How much should I add on top of the quote as a rule of thumb?

For a small first order by sea, budget 30% to 50% on top of the goods value and you will rarely be caught out. For larger repeat orders the percentage falls, because the fixed costs spread further. Treat it as a planning figure only — always get real quotes before committing.

How do I find my duty rate?

Every product has a classification code, and your customs authority publishes the rate against it. Search your government's tariff lookup for the product type. If you are unsure which code applies, ask a customs broker — a wrong classification can be expensive in both directions.

Is duty charged on the freight too?

In many countries, yes. Duty is often calculated on the goods plus freight plus insurance rather than the goods alone. Check the rule where you import, because it changes the number by a meaningful amount on freight-heavy shipments.

Should I let the supplier arrange shipping?

For a first order it is simpler and the difference is usually small. Once you order regularly, your own forwarder normally works out cheaper and gives you someone to call when a shipment is stuck.

Is cargo insurance worth it?

Usually yes. It is a small percentage of the shipment value and covers a total loss that would otherwise wipe out several orders' profit. For a low-value first shipment you may choose to skip it; for anything substantial, take it.

Why is air freight so much more expensive?

Because it is charged on weight or volume with far less capacity available. It is worth paying for a first test order, a high-value compact product, or an urgent restock. For routine bulk stock it rarely makes sense.

Can I avoid duty by asking the supplier to declare a lower value?

No, and do not ask. Customs authorities know the normal price of most goods. Being caught means fines, delays, and closer inspection of everything you import afterwards. The saving is never worth that.

My forwarder quoted much less than the final invoice. Why?

Usually because the first quote covered the sea leg only, and handling, clearance and delivery came separately. Always ask for an all-in figure to your door in writing, and ask specifically what is excluded.

Makeup Tools and Accessories: The Half That Is Not Brushes

Alan XiaoFounder, Sourcing Pioneer

· Updated August 24, 2026

Brushes get all the attention, and they only do half the job. The sponge that presses foundation into skin, the curler that opens your eyes, the spoolie that stops your brows looking blocky — these are the tools that fix the problems brushes leave behind. This page covers everything in a makeup kit that is not a brush.

Looking for brushes?

Brush types, bristle choice and the five-brush minimum kit are covered separately in the makeup brush guide. This page is the other half of the kit.

The five that earn their place

Kits sell you thirty pieces. Most people use these five and leave the rest in the drawer.

A makeup sponge

Presses foundation into skin rather than spreading it across the surface. Removes the brush marks a foundation brush leaves.

An eyelash curler

Changes how open your eyes look more than mascara does. Nothing else in the kit replaces it.

A spoolie

The little spiral wand. Combs brows before you fill them and softens the colour after. Also separates clumped lashes.

Cotton buds

The undo button. Fixes a wobbly eyeliner or a lipstick edge without restarting the whole eye.

Something to clean with

A dry cleaning sponge for switching eyeshadow colours mid-look, and a proper cleanser for weekly washing.

Everything below is either one of these five explained properly, or a tool worth adding once these feel automatic.

The makeup sponge

The single most common mistake with a sponge is using it dry.

Wet it first

Run the sponge under water until it swells, then squeeze it out hard in a towel. A damp sponge presses product onto skin. A dry sponge drinks it — you can lose a third of your foundation into the foam and never see it on your face.

The technique is bouncing, not wiping. Press and lift, press and lift. Dragging a sponge sideways moves foundation around instead of pushing it in, which is exactly the streaky result people blame on the foundation itself.

The rounded base

Cheeks and forehead. Large flat area, fast coverage.

The pointed tip

Under the eyes, around the nose, the corners of the mouth. Anywhere the round end is too big to reach.

The flat edge

Some sponges have one cut side. Useful along the jaw and the sides of the nose where a curved surface skids.

Sponge, or brush?

Not a rivalry — they do different things and many people use both in sequence.

A brush places product. A sponge presses it in. Apply foundation with a brush for coverage and speed, then bounce a damp sponge over the top to remove the brush marks. That two-step is how most professional-looking bases are actually done.

If you only want one: sponges are more forgiving for beginners because it is very hard to make a mess with bouncing. Brushes are faster and waste less product once your hand is steady.

