It is a truth that the profession of make-up artist has always required us to take care of the hygiene conditions in our workplace like another Konstantinos Katakouzenos. In the age of covid, however, having the obligation to safeguard the health of the man opposite us, as well as our own, we must be extra careful.
So what is the right way to sterilise your products and work tools?
Let’s look at them in detail.
Brushes
It is a given that face to face brushes should be sterilised in between. This is an inviolable rule long before the coyote. One solution is to soap the brush, but this takes time to dry and the brush can be used again. The other solution is an alcohol-based cleaner, special for brushes, which both sterilizes and dries immediately.
Pencils
Whether it’s an eye pencil or a lip pencil, we need to be absolutely sure that it is thoroughly sterilised to avoid transferring germs from one person to another. The way to do this is to first shave the pencil before changing the model and then wipe the tip of the pencil rotationally with a piece of paper soaked in alcohol.
Creamy Foundation and shadows
First of all, when we talk about a cream foundation, we never, ever put the brush directly on the product and from there on the model’s face. The correct use is to take a quantity of product with a spatula from the packaging and place it on a palette. Then work the product with the brush over the palette on the face.
Lipstick
As already mentioned for the creamy products, it is not placed directly on the face of the model. So, when it comes to lipsticks in particular, the right way is again to take the amount of product you need with a spatula and work with it. Alternatively, if I use the lipstick directly on the lips of the person I’m painting, I should then remove the outer layer by wiping it off onto a piece of alcohol-soaked paper.
Mascara
Disposable mascara brushes are certainly not a new discovery. But now they are more useful than ever. We used to use them just to avoid a possible conjunctivitis, but now they can potentially save us from an infectious disease.
Shadows, blushes and powders
This is where things get a little tricky as you definitely can’t use alcohol on a powdered product, as if it gets wet it will turn to stone. However, a good wipe of the outer surface with a piece of paper will remove the amount of product that has come into contact with the brush.