested in the video allowed me to “recover” a few brushes that had been a bit battered for whatever reason (bristles getting caught on lids or zippers, for instance) and that now, after drying properly inside the guards, have recovered their real shape. Everything feels soft and clean, and the proper Brush Guards allowed me to put the brushes upside-down inside a mesh-sided pencil holder to dry.

You might have noticed that I said “proper” Brush Guards. This is because the unbranded ones that came from China, despite being about 1/4 of the price, were marginally useful at best. The mesh was way too soft, which meant no upside-down drying in them. The mesh was also nowhere near as dense as the Brush Guard ones, and therefore bristles were constantly poking out even when using them to dry brushes flat. Even worse, some of the meshes were WAY too big and therefore not dense enough to keep any brush in shape at all. So I ended having to move the original Brush Guards in between brushes to get them to do their job.

You can see the difference on the photo at the start of this post, and below. The images show the three types of guards on similar brushes above, and on the exact same brush below… I used a slightly bigger brush so the mesh size could be seen better. You can see clearly that the Brush Guard mesh is far denser and more rigid, and therefore better suited for purpose. And while the cheaper guards will work fine for keeping brushes sorted in a rigid container at home, I will most definitely not be taking my brushes on the road with them. Also, while the Variety Pack from the Brush Guard gives a good selection, there’s only one small eyeshadow brush, which is far too little considering the number of brushes we can use during make-up application, and I would suggest getting one Variety pack, and one for Shadow/Liner (XS)