Battle of the Brush Cleansers

I love all my make-up brushes. I value them because they cost me some serious money but also because they have helped my make-up application get better so much over the years. As a result I look after my brushes very well and being a freelance make-up artist means I have to keep them in a santized, good condition. This is an indepth review on 5 brush cleaners that are currently available on the market for both regular consumers and professional make-up artists. Y'all enjoy :)

Method of cleaning:-

I split my dirty brushes into 5 different groups. Each to be cleaned by a different cleaner. I poured each of the cleaners into a small dish then dipped the brushes into the product, agitated them for a little while and swipped on a paper towel until clean.

The Brush Cleaners

Left to right:- MAC Brush Cleanser, FaceSecrets Professional Brush Cleaner, Ben Nye Brush Cleaner, Mehron Brush Cleaner and Graftobian Brush Cleaner

First up...
Graftobian Brush Cleaner £6.16
This is a clear liquid and you can totally tell this stuff has Isopropyl Alcohol in it. It totally reeks and it carries a warning label of "Flammable Liquid".

The good
I really like this brush cleaner. It cleaned its set of brushes very very well. The eyeshadow brushes were completely dry in less than 2 minutes and it took about 4 minutes for the bigger face brush to dry completely. The scent was almost gone when they were done. Left for longer I'm guessing it would disappear. The brushes did feel nice and conditioned afterward. I felt like my brushes were definitely sanitized and it would be good to take with on gigs were you have multiple clients.

The Bad
The bottle is small. 58ml to be precise. The price is a bit steep considering the amount of product you get however I am happy to overlook that considering how well it works. I wish it came in a spray bottle because I find it that much easier to clean my brushes if I'm spraying the product rather than pouring it out. You end up using less but still getting the same effective result. Graftobian does recommend using their brush cleaner in conjunction with their 4 oz dispensing pump bottle. If I ever get a hold of it, I'll let you guys know how it works.

Mehron Brush Cleaner £4.86
You get 133ml of product in the bottle and it has a blue tinge to it. It smells like mouthwash! Honestly. It's kinda minty :) It contains SDA-40 Alcohol which I have come to know is a high grade purified cosmetic alcohol. It does advise on the bottle not to let the brushes stand in the cleaner for prolonged periods of time and it too is a flammable liquid. This cleaner is not tested on animals.

The good
The brushes came out very clean as well with a nice minty scent!

The Bad
This cleaner left what felt like a residue on the brushes. They all took about 5 minutes to dry to 7 mins to dry which could be a problem if you're wanting a quick acting brush cleanser.

Ben Nye Brush Cleaner [Quick drying Spray] £7.30
This is another blue toned cleaner but this one comes in a 59ml spray bottle. It too contains SDA-40 Alcohol and is therefore flammable. It definitely has a scent to and it is noted on the bottle that it must be used in a well ventilated area.

The Good
This cleaner lives up to its word. It is definitely quick drying. It didn't alter the feel of the brushes i.e. no residue and they were ready to use again in less than 3 mins. One of the brushes that was cleaned with this cleaner was a lip brush. Now you all know how sometimes its hard to get the goopy lipglosses and lipsticks off our lipbrushes right? Well this brush cut through that grease and left it spotless. Thumbs up in my books.

The Bad
I really don't like the smell of this cleaner. It is very chemical-ly and it stays on the brushes even when they are dry. If you're not bothered by smells then this would be a good cleaner. Which is why I choose to keep it :)

FaceSecrets Professional Brush Cleaner £4.99
This is a dark blue cleaner that comes in a child safe 118ml/4 U.S. fl oz bottle. It contains SDA-40 Alcohol and is flammable. It is scented. But not as heavily as the Mehron Brush cleaner. It has a shelf life of 12months. It also advises not to leave brushes soaking in the cleaner for extended periods of time.

The Good
The scent on this brush cleaner is alright. It's not overpowering and it left the powder brushes nice and clean. It took a little longer to try. Probably round about the 4 min mark.

The Bad
One of the brushes that was cleaned by this cleaner was a lip brush. This brush cleaner failed to get all the product out of the brush. It got a good amount out but it was still a little sticky afterwards. If you're a professional MUA this won't do. A bit of a disappointment considering they say its a professional brush cleaner

MAC Brush Cleanser £8.00
This is a pink colour brush cleanser. It contains Isopropyl alcohol, is flammable and has a slight scent to it too. Comes in a 235ml large dropper bottle.