Replacing it

Sponges hold water, warmth and foundation, which is a good environment for bacteria. Wash after every few uses with soap and warm water, squeezing until the water runs clear, and dry it somewhere open rather than sealed in a bag.

Replace it when it stops springing back, tears at the tip, or holds a stain you cannot wash out. A sponge that has gone hard is not doing the job you bought it for.

The eyelash curler

The tool people are most nervous about, and the one with the biggest visible payoff. Used correctly it takes four seconds per eye and cannot hurt you.

Four seconds per eye, once you know where to start.

How to use it without pinching

1. Curl before mascara, never after

Clamping mascara-coated lashes glues them to the pad and pulls them out. This is the mistake that makes people think curlers are dangerous. Clean, dry lashes only.

2. Open your eye and look down slightly

Looking down into a mirror moves your lid out of the way and lets you see the lash line properly. Most pinching happens because someone is working blind.

3. Start at the base, squeeze gently, hold five seconds

Position the curler as close to the root as you can without touching skin. Gentle pressure — you are bending the lash, not crushing it. Squeeze hard and you get a hard right-angle kink instead of a curve.

4. Walk it outward twice

Release, move the curler halfway along the lash, squeeze again. Then once more near the tips. Three light presses along the length give a rounded curve; one hard press at the base gives a bent flag.

If the curl drops within an hour, the usual causes are curling after mascara, squeezing once rather than walking it out, or a pad that has flattened. The rubber pad is a wear part — most curlers ship with a spare, and a squashed pad both curls badly and grips lashes.

Standard metal curler

The everyday tool. Fits most eye shapes, does the whole lash line in one go.

Mini curler

A small version for the inner and outer corners a full-size curler cannot reach. Worth adding only if your standard one keeps missing the ends.

Heated curler

Warms the lash to set the curl, which holds longer. Gentler on lashes than clamping, but slower and needs batteries. A supplement, not a replacement.

Brow and lash tools

Brows are the fastest way to change a face and the easiest place to overdo it. Three tools stop that happening.

The spoolie

Comb brow hairs up and out before filling to see where the gaps actually are — you will usually find fewer than you thought. Then brush through again after filling to break up the colour. That second pass is the difference between filled brows and drawn-on brows.

Tweezers

Slanted tips for pulling hairs, pointed tips for ingrown ones. Also the easiest way to place a false lash strip. Pull in the direction the hair grows, not against it.

Small scissors

For hairs that are long rather than misplaced. Comb the brow upward, trim only what sticks out above the natural line, and cut less than you think.

If you wear false lashes, the kit is small: the strip itself, glue, and tweezers to place it. Trim the strip to your own lash line before any glue comes out — strips are made long and an untrimmed one lifts at the outer corner within the hour. Wait for the glue to go tacky rather than applying it wet, and set the strip down on top of your natural lash line rather than on the skin below it.

A pencil sharpener sized for cosmetic pencils is worth the small cost too. Stationery sharpeners are cut for hard graphite and tend to shatter the softer waxy cores in brow and eye pencils.

The fixing kit

Nothing here creates a look. All of it saves one.

Cotton buds

Pointed ones sharpen a smudged eyeliner edge; rounded ones lift excess lipstick. A dry bud removes fallen eyeshadow without taking your foundation with it.

Cotton pads

Thicker pads for removing makeup, thinner ones for toner. A pad damp with micellar water and pressed against a mistake lifts it cleanly; rubbing spreads it.

Blotting papers

Press, do not wipe. They lift oil without disturbing what is underneath, which is why they work mid-day where more powder just goes cakey.

Setting spray

Two arm’s lengths away, a light X and T motion, then let it dry without touching. Standing too close soaks one patch and moves the makeup you just set.

Cleaning and storage

These decide how long everything else lasts.

Dry cleaning sponge

A textured pad you swipe a brush across to shed one eyeshadow colour before the next. Takes two seconds and saves washing mid-look.

Cleanser and mat

A silicone mat with ridges works the product out of bristles far better than a palm. Mild soap or a dedicated cleaner — not facial foaming wash, which strips bristles.

Drying rack or flat towel

Wet tools dry flat or hanging head-down. Standing a wet brush upright sends water into the metal ferrule and dissolves the glue, which is what turns a good brush into a shedding one.

