Ask ten artists how they clean their kit and you'll get ten answers, most of them involving a packet of wet wipes and good intentions.
Clients have got sharper about this. More of them watch what comes out of your bag now, and a few will ask directly. Beyond that, an eye infection traced back to a shared mascara wand on a wedding morning is not a problem that professional skill can fix afterwards.
Here's the actual routine, product by product.
The short answer
Sanitising a makeup kit works on three tiers. Some items are single-use and thrown away after one client - sponges, mascara wands, lip applicators. Some are surface-sanitised between clients with 70% isopropyl alcohol - lipstick bullets, pressed powders, palettes, metal tools. Some are deep-cleaned on a schedule: brushes, kit bag, containers. Nothing porous that touched a client's skin gets reused.
Use 70% alcohol, not 99%
This trips up almost everyone, because the stronger bottle looks like the better one.
70% isopropyl alcohol is the standard for makeup sanitisation, and it outperforms 99% for disinfecting. The water content matters; it slows evaporation so the alcohol has contact time to work, and it helps it penetrate cell walls rather than flash-drying on the surface. At 99%, it evaporates almost instantly and does less.
Buy 70% IPA in a fine-mist spray bottle. It's the single most useful thing in your sanitisation kit.
One caution: alcohol degrades some finishes over time, particularly on pressed glitters and certain cream formulas. Mist, don't drench.
What gets thrown away, every time
No exceptions on any of these.
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Sponges - one per client. A damp used sponge is a bacterial culture, and it cannot be sanitised between back-to-back bookings.
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Mascara wands - disposable, one per eye, and never back into the tube after touching a lash. That's what double-dipping means and it's how tubes get contaminated.
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Lip applicators and doe-foot wands
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Cotton buds, tissues, micellar pads
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False lashes - a used pair is a single-client item. Glue residue and lash line contact make them unsuitable for reuse on someone else.
Between clients: the sanitising pass
This takes about four minutes once it's a habit.
| Item | Method |
| Lipstick bullets | Wipe the top layer off with a tissue, then mist with 70% IPA and let it air-dry |
| Pressed powders, blush, eyeshadow | Scrape the top layer with a clean spatula or tissue, mist lightly, let dry fully |
| Cream products in pots | Never finger-dip. Decant onto a metal palette with a clean spatula and work from there |
| Liquid foundation | Decant onto the palette. Don't pump directly onto a used sponge |
| Pencils | Sharpening is the sanitising step. For retractables, wipe the tip and mist |
| Gel liner pots | Decant with a spatula, same as creams |
| Metal palette, spatulas, tweezers, lash curler | Mist with IPA, wipe with a clean tissue |
| Your hands | Sanitise before every single client - and do it where she can see you |
The metal palette is the piece of kit that solves most of this. Decanting once, at the start, means the product in the container never meets a used brush or a client's skin at all.
Brushes: spot-clean between, deep-clean after
These are two different jobs and skipping the first one is where most artists slip.
Between clients, use a quick-dry brush cleanser - a few drops on a towel, swirl, wipe, reshape. It's usable again in under a minute. Do not spray brushes with IPA. Alcohol dries out natural bristles and, over time, loosens the glue holding the head in the ferrule.
After every full day, deep-clean with a proper brush cleanser or a gentle shampoo. Wash bristles pointing downward so water doesn't get into the ferrule, squeeze out gently, reshape, and dry flat with the heads hanging over the edge of a table. Drying upright is what causes shedding and loose heads six months later.
Never leave brushes soaking bristle-down in a glass. It's the fastest way to ruin a good brush.
Weekly, and before every big season
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Empty the kit and wipe the interior of the bag or trolley
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Wipe down bottles, tubes and compacts - the outsides get filthy and nobody looks at them
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Check expiry and PAO dates, and bin what's past it
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Restock disposables before they run out mid-booking, not after
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Wash your brush belt or apron
Five mistakes worth fixing
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Using 99% alcohol because it sounds stronger. It isn't, for this job.
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Wet wipes as a substitute for sanitiser. They remove product. They don't disinfect.
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Double-dipping the mascara wand. One dip, one eye, then it's gone.
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Sharing a sponge across two family members because they're related. Bacteria don't care.
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Deep-cleaning brushes "tonight" after a fourteen-hour wedding day. You won't. Spot-clean between clients instead so the night-time job is smaller.
Make it visible
This is the part most artists miss commercially. Sanitising in front of the client is a selling point, not an interruption. Sanitise your hands where she can see, use a fresh sponge from a sealed pack in front of her, snap a new mascara wand out of the packet.
It takes no extra time and it separates you from the artist who wiped a brush on her jeans.
This covers standard professional hygiene practice. Check any additional requirements that apply to salons in your state.
FAQs
What percentage alcohol should I use to sanitise makeup?
70% isopropyl alcohol. It disinfects better than 99% because the water content slows evaporation, giving it the contact time needed to work.
Can you sanitise a makeup sponge between clients?
No. Sponges are single-use per client. A damp used sponge holds bacteria and cannot be reliably disinfected on a working day.
How often should makeup brushes be deep-cleaned?
Spot-clean between clients with a quick-dry cleanser, and deep-clean after every full working day. Deep-cleaning weekly is not enough for a working artist.
Restocking your hygiene kit? Browse brush cleansers, makeup sponges, wipes and professional brushes at Makeup Mystery. Also read: Festive Makeup Kit Checklist for MUAs.
