Beauty Sleuth #4: Does Makeup Make You Break Out?

Lots of women, Mom’s, friends and such believe that makeup is “bad” for your skin and can even make you break out. Well, to tell you the truth, that’s not really true! It’s more complicated than that! There are several “habits” that some of us get into that do, in fact, have to do with makeup, and these are the real culprits when it comes to “aiding and abetting” break outs!

Acne does not come from makeup. All acne, adult acne is triggered by a complex combination of factors, primarily genetics, hormones, the environment, climate, stress, and medications. And did you know that close to 40% of adult women can be plagued by adult acne? It’s not just teens!

So what are the correlations between makeup and acne then? Are there any? Well, indeed, one of the biggest exacerbating factors is DIRTY makeup brushes. Unfortunately, a dirty makeup brush carries with it bacteria, irritants, oil, dead skin cells, and old makeup. Even worse, if you share your makeup brushes with mother, daughter, friend etc, you are compounding the issue and that person(s)’s bacteria et al, can contaminate your brushes. And then you re “dipping” that brush into your makeup over and over again, thereby contaminating your makeup too! Ugh. 

The solution? WASH your makeup brushes. Do it every week! I have a very simply solution for you. Use a brush spray once a week on a paper towel. This is the one I like ($12). Simply spray the towel a few spritzes and the bristles of each brush, and then brush the bristles against the wet part of the towel till they come clean. It is very quick when done this way. I find this is a solution that my clients will do. You can wash your brushes with liquid soap or even hard brush soap, but that is a more involved process and many of my clients just don’t have the time to do it. 

Another important tip: store your brushes separately from your makeup. That will help to keep them clean during the week. Especially when traveling too. Even if you just put them in a plastic bag so they don’t touch the makeup when traveling, they will stay cleaner longer. 

Not only will your skin love a clean makeup brush, but so will your makeup application itself! Makeup goes on much more smoothly using a clean brush. You get the true color of the product you are applying as well, and the blending is vastly improved, without old, dried out makeup on the bristles!

So, no makeup won’t make you break out, but your habits around it can exacerbate matters!