Spoolies, Let’s Talk

Raise your hand if you’ve ever bought a spoolie brush.
Now put them down because you ought to be ashamed of yourself

Now ask yourself what a spoolie is. I’ll give you a minute.

Got the answer?

It’s a fucking over priced, glorified, standard disposable mascara wand on a long brush handle that’s meant for use on your brows and lashes. You know what else is meant to be used on your brows and lashes?

Standard disposable mascara wands.

I don’t care if the spoolie “brush” that you have is the $1 Eyelash and Brow Wand by e.l.f. or the $15 “Lash Brush” #204 by MAC. Bottom line is, spoolies are available FREE in the form of complimentary, disposable mascara wands. Why are you buying spoolie brushes or even spoolie wands? You could be buying a pack of 50 disposable ones for $5.25 but you would still be over paying.  Speaking of over-paying….

WDF?!?! Three is screwing you over at that price.

Back to the disposable spoolies… Just grab like 3 or so the next time you visit a Sephora or the makeup counters. One for your vanity, one for your purse and one more to do whatever with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating the practice of abusing free stuff but I would just like to point out something that makes no sense to me. Now actual mascara fan brushes on the other hand, are a different story. Jury’s still out on the lash combs. I like the effect they give, but i can still use a modified toothbrush to do the same. It’s got the same effect except a little work is involved. But anyways… back to spoolies.

One of the many cosmetic related things that majorly pisses me off is when a company/brand tries to sell you a (for example) “10 piece brush set” where one of the “brushes” is a totally standard mascara brush head on a handle that’s longer than a normal, totally standard disposable mascara-wand. No you lying bastards, you are selling me 9 brushes and something i could have picked up at any makeup counter for free. That THING is not a brush and should not be included in the brush count. Including it as a freebie to go along with your 9-piece brush set (offered at a lower price) might placate me a little bit but when you claim that the set contains “10 brushes” ….. *tableflip*

However that all being said. I do advocate using the free disposable-mascara-wand-spoolie more than once like you would with a “spoolie brush”. Sure they are meant to be disposable (when used for sampling at a makeup counter) but they are also durable. They can be used multiple times for months and reusing them keeps waste out of the landfills and environment. Like with your regular brushes though, you’ll want to wash and disinfect that spoolie regularly and frequently.

I must admit i do have preferences. I really like the ones at Kohl’s (of all places) for brushing my brows into shape. I don’t know why. They just have the perfect size, density and firmness but the bristles still feel soft. The Estee Lauder counters  have spoolies with thicker hollow black tubes tor handles and a rather big brush head with silvery clear bristles. I like those for grooming my lashes after mascara (combing out the clumps, separating lashes, fanning them out evenly and etc.) The ones from Chanel counters – with the white heads and spiky elongated cones for bristles – are excellent for applying any kind of mascara. It can make the crappiest mascara go on beautifully. However, it doesn’t have the ability to improve performance and longevity, so make sure its at least a half decent mascara. Also, there are the itty-bitty wands for the Clinique bottom lash mascara and the chartruese high lengths wand available in sanitary, little wrapped packs for the taking. Must haves, though they aren’t standard spoolies. I just thought i should mention them because they are excellent.

Where was i going this? Right, stop wasting your money on spoolie “brushes” but don’t be an ass either and abuse the availability of the free spoolies.

While I’m on a spoolie rant, that THREE spoolie is a great example of the practice of applying ridiculous markup to otherwise mundane items, just because they are from luxury brands.  It cost more than these two from Hakuhodo. Part of the pricing pain on the Hakuhodo spoolies can be partially placated by the fact that one has gold plating on the ferrule while the other has a handle made of ebony. What have you got going for you, THREE?