Your Ultimate Guide to Maintaining a Clean and Hygienic Makeup practice for budding Makeup Artists and Makeup enthusiasts.
Makeup Brush Cleaning and Hygiene Guide for Professional Makeup Artists
I'm passionate about makeup hygiene and maintaining a high standard of cleanliness during makeup application is crucial to ensure the health of your skin and preventing bacterial infections.
First Impressions Really Do count
A dirty kit, unclean and unsanitised brushes, products, tools and accessories is not only unprofessional and will give off a bad first impression but can also pose a risk to your clients health. Follow this guide to ensure you are working at the optimum hygiene levels and ensuring a first class makeup service.
Hygiene ritual –starts here! It may sound obvious, but its a core fundamental that good hygiene protocol begins with clean and sanitised hands. Wash thoroughly with antibac hand wash and then alcohol based hand sanitiser. (Remember the hand washing routine during Covid? the same still applies) And remember, keep those hands fresh and makeup-free throughout the makeup application – especially around any white dresses!!!!
Use Clean Tools and Brushes: Make sure all your makeup brushes, sponges, and applicators are clean before using them. Be sure to deep-clean your brushes regularly with a mild antibacterial shampoo or specialised brush cleanser and allow them to dry completely (laid out flat) before using them again. Dirty brushes can harbor bacteria and lead to breakouts and skin infections. Between clients, its better to use clean brushes, however a good alcohol brush cleaner will dissolve any makeup and kill off any bacteria between uses. Allow brushes to dry thoroughly before use. Try this
Sanitize Your Makeup: Periodically sanitize your makeup products, especially those in cream or liquid form, to kill bacteria and prolong their shelf life. You can use alcohol sprays or wipes to sanitize powder products like eye shadows and blushes. Try Pro hygiene sanitising spray for piece of mind and to ensure complete sanitisiation.
Lip & Eye Pencil hygiene: Are your makeup pencils sharpened before and after each session? An unsharpened pencil used between clients is just as bad as double-dipping, and sharpening with a sanitised sharpener is the best way to clean makeup pencils.
Depot or decant: Make sure to sample products such as liquid foundations, lip glosses, lip colours or concealers using fresh, clean spatulas into pristine pallets, dishes, or tissues, and avoid double-dipping.n. Tap out loose face powder or loose pigment colours onto clean tissue or a clean dry cotton pad and use product from that.
Keep Your Makeup Area Clean: Ensure that your makeup area is clean and free from dust, dirt, and other contaminants. Wipe down surfaces regularly with disinfectant wipes or Barbacide spray to prevent the buildup of bacteria.
Do Not Double Dip: Maintain Hygiene: Avoid double-dipping with cream or liquid products to maintain 100% cleanliness standards Dispense products onto a clean palette or the back of your hand (covered with an adhesive palette) before application. For mascara, cross-contamination is a concern due to bacteria and lash mites. Professionals use separate, sanitized brushes for each eye to prevent contamination. Disposable mascara wands are a popular choice to eliminate risks entirely. This caution extends to all makeup tools and implements to prevent cross-contamination. Ensure an adequate supply of quality disposables for a safe makeup experience for the entire wedding party.
Check Expiry Dates: Regularly check the expiry dates of your makeup products and discard any expired or old products. Using expired makeup can cause skin irritation and infections.
Store Makeup Properly: Store your makeup products in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and moisture. This helps prevent bacterial growth and extends the shelf life of your products.
Give Your Whole Kit A Regular Spring Clean: Do Make sure all your equipment has had a good old clean over. Everything from your kit bag, makeup seat, mirrors, brush bags and palettes. Making sure your whole kit is immaculate will give your clients peace of mind that the service given will be professional and completely safe and hygienic.
Top Makeup Tip - Beware of latex makeup sponges in your makeup kit – check with your bride and members of the bridal party of any allergies to latex. (Lash glues also contain latex, it would be wise to check this too)
Remember, its your job to keep your service professionally clean
Keeping beauty professionally and hygienically clean is common sense and, as a professional makeup artist, you have been hired to do a job and provide the best possible service and care to your client.
And remember, it’s not just about the bride’s right to receive best practice – which means having a makeup artist who is trained, experienced, qualified, and insured, but it’s about your professional reputation, income, word of mouth referral but most importantly doing the right thing.
Makeup should be fun, glamorous, uplifting and creative whether for a special occasion like a wedding or full on glam down the catwalk – let’s keep it that way by ensuring as makeup artists and beauty professionals, we take hygiene and the health and safety of our clients seriously.
Some Other Important Points To Consider.
Avoid sharing makeup: Its far too easy to transfer bacteria and viruses such as herpes simplex (cold sores) by sharing makeup products, especially eye and lip products. Just don't do it.
Never use your kit lip brush over a cold sore. Always use a disposable brush to ensure there's absolutely no risk of cross contamination, which I like to wrap in a tissue to dispose. Make sure hands are sanitised after application regardless of whether you had contact with the skin or not.
When applying makeup to your bride using your hands and fingers, ensure they are impeccably clean. Regularly use a suitable sanitizing gel or soapy handwash to prevent product buildup on your hands, as even clean hands can quickly become hot and oily, potentially causing oil spots and spolit makeup application.
