It was back in college when I started to be a fan of makeup! I was so much into eyeshadow and lip palettes and people would always praise me on how I did my own makeup. Until I started to gain clients here and there and it started to become my side hustle whenever there would be events.
I didn’t know the protocol for sanitizing at first. I was scared to spray my palettes with alcohol because it might affect the potency of the makeup I have. And as my clientele grew, I’ve started to use my makeup on people who had skin issues like acne or allergies. I never wanted to clean them even once before until I saw the need to already as I read about how important it is to sanitize your makeup in between clients.
So here are my tips on how you can do so based on my own experience:
Palettes
99% doesn’t mean that it can clean faster. It actually means that the solution is made of 99% alcohol and 1% water and it will evaporate faster. Therefore, it won’t give it enough time to sanitize your palettes.
Simply spray your 70% isopropyl alcohol on the surface of your palettes and wait for it to dry. This technique will kill bacteria on the palette. Don’t forget to wipe of the fall out on the sides so your palette doesn’t incur stains from using it over and over again.
Foundations
Bottled foundations shouldn’t be contaminated in the first place especially if it has a pump. So you only need to sanitize the pump itself and the tool you use for mixing your foundation which is your palette and your spatula. If you use cream foundations on a palette, you may use your alcohol again or a dedicated cosmetic sanitizer to sanitize the surface.
Brushes
If you’re going to use the same brushes in between clients, then you’re going to need to sanitize them, too. Use a spot cleaner to clean them first and get rid of their stains and then use alcohol or cosmetic sanitizer to further sanitize.
Ideally, though, you’re supposed to have at least 3 sets of brushes because sanitizing your brushes consumes too much time and effort in between clients.
Additional Tips:
- There are brush cleaners that are oil-based that can easily remove stains from your brush. Purchase one that dries fast just in case you do need to sanitize brushes in between clients.
- If you’re worried that alcohol might change the potency or the pigmentation of your makeup, then purchase cosmetic sanitizers instead. They’re formulated to really clean your makeup without affecting how it performs.
- Invest on more brushes. I was serious when I said that cleaning your brushes in between clients take up a lot of time. Imagine having to remove red or black eyeshadow stains when you’re in a rush.
- Always have a paper towel with you. Yes, paper towels, not facial tissues, are more ideal for spot cleaning brushes because the latter is too soft and will just tear apart once it’s wet with sanitizer.
Even if you know how to spot clean the items on your makeup kit, please be sure that once you get home, you deep clean everything again. This will ensure that molds or bacteria don’t grow on any of them.
