How to Sanitize Makeup: 8 Tips to Keep Your Makeup Clean

Makeup products can become a hideout for plenty of germs. You can take care of germ buildup easily by appropriately sanitizing your makeup and adhering to basic cleanliness practices. Alongside mitigating any health concerns, keeping your makeup sterile and clean will also help prevent skin irritation and breakouts.

The easiest way to make a DIY sanitizer solution is to make a mixture that’s seventy percent isopropyl alcohol (or rubbing alcohol) and thirty percent water. The alcohol works similarly to how it would in a hand sanitizer, killing the germs with which it comes into contact. The excess water makes it easier to put the solution in a spray bottle—it’s often easier to spritz your makeup tools than to lather them.

Alternatively, you can also pour the solution into a small bowl or even the palm of your hand to use it as a makeup brush cleaner in a pinch. Use a paper towel to clean up if the alcohol and water runs over. Or head to a grocery or drugstore to pick up a baby shampoo or dish soap. But keep in mind these solutions are less powerful than rubbing alcohol when it comes to neutralizing germs.

Each element in your makeup bag has slightly different sanitation needs. Here’s how to clean up eight different kinds of makeup products:

1. 1. Brushes: Whether you’re using synthetic brushes or brushes with natural bristles, you should still use a brush cleanser and sanitizer regularly. Dip your makeup brushes into a sanitizing solution and then in lukewarm water. Let the brushes dry before you reuse them. You can also spritz sanitizer on the brush handles and ferrules (the metal part of the brush that holds the bristles together).
2. 2. Creams: Remove the top layer of any cream products before using them and then spray sanitizer onto the new layer. Give it some time to dry before applying it to your face.
3. 3. Lipstick: Refrain from sharing your lipstick with anyone else if possible. Spritz the exposed portion prior to reuse, but make sure you give it plenty of time to evaporate and kill the germs first.
4. 4. Liquids: For concealer, lip gloss, and other liquids, it’s more important to be careful with how you handle or share the materials than to sanitize them directly. You can clean off the outside, but the liquid’s container protects it from the outside world and will help prevent the spread of germs prior to application.
5. 5. Mascara: With this common makeup kit tool, it’s best to avoid directly sanitizing your mascara wands. Putting rubbing alcohol close to your eyes can harm you. Instead, swap out the eye makeup tools as often as you can or refrain from sharing them to keep them clean.
6. 6. Pencils: Sanitizing makeup pencils is a fairly simple process. Use your sharpener to expose a new area of your eyeliner or lipliner pencil, then disinfect the new part for extra safety.
7. 7. Powders: Remove the top layer of your powder products and spritz the new layer with sanitizer. Let them air-dry before your next use, and avoid using the same brushes on your powders from one use to the next.
8. 8. Sponges: Keep a wide array of makeup sponges to avoid having to sanitize the same one every time you use it. If you’re using an eyeshadow palette, try to focus on sanitizing the sponges to keep any rubbing alcohol from getting close to your eyes. For more general palettes, you can sanitize both the sponges and the creams and powders, too.

Professional makeup artists follow certain safety protocols to ensure their tools and products are always clean. Here are three more best practices from the industry you can use yourself:

1. 1. Avoid sharing makeup. Do your best to keep makeup application a personal and private affair. Germs spread from one person to the next, so using the same makeup brushes and products as another person puts you at risk of viral and bacterial spread. If you use your own exclusively, you prevent most opportunities for exposure.
2. 2. Discard old beauty products. Keep an eye on the expiration date for any powders, creams, and liquids. If you notice any grime on your products, it’s probably best to discard rather than just clean them. To manage dirty makeup brushes and sponges, try to cycle in new ones every few months and clean them at least once a week.
3. 3. Use multiple brushes. Clean makeup tools make for sterile makeup products. The more fresh brush heads you have, the less likely you’ll use the same one to cross-contaminate any products. Try not to double-dip any brushes or sponges without sanitizing them first.

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