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.

2012 Favourites

Although I did use a lot of old tried-and-true stuff in 2012, I wanted to narrow this end of year post into just the favourites I discovered this year. It was a good year for new products, especially drugstore, so there are a few things that I suspect will crop up on pretty much everyone's list.

Real Techniques Brushes
There's not much to say about these - everyone has them, everyone loves them. I just grabbed the two cleanest ones for my picture but honestly I love almost all the ones I have (there are a couple of eye ones I don't really use much but they came in a set). These brushes seem to have (rightly) overshadowed the ubiquitous and highly over-rated Sigma somewhat this year. More power to them.

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Light Medium
I think this cropped up in my last 3 or so monthly favourites. It's been my go to powder for months now and I just love it. It doesn't cake, it doesn't feel dry, it doesn't look 'powdery'. Awesome stuff.

Revlon Lip Butters
Again, I just grabbed a couple out of the fridge but if I had to pin down favourite colours I'd probably say Berry Smoothie and Pink Truffle. These are probably my all time favourite lip products - so easy to wear, nice colour without being OTT, moisturising. LOVE.

Garnier BB Cream Miracle Skin Perfector for Oily to Combination Skin
I've said many times I hated the original version of this with a passion, but this one is fan-freakin'-tastic. It's not a BB Cream - we all know that. But it's good stuff, and I love it teamed with the MAC MSF for a quick and easy face.

Echolife Rose Hip Oil
I use it as a night moisturiser 4 or 5 times a week and it makes my skin soft and smooth, and tones down any redness I might have gotten from messing about with too many products. Love this stuff. I still have about half a bottle left and I've been using it for months so a teeny bit really goes a long way.

Maybelline Color Tattoos
Oh, Maybelline. You really pulled a rabbit out of a hat with these! Fantastic cream shadows that I use both as a base for powder shadows or on their own if I'm being lazy and still want to look like I made a bit of an effort. I can't get enough of them. My most used is probably Tough as Taupe, but that would be closely followed by Bad to the Bronze.

Things I'm Currently Loving

Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Fine Fragrance Mist
This was on my last favourites list, but I'm still loving it to death. It's the best kind of vanilla, warm and delicious. Om nom nom. I have taken to occasionally spraying it on my pillow a couple of hours before I go to bed so I can wallow in it.

MAC MSF Natural in Medium
Again, this was on my last list, and again, still loving it. I use it almost every day - either to add a bit of oomph to tinted moisturisers, or to set under eye concealer.

Queen Helene Grape Seed Extract Peel Off Masque
I love peel off masks generally, but this one is especially good - it leaves my face feeling soft and non-wrinkly at least for a while after. And it's as cheap as chips, less than $4US on iHerb.

The Garden Bath Fresh Roses Perfume Oil
A true rose scent with a touch of a sharp green note in the background. So pretty and girly, I just love it.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tough as Taupe and Bad to the Bronze
I've been doing the old swipe-and-go on the eyes a fair bit of late, and these two colours are just fool proof. I wear one or the other depending on whether I feel like matte or a bit of shimmer. The only problem I have with them is that I have to apply them exactly where I want them to be because they dry almost immediately, making them virtually impossible to blend.

Coastal Scents Shadow Worx Matte Eyeshadow Primer
I have never really been a fan of UDPP, so when I finally used up all the little freebies that come with palettes I had lying around, I went looking for something else, and decided to try this one and the NYX HD primer. The NYX is pretty much a dupe for UDPP, which I guess is okay from a cost point of view, because it's way cheaper, but for keeping my eyeshadow in place all day, this Coastal Scents one has it in spades. Love it.

Real Techniques Brow Brush
When I first bought the Real Techniques eye brush set, I thought this one was kind of rubbish - it seemed way too thick to be a good brow brush, and nowhere near as stiff and precise as my beloved company-that-shall-no-longer-be-mentioned-due-to-hideous-unapologetic-racism one, but I have found that it is actually perfect for filling in brows and making them look really natural rather than 'done'. It's also super super quick to use.

NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash
This is a little set that comes with two brow powders and a wax, as well as an application brush and a spoolie. The application brush is a bit useless, though I do occasionally use the little spoolie. I don't really use the wax either as it's quite soft - I much prefer NYX's Eyebrow Shaper. However, the lighter of the two powders is perfect for me - a lightish medium brown with absolutely no red in it. I use the Real Techniques brush to apply and only takes a few seconds.

Also....

Etsy
I have been Etsy bingeing of late, though in my defence, it's mostly samples. Perfume oils, loose eyeshadows, skincare products, lip balms, etc. I just love Etsy, and the 99.9% of good experiences I've had far outweigh the one or two bad ones. I love that I can buy something from a creative person doing their own thing. Mind you, I feel like they are getting a bit lax in their definition of 'handmade'. I was looking for bracelets for Noodles recently and there are a hell of a lot of mass-produced little crap things coming out of Hong Kong and China on there. Not cool, Etsy. That's what eBay is for.

The Because Show
This is a podcast that I only heard about very recently, and it's three women who are probably in their mid to late 30s. There are elements of their cast that don't grab me (a tendency to chat a bit too much about farting - I'm not a 12 year old boy and that really doesn't interest me), but on the other hand, there's enough there that I do like and I've been listening to their back catalogue most of the weekend. They talk about loads of things, including makeup and books. MAKEUP AND BOOKS. Yay for chicks!

Parks and Recreation
I've loved this show for lo these many years (and again, this is the second time in a row it's been on my favourites list), but it has come up in conversation more often of late because I FINALLY have some other people to talk to about it. Natalie has been a fan for quite a while, but fairly recently we managed to cajole Jessica into watching, and now she is up to Season 4 and thoroughly hooked. Hurrah! I've just converted a bunch of episodes to MP4 and put them on my phone so I can just watch them randomly whenever I feel the need for a P&R fix. Oh, and a girl I work with texted me yesterday to say she had just watched all of Season 1 (which is only 6 episodes) and loved it. The word is getting out there!

Nacho Saturday
This kind of speaks for itself. It involves eating nachos. On a Saturday. And it's awesome.