How To: Clean Beauty Blenders Fast!

The beautyblender is a terrific tool to keep in your beauty arsenal. It's great at blending out foundation and concealer, as well as helping to sheer out too much product (got clown face with too much blush? Try a bb). If you're into lighter coverage with that airbrushed finish, you'll love a beautyblender. But...cleaning the sponge takes forever.

I've tried every method to clean this super sponge (including my dishwasher...what??), and here's what I have found the be the fastest:

Solid cleansers! These are like soap but are specially formulated for brushes and sponges. I even make my own (#beautynerd) because I'm such a fan. They are awesome and even better for travel. Here are some of my faves:

popular--The blender cleanser solid is specifically designed to clean the bb. It has a lovely scent and comes with a custom grid for drying. It's $16 for 1 oz. and can be purchased at Sephora.

cheapest--The Master's Brush Cleaner and Preserver is designed for artist brushes, but is a cheap choice for spot cleaning. It has a lemon scent and comes in 1 oz and 2 5/8 oz sizes. Find it at craft stores, like Michaels, for around $3.67-$5.99

value--Clean Brush Shampoo is what I'll be using today. It comes in a variety of scents using goat's milk. They also have olive oil-based cleansers too in different scents, but the goat's milk cleans a little better/faster in my opinion. It's $10-$15 for 4 oz. Find it online from retailers or at frendsbeauty.com.

So how do you clean beauty blenders? Easy. First, you'll need a solid cleanser of your choice. I gave a few examples above in different prices points. If in a pinch, I suggest a gentle soap. Of course you'll need a dirty beautyblender to clean. I'm kinda embarrassed to post the pic of how dirty mine is!

Next, wet the sponge and wet the cleaner. Swirl around the bb until it's clean. Repeat as needed. To make it a little faster, I keep my water on a slight drip over the cleanser. It's faster than using liquid soap, trust me. These solid cleansers do last a while.

Once it's clean, squeeze out the excess water and allow to air dry. Your beauty blender will shrink back to its original size. I don't use mine every day, so I usually clean mine every two weeks. Now if I could get someone to clean my brushes for me...#thestruggle

More Beauty Blender Links:

• Solid cleansers reviews
• Beauty Blender 101 (includes oldddd video of me, but wonderful info)
• Beauty Blender Vs. Real Techniques Sponge

Extra Elle:

• Shameless plug for 2 giveaways: $100 Gift card and $25 ULTA e-card
• Everyone at work is very sick. It breaks my heart when kids are sick, but ooh do I cringe every time I hear a sneeze or a cough, especially if it's getting on me! I've never washed my hands so much in my life.
• I can't believe it's been a year since the Atlanta Snow Jam. It took me 3 hours to drive 10 miles. ..and I left early! I remember had Netflix streaming on my phone when no one was moving.
• Hope you're having a great week!