How to Store Your Makeup Brushes

Hello again girls!! How’s you week so far??? Few days ago I share how to clean your precious makeup brushes so today we shall continue with brushes topic. Today I would like to share a few ways I use to store my makeup brushes and shall reveal the most convenient way of storing them!!

1. Brush Bag / Cosmetic Bag

So first up is the easiest way which is to store them in a brush bag or cosmetic bag. You can store the brushes in the bag that came along if you purchase any brush set. I think this is the most common ways people use to store the brushes. I find it troublesome to pick my brushes especially when I am in a hurry as to placed them back on the tiny slot take up lots of time. It became worst when my brush handle is the broad or big type, it take forever to tuck them back into the slot.

Another problem I have is, if the bag is made of PU leather the leather will crack and peeled off over time and some might stick onto my brush handle. So, if you ever consider using brush bag use the one made from fabric. Or you can also DIY yourself. Refer to http://www.thisfashionismine.com/2013/12/diy-gifts-for-girls.html for the steps and materials required.

I also find it takes lot of time to wash the bag and dry them… So I will only use brush bag if I need to bring my brush during travelling abroad. Otherwise, I will not use brush bag.

2. Brush Case

Ok this is another type where you can store your brushes in a case almost similar to vertical pencil case. Usually these case are made from leather, not sure if it’s genuine leather it will ever crack. From my experience, my genuine leather does crack over time too. Also it’s not easy to close the case top cover… It’s not instantaneous…. So it still take some time to cover it so I don’t quite like this case too.. Also these type of case are usually more expensive than the brush bag..

3. Brush Rack

This type is another easy way to store or hold your brushes. I would say this is less hassle especially when you are in a rush!!! However, one pull back is that your brush will be constantly filled with dust and dirt since there is nothing to cover or enclosed your brushes. I too skip this because I don’t want the dust to sit on my face. You can get these rack (they called it brush tree) via Google many people is selling it!

Another rack idea not sure where is selling though…

Or you can just get any stationary or acrylic holder to hold your brushes at a lower cost..

4. Brush Container Open/ Close a.k.a Sephora Inspired Brush Holder

At first I just want a closed container so that I can protect my brush from any dust collecting on the brush bristles. I start Goggling for medium that can be used to hold the brush in vertical position so that my brush will not lean against each other as it will deform the brush shape. So here are some of the medium I found over the internet.

Coffee or any other dried food like mung bean, red bean and etc may not be most suitable I think because they may turn bad over time and most of their size are too huge like coffee bean.

Honestly I have been using rice for quite sometime before I found the suitable material… I will not recommend using rice unless if there’s no other choice because rice grains is too small and it require a little force to push your brush handle deep into the rice. Also rice will grow insect over time and also generate chalky and powdery residue over time.

ultimately can also use marbles but the glass surface cause too much friction between brush handles thus you will need more force to push through it.

Stone and sand is a totally NO NO because they will scratch your brush body!!

and lastly material Poly-Fill which is the one highly recommended and is also use in Sephora. I found this material while shopping in Sephora and I have been searching Hi and Low in town. I Google and also ask around all craft store non is selling this.  The one in Sephora are called glass bead and I am not sure what material it is made from but I am going to bring it to lab to test the properties (can be a interesting project). So it’s really hard to find these glass bead in Malaysia as they require special machine to produce this which you need to purchase in bulk.

Based on what I found in Google another material that are very similar to the one in Sephora is poly fill made from 100% Polypropylene used to fill toys of blanket. I only able to find it from EBay and some online shop mostly from USA. The price is about USD5-8 per kg exclude shipping to Malaysia around USD 15 and up. The price is really crazily expensive so I thought of finding the material myself. Being a Material engineering graduate myself I have use this material for my research in the pass and I do know what are these tiny poly fill are made off…. I have been searching for this material for so long..almost 2months I think via internet and my contact nothing turns up…. Finally I manage to find the supplier who can supplier these material in raw form… I went to look at Polypropylene resin and they don’t look pretty (it will be very costly to remake them into a nice oval shape) so I chose Polyethylene another thermoplastic material used to make plastic bottles, cosmetic container since the resin shape look so so pretty!! It’s in off white round shape with flat top & bottom (not in a ball shape). As usual I love my collection to look pretty but at the same time I am very cost conscious.. I don’t spend to much money on these stuff.. What I mean is I will not spend RM 100 to buy a Acrylic casing!! Let me show you my ultimate brush container at the minimal cost!! Alternatively, you can buy those expensive arcrylic container if you fancy them….

note: Sephora Brush holder are not enclosed… Mine is all enclosed to avoid dust as what I mentioned earlier.

I use a enclosed container to store my eye brushes and a glass to store my eyeliner… For eyeliner I don’t need a enclosed container as the eyeliner come with cover!! The container with screw in lid on the left cost RM 6.90 from Jusco Kitchen corner and glass is a gift with purchase from house hold purchase… Do take note on the conatainer height to fit your longest brush when buying the container. Not many container can fit my long face brush it took almost a month to visit Daiso, Japan Home Centre, Aeon Big, Jusco and Household Shop to look for the suitable ones!!

This is how my brushes look inside these cute DIY Bow container.

I have really large brush collection so I need a bigger container!! I am not able to find huge container with acrylic or clear finishing.. I only manage to get this Tupperware with emboss finishing from Econsave at RM 10.90 (if not mistaken).

I use a partition board to divide the brushes for easy identification of brush type!

I got this partition board from Daiso at RM 5.00 each. It’s really useful to organize stuff in large compartment.

Other brush storage ideas:

I am so so happy to found alternative from the Sephora Beads in Malaysia.. You have no idea how long I have search for it!!! These polyethylene fill work really well.. I can pick my brushes easily and place them back instantly.. Don’t need much pressure to push it in at all and brushes stand upright nicely!! Also I can wash these poly fill and put under sun to let them dry.

You can read about their properties and characteristic at Wikipedia. (Polypropylene & Polyethylene). So if you interested to buy you can drop me a email at [email protected] it will be only RM28 per 500g and RM40 per 1kg exclude shipping cost, COD in Klang Valley only.

p/s: I am not selling to earn much profit here… Just selling to help out those who is looking for this material. Please read the properties of the material before purchasing. I will not be held responsible if there is any damage caused by this material or if there’s anything went wrong.

Alright girls thank you for reading such a long post!! I hope this information had help you in anyway… See you again soon!! muah….