Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette Review
Cleaning our brushes: it’s a necessary evil. The task that gets endlessly put off because I’d literally rather do anything else. But, when the Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette came out, I was actually excited for brush washing day!
The Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette is a textured mat that slips over the hand to help deep clean your makeup brushes. On its face, there are three types of surfaces: thin and widely spaced points, tightly packed crosses, and large rounded domes. You’ll find that the different textures cater to different types of brushes to get in between the bristles and sweep away built up makeup. I personally find the large domes to work best with face brushes, the crosses for eye brushes and the thin points for soft, flexible brushes.
When pictures of the palette first started circulating the internet, I’m sure you and I both had the same thought: perhaps it was a Sigma Brush Cleansing Glove dupe? While I don’t have the Sigma glove, I do have and love the mat, so I was eager to see how this compared and if it would help make the mundane activity a little more bearable.
I started out with some of my most-used brushes that had been decently stained with makeup, the ones I can never get to look as good as new by just hand-washing. I slipped the palette on, grabbed my Real Techniques Cleansing Gel, and got to cleaning.
The first thing I noticed was how fast getting each individual brush clean was while using the palette. I was getting a brush literally spotless in about 15 seconds. We were already a match made in heaven.
Looking for similarities and differences between this and my Sigma mat, I noticed that the Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette had stiffer cleansing points. I felt that these were actually more effective at getting into dense brushes that needed a little bit of tough love for caked-on makeup.
Obviously, one of the main differences between the two are the amount of different textured surfaces— the Sigma mat has seven variations, while the Real Techniques has only three. While you’d think that more textures would be helpful for different brushes, when I think about it, I only use about 3-4 of the ones on the Sigma mat at all… three of them being the same ones that show up on the Real Techniques palette! This just makes everything more streamlined, cutting away what I don’t need and giving me easy.
To answer the most important question: yes, this really does clean your brushes way better than you could with your hands alone. I was genuinely impressed with how clean my brushes looked in a matter of seconds… literally as if makeup had never touched them.
In case you hadn’t guessed already, I think the Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette is completely worth it at only $14.99 (about 10-20 dollars cheaper than similar brush care products). I would 100% recommend it over other cleansing gloves and mats; it gets the job done while being minimal in both size and appearance.
Do you use any tools to help wash your brushes?
Great review! I was very curious about this when I seen it. Glad it lives up to the claims! I’ll for sure be checking it out. Thanks
You’re very welcome! It definitely surprised me in the best possible way.
I have something kind of like that for my brushes and I love it!
I just bought both of these – Can’t wait to try them out
Wow that did a fabulous job! I love that it’s like a plate with the lip around the edge.
I need this! I use a small Brush Egg but I like that this one is a bigger one.
OOOO This looks very promising. I just bought their cleanser at the beginning of the year.
I need to pick one of these up next time I make an Ulta run.
I have a little brush cleaning shell that I really like, but I’m intrigued by this one – it’s the first one I’ve seen that is concave. I wonder if that little well is better at holding the soap and water than the shell I use. I am amazed at what a difference a little texture makes for cleaning brushes, though!
I have the Brush Egg which is similar but this seems like it does a better job. I can’t believe you got your white brush white again. What cleanser did you use?
The one listed and in the photos– the Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Gel
I have a glove like this that I love!
This sounds amazing! I have to try this!
xx, A Little Dose of Makeup
It’s a must-have! Thanks for visiting!
This looks pretty fabulous! I wonder if it would work with Cinema Secrets
It was my understanding that with CS you just dip it in the solution, no?
You dip it in and then you do a figure 8 on the towel until the brush is clean.
SO GLAD to hear that this works as I just picked this up yesterday and will be cleaning my brushes today!
Yayy!! Can’t wait to hear what you think.
I definitely need some sort of mat. I’m tired of doing it all by hand, lol!
I need this cleansing palette in my life! Thanks for the review!
That palette sounds amazing! I’ll be on the lookout.
I’ve been using a silicone face pad to help me deep clean but I think the large size of the palette (and the fact that your hand doesn’t need to get wet), makes it so much easier to use!
It reminded me of the idea of the egg that came out a while back. I could certainly use this handy gadget!
Yes, the brush egg! I remember that one. I think this one’s a little more effective just because of the size and texture variation!
I kept the little sample mitt Sigma sent out when they first launched, and I use that if my brushes need a little extra help. I want to get this though.
It’s totally worth it, Rachel! I don’t know how big your sample mitt is, but this just makes things so much easier. It’s the perfect size!
It’s not very big, a couple inches by a couple inches. I definitely need something bigger.