Giving your makeup brush collection a proper clean is one of those tiresome jobs.

It's such a 'Sunday' task, hand in hand with cleaning the house, doing the food shopping and all those mundane things we have to do to get our sh*t together. Chances are that once you've cleaned your beauty utensils, you're only delighted with yourself BUT have you ever given any thought as to how you're cleaning them? It turns out there's a right and wrong way and to put us on the right path, we called on some expert advice. Aisling Cunningham is the entrepreneur behind Powder n' Pout, a range of makeup brushes, and she gave us her top tips for making sure you get your beauty tools squeaky clean. The company owner and salon director says there are two ways to clean them - the 'spot' clean and 'deep clean'. She recommends giving your foundation brush, the one most likely to carry pesky spot-causing bacteria, a 'deep clean' once a week and a 'spot clean' in between uses. Aisling recommends:

"For your deep clean, always hold your brush handle facing down, wet the brush hairs and apply your brush cleaner to the bristles, lightly swirling the brush against your hand rinsing with lukewarm water until liquid runs clear of both the detergent and makeup".

Some of the brushes from the Powder n' Pout range For spot cleaning, you'll need to purchase a little bottle of "spray cleaner" which you spray onto a tissue and swirl the brush around a few times to keep your brushes sanitised. Aisling also let us in on a little trick of the trade, advising using spray cleaner for your eyeshadow brush in between changing eyeshadow colour. She also explained that there's a specific way to clean the brushes that have been used with oil-based products.

"When cleaning brushes that work with oil based products, such as a foundation brush or an eyeliner brush that works with gel products, it’s best to apply the cleaner directly to the brush before wetting the hair, allowing it to break down the oil before mixing with water giving you an easier and better clean".

According to Aisling, there are a couple of common mistakes with people often using hot water (lukewarm is best) and drying your brushes on the radiator (air drying is the ONLY way).