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Worth it? Tao Clean Sonic Brush Cleaner

January 19, 2021 by Beauty Skeptic

Here I am, flirting with danger by reviewing a potentially gimmicky product: the Tao Clean Sonic Brush Cleaner.

How Do You Clean Your Brushes?

You do clean them, don’t you?

Are you a sociopath that enjoys cleaning your brushes? It’s okay, this is a safe space. If you’re like the rest of us, though, there’s a whole subset of the beauty industry targeting the rest of us. There are a whole host of brush cleaning gadgets on the market. Some of them appear to me to be gimmicks, or to be scarcely more efficient than washing individually by hand.

For ages, I ignored them. Like a unitasking kitchen appliance, I wasn’t sold on their value. Furthermore, some seem harsher than doing so by hand. Your tools are an investment: you don’t want to be rough on them by subjecting them to a violently whirring apparatus. Many makeup brush cleaner appliances fall into this category.

Noting my bitching (and negligence), my husband got me the Tao Clean Sonic Brush Cleaner ($ 95) as a birthday gift last year. Thoughtful. Practical. And a good present because I’d never have purchased it for myself at that price point (remember?). But finally, I’m actually keeping my brushes clean at a regular interval.

Tao Clean Sonic Brush Cleaner

So, first things first about the Tao Clean Sonic Brush Cleaner: it isn’t a smol boi. Nearly a foot tall and a touch top-heavy, the appliance comes in two pieces with a detachable A/C power supply. The run time for a single cycle is 2 minutes – in that time, it subtly moves each brush back and forth 50 times a second – or 6000 times.

I don’t know about you, but my manual cleaning (even with this mat) doesn’t result in fifty motions per second.

What I Didn’t Buy in 2020

January 12, 2021 by Beauty Skeptic

Last year posed changes for nearly everyone, and for me, that meant there was a lot I didn’t buy in 2020. If you escaped unscathed, good on you. Since this blog is largely about beauty, we’ll keep it in the realm of changes in that regard:

Although we all should have been wearing masks when out, if you were not able to work from home, you wore one more than most.
If your employment situation changed, perhaps you didn’t have to leave home at all or be on camera.
If you transitioned to working from home, you might have found yourself on camera more than you have before.

I’m in the third camp, though I was required to report to the office periodically. All of these things represent, in one way or another, a likely change in your grooming processes: if you have a mask on all day, maybe you’re skipping foundation to avoid, “maskne.” You’re almost certainly skipping lipstick. If you’re on camera, you might be fighting looking pallid and exhausted/sick/etc.

I’ve advocated, for those WFH, to try to continue getting ready – even if not identically – to maintain a routine. It’s good for your mental health! My routine has changed considerably – which has altered my buying habits.

Here’s what I didn’t buy in 2020:

Worth It? Lumify

December 29, 2020 by Beauty Skeptic

Seasonal allergies? Staring at screens too much? Sociopolitical rage/burnout? Depleted surge capacity? Existential crisis? Ennui? Regardless of why, are you finding that your eyes are a bit more red than you’d like, lately? Got to (appear to) get your shit together before the day’s n^th Zoom meeting?

I got you.

Who says cosmetics are only for your skin, hair, and nails? I’ve been using Lumify eye drops for about two years now–yeah, since the before times–and nothing obliterates redness the same way. NOTHING. Not Visene, not Ben Stein Clear Eyes, not Rohto, not any damn thing.

Putting Lumify Simply

IT Cosmetics Star Foundation Brush

February 16, 2023October 20, 2020 by Beauty Skeptic

On Sunday, I opened an Ulta email to find this IT Cosmetics Star Foundation brush.

First, let us deviate for a piece of personal trivia. Some people like hearts and heart motifs. Some people like polka dots. I, however, am partial to stars. I don’t necessarily want to wear them (okay, in pajamas I do), but I find them cute and enjoy looking at them.

80% of the time I am in a store (wait…what are stores? Do you remember stores? Pepperidge Farm remembers.), when I go, “Oh! That’s cute,” I’m reacting to something silly with stars on it. A mask? A lampshade? A throw blanket? 3-ring binder? As the trendier youth would say, “Fuck me up, fam.”

…so, all of that to say the IT Cosmetics Star Foundation Brush fully, unapologetically triggered my, “AHH, cute!” reflex. The bristles! The ferrule! the print on the handle!

–but, don’t worry; I didn’t hit my head. It also triggered my, “You guys serious?” one.

Dyson Supersonic: Luxury Meets Performance

September 15, 2020 by Beauty Skeptic

Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer, $399 new / $275ish refurb

This post’s title should be Beauty Skeptic or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dyson Supersonic.

At the end of 2018, I shared that I had purchased a refurbished Dyson Supersonic hairdryer. This is now the single most expensive beauty tool I own. In the time between the time I placed the order and delivery I vacillated between whether or not I was losing my damn mind.

Answer: Maybe?

If you’ve been reading for a long time, you’ll know that when I like to use pricier tools for a long while while before writing about it. This enables me to evaluate its performance long term and make a confident recommendation. We’ve all gotten a product (beauty or otherwise) that was great at first and then maybe not so much as time passes. Frankly, I find the gushing, “I’ve used it for 3 days and it is TOTES WORTH IT,” reviews grating beyond belief.

The dryer arrived on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, I have no alluring unboxing photos; since it is a refurb, it doesn’t come in fabulous retail packaging that’s worth showing you. It came in a very utilitarian, nondescript, white cardboard box with white inner packaging that was effective but not luxurious. As much as I can appreciate nice packaging and presentation, I also appreciate not paying a huge premium for it.

First Impressions

“Wow this thing’s weight is distributed sooo nicely.”
“Diffuser? Ugh, space consumption.” (Great for the curly girls, though).
“Concentrators – omg, there are two of them? NEAT.”
“Omg the magnetic bit for the tools is amazing. This is so nice, so much better than something that snaps on that can wear with time and become less secure.”
“OH! It sounds so smooth. And – this thing is powerful.”

Review

Time-to-Dry

My hair, which is long (and longer than usual at the moment thanks to CoVid-19), goes from, “I got out of the shower five minutes ago,” to dry in less than ten minutes. This varies depending on what products I’m using and how diligent I’m being about sectioning – but it is great. Thanks to a girlfriend, I started wearing wireless earbuds when I blowdry (genius), and I usually go through about two songs. That’s like 6-8 minutes.

DIY Eyebrow Tinting

December 23, 2022September 10, 2020 by Beauty Skeptic

We can’t all have luxurious brows. I don’t; in spite of my natural brunette hue my eyebrows are on the light side. Not blonde, but a mild enough shade that the sparseness at the tails doesn’t do me many favors; their slight hue makes it challenging to see when grooming. But I’m a problem solver by trade – so when I learned how easy DIY eyebrow tinting was I checked that off my list immediately.

Why DIY Eyebrow Tinting

Do you have your eyebrows tinted? I didn’t. I knew tinting is a service you can get in a salon; Benefit Brow Bars charge between $20-23 for it depending on the market. I hadn’t cared about it

It wasn’t until I was watching a tutorial on how to execute your own brow wax (thanks, pandemic) that it struck me to. As her first step, she used DIY eyebrow tinting to help guide her removal so she didn’t over- or under-remove. It’s quite clever, actually.