How To: Personalize your Makeup Brushes

Shown here are my painted MAC brushes, which obviously need a deep cleaning!

Hey Everyone,
I've only been collecting high end makeup brushes for a short period now, but I take pride in my brushes and I treat them like children.  That means weekly deep cleanings, daily spot cleaning, and treating them with as much care as possible.  High end brushes can cost up to $100 for one brush, and the last thing I want is to have one of my little babies accidentally wind up in another person's collection, or to be stolen.  So, how do i ensure that this won't happen?  I personalized my makeup brushes.

Here's a close up!

All you need is one or all of your brushes, tape (masking or scotch will do just fine), and a nail polish color of your choice.  (Make sure that the varnish you choose is not a limited edition if you're OCD about all your brushes matching).

1.  Take your brush upside down, and decide how much of the tip you want painted.  For my face brushes, I paint 1.5-2 cm, and for my eye and lip brushes I paint around .5-1 cm. 
2.  Get a piece of tape big enough to go around the the brush about twice, and wrap it about a centimeter and a half above the end of the handle.  Be sure that the tape is completely even all the way around, or else you'll end up with an uneven line.
3.  Taking the nail polish of your choice - I use OPI "Elephantastic Pink" on my MAC brushes, and Essie "Turquoise and Caicos" on my Sephora Platinum brushes - you're going to paint about 2-3 coats on the tip.  Don't worry if the nail polish gets on the tape, because once you take the tape off, it will leave a crisp, precise line around the handle. *I used Sephora by OPI Cover Me in Petals on this drugstore brush.
4.  Once you've done your 2-3 coats, leave your brushes upside down in a jar, or lay them side ways on a counter so that the tips are off the table and the polish won't get ruined or dented. 
5.  Wait about an hour, and slowly remove the tape, you should be left with a precise line around the brush handle.  Leave your brushes either upside down in a jar or on a counter over night so that it has time to completely dry.
6.  If you just want to add a little pop of color to personalize your brushes then that's all there is to it.  You can also add cool little designs using nail art pens to further personalize your brushes.  I like to add a gold glitter top coat on top to add a little sparkle and shine! I'll link a few of my favorite videos for how to further personalize your brushes down below.

I forgot to take a picture of this part before painting it with glitter!

The line didn't come out as precisely as they usually do because i only waited 10 minutes before removing the tape, so the nail polish was still really tacky.  Be sure to wait AT LEAST one hour before removing the tape for a more precise looking line!!!!

 From personal experience, I'm just going to let you know that if you paint your brushes, I wouldn't recommend removing the polish later.  I did that with my Sephora Platinum brushes, and it ended up removing the silver from the tips of the brushes and it just made the tips turn white and it just looks super weird.  Maybe it was because i was rubbing too hard to get all the polish off, but that's what happened to me.

Leopard Printed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16UEarYZiDU&feature=g-all 
Rhinestones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxRbh8Jfofc&feature=related 
(So time consuming, but so cool!)
Glitter:  Do steps 1 and 2, then coat the tip of your brush with glue, and dip the tips in glitter.  Use sealant to ensure that the glitter stays on  the brush.  Follow steps 4-5 to finish.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you were to personalize your makeup brushes, which color would you paint the tips?  Let me know below!