DIY Brush Cleaning Tray for $1

Hey everyone. Today I am showing you another DIY. If you use makeup brushes as a large part of your makeup routine, then I am sure you know how much of a pain it can be to clean them. After a while your hands will began to tire and get sore from the repeated swirling motion of cleaning your brushes in your palms. This can really be a time consuming and often grueling task. 

Photo: Sigma Beauty

Well in order to help ease this process and make it faster Sigma developed a Brush Cleaning Glove as part of their Sigma Spa line. Sounds amazing right? I thought so too until I looked it up on their site HERE,  Yep, I hit the breaks hard at $35. I mean I'm not paying $35 for eye shadow, lip stick, or brushes. Those things actually touch my face and create a new me. 

My mind started to spin as I tried to figure out a way to make my own. I began to collect data on the glove. Why was it so special? What did it do for brushes that made cleaning them easier and less taxing? That's when I began to inspect the designs on the glove. It must have been these magical patterns that would make all the difference. 

The Sigma glove is broken down into sections with specific patterns. As you can see from the image above, each pattern has a specific function. 3 for the face brushes and 3 for the eye brushes. So I just needed to find away to recreate the patterns to clean my brushes. 

A few days ago, I was reorganizing my kitchen cabinets and came across a plastic serving tray. I had bought it for a function for my daughters school and never used it again after. It got lost in the clutter of my cabinet. 

I purchased this from the dollar tree originally. Its just a clear plastic tray with a design on the back. Nothing super fancy. I decided to used my hot glue gun and try to replicate the designs that are on the glove. Then I decided on my pattern. 

Please excuse my crappy pattern guide. It turns out that I am not as awesome with paint as I thought I could be. This is the basic layout I chose to use. As the refine sections where the same for both brushes I did not see any need to make two of them. So basically one side of the tray will clean your face brushes and the other your eye brushes. Also, the refiner dots at the bottom in the middle should all be around the same size I just went crazy in paint. 

You can of course choose any layout you would like. Once you have simply apply the hot glue on the tray to mimic the designs on the Sigma glove. Once you have finished with the glue you can decide if you want to decorate your tray. I decided to paint the lines on the back side of the tray gold and then cover it in purple paint. That way from the top you can see the design really well. I also then labeled the sides in the blank spots I left on the bottom corners with a black sharpie. 

And here it is all finished. I really like the way it turned out. I think it looks pretty good and it does do the job nicely. I had no issues cleaning my brushes and this made the job much easier. I just put the tray in the sink with the side I am wanting to use at the top. Wet my brush, apply soap to the board and get to cleaning. 

Just remember that the glue does not have to be perfect. Just try to mimic the lines the best you can. As you can see in mine there are plenty of spots where the glue touches when it should not. The main objective here is to just apply a few areas to increase the friction of the brush on the board It will help loosen the makeup in the brushes and flush them out. I hope you all enjoyed this DIY and go buy your self something fabulous for saving so much cash!