A Guide To Sanitizing Your Makeup

The pandemic has made us all a little more aware of the germs surrounding us every day. Naturally, that has most people wondering how to get rid of these germs.

As a makeup artist, one of the first things you learn is sanitizing your products. However, the average makeup user usually never thinks of doing this.

However, with the rising awareness about contamination and bacteria, more and more people are asking how to clean their makeup. Here is a quick and easy guide to use to sanitize your makeup.

Eyeliner Or Lip Pencils

Pencils are the easiest place to start with sanitizing. To quickly yet effectively sanitize your pencils you need to get a good quality pencil sharpener.

Simply sharpen the pencils. This removes the part of the pencil that has been exposed to the air and skin as this may contain bacteria. TFollow up by wiping with some disinfectant spray on a tissue.

Felt-Tip Eyeliner

Unfortunately, felt-tip eyeliners are not as easy. They can be easily damaged during cleaning so be extremely careful.

To begin, use a sanitizing wipe to gently squeeze the felt-tip. Then spritz the tip with a solution of 70% IPA and let it dry for a few seconds before closing the liner again.

Powder Products

Now to the fun part. Cleaning eye shadow palettes, blushers, face powders, powder contour, and highlight products can be a quick and easy process.

Set up all your palettes open on a table. Start by cleaning the packaging with a sanitizing wipe then spray the product itself with 70% IPA. Ensure you spray from approxiametly 15cm away and allow it to evaporate for a few minutes before closing your products.

Mascara

One of the harder things to clean is Mascara. This is because once the mascara wand has entered the tube again it has contaminated the product.

A pro tip is to use disposable mascara wands and avoid double dipping. Unfortunately this is not always economical. The same applies to things like lip gloss and liquid lipsticks.

Final Tip

"The best practice is to not share your makeup or brushes with anyone else. The process of sanitizing your makeup with alcohol might ruin it if you're not careful (like powder products and eyeshadows) , so the main focus should be on the brushes, sponges, and applicators."

advises Dr Robb Akridge, co-founder of Clarisonic and skin expert (along with a PhD in Microbiology).