Product Review: Clean Brush Shampoo
I always love trying out products that a fellow makeup artist created, because artists know what artists need! And NY-based pro artist Jessicca Ochs is no exception. Tired of using chemical-laden cleansers on the pricy tools of her trade (and sick of struggling to get every last bit of lipstick out of the bristles), Jessicca set out to create a product that would transform every artist’s least favorite chore into something a little less infuriating.
So far, the results of her work have definitely gotten attention. Clean: Brush Shampoo enjoyed tremendous buzz at The Makeup Show NYC, so I knew I had to find out what was so great about… well, soap. Happily, Jessicca was generous enough to send me two samples to review:
Clean currently offers two scents (lavender and lemon, as well as an unscented option) and two main ingredients (olive oil and goat’s milk). The oils used are organic, and the glycerin used is kosher. The goat’s milk is derived from the milk of grass-fed animals with no artificial hormones or antibiotics used, and the olive oil is a good option for vegans. The shampoos come in a low-profile plastic screw-top container that will soon feature a waterproof label (my labels are already somewhat saturated from me clumsily splashing water all over them, so this will be a welcome change to the packaging!)
I definitely prefer citrus scents to florals, so I’m not at all surprised that I promptly fell in love with the lemon scented goat’s milk soap. It’s so fresh and tangy, you’ll be tempted to lick it. (Pro tip: don’t do this.) Because Jessicca uses essential oils (rather than artificial ingredients), you don’t get that strange chemically tang that’s present in so many scented cleansers. And the unscented soap is true to its name and a great option for the scent sensitive.
Some people might be confused about how you’d clean a makeup brush with a solid soap, but it’s actually simpler than using a liquid shampoo: run warm water over the brush to wet it, and a little across the surface of the soap as well to soften it. Then gently rub the damp brush bristles against the soap in a circular motion. You’ll see the product coming right off, and once it does, splash a little more water across the soap to rinse away the pigment. Once the bristles rub clean, rinse them off as well and lie flat to dry. That’s it!
I cleaned a whole pile of dirty brushes to test it out, and was definitely impressed. I only had to swirl the bristles a few times to get all the product off of them, and the soap rinsed easily out of the bristles, leaving no noticeable residue. For brushes that had been used with a more stubborn product like liquid foundation or lipstick, I swirled them in my hand to massage the soap through the bristles. It was fun to watch stubborn products like waterproof gel eyeliner and creamy lipstick coming off in little blobs! It successfully cleaned my foundation-stained Beauty Blender sponge, too. I switched back and forth between the Goat’s Milk and the Olive Oil soaps and found both to be equally effective, but I definitely love that lemon scent.
Before & after
Today, my brushes feel soft and clean, and it took a lot less time than usual to make them that way! I’ll definitely be CLEANING from now on.