Holders and cases

Loose in a bag, heads get crushed and bent shapes do not recover. A slotted case or a roll costs little and adds years.

A lit mirror belongs in this section too, oddly. Bad light is why makeup that looked fine at home looks harsh outdoors — you were correcting for shadows that were never on your face.

What to carry, and what to leave

A travel kit is not a smaller version of your home kit. It is the short list of things that fix problems away from a mirror.

Worth carrying

Blotting papers, a few cotton buds, a compact mirror, and one small sponge or a disposable applicator. All flat, all cheap to replace.

Leave at home

The curler, the full brush set, anything glass. Curling is a before-you-leave job, and glass in a handbag is a bad idea.

Decant, do not carry bottles

Small pots for foundation and cream products. Airless pump bottles for anything liquid — ordinary travel bottles leak under cabin pressure.

Sourcing beauty tools in bulk

If you are buying these to resell rather than to use, the interesting problem is not any single tool. It is that a kit is not one product.

A twelve-piece beauty tool set is a sponge factory, a metal-stamping workshop for the curler and tweezers, a plastics moulder for the sharpener, a cotton mill, and a packaging supplier. Five or six suppliers, one box, and your brand name on the outside.

One box, several factories. That is the real sourcing problem.

Four things that decide whether a kit order works

1. Who is assembling it

Usually a trading company or one supplier acting as lead. Ask directly which items they make themselves and which they buy in. That answer tells you where your quality risk sits — the bought-in parts are the ones nobody is checking closely.

2. Foam density decides sponge quality

Sponges look identical in photos and behave completely differently. Ask for samples and test the same way a customer will: soak, squeeze, and see whether it springs back to shape or stays compressed. A sponge that does not recover after wetting will get returned.

3. Metal tools rust, and it shows up late

Curlers, tweezers and scissors are the items most likely to arrive fine and fail in a humid warehouse three months on. Ask what the metal is and whether it is coated. This is worth putting in writing rather than assuming.

4. Wear parts need to be in the box

An eyelash curler without a spare rubber pad is a product with a short life and a bad review waiting. Confirm spares are included and counted — it is a common thing to quietly drop when a supplier is squeezing cost.

One more thing that catches people out: these are light but bulky. Freight on beauty tools is charged on the space they occupy rather than their weight, so a pallet can cost far more to ship than the scales suggest. Work that into the landed cost before you set a retail price — the full buying process covers how the unit price turns into what you actually pay.

And because a kit means several suppliers, the usual factory-or-trader question matters more here than on a single-product order. Checking a supplier’s business licence takes two minutes and tells you whether the company quoting you makes anything at all.

Sourcing a beauty tool kit

One box, six factories — know which is which

Send the item list and target price. You will get back which parts are likely bought in rather than made, what to specify on the metal and the foam, and where a kit like that usually goes wrong.

Send an enquiry

Common questions

Should a makeup sponge be wet or dry?

Wet, then squeezed out firmly. A damp sponge presses foundation onto the skin; a dry one absorbs it, and you can lose a third of your product into the foam. Soak it until it swells, squeeze hard in a towel, then bounce rather than wipe.

Do I curl lashes before or after mascara?

Always before. Clamping mascara-coated lashes sticks them to the pad and pulls them out when you release. Curl clean dry lashes, then apply mascara — that order also holds the curl longer.

Why does my lash curl drop after an hour?

Usually one of three things: you curled after mascara, you squeezed once at the base instead of walking the curler along the lash, or the rubber pad has flattened. The pad is a wear part and most curlers include a spare.

How often should I replace a makeup sponge?

Wash it every few uses, and replace it when it stops springing back, tears at the tip, or keeps a stain that will not wash out. A sponge that has gone hard is no longer pressing product in, which is the only reason to use one.

Do I need a sponge if I already have brushes?

Not strictly, but they solve different problems. A brush places product; a sponge presses it in and removes brush marks. Many people apply with a brush and finish with a damp sponge. If you are choosing one, sponges are more forgiving to learn with.

What should I check when buying beauty tools in bulk?

Ask which items the supplier makes and which they buy in, since a kit usually comes from several factories. Test sponge samples by soaking and squeezing to see if they recover their shape, put the metal type in writing for curlers and tweezers because rust shows up late, and confirm spare curler pads are included and counted.