$1 Eye Makeup Brushes: 224, 222 and 217. Mac Dupes!?

Recently, I heard about these "Mac dupe" brushes selling on eBay and I had to check them out. At $1 a piece with FREE shipping, I felt I really couldn't go wrong. Here are the four that I purchased.  

From the top: #224 #224 #222 #217

The close up pictures above and below are after washing them two times and using them for two weeks,

My order:

Pictured above is a screenshot of my eBay purchase. 

As I mentioned, I heard that these were dupes for Mac brushes and I was in need of some pointed crease brushes. Again, not much to lose since they are $1 per brush and FREE shipping! yay!

I can't tell you how they compare to Mac brushes since I don't own any Mac ones, but I can tell you that I am LOVING these brushes! I can honestly say that I have been using these 4 brushes on the daily since I got them, and I haven't touched any of my other eye brushes since! Yes, I'm loving them that much. 

How they arrived:

They are really soft and washed well with no shedding. They also work amazingly well and blend my makeup like a dream. The handles feel like high quality IMO and each are stamped with their corresponding number. I would never guess that these are low-end brushes, let alone $1!

Insta Pic:

I ordered:
 2 x #224

1 x #222

1 x 217

I am so happy with my purchase and if I need anymore brushes I would definitely order these again or some others from this seller. Of course, only time will tell how they will hold up in the long run, but so far, so good. *Fingers crossed

Note: I've had some people on Instagram ask for a link. I will provide a link to one of the brushes from my purchase (not affiliate), but keep in mind that it may eventually expire. In that case I would recommend searching on eBay for makeup brushes with the number you are looking for eg. ``eye makeup brush 224`

eBay link: eBay makeup brush #224

I love finding great buys and bargains, so please leave a comment if you have any to share! Or, have you found any great bargains or dupes for higher end products?

All products were purchased by me and all opinions are my own.

ps. Come join the fun at a Blogger link up party over at a fabulousandfunlife

Amy
xx

Makeup Graveyard #1- Purging/ Decluttering Some Makeup and Beauty Items!

Welcome to the Makeup Graveyard!

Well, it looks like the items pictured above won't be making it into any of my empties posts. Instead, they are making it to my first ever "makeup graveyard" (aka. garbage.) Last night I got a burst of energy (nothing new,-night owl here) and something prompted me to go through my eyeshadows. Although, today, I have no memory of what it was that inspired me to do so. But, as you can see, I found more than eyeshadow to add to my makeup graveyard. 

Above are the first batch of products that I decided were now fit for the trash and not my eyelids. They are either super-old, chalky and/or have no pigmentation. Although, I did end up saving the Essence Quattro palette from the graveyard and decided instead to pitch an ELF quad of similar colours that was MUCH more suited to the graveyard.  (note: the items are deep in the trash so I was not able to get another picture minus the Essence quad that I "saved.")

What's going and why:

• YBF Palette, your connected collection- too old and dried up
• Sally Girl eyeshadow quad, no colour just the number 388477- chunky and hard, yuk
• Smashbox eyeshadow quad in Juxtapose- this is so old and the powders are now hard
• Annabelle 4 Show eyeshadow quad in Vivid-eye- Zero pigmentation
• Essence eyeshadow quad in Over the Taupe- Saved!

Here is a picture of the inside of the ybf palette:

This was a nice palette but it's super-old and as a result, lost its pigmentation. I loved this one for my purse or travel as it has a nice array of neutral eyeshadows plus a blush and lip colours. Although, I've learned that I'd rather not have lip products inside my palettes as they get kind of gross and gunky!

Here are the other items I came across today that wound up in the graveyard. As I mentioned, I ended up choosing to keep the Essence quad and instead trashed the ELF one above- the tones were similar but the Essence one was much more buttery and pigmented- sorry ELF, I love lots of your other products! :D

What's going and why:

• Eyeshadow brush from eBay. It came in a 5 piece set for less than $2, the others are great, this one is SO hard and sharp, someone could get hurt!
• Bella Pierre powder brush no.23- this is like putting makeup on with a brillo pad (I love many Bella Pierre products, just not this one)
• Bella Pierre makeup base- product has separated and gone bad
• ELF eyeshadow quad in Drama- shadows are hard, chunky, and have no pigmentation
• Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream Skin Perfecting Tinted Moisturizer Cream- well, besides the long name,....this has to be the worst BB cream or tinted moisturizer I have ever tried! I don't know if I just got a bad one but besides zero coverage it won't blend into the skin, it stays on the skin and leaves patches of product all over my face. Byeeeee!

I know I won't be missing any of these products and it makes me realize that I have to go through my things more often. Decluttering, purging or whatever you want to call it can be tough but it's definitely worth it. I don't want to get rid of things just for the sake of getting rid of things but if something isn't working for me anymore or maybe is past its prime, better to let it go and focus on the things that are working for me and won't give you an eye infection or something! *knocking on wood

Have you done any purging or have any tips on making it an easier task? Please share in the comments. I would love to get better at letting things go, they are, after all, just things and not important in the grand scheme of things. ;)

xo Amy