An AMAZING holy-shit guide to buying pencil makeup products (from Beauty and the Bullshit)

This is mandatory reading. Seriously.

Some highlights:

• 'Your brands do not manufacture your pencils. They all source from the same suppliers. [...] There is no exclusivity.' [Ed.: HELLO DUPES. Dupes are frequently exactly the same product, then. Holy shit.]
• 'Sharpening has its advantages you know. [...] In automatic pencils, the lead hangs inside the plastic container unlike in wooden pencils which is totally embedded/supported by the wood.  This has an implication to the texture.  That means that the texture should be hard enough so that even if it is thin, it will not break inside the plastic encasing.'
• '...a good rule of thumb is that the more sophisticated (read, better) formula will be in a plastic "wooden" pencil with airtight caps [i.e. ones you have to sharpen].'

Blew my fucking mind, even though it's all so logical once you think about it.