How To Wash A Makeup Sponge

Mmmkay, mind upwardly: You need to clean your Beautyblender and makeup sponges fashion, mode more frequently than you currently exercise (which I'm guessing is, um, once or twice a twelvemonth max?). Seriously—have it from me, someone who genuinely hates cleaning my makeup brushes, when I say that really taking five minutes to just do the damn thing is significantly meliorate than letting your Beautyblender or makeup sponge continue to sit and fester with built-upward skin gunk and grime, makeup, pare oils, and bacteria. Yum!

This isn't to gross you out or scare y'all (fine, peradventure a lil scrap, if it will actually get you lot to clean your sponges), it'south just facts. Even if your Beautyblender or sponge is "antimicrobial," that doesn't mean it magically stays clean—antimicrobial properties just make the sponge a less hospitable environs for bacteria to grow. Just that doesn't do annihilation to help the build-upward that can lead to breakouts, irritation, and inflammation. Which brings us to...

How frequently should yous clean a Beautyblender?

In a perfect world? After each use. Only since that'll never happen, most experts concur that yous should clean your Beautyblender or makeup sponge at to the lowest degree in one case a calendar week . "Ideally, you'd wash all of your makeup tools every single day, but I know this is unrealistic," dermatologist Geeta Yadav, Md, founder of Skin Science Dermatology, has told Cosmo. So instead, stick to cleaning your Beautyblender weekly. "Arrive a Sunday-nighttime action so that you can start your week off fresh," she added.

Luckily, washing your makeup sponge really isn't that time-consuming. It'south 2021, baby, and in that location are a trillion makeup castor cleaners and tried-and-tested YouTube tutorials to guide you lot through the process, whether you're working with a cleansing pad, your hand, or only some dish lather. Continue reading, and delight wash your sponges tonight, k?

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How to clean a BeautyBlender with a pad

The cardinal to cleaning a makeup sponge? Using plenty friction that you really make clean it—just not so much that you damage it (little sponges are frail, y'all). That'due south why I love using a texturized silicone pad—it gives me a gentle simply effective surface to deep-clean my Beautyblender without tearing or snagging information technology. Most makeup brush mitts will do the trick, only my personal faves are Beautyblender's Proceed It Clean (information technology slips over your manus, then it'southward v convenient) and Sephora Collection'due south Solid Castor and Sponge Cleaner Mini (it comes with a bar of soap). Here'due south what you practice:

Footstep i: Wet your sponge. Gently squeeze your sponge nether running h2o until it'due south totally wet.
Step two: Add some soap. Squeeze a cleansing liquid or rub a bar of soap along the hand and so it'southward fully saturated (I prefer a bones, unscented soap like Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Babe Soap).
Pace iii: Scrub and rinse. Run your sponge along the silicone nibs until your makeup stains are gone—no wringing or pulling—and so rinse until the h2o runs clear.
Step 4: Dry. Ready your sponge aside and permit it air-dry with enough of apportionment (psst: drying your makeup sponge in a airtight infinite tin really pb to mildew).

How to clean a Beautyblender with soap

Listen, soap isn't the gentlest option on this list, but information technology's definitely the strongest and most constructive—and, you know, sometimes very, very needed, depending on your sponge'south level of dirty. Whether you prefer to utilise a liquid cleanser or a bar of lather is upwardly to you lot, but both methods will give you the aforementioned squeaky-make clean result. Hither'due south how:

Pace i: Wet your sponge. Clasp your makeup sponge under running water until it's completely saturated and expanded.
Step 2: Add the cleanser. If you're using a liquid cleanser, squirt the lather direct onto the wet sponge and begin massaging, pressing, and pushing information technology into the palm of your wet manus to work the soap into the heart 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 three: Rinse. Squeeze the sponge underneath make clean water until the water runs clear, then clasp the sponge and gear up it bated to dry.

Just be careful: Soap tin can be harsh and drying, so doing this cleanse likewise frequently can first to break down your Beautyblender over time.

How to soak a Beautyblender to make clean it

If you're a perfectionist and a few stains on an otherwise-clean Beautyblender volition swallow 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 chip of gunky residue.

Footstep 1: Soak. Squirt a few drops of liquid cleanser into a pocket-size bowl with warm water and squeeze/submerge your dirty sponge into the soapy solution. Let it soak for five minutes.
Footstep 2: Scrub. Work your sponge into the soap bar to really pause down your stains and build-up. Once yous have a lather going, use your fingers to massage the lather deeper into the sponge.
Step 3: Rinse. Once the sponge starts oozing old makeup, run it nether clean water to rinse. Give it a couple of squeezes to wash out all the soap. Gear up aside to dry.

How to microwave a Beautyblender to make clean information technology

If you'd rather risk a bad breakout than spend all that time scrubbing and soaking your sponges, permit me introduce you to the microwave method. A quick zap is all it takes to sanitize your makeup sponge. "Microwaving the sponge in soapy h2o is essentially similar a supercharged version of putting it in your washing auto, which uses hot water and soap to cleanse fabrics," says dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, Doctor. "The microwave energy will also probable kill any microorganisms that may be growing on the sponge ."

Only await! Don't just identify your muddy sponge on the microwave tray and printing start, or you'll end up with a melted mess. Instead, follow the below steps for a sponge like new.

Step 1: Make a soapy water mixture. First, mix a few squirts of a mild lather (dish soap or baby shampoo volition work) with water in a microwave-safe cup. You can eyeball it when it comes to measurements—just brand sure at that place's enough soapy solution to cover the sponge fully.
Step 2: Wet the sponge. Give the sponge a few squeezes in the water to pre-wet it, then fully submerge it in the cup.
Step three: Microwave information technology. Microwave the cup for about a infinitesimal, waiting at least thirty seconds for the cup to cool before grabbing it from the microwave. The soapy water will have transformed into liquid makeup residue, and your gross sponge will look just similar new.
Step four: Wring information technology out. Once the h2o cools, rinse and wring out the sponge under running water, then set it bated to dry out.

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

Scarlet Buddemeyer Ruby was the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covered beauty across print and digital.