My Husband Mark always says I carry far too much in my handbag and that may be true of some things but one thing I always have with me in my bag is a hairbrush and I personally prefer pop up brushes that are nicely folded away and have a mirror with them. I've had several of these over time and my latest one is from Avon. I don't often buy Avon products but I had a book through my door and browsing through spotted the Advance Techniques Pop Up Brush, I paid roughly £3.00 for mine but they are currently reduced to £1.50.

The pop-up brush is made from red coloured plastic with red and black bristles, although Avon now do a pink one, it looks like a powder compact and measures approximately 8 x 5 cm's so nice and small for handbags or gym bags, its basically a small brush one side and a mirror the other, there is a small hinge in the middle so the whole things folds flat. The brush is on a flexible bed so when you open it up the bristles pop out allowing you to brush your hair and when you fold the whole thing up again the bristles pop back allowing the brush and mirror to fold flat together.

The bristles are reasonably strong and brush through my hair, which is thick and long, easily removing snaffles without any problems. I love the fact that there is a mirror with this pop up brush and it seems well attached, I have had brushes like these in the past where the mirror has fallen off. I can confidently carry this around in the bottom of my bag and know when I go to use it the mirror wont drop out. The mirror is ideal for checking or touching up make up and also checking my hair after I've brushed it. I also like the way the brush and mirror fold up keeping the bristles tucked away, I carried a regular hairbrush in my bag once and I found all the bits of rubbish got caught in the bristles, with a the pop up brush everything is all neatly closed away.

I am really pleased with my Avon Pop Up Brush, it is just so useful and takes hardly any room in my bag, even if we go out in the evening and I change my bag for a small clutch bag the pop up brush folds nice and flat so fitting it in is no problem. The brush works well and goes through any tangles easily, the mirror is ideal for both hair and make up.

This little mirror and brush would be ideal for holidays or travelling or even if you go to the gym or swimming it would be ideal to pop in a bag, they would also make nice little stocking fillers. Right now Avon have this at a reduced price so I have ordered another one to keep in my sports bag.

The only thing that is slightly negative about this is sometimes when brushing my hair if I press too hard the bristles fold up and pop back as if its been folded up, however this doesn't happen often and it certainly wouldn't stop me using the brush or recommending it to others.