At the end of a busy week my vanity usually looks something like this.
And it's clear it is time to give my brushes a bath.
To clean my brushes I use dial antibacterial soap and just regular olive oil. I use this combination because the soap is able to take out the bacteria and all the build up in the brushes.And then the oil plays as a moisturizer because the soap used alone will dry out your makeup brushes.
You take a container you don't care about for an easy clean up and pour oil and soap into the container. The amount you use depends on the amount of brushes you have. I had quite a few so I used a lot.
You begin to swirl your brush in the mixture.
When the brush is all lathered up you want to take off the excess soap by pressing down on the bristles and pushing it off the brush.
When washing the brushes you can use lukewarm water and you want to rub them against your fingers to give them a good scrub. Make sure the brush is facing downward so that water doesn't get into the brush and loosen your bristles at the root.
You want to have a towel near by and just pat the brush down to take out excess water.
Then I just let my makeup brushes hang off a ledge and dry over night. In the morning I just fluff the end of the brushes with my finger and they're good to go. They're so soft, I love this method. Well until I find a better way or a free brush cleaner =)