The Good
All the brushes came out clean with a slight scent.

The Bad
I'm not sure if this is entirely a bad point. But if you read the how to directions of Mac Brush cleanser it actually says that you need to apply the product to a wet brush, work it through rinse out then leave to dry. So it isn't designed to be a quick drying, on the go brush cleaner. It's more for deep cleaning. In which case you could then compare it to using baby shampoo for example. The brushes cleaned with MAC brush cleanser took more than 5 minutes to dry so I would'nt recomment this cleaner if you're on a make-up gig.

Conclusion

It's always good to have alternatives in your kit if you're a make-up junkie or MUA. Some products work better for others and I hope this post helped you to see what choices you have in terms of brush cleaners. Now I do know that there are a few more out there that I can review but I'll get to those later. I thought these would be good to start off with.

Personally I liked the Graftobian brush cleaner the most, followed by the Ben Nye then the MAC Brush Cleanser. I'll be carrying the Graftobian and Ben Nye in my kit for on the go jobs and when I'm home I'll use MAC Brush cleanser. The Mehron and FaceSecrets Cleaners aren't bad but given the choice I would pick the ones I've mentioned already.

Stay Blessed lovlies xxx
Jesus love you :)

Just Dupe it! : Mac 227 vs FaceSecrets Shadow Blender

I've been meaning to get a dupe series going on my blog for a while and here it finally is! "Just Dupe it" will feature a range of make-up alternatives to those more expensive ones we would love to have but just can't get/afford at the moment. Hope this helps you beautiful ladies out there.

First in the ring:-

MAC 227 vs FaceSecrets Shadow Blender for the purpose of browbone highlighting.

Basics

The FaceSecrets Brush is made from pure pony hair and has black metal ferrule as well as black wooden handle. In the UK you can get it from Sally's Hair and Beauty supply for about £7.00 but if you live Stateside you can pick it up for about $4.99. It's things like these that make me miss living in the States... Anyhoo! Once you wash it, it is a very soft brush and it is yet to shed on me.

The Mac 227 Brush is made from a black soft natural fibre and has a shiny silver ferrule and a sturdy black wooden handle. It costs £19.57 in the UK and $30.00 in the US. It too is a very soft brush and does not shed.

Use

I bought the FaceSecrets brush long before the bought the Mac 227 brush simply because I thought at the time it would make a good dupe until I could afford the Mac brush. From what I could see on the Mac website and my visualisation in comparison to the FaceSecrets brush I had scored a winner. So I went ahead and got it. I had seen the Mac 227 brush in the London Pro store ages back but somewhere along the line I'd forgotten just how big it was until it arrived on my doorstep. Don't let the differing sizes put you off. They are still both paddle shaped but in differing sizes.

The FaceSecrets brush has worked brilliantly for adding highlight to my brow bone and general blending when needed. In my opinion it is a very good brush, very soft, doesn't shed and an even better brush for adding highlight to the browbone.

The Mac 227 in comparison ain't a bad brush either. It blends well and adds highlight well to the browbone.

However.

I have an issue with the MAC 227. (Blasphemy?!?!) I think for my browbone, its too big. I find that if I'm doing precise work this brush will most likely cause my eyeshadow to muddy up (Is that correct english?) I much prefer the FaceSecrets Shadow Blender Brush. Now I do realise that the 227 wasn't created specifically to be a brow highlight brush but for me that was what I originally bought it for given how so man people on Youtube and the Blogosphere had used and recommended it as a highlighter brush. Since then I've learnt loads about using brushes for different purposes. I've contoured with it for example and it has served me very well.

Conclusion

If you're looking for a good highlighter brush I thoroughly recommend the FaceSecrets Shadow Blender Brush. It will give you a more precise application and for the price you really can't go wrong. The Mac 227 will work well too however I would suggest it more as a contouring brush or eyeshadow blending brush for larger areas.

Hope you liked the first edition of "Just Dupe it!" Comments, suggestions, improvements? Let me know, let me know!!!

Stay Blessed!