If you are looking at this post and thinking to yourself “C’mon Nicole, of course I wash my makeup brushes, thats a no brainer!” Then I applaud you for washing them regularly and give you a virtual high five. But let me tell you, you would be SHOCKED at how many women I see who literally never wash them. (you know who you are…)

If you are in the other group reading this, and you’re thinking “Wash shmash! Ain’t nobody got time for that!” then please hear me out. I swear there are good reasons.

There are two main reasons to wash them. The first one is superficial, but still important.

Your makeup will look better.

Dirty brushes mean there is residue of old makeup on them (as well as other things, but we’ll get to that in a moment) so you are going to muddy up your colors if your brushes are dirty. Obviously if you usually use similar colors, or very light colors, this will not happen as quickly, but it’s still a factor.

It’s a total bummer to dip your brush into a gorgeous eyeshadow and have it look less than desirable upon application. Clean brushes mean more “true to pan” colors!

It is also 8,987 times easier to blend out the edges of your makeup with a clean brush (a distinctly factual number proven by science) and we all know blending is of the utmost importance to proper makeup application.

The second, and most important reason is BACTERIA

Makeup brushes are a breeding ground for bacteria!

When you use a brush to apply your makeup, you use it to pick up the product, then it touches your skin where it picks up some dead skin cells and natural oils along with some bacteria that was on your face. Everyone has bacteria on their skin, even if it’s clean.

Then the brush sits and basically marinates in old makeup, skin cells and bacteria until the next time you use it. And the more you use it, the more it collects.

Now when you go to use it again, you are taking that bacteria which has had a chance to grow in the menage of makeup and skin cells, and putting it back onto your face!

Are you seeing the importance yet?

Washing your brushes regularly can help reduce acne, and also reduce your chance of getting an eye infection and improve the overall health an appearance of your skin.

Some Notes:

-You don’t need to go crazy and wash your brushes between every application, for the average makeup wearer once a week is plenty.

- BUT For those with acne prone skin, I would recommend washing the brushes you use on your skin (foundation, blush, concealer etc.) as often as possible.

-You don’t need to buy a fancy brush cleaner. A gentle shampoo, like baby shampoo or a sulfate free formula will do just fine. But if you like the idea of using the professional stuff THIS CLEANER is fabulous and makes your brushes smell like delicious vanilla.

- You can also do daily (or semi daily) spot cleaning with a spray on brush cleaner like THIS ONE by Japonesque.

You basically just spray a little on the brush, wipe the brush off on a paper towel or cloth and let it air dry, which only takes a few minutes. This is a good way to keep the brushes in check between full on washings, and is also great if you use a bright color and don’t want it to mix into your makeup the next day.

And that’s that. Let me know in the comments if you want to see a tutorial of how I wash my brushes, maybe I will make a YouTube tutorial out of it!