This post is going to be a fairly quick one as I am writing it between classes instead of doing my writing assignments. ~wheeeeee~ that is the sound of irresponsibility. I already took the time to do calculations on the prices of Yojiya brushes vs similar if not identical models made and sold by Hakuhodo. I’m sharing my calculations and “research” here because I’m a nice person ;D
For the brushes that I am comparing, the specs that they give (hair length and hair type are identical). I think its fairly obvious who the OEM for Yojiya is, hm? Also, these are only the ones i am interested in. I’m obviously not comparing all of them
Let’s start with the ones I am nearly bouncing out of my chair with excitement for: The Traditional Lip Brushes. It’s well established by now that if anyone mentions “kolinsky” I’m all ears, tugging at the leash, and salivating uncontrollably.
Hakuhodo Left, Yojiya Right – Both heads are 15 mm long
This Medium Traditional/Pro Lip brush is a good deal though (even before throwing in CDJapan’s free shipping and no tax for international orders)
- CDJapan – Yojiya Beni-fude (Lip Brush) Medium: 3,180 yen
- Hakuhodo JP – Pro Lip Brush Medium: 3,348 yen w/ tax
= 5.1% savings
plus it’s convenient as shit.Hell yeah I’m getting this. The handle length and color might actually be different though
Hakuhodo Left, Yojiya Right – Both heads are 18 mm long
The Large Traditional/Pro Lip Brush for some reason does not have the same rate applied. In fact, it is more expensive than the Hakuhodo equivalent.
- CDJ – Yojiya Beni-fude (Lip Brush) Large: 4,512 yen
- Hakuhodo JP – Pro Lip Brush L: 4,212 yen w/ tax
=6.7% markup
At this low of a percentage, I kinda don’t care anymore. convenience is king, plus i can think of it as only 3.7% markup because on CDJapan purchases, 3% of the purchase price is given back as points
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I’m also eyeing the Kokutan Eye Shadow brush with Canadian squirrel because I’m already too deep down the rabbit hole to stop. I’m doing comparisons in USD becuase this brush and the following can be found on Hakuhodo USA
- CDJ – Yojiya Kokutan Handle Eye Shadow Brush Canadian Squirrel: 4.507 yen -> $39.90 -> $40
- Hakuhodo JP- Kokutan Eye Shadow Brush S: 3,996 yen -> $35.10 -> $35
- Hakuhodo USA- Kokutan Eye Shadow Brush S: $47
CDJ is 12.78% more than H. JP
CDJ is 14% less than H. USA
H. USA is 34.2% more than H. JP’s price with today’s exchange rates, before shipping and personal shopper’s fee (which will vary but is usually above 10%).
Yikes… maybe I won’t get this one. I’m not digging that double digit mark up… between Cdjapan and Hakuhodo Japan, but compared to Hakuhodo USA (before shipping), the price is pretty nice. Plus, the 3% back of Cdjapan will technically drop the CDJ price down to 9% more than Hakuhodo JP’s price.
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I am also eyeing a most likely exact Yojiya dupe for a brush I already have (the Hakuhodo Kokutan Large Eye Shadow Brush). If they are the same, great! That will mean I’ll have a backup for a brush that I love and near abuse with frequency of use. I’m also curious to see if the quality of hair Yojiya Brushes use is as good as, better, or worse compared to Hakuhodo. Think of it as setting a baseline.
- CDJ –Yojiya Kokutan Handle Eye Shadow Brush: 6,432 yen -> $56.95 -> $57
- Hakuhodo JP – Kokutan Eye Shadow Brush L: 5,724 yen -> $50.35 -> $50
- Hakuhodo USA – Kokutan Eye Shadow Brush L: $67
CDJ is 14% more than H. JP
CDJ is 14.9% less than H. USA
H. USA is 34% more than H. JP with today’s exchange rates before shipping and personal shopper’s fee (which will vary).
Ouch. I can’t even reasonably justify this one. Maybe when the exchange rate improves.
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Let me tell you what is a good deal though, the Yachiyo’s and equivalent of the Hakuhodo’s Itabake’s which Yojiya calls “Kokyuban-Hake.” I’m not all that interested in the itabakes, but for the lazy readers who are interested, here are all the sizes of the Yojiya -Hake’s . Just compare the prices side-by-side in seperate windows with the Itabake’s from the Hakuhodo JP site. Don’t even bother checking Hakuhodo USA. They will be higher priced. The Yojiya ones are very well priced. Shockingly so at nearly 50% less! Maybe this is because contouring (what most people use the itabake’s for as a stand in for the infamous NARS contour brush) is not a trendy thing in Japan so they don’t price gouge off public interest.
Enough about that though. The one I’m interested in is the Yachiyo-hake Medium (2,112 yen) which I’m pretty sure is the same as the Hakuhodo Blunt Medium Yachiyo (3,348 yen) rather than the Pointed/Tapered Medium Yachiyo (3,564 yen), based on the shape of the heads in the pictures.
Yojiya Yachiyo-Hake (Left), Hakuhodo Blunt Yachiyo (Center), Hakuhodo Tapered Yachiyo (Right)
But hallelujah! CDJapan’s price is 40.74% less than Hakuhodo JP’s!!! The only different I can see is the different color of the handle string loop. Again I’m not going to bother wasting my time comparing to Hakuhodo USA prices.
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There is one unique item that I am ready interested in as of right now. It’s this wooden Brush Case (Fude-oki) which swivels!I’ll take two of the Yojiya’s.! FML nvm. They updated the pictures because i think too many people were going over to the website and being excited only to receive the actual thing and be disappointing. This is the old picture that got me excited and was taken off the website:
AAAAAANNNND, here are the updated pics that better represent the product…. it’s just one, segmented box.
Maybe they’re stack-able? (referencing the one that got me so hyped). Welp, now i have a potential wood-working project to waste my time on!
Nevertheless, I think is a pretty reasonable price at 1,908 yen or approximately $17. Yes, it is simple, but the materials + time:labor costs if I were to make this myself would far outstrip the cost of this. Plus, consider that a plain lift-top box like this velvet-lined box by Koyomo here is selling for 3,000 yen.
Why am i not buying them right away even though I’m so excited? Why is this a potential haul instead of a haul I’m waiting on to arrive? Well, I’ve been a very bad girl this month. I’ve already bought invested too much in gear for my upcoming ski weekend @ Tahoe. Financial responsibility above all else, children. (Which is funny because I’m probably a fetus compared to most of the people reading)
Thanks to haneulhouseki for posting the news over at /r/Fude!
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