How to Clean Your Beauty Supplies

With everything that’s happened recently, there’s never been a bigger push to properly sanitize everything that we come into contact with daily. For us beauty mavens, that means all our beauty products! From our array of makeup brushed down to the mascara we keep at the bottom of our makeup bag, there’s a proper way to sanitize all your makeup and skin care products you likely use every day. If this time has been making you consider how seriously you take cleaning your beauty supplies, we list out everything you need to know.

Makeup

When’s the last time you really gave your makeup supplies a proper cleaning? With our brushes and other makeup tools coming into close contact with sensitive areas on our face like eyes and mouth, it’s so important that they are getting properly sanitized. After all, we’ve all heard that we should be avoiding touching our faces as much as possible and the same goes for our dirty makeup supplies. The last thing you want is to constantly apply your makeup with brushes that have last week’s foundation on it. This could not only lead to sanitary and health issues but it can also cause your skin to become red or irritated. So, what do you need to do to properly clean out your makeup?

Throw Out Old Makeup

First things first, get rid of all the old makeup that’s been taking up valuable space in your bag. All makeup supplies have an expiration date and sticking to that can help ensure that your skin is getting the best results possible. If you’re feeling guilty when thinking about the last time you threw out old makeup or you didn’t even realize it had an expiration date, it’s probably time to do some deep spring cleaning.

While not all makeup expirations are the same, there are some guidelines to help give you a pretty good idea of when to throw your supplies. For example, any pencil or powder makeup supplies will have a lifespan of around two years. This is a lot longer compared to liquid-based makeup’s shelf life of six to twelve months.

And of course you can’t forget about your makeup brushes. We know it’s hard to part with them but they also need to be swapped for clean ones. This should be done at least every two to three months. Trust us, your skin will thank you for it!

How to Clean the Rest of Your Makeup

After going through your makeup and feeling good what’s left, you’re ready to give the rest of your makeup supplies a proper scrubbing. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when washing everything from brushes to foundations. How do you know what the proper techniques are for cleaning your entire arsenal of beauty supplies? We understand this can be a daunting task, especially if you’re worried about ruining your makeup. That’s why we’ve created a handy list of things to know when cleaning your makeup brushes and products:

• Rinse your brushes in lukewarm water and scrub your brushes with a drop of soap.
• Use sanitizing sprays for your bronzer, powder eyeshadow, and more.
• Sharpen any pencil makeup on a regular basis.
• Wash metal tools like eyelash curlers and tweezers with soap and water.
• Scrape off the top layer of your lipstick and eyeshadow and soak what remains in rubbing alcohol.
• Remember to sanitize your makeup bag to avoid letting all your hard work go to waste. An antibacterial wipe should be all you need.

Skin Care

Just like makeup, your skin care will also need to be thrown out once your products have overstayed their welcome. When you should do that will depend on when you’ve opened the products and even in what type of container your skin care is stored in. Moisturizer that’s stored in a tube will have a longer shelf life of one year compared to its lifespan of six months if it’s kept in a jar.

Washing your hands before using your skin care and tightening the lids after each use are some ways you can prolong your skin care products. But that doesn’t mean you can use them forever! If you have sensitive skin, it’s even more important that you have clean and new skin care products. Here are some warning signs that it’s time to give your skin care a fresh start:

• • Your product has changed color from when you bought it.
  • It has a strange odor.
  • Its texture has changed to be runny or lumpy.
  • The product feels different when applying to your skin.
  • Your skin feels red or irritated in the same spot where you’ve applied the product.

Want to Become a Cleaning Pro?

Do you love learning about this stuff and you’re interested in knowing even more? Our cosmetology or esthetics could be the perfect way for you to start a career you feel passionate about! Not only can you learn beauty safety tips like these but our students also study how to perform the latest trends and techniques that are popular in the beauty world. Contact us or schedule a virtual tour to learn how to get started!