Dupe?? MAC 239 Brush

A pretty well known brush dupe in the beauty community is of the amazing MAC 239 shader brush. This brush is seriously amazing and I did a blog post WAYYY back explaining why I thought this brush in particular was worth the splurge. The well known dupe for this brush is the Loew-Cornell 270 3/8 of an inch Maxine's Mop (I know, quite the mouthful). I finally got my hands on this $5 brush and thought I'd compare:

Here are the brushes side by side. As you can see, the Loew Cornell Brush is about an inch longer than the MAC brush with a bit of a shorter ferrule (quick brush lesson: That's the metal part that holds the bristles in place!). Both handles are painted wood and both bristles are made of natural hair. The LC brush has goat hair and the MAC brush has either goat or pony hair... MAC is very hush hush about their brushes and where they get their animal hair from!

As you can see, the brushes are VERY similarly shaped. The LC is on the left and that brush is a tad bit more tapered and with more of the bristles showing, the brush is not quite as stiff as the MAC 239. Other than those differences, these brushes are very similar and work in similar ways. These brushes are so perfect for packing color onto the lid as natural hair brushes can pick up more product than synthetic bristles. They also have a small enough shape that the placement of color can be very exact. Both brushes also have minimal fall out.
All in all, both brushes are excellent. The MAC 239 may reign supreme by a tiny amount, but the $29 pricetag may make the Loew Cornell brush a bit more user friendly!
I found my LC brush on Amazon for $5. They can also be found at Michael's and Walmart (both in store and online). If you can get your hands on this brush you should definitely try it out! You won't be disappointed.

xxSJ

MAC 239 Review: Save or Splurge?

Picking out brushes can be a daunting task. It can get quite overwhelming trying to figure out what brushes you need, what companies make the best type of brushes, what's worth spending on versus saving on....argh the questions are endless! I'm currently in the middle of all this as I'm trying to rebuild my brush collection.
I recently went to MAC and picked up the 239 flat shader brush.

Okay....seriously guys? This brush is UH-MAZING!!!! This brush is many people's favorite brush from the MAC collection and I was unsure if I would just end up being disappointed after it being hyped up so much but let me tell you, this brush is so wonderful.  The densely packed bristles do an incredible job at packing color onto your lids.  It does all of the work for you and now that I have discovered this, I'm never putting it down! This will for sure be an everyday brush for me.
The price for this brush is $24.50 which sounds like a bum-load for one little brush. However, if you take care of your brushes they should last you for years and years and years on end.
My final verdict on this brush is SPLURGE SPLURGE SPLURGE! You will not regret it :)
Here is where you can check out the 239 online: 
http://www.maccosmetics.com/product/145/383/Products/Brushes/Eye/239-Eye-Shader-Brush/index.tmpl


What is your favorite brush from MAC?