Makeup Tools

Good things should be shared amongst friends, but great things must be shared with the world!

Dirty makeup brushes and tools are some of the many things that can cause breakouts and otherwise irritate the skin. I know that mine reacts violently whenever I subject it to a foundation brush that hasn’t been cleaned for more than two weeks, so I always try to keep the things in my kit as clean as possible.

But sometimes that’s easier said than done.

For instance, when I couldn’t get the muck off of my Sigma F80 Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki Brush, I became a very frustrated girl.

The regular shampoo method wasn’t doing the job at all…and olive oil didn’t work much better.

As a matter of fact, olive oil probably did my Sigma F80 more harm than good. I spent more than 45 minutes one day trying to remove all of the oil from the bristles. It had mixed with the remaining liquid foundation in the brush, and no matter how hard I scrubbed with shampoo and detergent, the olive oil and dried foundation flakes wouldn’t budge.

It looked pretty disgusting too…

I’d subjected the brush to extremely vehement abuse, scrubbing the bristles like I would an elephant’s hide, and letting water flow from the tip into the ferrule in an attempt to dislodge the stubborn oil. I even threw it on the floor once hoping it would miraculously learn its lesson and self-clean (sorry).

I hated cleaning the Sigma F80 brush so much that I started to dread the weekends, because that’s when I deep clean my brushes every week.

After considering its rave reviews, I tried MAC Brush Cleanser, hoping that a high-end brand would perform a miracle, but repeatedly dunking the F80 into a cup of MAC’s cleanser only removed a teeny bit of gunk, and the dense bristles soaked up a lot of product…

Hey, hey! Expensive product there, don’t drink it up so quickly, yo! I even tried to dilute the MAC brush cleanser with water, but that also didn’t help much.

Then, one day I was just reading blogs and chanced upon a product that would change my life — okie, more like cut my brush-washing time tremendously.

Jang! Jang! Presenting the Daiso Detergent for Puff and Sponge!

Before taking these pics, I made sure to get the bristles really brown and dirty to give you that “OMGIGOTTAHAVETHIS!!” effect when you see the brush returned to its pristine white condition. Hoho.

So, here’s my dirty Sigma F80 Brush. For the purposes of showing how the cleanser works, you can replace it with any brush you like.

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If there’s one thing I hate about my job as a makeup artist, it’s cleaning (not that I much enjoy it in my more pedestrian life, either). Seriously, we’re always cleaning something. From wiping up spilled powder to disinfecting shared products to scraping off the top layer of pressed powders. And brushes are some of the worst, too, because they have to be cleaned between every client, every color, and every product.

It’s not just a matter of preventing contamination, either, but also of making sure the forest green I just used doesn’t mix with the snowy white I’m about to use. That’s why I’m constantly searching for brush cleansers able to remove all traces of color and pigment — ideally, ones that are kind to the clock (don’t take forever to dry), kind to my wallet, kind to my nose in that they don’t smell like pure isopropyl alcohol, and kind to my brushes.

Now, before I continue, let me just clarify that there are two types of professional brush cleaners.

Type 1: Fast change brush cleaners

These you literally dip brushes into, swirl them around a few times, wipe across a paper towel, and you’re good to go. They leave brushes completely dry, and devoid of color and bacteria. Most makeup artists use this variety of brush cleanser on jobs so that they’re able to transition brushes quickly between clients on the fly, without wasting an extra minute.

Type 2: Deep cleansing brush cleaners

These are designed to more thoroughly deep clean brushes, but usually require at least a few hours to dry. They’re typically easier on brush fibers than the swirl-and-go variety and occasionally contain ingredients to condition brush bristles as well.

What is Parian Spirit?

A while ago, I stumbled upon a brand called Parian Spirit. Their only widely available product is a brush cleaner of the same name, marketed as being environmentally safe and professional grade. Although it never explicitly stated whether it was a fast change or a deep cleaner, I assumed it was the latter due to it having a base of citrus spirits (which is a solvent) rather than alcohol (which is what most quick change cleaners contain, as the alcohol evaporates extremely quickly, allowing the brush to be ready for use in minutes). It was cheap (only $12 for 8 fl. oz.), so I decided to give it a whirl.

I wash the brushes I use on myself on a daily basis about once every five days. Mostly, I work with translucent powders and brow powders with these, so I figured that these rather weak products would be a good initial test of the cleaner’s ability.

How does it work?

For the most part, the directions sound pretty familiar. They say to pour enough of the liquid into a glass jar to cover the bristles of a brush to be cleaned. Then, dip the brush in and agitate it in the glass for about 15 seconds before removing it, drying with a paper towel or terry cloth, and then letting the brush air dry the rest of the way.

Interestingly, the directions also say that you can leave brushes immersed in the solution for up to a minute to completely disinfect. That’s a claim I don’t see many deep cleaners make.

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