Review: Ellana Minerals Brush Cleaner in Cucumber Melon
This post is part of my Japan 2014 Beauty Series. It's my take on "beauty-travel blogging" where I post exclusively about fashion, makeup, skincare and shopping while travelling to another land.
Click here for the Japan 2014 Beauty Series overview post. Summary of posts is at the bottom!
 |
| Ellana Minerals Brush Cleaner in Cucumber Melon, Php 400 / 120ml |
I was choosing between the Ellana Minerals Brush Cleaner and Parian Spirit one to bring to Japan. On one hand, my PS is older. I know how well it works and I want to empty it already.
On the other, I wanted to take a closer look at my Ellana cleaner. I'd been using it sporadically ever since getting it but I've never really paid enough attention to how well it works. I just sort of sprtized and went without really looking at how well it cleaned my brushes.
Price:
Php 400 / 120ml
Ellana Minerals is available in Robinson's Ermita, Festival Mall, Glorietta 3, Trinoma and SM Megamall. Pure Beauty also carries Ellana Minerals Brush Cleaners.
Ellana Minerals is also available online, with free shipping on orders above Php 1000 for Metro Manila, and Php 1600 for the rest of the Philippines. Click here for the Brush Cleaner page.
Product Description:
Ellana Minerals Brush Cleaner is the most unique type of brush cleaner I've encountered. Brush soaps are usually detergent-based and spot cleaners are oil/alcohol-based. This cleaner is actually silicone-based and does not contain any alcohol.
How to Use:
I spray all around the exterior dome of the larger brushes, and both sides on smaller / flatter brushes. I spray directly on the brush head just enough to make sure the bristles are coated. I wait a few beats and swirl on a clean and sturdy paper towel.
I'd like to take a mini-poll: do you think the silicone can damage or even travel up to the brush adhesive when sprayed directly on the brush head? I just got to thinking if the car detailing tip of spray on the rag, not on the dash applies to cosmetics as well.
Performance:
I love this brush cleaner! At first I wrote it off, thinking that the oily feel of the solution would take decades to dry off my brushes- utterly wrong. Wrongest wrong in the whole universe. Absolutely wronger than feeling things for Bieber's CK ad.
Once you have completely worked the solution off onto your paper towel, the bristles are immediately dry, as if you never wet them in the first place. Parian Spirit, the only other brush cleaner I've tried, tends to keep the bristles wet. I also like how Ellana's cleaner noticeably softens the bristles of my brushes, even when any traces of solution should have completely dried off.
Its only imperfection is probably that I haven't been able to 100% take out the makeup stains. Here are my week-abused brushes spot-cleaned twice by Ellana:
 |
| Ellana Minerals Brush Cleaner: Before and After |
It takes out 90-95% of the stain. I see some remaining tint but at least when worked on the skin, there's no visible tracks, even from the greyed eyeshadow brush. I think I could use a bit more solution and work it all off, but brush cleaners are all about convenience and one usually doesn't have the luxury of time when spot cleaning.
I wondered if this was merely a physical cleanser but a closer look at the ingredients lists triclosan as one of the main ingredient. Triclosan is a really common antifungal and antibacterial found in many consumer products like toothpaste and soap so I'm pretty confident in its disinfecting capabilities.
P.S. The cucumber-melon scent is absolutely yummy!
Edge:
Alcohol-free formulation that keeps bristles soft and dries them fast.
Rebuy:
This is reliable, but I'd like to try others as I've only tried two brands of spot cleaner.
Beauty by Tellie score: 4.5 / 5 - almost perfect if not for the remaining eye shadow (of a doubt)
I'd love to give this a 5 because I think it's simply intergalactic how Ellana came up with an alcohol-free brush cleaner. I'm a bit iffy using alcohol on brushes because I feel like it deteriorates bristle-quality, or makes it temporarily rough at the very least.
Remaining stains would normally be a bigger point of contention for me, but I only took out 0.5 points because the stains are pretty light and it was able to take out a HUGE dose of my 7-day-dirtied, ultra dense foundation brush. Nothing streaks on my skin anyways, so I'm a bit more forgiving. At this point, it's a visual issue that doesn't affect me.
Most of all, I love how quickly it dries up. This is
the main reason I brought a decanted atomizer of it for my Japan trip. I didn't have to worry about drying time. I could clean my brushes whenever and use them right after, which is perfect because I get extra scatter-brained when I'm in a different country.
I think makeup artists will also appreciate the shorter drying time for when they have to switch clients or colors in a beat.
You may visit Ellana.com.ph and follow them on social media:
Ellana Cosmetics on Facebook;
@EllanaMinerals on Twitter; and,
@EllanaMinerals on Instagram
I think makeup artists will also appreciate the shorter drying time for when they have to switch clients or colors in a beat.
You may visit Ellana.com.ph and follow them on social media:
Ellana Cosmetics on Facebook;
@EllanaMinerals on Twitter; and,
@EllanaMinerals on Instagram
I received this item as a gift during the affiliate launch of Ellana Minerals. Links and banners above are affiliate links, where I may earn a small commission for sales made through my channels. First-time buyers are in turn, entitled to a 15% discount - so shop wisely!
I was not paid nor otherwise compensated to present this feature.
I was not paid nor otherwise compensated to present this feature.