Monday, March 08, 2010
A Close Brush With Genius!
You know you've moved up in the world when you get brushes to do your work for you instead of your fingers.
I'm talking about make-up brushes here. Tee hee.
At the moment, I only have a few large make-up brushes (and tons of small ones from make-up sets) and expecting a few more to come soon (online shopping AGAIN). I think a bulk of other people's make-up brushes are for their eye make-up and since I wont be using those anytime soon, I needed a brush holder that could hold a decent amount of brushes without taking up too much real estate on my shelf.
I know the simplest solution would probably be to buy like a stationery holder or something and stick my brushes in. But if I'm going to have to look at something as ugly as that everyday, putting on make-up would become a terribly depressing experience.
Was browsing online reading some make-up/beauty blogs when I spotted a few of them showing off their take on a Sephora-inspired brush holder. It's the simplest idea ever, I cant believe I didnt think about it first. It's brilliant! And looks aesthetically pleasing too.
As you can see, the Sephora-inspired brush holder is basically any clear jar/container filled some white crystals which are probably vase-fillers/aquarium stones. Then you just stick your brushes in! The crystals are dense enough to hold the brushes upright, which prevents the brushes from touching one another during storage.
Wen Di and I were discussing online on alternatives to the white crystal stuff we see on all the Sephora-inspired brush holders, because it seems almost impossible to find it here in KL/Perth. It looks like those vase-fillers that are water-substitutes, but I dont want my brushes getting wet. Wen Di suggested marbles, but we reasoned that it would scratch our brush handles with the constant friction of taking the brushes out and putting back in.
Wen Di then disappeared for a few minutes from our chat and came back later with a report: it doesn't work with beanbag fillers either because the static causes the little beads to cling to the brushes everytime she pulled them out, causing a snowstorm of beans everywhere. Plus, the beanbag fillers were too light and not dense enough. The brushes would tip over onto one another.
So after coming up with our hypothesis and testing some variables, we decided that a logical conclusion would be to use pebbles/stones that I hoped was easily available in most gardening/pet supply stores.
And I managed to find everything I need! Woohoo! So here it is, my Sephora-inspired-bloggers-inspired make-up brush holder (versi Malaysia)!
First up, I bought a transparent container/jar.
Square glass vase from IKEA - RM9.90.
The height was perfect (I brought a brush along to test) and I didnt need too big a jar since I dont have that many brushes anyway.
Next up, a filler!
Decorative pebbles from The Pet Safari at Ikano Power Centre - RM8
I used up only half the bag btw. The picture above is the amount of pebbles I have left after taking what I needed, which is enough to fill up another vase. The pebbles are just the right size and they're nice and smooth! I hope they dont end up scratching my brushes. Was actually looking for those colourful plastic stones for vases, but they were twice the price of my pebbles =(
Once I've put aside a decent amount of pebbles, I just gave them a good rinse a few times and let them dry. I was too impatient and wanted to get it done in 1 night, so I used a hairdryer and towel-dried the pebbles =P
Almost there!!
So all that's left is to fill up my glass vase with the pebbles until it reached the level I wanted. In this case, perfection! The amount of pebbles I put aside filled the vase until exactly where I wanted it.
Sweet!!
Top view, for those lacking imagination.
Then I just stuck my brushes in. Magic!
Holds my brushes perfectly! The brush on the left is the longest brush I have, and I stuck it into the pebbles all the way in.
Might not look as classy as the proper Sephora-inspired brush holders with the transparent crystal fillers, but I think my version looks pretty darn zen! Will see if I'm in the mood to beautify it further with some stickers/ribbons around the vase. I guess you can pretty much fill the vase with whatever you want, or layer with different stones/colours.
This'll work great as a holder for anything nice and thin like stationery, cooking utensils, decorative items and more! Actually, I think it'd make a nice gift too. This counts as a "personal touch" right? ;)
Post-project update (19/03/2010): After a few days of using my awesome brush holder, I would like to point out that as the pebbles I used are slightly larger than the usual grain-ish vase fillers in other Sephora-inspired brush holders, it is slightly more difficult to insert thick-handled brushes. E.g. my fluffy powder and blusher brushes. There is abit of resistance inserting the brushes in because of the pebbles size. But thin-handled brushes like most eyeshadow and lip brushes have no problem going right in. The thicker ones require abit of pushing and/or twisting in a slight screwing motion to go all the way in. Nothing too tedious, but you might find it irritating if you're in a hurry. In which case you really shouldnt bother with makeup brushes and just use your damn fingers and a prayer or two.
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