The Brush Guard vs Brush Guard

Some time last year, I did a post on The Brush Guard and how I love it that it can protect my makeup brushes. Obviously, given the hoarder streak in me (haha), I have more brushes now than before and thus I am in need of more brush guards for me to properly store my brushes. I came upon a site that also sell brush guard but at a cheaper price of S$8 for 10 pieces vs US$5.50 for a variety pack that comes with 6 pieces of guards for different brushes. The cheapo in me inevitably thought I found a good deal and went ahead and purchase $8 for 10 pieces of brush guards. But when I receive the brush guards (which I will now termed as 'BG'), they are very different from The Brush Guards (which I will now termed as 'TBG') that I purchased online from USA previously.

Let's just take a look at how BG looks in comparison to TBG.

The 2 pieces on the left are TBG for blusher and eyeshadow brush respectively and the isolated piece on the left is BG. You can already tell that TBG looks firmer and harder than BG. Below picture will show how soft BG is when I hold them upright.

My goodness, just look at BG on the left, it literally just drop down! Yes, it is that soft.

So now, let's take a look on how they look when I cover my brushes with it. I had used MAC 129 for both guards and the only difference is that I used TBG on MAC 129 on the left and BG on MAC 129 SE on the right.

Both are able to cover the brushes snuggly but TBG on the left is longer than BG and you can also see from the tip on both brushes on the firmness of TBG and extreme elasticity of BG on the right.

My opinion on BG is that it does not work the same way is TBG. Yes, it is able to cover the bristles but it is not firm enough to protect the brushes, especially so for ladies who travels with brushes. Another advantage of TBG is we can actually protect and dry our washed brushes (see Michelle Phan's demo video here). We obviously cannot invert and dry our washed brushes with BG.

I just want to give a disclaimer that this post is not intended to expose a scam on fake TBG. It's just my honest opinion that BG is not the same as TBG even though it works to cover the brushes. For ladies out there who don't travel with their brushes and keep their brushes at home at all times, BG might work. But  I would prefer TBG (even though I don't bring my brushes outdoor) because the quality of the guards are better (firmer and longer) and I can also use it to properly protect and dry my brushes after wash.

TBG is not expensive at US$5.50 per pack (there are different pack that comes in different quantity). I just purchased 2 variety pack at US$5.50 last week and inclusive of shipping and after conversion, it only came up to S$17+ which I think is a very reasonable price to pay, especially so if you use good quality brushes. :)