ShopDiary

Splurge vs Steal: Makeup Brushes by Bobbi Brown vs BeautiControl

Here’s a tip from a friend: A direct market cosmetics brand called BeautiControl (model Coco Rocha has just started using their spa line) has a make-up brush set that is made by the same manufacturer of Bobbi Brown make-up brushes. Everything is the same – from the blonde wood handles to the silky brush fibers – except for the brand name stamped on the handles. Bobbi Brown has since slightly altered the design of their make up brush handles, removing the concentric rings on the black part of the brush handles so they don’t look exactly the same as BeautiControl’s, but the quality is still the same.

If you’re looking for similar quality brushes at a lower price, BeautiControl’s brush set is a steal. The only thing is, they are not sold by BeautiControl. They are given as hostess gifts when you host a BeautiControl party. So if you can get them as a hostess gift, great. But if you’re like me who won’t go to the trouble of hosting a make up party (what?!), you can get them for as low as $14.99 on eBay. I have a set that I’ve used for three years and they are excellent – not professional grade quality but decent enough. And compared to the $158 before tax that I would have paid for the same brushes by Bobbi Brown, I’d say it was money well spent.