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Whether it’s a routine cleaning or you’ve never disinfected your makeup before, follow this EASY guide to learn how to sanitize eyeshadow palettes today!
Happy Monday, beauties. I hope I didn’t scare you too much with that last post explaining why you should sanitize makeup.
Out of all your makeup products, pressed powders such as eyeshadows are the least likely to carry bacteria and breed germs. Even though they could be considered the most clean cosmetic product, it is still best to disinfect them – especially if you share your products with other people, or you’ve bought some used makeup palettes.
You actually only need a couple of supplies to clean and disinfect your eyeshadow palettes!
What you need:
- 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (NOTE I know I show 91% in the photo, but 70% is recommended for disinfecting makeup*! However, since isopropyl alcohol is hard to come by in 2020, whatever you have on hand should be better than nothing)
- Small spray bottle
- Micellar water
- Cotton swabs
- Eyeshadow to clean!
*Why should you use 70% alcohol instead of a higher percentage?
Good question.
When I first bought rubbing alcohol to disinfect my makeup, I opted for the higher percentage (91%) of alcohol (in my photographs) because I thought, “a higher percentage must mean it disinfects better, right?”
Wrong.
While most of us would assume a higher percentage of alcohol is best, 90+% alcohol evaporates too quickly to fully disinfect makeup products!
Luckily, isopropyl alcohol is cheap and I can easy go grab a bottle of 70% (and re-sanitize this eyeshadow palette!) and will find other uses for my bottle of 91% 🙂
If you can, make sure you grab 70% alcohol when you shop for cleaning supplies.
Step 1: Clean eyeshadow off of the palette
After using eyeshadows, sometimes the pigment transfers to the palette or fallout starts to stain the packaging. For the first step, clean the palette around the eyeshadows.
For this step, I suggest you use micellar water – my favorite is Garnier.
Micellar water is perfect for this step because:
- It removes makeup
- Is gentle (shouldn’t harm your palette, but don’t use a TON of liquid to be safe)
- Can be found in most drugstores, beauty stores, and grocery stores
- Can be used as makeup remover on your face once you’re done cleaning your palette!
Dip a cotton swab into your micellar water until damp but not soaking wet.
Use the cotton swab to wipe away excess eyeshadow that has gotten on your palette, until clean!
Step 2: Put 70% isopropyl alcohol into a small spray bottle
I think this one is pretty self-explanatory, but I wanted to include it as its own step.
You could try to use a cotton swab or towel to dab alcohol on your products, but it is WAY more convenient and effective to spray your makeup with alcohol. Small spray bottles are pretty cheap (I got mine in the travel toiletry section of Walmart, but these would work great) and will make your sanitization process much easier.
Right now in 2020, it is hard to find isopropyl alcohol. I haven’t seen any in-store for months now – but there is a decent price on multi-packs on Amazon.
Step 3: Spray eyeshadow palettes with 70% alcohol
Give ’em a quick mist of alcohol – don’t drench your palette, but enough to cover the surface of the eyeshadow.
Step 4: Let dry & enjoy your disinfected makeup!
I personally grab a clean, dry cotton swab and wipe away excess alcohol after I spray my palettes, so the liquid doesn’t absorb into the cardboard packaging.
Do not use your makeup until it is dry!
After a few hours, your makeup should be completely dry. Even if you spray it a ton with alcohol, it will probably be entirely dry within 24 hours!
Look at that clean beauty!
DISCLAIMERS: Spraying isopropyl alcohol on makeup can change the consistency of the product in some cases. Please spot test first if you want to disinfect your makeup this way, and use at your own risk. We do not claim that this method will rid makeup of all bacteria – though powder formulas tend to be relatively clean and these methods are widely used to disinfect makeup, we are not responsible for infections or damage due to this sanitization process.
Pin this for later:
I hoped this post helped you out, and I hope you’re ready for a whole week of beauty cleaning!
Use the image above to Pin this post to your Pinterest account, and help other people learn how to sanitize their eyeshadow too 🙂
Sanitization Series:
- Why You Should Sanitize Makeup
- EASILY Sanitize Eyeshadow Palettes
- Wash Makeup Brushes with Dish Soap
- Disinfect Makeup Tools
- Clean Makeup Sponges
- Sanitize Lipstick in 2 Minutes
- Ultimate FREE Makeup Sanitization Guide!!!!
Coming soon: sanitizing and cleaning makeup brushes, sponges, tools, other makeup products, and more!
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Tysm! I just bought a James Charles palette second hand from depop and I wanted to make sure the was clean before I use 🙂
I’m glad this was helpful! Have fun with your new palette, Emma! 🙂
This is great! I’m getting a few used palettes from our local “Buy Nothing project”. Just wondering if I can use spray hand sanitizer in place of alcohol. I have a few purse size bottles of spray sanitizer and I know there is alcohol in them. The one I have nearby is 62% ethyl alcohol. Appreciate any advice.
Hmm… I’m not entirely sure, but I wouldn’t suggest it. Besides the difference in alcohol content, usually hand sanitizers contain other ingredients besides just isopropyl alcohol, such as ethanol, aloe, scents, etc – and those types of ingredients could ruin your makeup. Since you know for sure that one you have is ethyl alcohol and not isopropyl, I wouldn’t recommend it – you wouldn’t want to ruin the products you just bought!