Sparkled Beauty

ebay purchases continue. As I never have enough brushes, I grabbed some reasonably priced ones.

Considering the hive around more compact brushes with denser bristles and interesting cut, you understand the reason behind this purchase, don't you? :)

This is a 4 piece Gold synthetic large face makeup brush set with Flat, Rounded, Angled and Tapered brushes.

I did not expect too much, considering I only paid around $2 for each brush, but they do their job surprisingly well. The bristles are soft and dense enough, the ferules are sturdy and the handles has some weight to them.

Other than the Tapered brush (far left) which I use for spot concealers, the other 3 work equally well with my liquid foundations and give near flawless finish.

No stray/ loose hair even after multiple washes, and they hold their shape. Only handle becomes a little loose but nothing some glue can't fix.

With similar cut but with smaller bristles and longer/ thinner handles (18.5cm vs. 15.5cm in the face brushes), the eye brush set costs me around $3. Definitely a steal.

The proper names: Precision Flat, Precision Rounded, Precision Angled and Precision Tapered brushes.

I actually only save the Precision Angled brush for the eyes. The other 3 are perfect for under-eye concealers or cheek highlights.

Some sellers combine both sets into a 8-piece or even 10-piece set for $8-$10, with more options for handle and ferrule colours to suit your preferences.

Onto a few fancier cuts and shapes, shall we?

It is a little hard to see here because of the dark tips, but this brush is called a Concave foundation brush for exactly how it looks.

The bristles in the middle are hollowed out to hold your foundation and whatever product you want to mix in (a moisturizer, illuminator, colour adjusting drops, etc.) before applying them to the face, similar fashion of Bare Minerals Perfecting Face brush, for a fraction of a price ($4 vs. $28).

I do enjoy the little well of fun (duh) but wish the brush head were bigger and a bit softer. It takes time to cover the whole face. 

Now this shape does not need introduction, thanks to the famous NARS Yachiyo brush ($67), but it leaves something to be desired.

Called a Goat hair rattan blush brush, $3, the brush is the center of curiosity. Upon washing and using it though, I do not recommend. The bristles are scratchy at times and loosely packed, which results in random fallout mid application.

This funny looking 3D foundation brush (resembling Sigma 3DHD Kabuki brush), $4.75, is less practical than the traditional flat or rounded top kabukis.

I appreciate soft bristles as well as the pointed sharp cut at the tip for getting around the nose or under the eyes but it does not make enough of a difference to guarantee a purchase.

And lastly, a Flat contour brush, $3, to jump on the contouring wagon with other bloggers/ YT'ers :)

I don't contour on a daily basis, so this brush is more of a special occasion type of use. I like the size of it, width and length for a quick contouring work, even a blush application in a pinch. The bristles might be a little dense for blending, but it can be done. Nice to have!

Have you found any great brushes on ebay lately?

Oh the things we can find on ebay :)

I saw this palette on ebay before but didn't give it much of attention, thinking the quality would be crap, until Julia Graf reviewed it. I bought one for CAD15.75, with free shipping.

With 10 matte and 2 glittery cream coloured bases, advertised to be for eyes, cheeks and lips, this imagic 12 Flash Color case looks almost identical to the Make Up For Ever version (retails CAD105).

It was a nice surprise that the texture is creamy but not slippery/ messy. It is slightly firm and tacky that sticks to the lids well while blending out easily. Pigmentation is also better than I expected. A few shades are slightly more sheer but all can build up nicely.

Here is the first row, 1-2 swipes with a synthetic brush, no primer.

That peach colour is the perfect base for neutral looks while the other 4 mattes are good when you are in the mood for colours. I have always wanted a true matte yellow cream.

The red in the second row swatches more of an orange red than a true red it looks like in the pan. Similarly, the black has a strong brown undertone, not a true black. I am glad to have the white to brighten any eyeshadows that go on top on it.

I don't have the MUFE Flash palette so I can't compare, but I love all 10 matte shades in the imagic palette and have used them every day (not on the lips though). Worn alone, they would crease after a few hours, so I make sure to layer on the powder eyeshadows or use an eyeshadow primer first.

The 2 glitters, I find, are better to layer on top of the eyeshadows. I don't have many occasions to use them but you might. I would recommend this imagic Flash Color case if you like cream eyeshadow bases.

There is also a neutral Flash palette from imagic, just like with MUFE, if that colour range suits you better.

This is no NORMAL lipstick tower! Let's take a minute to "admire" the beauty and size of this giant against a Muji 2-drawer acrylic box, before I tell you all about it :)

A standard acrylic lipstick tower in the market (Zahra, Lady Moss, Bella Posh, etc.) can hold about 80 lipsticks and retails around $99 + at least $27 shipping to Canada. The best deal I saw is on AliExpress for $68.50 and free shipping, until....

One of those late nights browsing ebay, I found this acrylic spinning tower that is supposed to hold over 430 lipsticks/ glosses (5 times as many products)!!!

I won the auction for $30.99 + $39 shipping/ customs (from the US, with tracking, via Pitney Bowes Canada as part of the Global Shipping program), totaling $70/ CAD95. How about that?

Now it is a tower alright (15.5"H x 10.25"L x 10.25"W) with 4 sides, 6 horizontal slots on each side (fits up to 17 lipsticks each). I could stack up 14-15 standard lipsticks (Revlon/ Maybelline/ L'Oreal) in each, as shown, or around 340 lipsticks all together.

There are 24 extra slots on the top of the tower (left pic below) for lip glosses (not big enough for lipsticks). You can even place a small square tray in the middle for more storage, if needed.

The acrylic frame and base (right pic) are thick and seem to be sturdy enough to support the volume of products (I only filled about 70% of it for now) and the rotating mechanism works seamlessly too. It does get pretty heavy.

The only thing I wish I could change is the depth of the slots. Most standard lipsticks are not long enough to rest on the raise edge at the bottom, giving the stack an elevation and preventing the items from falling out. I had to strategically place longer lipsticks at the bottom - L'Oreal, Joe Fresh, WnW Fergie or NYX High Voltage, etc.

Despite that fact, I still love this huge "house" for all my drugstore lip products to bits. The seller I bought it from (luckydays-13) seems to only have 1 unit left for "Buy It Now" at $70 (CAD93) + $26 extra charge for Canada at the moment.