Brush Up On It - The Masters Artist Soap

I don't know anyone that likes to clean their makeup brushes. That's why you see sooo many YouTube videos with folks showing you how THEY wash THEIR brushes and why YOU should try it too. And, yes, I've tried many of those ways. So far, I haven't come up with a perfect way or at the very least, a better way than I have been doing it.

I've mentioned that every time I went to Michaels or Hobby Lobby to purchase The Masters Brush Cleaner all I could find was The Masters  Artist Soap. I decided  that there probably wasn't a huge difference between the two so I would try it. I can't comment on differences but I can say I liked it just fine. 

I put the soap in a travel dish that I found for $.97 at Wal-Mart. I find that it works very well for me. I wet my brushes, swipe them over the soap, clean them and them after I'm finished washing all of the brushes, I take the soap out of the dish and let it dry overnight. 

Now that I've discussed technique, let's talk about how well it works. I would give it a slight edge over the Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap and the olive oil/Dawn dish liquid mix that I made (I found it on YouTube). I always use my foundation kabuki brushes and my concealer brushes as the test of cleansers. Those are my toughest brushes. I normally use them on my face for 3 or 4 days then put them in the box for washing. I'm thinking about getting a few more of each brush so I can use them for 2 days and then wash them every other week instead.

With Dr. Bronners Magic Soap and the olive oil/Dawn it takes about 4 or 5 passes to get all residue off. I don't know if that is excessive or not. If I choose to use my Purity Cleanser, I can get away with 3 passes. With The Masters Brush Cleaner I only needed 3 passes with the kabuki brushes and 4 passes with the concealer brushes.

So yes, that is a plus. Yes, I would buy this again BUT I'd like to try to the brush cleaner that I originally wanted to try so I'll keep on the hunt so that I can report the difference.

Brush Up On It!!

I like to tell folks what makeup brushes I'm loving. I'm a bit weird about my brushes so if nothing else you'll find my brush use entertaining. This month's Brush Up On It isn't about makeup brushes at all! I picked up 2 new makeup brush cleaners! I thought I'd chat with you good folks about that this time.

I currently use a mix of brush cleaning techniques. I have used Dawn dish soap mixed with olive oil and I've used Dr. Bronner's Magic Lavender Soap and I also have used my Purity facial cleanser to remove stubborn makeup (foundation & concealer). They work fine but I'm always on the hunt for the holy grail in all as many things that I can. I haven't found what I consider holy grail for brush cleaner so the hunt is on!

So many people have talked about The Masters Artist Soap. I went to 2 different Michaels and 2 different Hobby Lobbys and couldn't find the container that everyone loves so at the last Michaels store, I just picked up the soap. I figure it's probably the same product, right? Right? I dunno. I'll try it and see. I think it's close enough to get a good grasp of the product.

The second product I picked up was the Sephora Brush It Off Cleansing Brush Wipes. I saw a demo on YouTube (yeah, they got me) and I was intrigued. I have to admit that I'm kinda skeptical about this product. I mean it's a wipe and I'm supposed to clean my brushes completely with this. In my head (one of the scariest places to be!) I see it as more of a daily brush cleaner -- you know, freshen up your brush, spot clean it but not a deep down clean. We'll see.

I plan on trying both of these products thoroughly and reporting back my findings. Look at this as part one.

Part two to follow...