Not sure if it would be possible to dry a brush in 5 minutes, if there is I'd buy it! For make up purposes the brush has to be absolutely dry, for paint, it doesn't matter as much and timing is normally not an issue for paint brushes either.
My concern is, is it really possible to dry a brush in such a short time without damaging the brush it self? Many makeup brushes are rather dense, and blowing a lot of hot air to them could make the brush hairs to rearrange or even get them damaged.
So I would suggest a two prong approach. For the make up counters and for everyday use, the UV light (or something similar) would be enough to kill bacteria etc in the brush. Then suggest that once a week, the brushes are put through a whole cycle with steam clean, UV and drying, and let the whole process take say 2-3 hours. That would allow the make up counters to use the process overnight, and use the UV sanitizing during the day, which is apparently a lot more than they do now.
For the regular latex paint brushes, no UV necessary but a clean up and dry, which could be allowed to take say 6-8 hours i.e. overnight.

Thank you Cam, Karen & Janice,

Cam,
I'm sure there are ways to make it so the water doesn't effect touch the glue.

Karen,
Yes, it has to be done in a short period of time, no more than 5 minutes, otherwise it defeats the purpose.

Janice,
I agree, it is gross the method used currently by makeup artists. You would think that there would be a device out already to address this issue.

I think there are a lot of great ideas this round, but I think this would be a unique product to the quirky portfolio, the beauty industry is a big market.

Darya

there is a devise for cleaning paint brushes, you spin it while in water then lift it out and spin to dry.
It's pretty gross, I've watched makup artists in action; not cleaning the brush at all between customers.

I agree that the process needs to be near 5 minutes and not 8 hours. If you want to target professional makeup artists and makeup counters then time matters.

Something close to an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner that uses a gentle soap solution and then an attached dryer to hang the brushes for a quick dry blast. (Maybe a "cool shot" button like hair dryers to end the process and close the cuticles of the hairs on the brushes for a smooth finish.)

I would absolutely buy this. I have neglected my blush brush one too many times only to wind up with a blemish on my cheek. Ick.

Great product idea. There's 2 issues with cleaning brushes:
#1 is how to dry them quickly. Sometimes your brushes are dirty and you want to clean them, but need to use them at the same time. How can you clean and dry them in less than 5 minutes?

#2 is how do you dry them upside down? You want to keep the water from touch the brush and the handle (that is where the glue is).

Katie -
Thank you for the your findings. The brushmate for paint brushes costs less than $80 and does a good job. I think we can come up with something similar for makeup brushes that you can insert multiple brushes into the device. I guess we have quite a few options Ultrasonic/UV light for sanitation. We have to see what works best.

Chris-
UV may not do the job by itself, so we may need a dual system as I mentioned before. UV & Water with rotation for example.

The UV would only work on the brush areas that can be accessed by the light and some may be damaged by UV light. May have to check into that before US is used. Makes sense for the tank version for cosmetic counters though. When I used to work for a retail chain I know that's why they did not have brushes etc at the cosmetic counters.

An ultrasonic cleaning tank might work... modified design. Check the discussion here about paint brushes: http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-63596.html And there's an artist's brush cleaning machine that might be a good reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zgibtPjmT4

If this could clean the acrylic paint off of my paint brushes, I would think about buying it. As for makeup...wouldn't know about that, but I would think that there are people who would want to have something for that purpose.

If the brush holder is set up so that the metal part (where the brush hairs are glued) is kept away from the steam, I think this would work just fine. Steam doesn't have to be super hot and by the time it hits the brush hair, it won't be. I do also think that steaming does get rid of gunk, steam saunas work great for that ;-)