Swirly Bowls for Minerals.

For me one of the cheapest yet best investments for mineral foundation application is the "Swirly Bowl." Most mineral makeup addicts have their swirly bowl- some were found in 2nd hand shops, some at dollar stores, and even stores like Target carry good swirly bowls.

I love a swirly bowl for a few reasons. One is a swirly bowl can protect the integrity of the foundation since only the amount of foundation used in an application comes in contact with anything that is likely to cause contamination (brush which touches skin or liquid if using damp method.) Mineral makeup has an extremely long shelf life if contamination is prevented and a swirly bowl insures this long shelf life. Secondly a swirly bowl protects another investment- your brushes. The smooth sides of the swirly bowl not only loads the brush better, it prevents breakage of the outer bristles that would be cut/rubbed by the threads of the jar lid if using lid for swirly bowl.

Above are a few examples of swirly bowls I've found. The red one is a dip bowl from Target  about $2. The clear one is one of a trio of ingredient bowls found at a dollar store-- $1 for all three. The white one is also a dollar store purchase of two different sized bowls for $1. The stainless steel one comes in a three pack with plastic lids- I've seen these at Target and TJ Maxx for about $7 for the set of three. I use the stainless steel one as my swirly bowl since it is unbreakable and small enough to travel easily. The lid is an added bonus since one could take just the swirly bowl with a little foundation for a one day trip- rather than full size foundation. When I travel, I take my foundation in a 5 gm jar and use my swirly bowl because lid is too small to swirl into with a big brush. After foundation is applied I then wash and dry swirly bowl to use for bronzer and blush application- especially if these are in smaller jars where the brush head would not fit easily into the lid.