Random eBay Brush vs Everyday Minerals

While I was trawling eBay for cheap crap a while ago and happened across the Real Techniques dupe brush, I also found a flat top kabuki brush that looked a hell of a lot like an Everyday Minerals brush. Once again, these are available from a bunch of different sellers, and I chose this one for no particular reason. The cost was $2.59AU with free postage - well under my $5 'nothing to lose' budget.

When I received it, I was surprised to see that it actually is an Everyday Minerals brush - right down to the stamp. I have a fair few EDM brushes, and I've talked before about how much I like them, especially the face brushes. I don't know whether it's overstock or maybe a second, but it's definitely an EDM brush.

I can't do an exact comparison because my original EDM flat top died a year ago, and I never bothered replacing it (until now!) because I had a Crown brush that was pretty much the same thing.

Everyday Minerals round top kabuki, eBay flat top kabuki

eBay flat top kabuki, Crown flat top kabuki

I decided to compare in action with the Crown brush, as I would be using these two for the same thing.

Differences: 

• The eBay brush is soft, but not quite as soft as the Crown brush. 

Washing: 

• I have had the Crown brush for at least a couple of years and washed it many times with never any shedding. 
• I washed the eBay brush before and after using. There was no shedding, though there were one or two unevenly sized hairs that came loose when I tugged at them. 
• Both brushes cleaned more easily when used with powder than when used with foundation - the foundation gets down into the bristles and you need an oil-based cleanser of some type to get it out. 

Application: 

• The eBay brush was slightly stiffer than the Crown brush, which I felt made for easier application of both foundation and powder. 

Conclusion: 

• This is litereally an Everyday Minerals brush - there doesn't seem to have been any attempt to fake it, as there was no mention of EDM in the description, and they are not really a brand that would attract fakes. I guess as I said above it's either overstock or a second, though there wasn't anything wrong with it, and it felt and looked like every other EDM brush I have. 
• As for whether I would recommend it, if you're looking for a flat top brush and you're willing to risk a couple of dollars on something that might be a second and therefore inconsistent in quality, then yes - I would absolutely recommend it.

Random eBay Brush vs Real Techniques

The other day I was trawling around eBay, as I am wont to do, and I happened across some makeup brushes that looked very familiar. I was interested to see if they were much different, so I bought one. It was $3.18AU with free postage and I got mine from this seller, but there are multiple sellers who have them.

None of the brushes I could find on eBay were exactly the same as any of the Real Techniques ones, but I wanted to do a reasonable comparison so I got one that was as close as possible to one of the RT ones I already had. In this case, the comparison is with the Real Techniques Buffing Brush.

Differences:

• The eBay brush is slightly lighter, it feels cheaper. 
• The eBay brush looks slightly less dense than the Real Techniques one (note: may not actually be). 
• They both have the flat bottom so the brush can stand upright, the eBay one is slightly wider at the bottom. 

Washing: 

• I washed both a couple of days ago before testing them. I washed them both again after testing them with liquid foundation. There was no shedding with either of them and they took about the same amount of time to dry. 

Application: 

• I applied a liquid foundation (Rimmel Wake Me Up), using the eBay brush on one half of my face and the Real Techniques brush on the other. 
• I found the eBay brush actually applied the product more quickly, more smoothly, and felt more dense with less floppiness than the Real Techniques brush. 
• The Real Techniques brush applied the product well also, but seemed to have more 'give' and less density. 

Conclusion: 

• Although the eBay brush looks and feels slightly flimsier than the Real Techniques brush (though not a great deal), I found it performed slightly better. 
• Am I recommending you rush out and buy up all the brushes on eBay? No. But I do recommend that if you're a fan of the Real Technique brushes and you're not fussed about throwing a couple of dollars at something you may or may not like, buy one and see for yourself. 
• I'm not giving a cast iron recommendation of the brush itself - it performed well for me, but for all I know it might fall apart in a month. 
• Speaking for myself, though I'm not in the market for more face brushes right now - and I couldn't find any dupes of the RT eye brushes on eBay - if I were I'd look there first. For a small price I got a brush that I personally find comparable to - if not better than - a similar Real Techniques brush.

Storing eyeshadows aka cheap shit from eBay

Every now and then I like to trawl eBay and find some random cheap thing (less than $5) and buy it to see how it is. If it turns out to be useless garbage (hello, Strawberry hair curlers), I don't care because I only spent a few dollars on it. If it turns out to be something useful, then I feel absurdly pleased with myself.

One of my recent purchases was a set of plastic jars intended for holding beads. I thought I'd see whether they were any good for holding eyeshadow samples, as I have quite a lot and I don't like the little ziplock bags (does anyone?). This little set cost me $3.67 AU (free postage), and I got mine from this seller, but they're everywhere on eBay. It took maybe 2 weeks to arrive.

A few weeks ago on a whim I bought the sample set of Friday the 13th eyeshadows from Meow Cosmetics. There are 14 - one is an extra for luck or some such - but I only had 12 jars in my little bead wotsit so I left out the two colours I was least likely to ever use. I'll just give those away to someone at some point. I transferred the rest of them into the bead jars. They are quite small so they wouldn't hold a full size loose eyeshadow, but they're perfect for samples and great for keeping a collection in one place.

Et voilà!

I'm pretty happy with this storage - it was super cheap and it's small so I am definitely going to get some more to put all the other samples I've got floating around in. I doubt it would be travel friendly though - the jar lids are the kinds that never seem quite tight enough, and I imagine they would loosen more rattling around in a suitcase. 

 P.S. I will get around to swatching this collection, by the way.

L'Oreal Skin Perfection cleansers

A couple of weeks ago I was reading UK Glamour and saw ads for some new L'Oreal products that got me a bit excited. Drugstore versions of an oil cleanser and a micellar water? Yes, please! Of course they won't be available here for eleventy million years - if ever - so I was straight on to eBay to get them into my hot little mitts as soon as possible. It was great timing too because I had about a week's worth of makeup remover left.

Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution
I have to admit that I was not impressed with Bioderma - I didn't find it particularly good at removing my makeup and I felt I had to pull and drag at it and then use a cream cleanser to make sure I got everything - and since that's the only other micellar water I've tried I didn't have terribly high hopes for this one. However, it's great. Both Lil and I have used it and it removes all makeup easily - even my long wearing foundations. We also both used it for removing mascara (not waterproof so I don't know how it would go with that), and it did an excellent job and didn't sting our eyes. Lily has decided this is the best makeup remover she has used and wants me to buy it all the time from now on.

Skin Perfection 15 Second Miracle Cleansing Oil 
Emulsifying oils are my favourite type of makeup removers, but this is the first drugstore one I've ever seen and usually they're around $50+ a bottle so I have been trying to wean myself off them and make do with other kinds of cleansers. This one works as well as any of the high end ones I've tried like Dermalogica Precleanse, Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil and so on. However, although it says on the label to use on eyelids, I found it stung my eyes a bit so I would use a separate product for those. I have been using this every night and then following with a cream cleanser to double cleanse, and my skin feels super clean without being tight or stripped.

In short, I give both of these a big thumbs up. I'm sure when they hit our shores and the freebies start getting dished out by PR you'll hear more about them but in the meantime if you're not averse to stumping up your own dollars, you can find them on eBay. I bought mine from this seller.