In my life, I have some couple of dreams but a specific one is to find a good dupe of the famous MAC dual fibre brushes (aka numbers 187 and 188.) So far, I managed to get a really good 187 dupe for 2 bucks! Lucky, I know. However, the task to find a 188 doppelganger is hard as not many stores out there sell it.
The 188 brush is like a more awkward and silent sister of the famous 187, kind of like Solange to Beyoncé. It’s not like the brush lacks quality, it’s just too small to justify the price tag of a whooping thirty-eight dollars. However, for those who uses cream and mineral(ized) blushes, this brush is very important as it picks up colors and blends like no others. It distributes colors to your cheeks in a thin and fine layer that makes you look like you’re just blushing, not trying too hard.
Adorned with Grace minerals, my beloved MMU company, recently had the new Ingénue dual fiber brushes that are like twins to the MAC 187 and 188. Imagine how difficult it is for me to get these brushes: Franchesca announced a special “Blog Brush” twice, the first time at $5.99 and the second time at $11.99 for the 187. Both times I missed because these brushes were sold out super fast! So, by the time she opened her current dot-com store, I was eager to jump into the bandwagon and lucky me, I got the 188 dupe. It’s called the Ingénue Sleek Dual Fiber and is sold at $7.99, which is a steal compared to the real 188.
Close up of the brush,It looks really cute, right?
Head shotIt's smaller than a quarter, y'all!
The Ingénue Sleek Dual Fiber brush looks professional. It is taller than other ones I have and has black ferrule and handle. Frachesca carefully wrapped it with bubble wrap and then with tissue paper. When I opened it, this brush did not smell at all. Within the first few washes, a bit of dye leaked out and that’s common for brushes with dyed animal hair. The handle was made of plastic, not wood, which makes the brush lighter. The Ingénue Sleek Dual Fiber is unbelievably soft and full like the real 188 with black animal hair (maybe goat hair?) and white nylon bristles. The white bristles are as soft as butter and picks up pigments very well. I used it with some very light blushes I have and surprisingly, it showed on my cheeks. By far, the only blush brush that can distribute color as well is the Sonia Kashuk synthetic flat top brush.
(Top-bottom): EDM dual fiber brush, Target StudioTools dual-finish brush, and AwG Ingénue sleek dual fiber brush
The Ingénue brush sure has a long handle :)
See how full the brush in the middle is?(L-R) EDM dual fiber brush, AwG Ingénue sleek dual fiber brush, and StudioTools dual-finish brush
Another shot from another angle(L-R) AwG Ingénue sleek, StudioTools dual-finish, EDM dual fiber brushes
While the old EDM brush looks like collapsing, the first too are really firm.
The only downside of this brush is the black hair sheds like a dog. Most times I have to pick up the black fibers from my cheeks. Usually, the shedding activity stops after 3-4 washes but I’ve washed it more than that and still got some hair on my cheeks. However, with this price, it’s still a steal.
Price: $7.99 at Adorned with Grace Minerals (shipping is free for U.S and Canada, very cheap for international.)
My rating: A-, points taken away for shedding hair.
The Sales Dilemma
As of today, my makeup budget of this month officially goes kaput! Not a single government bailout can help my sorry wallet at this moment, I’m telling ya. Usually, I would save, save, save for the first half of the year and then spend like crazy in July, when my birthday hits. This year, since the economy is in the tank, almost every single brand pushes their semi-annual sales (or friends and family sales) up to early-mid June. So, I have to make a choice of whether to wait until my b-day hit and get some sloppy seconds or hit them now while the goods is still good.
And the result is: I’m going to eat ramen noodles in July, y’alls! ‘Cause I overspent! But on the brighter note, I consider the stuff I bought as early birthday gifts for me that I could use for a month ahead. How awesome is that? And that’s called being an adult, kids. You can get whatever you want at whenever you want (until credit card bill hit you in the face, that’s it!)
Take care, everybody! If you already have this brush, I’d love to hear from you. As always, stay gorgeous!
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