How To Wash Your Makeup Sponge

Mmmkay, listen upwards: You lot need to make clean your Beautyblender and makeup sponges style, way more frequently than you currently practice (which I'm guessing is, um, in one case or twice a yr max?). Seriously—take information technology from me, someone who genuinely hates cleaning my makeup brushes, when I say that actually taking five minutes to simply do the damn thing is significantly amend than letting your Beautyblender or makeup sponge proceed to sit down and fester with built-up skin gunk and crud, makeup, skin oils, and bacteria. Yum!

This isn't to gross you out or scare you (fine, maybe a lil scrap, if information technology will actually go you to clean your sponges), it'due south just facts. Even if your Beautyblender or sponge is "antimicrobial," that doesn't mean it magically stays clean—antimicrobial backdrop just make the sponge a less hospitable environment for bacteria to abound. Only that doesn't do anything to help the build-up that tin lead to breakouts, irritation, and inflammation. Which brings the states to...

How often should you clean a Beautyblender?

In a perfect world? After each use. Just since that'll never happen, almost experts agree that yous should clean your Beautyblender or makeup sponge at least once a week . "Ideally, you'd wash all of your makeup tools every single mean solar day, but I know this is unrealistic," dermatologist Geeta Yadav, MD, founder of Skin Science Dermatology, has told Cosmo. And so instead, stick to cleaning your Beautyblender weekly. "Make information technology a Sunday-night activity then that yous can commencement your calendar week off fresh," she added.

Luckily, washing your makeup sponge really isn't that time-consuming. It'due south 2021, baby, and there are a trillion makeup brush cleaners and tried-and-tested YouTube tutorials to guide you through the process, whether you're working with a cleansing pad, your hand, or but some dish soap. Keep reading, and please wash your sponges tonight, k?

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Ecotools Makeup Cleaner for Brushes

Alori Unscented Petite Liquid Brush Cleaner

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How to clean a BeautyBlender with a pad

The key to cleaning a makeup sponge? Using enough friction that you lot actually clean information technology—but not so much that you damage it (fiddling sponges are delicate, y'all). That's why I love using a texturized silicone pad—it gives me a gentle but constructive surface to deep-clean my Beautyblender without tearing or snagging it. Well-nigh makeup brush mitts will do the play a trick on, simply my personal faves are Beautyblender's Keep It Clean (it slips over your hand, so information technology's v convenient) and Sephora Collection's Solid Brush and Sponge Cleaner Mini (it comes with a bar of soap). Here's what y'all do:

Footstep 1: Wet your sponge. Gently squeeze your sponge nether running water until it's totally wet.
Pace two: Add together some soap. Squeeze a cleansing liquid or rub a bar of lather along the hand so it'southward fully saturated (I prefer a basic, unscented lather similar Dr. Bronner'due south Pure-Castile Baby Lather).
Step three: Scrub and rinse. Run your sponge along the silicone nibs until your makeup stains are gone—no wringing or pulling—and and then rinse until the water runs clear.
Step 4: Dry. Set your sponge aside and let it air-dry with plenty of circulation (psst: drying your makeup sponge in a closed space tin can actually atomic number 82 to mildew).

How to make clean a Beautyblender with lather

Mind, soap isn't the gentlest option on this list, but it'southward definitely the strongest and virtually effective—and, you know, sometimes very, very needed, depending on your sponge's level of muddy. Whether you prefer to utilise a liquid cleanser or a bar of soap is up to yous, but both methods will give you lot the same squeaky-clean result. Here's how:

Stride ane: Wet your sponge. Squeeze your makeup sponge under running h2o until information technology'southward completely saturated and expanded.
Step two: Add the cleanser. If you're using a liquid cleanser, squirt the soap direct onto the wet sponge and begin massaging, pressing, and pushing information technology into the palm of your wet hand to piece of work the lather into the eye of the sponge. If yous're using bar soap, rub the sponge back and forth against the bar while applying pressure level to build up a lather.
Step 3: Rinse. Clasp the sponge underneath clean water until the water runs articulate, then squeeze the sponge and set information technology bated to dry.

Only be careful: Lather can be harsh and drying, then doing this cleanse too frequently can starting time to intermission down your Beautyblender over time.

How to soak a Beautyblender to clean it

If y'all're a perfectionist and a few stains on an otherwise-clean Beautyblender volition eat away at your soul, try the double-cleansing method: Soak your sponge in liquid cleanser, then follow with a gentle scrub with bar soap to remove every last bit of gunky remainder.

Stride 1: Soak. Eject a few drops of liquid cleanser into a small bowl with warm water and clasp/submerge your dirty sponge into the soapy solution. Let information technology soak for five minutes.
Stride 2: Scrub. Work your sponge into the soap bar to really break down your stains and build-up. Once you accept a lather going, use your fingers to massage the soap deeper into the sponge.
Step 3: Rinse. Once the sponge starts oozing onetime makeup, run it under clean water to rinse. Give it a couple of squeezes to wash out all the lather. Set aside to dry.

How to microwave a Beautyblender to make clean it

If you'd rather risk a bad breakout than spend all that time scrubbing and soaking your sponges, allow me innovate you to the microwave method. A quick zap is all it takes to sanitize your makeup sponge. "Microwaving the sponge in soapy water is essentially like a supercharged version of putting it in your washing machine, which uses hot water and soap to cleanse fabrics," says dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD. "The microwave energy will likewise likely kill any microorganisms that may exist growing on the sponge ."

But wait! Don't just identify your muddied sponge on the microwave tray and press starting time, or you'll end up with a melted mess. Instead, follow the beneath steps for a sponge like new.

Step one: Make a soapy h2o mixture. Kickoff, mix a few squirts of a mild soap (dish soap or baby shampoo will work) with h2o in a microwave-condom cup. Yous tin eyeball it when it comes to measurements—but make sure there's enough soapy solution to cover the sponge fully.
Step 2: Wet the sponge. Give the sponge a few squeezes in the h2o to pre-wet information technology, so fully submerge information technology in the loving cup.
Step 3: Microwave it. Microwave the loving cup for almost a infinitesimal, waiting at least 30 seconds for the loving cup to cool earlier grabbing it from the microwave. The soapy water will take transformed into liquid makeup residue, and your gross sponge will expect merely like new.
Step iv: Wring it out. Once the water cools, rinse and wring out the sponge under running h2o, then set information technology aside to dry.

Chloe Metzger Deputy Beauty Managing director Chloe Metzger is the deputy beauty manager at Cosmopolitan, overseeing the editorial content and growth strategy of the hair, makeup, and peel space on digital, while also obsessively writing about the best hair products for every hair blazon (curly girl hither; whattup), and the skincare routines that actually, truly work (follow her on Instagram to see behind-the-scenes pics of that magazine life).

Cherry Buddemeyer Ruby was the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covered dazzler across impress and digital.