So this is a pretty basic one, but the more I talk with other women, the more I come to realize that cleaning makeup tools isn’t as common as it should be. At least once per week, it is important to give your makeup tools a good cleaning to get rid of the invisible bacteria that is growing on your sponges, your eye shadow brushes, your applicator brushes, and any other tool that happens to touch your skin. Keep in mind if it’s on your brushes, it’s getting deposited into whatever makeup you might be loading your brushes with–foundation, powder, eyeshadow, etc.

Let’s make this super quick and easy: grab a clean towel or cloth, baby soap or specialty makeup brush cleansing soap; a running faucet and your hands. Easy peasy: start the faucet on a warm temperature and work some soap into a lather then take your makeup brush and gently yet briskly rub it into the palm of your hand in circles in order to get soap loaded onto your brush. Use your fingers to gently work the soap into the middle of the bristles and rinse. Lather, rinse, repeat until the water runs clear. When your done, tap your brush against the sink as you would your tooth brush in order to get rid of the excess water. Gently brush the brush against your clean towel or cloth. If pigment comes off, you might want to wash it once more. Repeat for all brushes! For your sponges, lather them up with soap and really work them over and rinse, rinse, rinse! Beaty sponges, beauty blenders, etc. can all be cleaned this way. Make sure that you soak up excess water with your towel and ensure that they are drying quickly in a warm area so as to not encourage bacterial growth. Use a cloth with soap and a wet cloth for rinsing in order to clean your eye lash curler.

Done! This takes 10 minutes maximum, so it really isn’t a lot of time to invest to keep your skin, your eyes, and your makeup healthier.