The Low Down Dirty Truth...

Makeup has the reputation of beautifying women and boosting confidence too but there is a very ugly side to it and their tools.  Prepare yourself for some hard hitting facts and solutions to minimize your risks of bacteria invading your face.

First off, a few questions!  How often do you clean you makeup brushes or tools like eyelash curler?  Do you share any of these tools?  Where do you store them and how often do you use them?  Do you share your makeup? How long have you owned your mascara, eyeshadow, lipstick  or gloss etc?  I am asking you these questions just to get you thinking and hopefully change a few bad habits.  No passing judgements over here!!! I too am guilty of some of these sins...

Most of us do our makeup in our bathroom, but if you leave your stuff lying on the counter, each time someone decides to do their business and then flush, all that stuff is on the counter is being exposed to the aerosol effect. Meaning that germs being pitched out from the toilet has a span of anywhere 6 to 8 feet and are landing and all your things. Scary thought no?


Let's say you store your brushes and makeup away is a safe place, still think you're safe?  Each time we use our makeup or tools, they are infected.  The natural oils from within our skin carry bacteria to the surface to be cleaned away, but some of those oils stay behind. So basically when you are getting all dolled up, the oils left over goes on to your tools and then on to your makeup...  Even if you are not sharing your items, it doesn't mean you are in the clear.  We naturally double dip each time we use our product.

Here are some examples of bacteria found on makeup and brushes... 
(taken from http://www.beautysoclean.com) 

Staphylococcus Aureus is a group of bacteria that can cause a multitude of diseases because of infection of various tissues of the body. Staphylococcus is more familiarly known as Staph (pronounced “staff”)

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa is an opportunistic bacterium that lives in soil, water, and even in environments like hot tubs and on cosmetic items.

Escherichia coli (commonly abbreviated E. coli) – is the name of a germ or bacterium, that lives in the digestive tracts of humans and animals.

You're probably really grossed out and may not want to wear makeup ever again, but there are some simple solutions.

In terms of brushes, wash them after every use.  Annoying, I know, but your face will love you for it!  BUT if you really can't, at least once a week (that's the very minimum!!!).  There are so many cleaning solutions out there, but all you really need is a baby shampoo and that will do the trick!  Pour a few drops into a bowl of hot water to create a soapy solution.  Dip the head of your brushes in the solution, so don't go pass the ferrule (the metal that binds the bristles to the handle), and rinse. Let your brushes lay flat of a paper towel to dry (not in your bathroom) and they will be ready for the next day.  If you want to minimize how often you wash your brushes, you can always invest in a larger kit or even disposables.

There's a product I use all the time which saves A LOT of time too!! Beauty So Clean, yes that's the brand, has a three piece system to attack those commonly found bacteria.  I actually only love two out of three products, but will still explain all.  They have a brush cleanser which is my least favorite out of the three products because I find it takes a lot of tries to successfully remove makeup from dense brushes.  I like to just use it in between usage to minimize the transfer of bacteria but still prefer washing my brushes with baby shampoo.

Conditioning Brush Cleanser

They also have cosmetic sanitizer wipes which I use all the time for  lip-gloss, lipstick, eye pencils, lip pencils and mascara wands.  I LOVE THIS, because it doesn't damage your products and if you share things, you do not have to worry about transferring bacteria.  It's simple to use too!  Each wipe is individually package, so just tear one out of a package and wipe the surface that you are about to use. Then just throw the wipe away!

Cosmetic Sanitizer Wipes

Last but not least from the trio is a cosmetic sanitizer mist! Love this too because it eliminates bacteria from all your other makeup that is powder-based like eyeshadows, blushers, pressed powder, bronzers, and even cream-based products: compact foundation, concealers, cream blush/eyeshadows.  The trick is after you spray your makeup, wait about 10 seconds before you use it.  This will give the mist enough time to dissolve and kill those germs! Also, it's slim making it easy and uber portable to keep your products clean all the time!

Cosmetic Sanitizer Mist

Just like a painter, you can always use a palette knife or spatula to scoop out some of your product.  This avoids contaminating your product’s container which means you'll need palette to work off of.  These tools are super easy to sanitize because all you need to do is wipe them down with 9o% Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing alcohol), which can be found at any drugstore.

Something fast and no so costly to do is wipe your powder products down with a dry tissue. This helps remove some of the bacteria that settled on the top layer of your makeup.  I've heard that by freezing your makeup for a few hours and that will help eliminate bacteria too.

Now if you tend to use makeup testers in-store or get your makeup done in one of those boutiques where the testers are always out in the open, can you really trust that makeup after seeing how easy bacteria builds up on your personal stuff? I highly recommend checking out this article on Dr. Oz's site.