I think we all have a love-hate relationship with cleaning our makeup brushes and I swear sometimes that's why I have so many as to avoid washing them everyday! I am not the best at keeping to even a weekly schedule for cleaning my brushes, but three years ago I decided to try Sephora's Solid Brush Cleaner as a less expensive option for the Beauty Blender version and was so impressed that it has been the only brush cleaner I have used since. Then something happened last week. The Ativo Skincare Brush Cleaner arrived at my door and after using it I pretty much LOVE IT and will use it forever.
PR sample
Ativo Skincare is based right here in Vancouver (Port Coquitlam to be exact) and is founded on holistic ingredients to soothe the mind and the skin with as clean an ingredient list as possible. All of their products are free from: parabens, phthalates, sodium laurel sulfates, propylene glycol, triclosan, DEA, MEA & TEA and of course, cruelty-free!
This is a solid conditioning brush cleaner made of just two ingredients: apricot oil and argan kernel oil which did not have me believing that it was going to remove anything on my brushes, but I was about to be proven wrong! With an oil-only cleaner, I wasn't sure if my bristles would end up feeling heavy and oily which has happened before when trying "natural" methods of cleaning #NeverAgain
I took the three brushes I use everyday - my Real Techniques Face Brush which I use for blush and my two Morphe eyeshadow brushes as they were definitely the ones that needed cleaning BADLY.
I started by moistening the brush cleaner by adding water directly to its surface and then wetting the bristles of my brush. I swirled the brushes around to really get the product in between the bristles and then swirled them around on my Brushegg under running water until the water ran clear. Though I know we can use a variety of surfaces, including the palms of our hands, to agitate the bristles, I wish there was a textured surface included on the lid to clean the brushes with.
While my eyeshadow brushes were done pretty much in 1-2 swirls, my blush brush being more dense took a few tries as it probably had 2 weeks worth of makeup on those bristles (I know, I'm bad), but the brushes came out clean. It looks like there is still a bit of pink on the blush brush, but I've never been able to get that hue out no matter how many cycles of brush cleansing I go through. I think the bristles are now permanently pink!
I then gently wrapped the bristles with a clean paper towel, squeezed out the excess water and then slipped on my Brush Guards to help the bristles maintain their shape while still being able to dry. I got these years ago and then was given a few extra ones at Cosmoprof and adore them! The Brush Guards are stiff enough that you can also prop your brushes up against a wall, bristle side down if you don't have a Brush Bar to keep them in the upright position.
When I picked up my brushes the next morning to use, the bristles felt fresh and fluffy and certainly not oily or greasy across my skin. I was very impressed!
Final verdict: I don't think anything I have said here is new in terms of technique as many of us have had experience with a variety of different brush cleaning methods, but what really impressed me with the Ativo Brush Cleaner was how similar the experience was with the Sephora version. The products themselves smelled very similar as both have argan oil in them, but to have them both perform well and have the Ativo Brush Cleaner at HALF the price per gram is pretty crazy! Not to mention supporting a local clean beauty company, this Ativo Brush Cleaner was pretty amazing and since I am very close to panning my Sephora one, I will finish that, move straight on to Ativo and stay there!
You can find the Ativo Skincare Brush Cleaner at ativoskincare.com
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