DIY: makeup brush cleaner

I have been seeing the Sigma brush cleaning glove for $35 (see it here) on YouTube a lot. I wouldn't mind buying this if I have a lot of brushes to wash, but I don't. . .yet! It got really great reviews and I would eventually get this when I see my brush collection have grown to crazy! For now I have been inspired by another YouTube video to DIY my own make-up brush cleaner!

I don't have a big collection of brushes, so I try to wash my eye brushes the next day after I have used it for such colorful eye shadow looks. My face brushes are washed after two-three weeks since I don't wear make-up everyday, but if you do use them every single day I suggest to wash them once a week. I use a different set for my neutral eye look, and those are washed once a month since I have been playing with colors lately. I really don't have a rule on when to wash them, you can basically tell when you have used it a lot and there's no more denying it is time to wash some brushes! Yes we all dread this time but if you do it by group or by set, it wouldn't be that time consuming and dreadful, I think.

Onto this DIY, so you will need the following MATERIALS:

• glue gun
• glue sticks (*make sure it's the glue stick that is good to use on plastic surface!)
• size of choice of a flat plastic surface. This can be the cover of a plastic food container, like what I am using here, OR if you like a bigger one, use the lids of the old plastic shoe or small storage boxes! Of course choose something that will be comfortable for you to use over the sink.

And that's it for materials! Can you tell how easy this will be!?! 
STEPS:

1- Once your glue gun is ready, we going to start making some squiggles and lines on our plastic! If you look at the Sigma glove brush cleaner, it has different lines and dots in it. This texture helps to get all the residue out on the brushes, just like how it's better to exfoliate our skin once a week to get any dirt off that our regular face wash didn't get. We kinda just going to copy this. But don't just start making lines and dots yet! 

2- Divide your surface area into two parts. One half will be used for the smaller brushes, and the other half for the bigger face brushes. Smaller brushes need tighter lines and dots to really get into our compact eye brushes. The other half is for our bigger brushes, and here you can space out your lines, zigzags and dot more since the hair of the face brushes are loser and the residue washes away easier than our eye brushes. Now go ahead and start putting some lines, dots and zigzags on your plastic!

*I just made my own pattern and how many lines of dots or zigzags I want so this is where you design your own or copy exactly how the Sigma brush glove have it.

3- I waited 24hours after I finished mine before using it, just to make sure the glue is totally dry!

Now let's CLEAN OUR MAKE-UP BRUSHES!

• I use my gentle facial cleaner. Think of it this way, these brushes go on your face and so would you use a dish washing soap for your face tools when it is not meant for the face?! I think of these brushes as an extension of my face, so I take care of them as how I would take care of my face, make sense right? I mix my facial cleanser with some makeup brush shampoo to make sure all the residue of the makeup is off. I use (2:1 ratio) two pumps of the gentle cleanser to one pump of the brush shampoo.

You can use any facial cleanser you like, this is just what I use now.

You can actually use the whole plastic to clean your big brushes.

All eye brushes are cleaned with the smaller lines and dots on the plastic.

In the end, it did cut my washing time in half! As you wash your brushes with it, you will see all the residue come off. Cleaning it under the faucet, you can see how fast the water clears up with your new helper! 
I have only used mine three times and is holding up pretty good! If it breaks on you, then just make another one, now you know how to DIY your own make-up brush cleaner. 
*Before and after I use my plastic, I do wash it with my dish washing soap to get off any residue on it from the brushes. DON'T use your dish sponge to wash it though, just use your hand to suds it up and rinse.

To dry my brushes, I just lay them out on a towel after I squeeze some of the water out with a paper towel. I don't lay them flat on the towel but slightly angled. I fold one end to make it higher, and put the end tip of the make-up brush there so if there's any water left over in the brushes it will (hopefully) not get stuck in the ferrel (this is the metal part of the brush where the hair is glued on to the handle). We don't really want to get this area of the brush wet to not weaken the glue. In 24hrs, my brushes are ready to store or use again!

Hope you guys like this little DIY with a few tips and tricks on how I wash my brushes! How do you guys wash yours? Any other tips I can try?!?