Hello, today I’m back with a post on my Sigma brushes! Now if you are looking for a good set of quality brushes, I highly recommend Sigma’s for its value. Also, if you are borderline-OCD like me, Sigma is a great choice for your dresser as it looks 95% similar to MAC’s (just different logos) so you wont be irritated seeing so many different brushes in your brush holder.
Sidenote: The reason why I bought Sigma was….
- Rochie the guru recommended it. Well she said ELF was good too but I vehemently refused to buy ELF as the brushes look nothing like my MAC ones. *refers to OCD*
- I needed a loose powder brush and a upper-eyelid liner, you know the brush that you can use to top up your shadow over your eyeliner with? Yes that. I haven’t have any idea what to call that thing though.
- I was through with being brand-ist and sticking to MAC for my brushes, even though I own the MAC 116 / 109 / 217 / 239. Don’t get me wrong, they are great quality brushes and I love them, just that for a poor student, a single MAC brush (especially the face brushes and Singapore prices) does not sit well with the pocket.
IMPORTANT: MAC brushes are Made in Japan, while Sigma’s are Made in China and the USA. See picture for proof.
I don’t know if that’s gonna be a problem for you, because my Sigma brushes feel the same to me as my MAC ones :S
So Jen and I were chatting over MSN one day and I was talking to her about buying the Sigma Face and Eye Kit here and before I knew it, she got back to me about the rave reviews of the Synthetic Face Kit here and we decided to put in an order that very day. I know right? We are super decisive buyers heh.
Sigma ships internationally via USPS Express (which is bloody expensive) or USPS First Class. Shipping cost will increase as you have more items in your order, but generally it will be cheaper to share. The Face & Eye Kit I ordered costs USD54 and we had a 10% discount code which Jen found, while shipping was USD15.32 for both kits. So if you work it out, I paid USD56.26 (S$73.7) for my kit of six brushes, inclusive shipping. That my dear girls, is equivalent to buying a MAC 109 brush in Singapore with some change to spare. One brush or six brushes? You decide!
Payment was made on 7 March, items shipped on 9 March, and I received the parcel in my mailbox on 18 March! Awesome service Sigma!
It came in a flat rectangular box that has room for the brushes length-wise.
I like how Sigma includes a black mesh bag with the brushes instead of just chucking them on styrofoam balls or bubble wrapping. I’ve already passed Jen her Synthetic Face Kit, so no kit here! Please check out her blog here, she has awesome swatches of the Melliesh blushers and will probably do a review on her brushes too.
I use the MAC Brush Cleanser to clean my brushes. Again I use it super liberally, as I do with all my toners and makeup removers.
Sigma included a pamphlet with all their brush descriptions, which I find super handy as I always have a problem with using which brush for what. I tell you, its the engineer in me. I’m such a stickler for their functions and simply cannot use an eye brush to do my face, it just seems wrong to me.
But again, this stubbornness is changing as I discovered that makeup is really about making the best out of what you have. *looks at USD2.99 Wet & Wild trios and USD40 MAC quad*
Tada! Here are my six brushes from the Sigma Face & Eye kit!
Left: Buffer – F45 –
Right (from top): Duo Fibre – F50 – / Large Powder – F30 – / Tapered Blending – E40 – / Pencil – E30 – (yes this is the brush that I was talking about! The upper lid shadow thingy!) / Eye Shading – E55 –
You know one thing that I really love Sigma brushes for? It’s the fact that they come with plastic brush guards! I find that super duper helpful especially for larger face brushes cos that will help keep the brush hair in shape. Again, OCD. Though that isn’t a good thing especially when pulling out the plastic guards off the brushes the first time. You know the Three Little Pigs story where the Wolf went ‘I huff and I puff and I fluff’? I was sitting on the floor playing tug-o-war with the plastic brush guard that refused to come off my brush and gave myself several fingernail marks. -_-
Finally got it off and the sides tore a little T_____________T
Before I wail at how destructive I can be with my stuff, here is a picture of the F50 brush (regular) and the F50 (travel sized) brushes.
Speaking of which, it seems that Sigma is supposed to include a free gift with purchases over USD30 and I should receive a complimentary E25 brush with my purchase of the Face & Eye Kit, but I dont have two free brushes, only the F50 travel size. I’m gonna email Sigma and see what they say.
The F50 (or the MAC 187 dupe) is longer in length and definitely fluffier than the travel brush.
And here is the comparison between the two Sigma brushes and the MAC 187 (SH) brush!
The Sigma brushes were photographed before washing, hence they dont look so fluffy. Sorry for the discoloration on my MAC 187 (SH), I used it to apply my loose powder, though technically you are supposed to use a duo-fibre brush to apply your foundation.
The F-50 (Travel) VS the MAC 187 (SH).
The F-50 (Regular) VS the MAC 187 (SH). Both Sigma brushes feel a lot more clean and smooth and plasticky as compared to my MAC 187 (SH) brush. Maybe its due to my MAC brush having powder clogged in the bristles. But the Sigma duo-fibre brushes definitely feel lighter and more bendy.
Omg, I love this Kabuki brush. It feels so soft and dense against my skin! Though I haven’t used it yet -_- The Made in PRC label was on this one’s plastic wrapper.
And now, this is why you should wash your brushes before using them! See the amount of dye and bristles that came off? In no way am I violent in cleaning them since I swipe them in a single direction only.
The fall-out from the F-30 face brush. See the dye? I googled and apparently its normal for brushes to bleed during the first washing, but still gross!
The F-50 duo-fibre brush.
The F-45 Kabuki Brush. Can you believe it? A tuff of hair fell out! My brush is balding prematurely! AHHHH! *hysterical laughter*
I know that this is a long post to read, forgive me I am a wordy blogger T_T It’s been hard to churn this up as well, since I’ve been typing away for two hours now and my word count is nearing 1200 words. Which beauty blogger will blog such a wordy post right? *goes off to self-reflect*
Anyways, I used the Sigma E40 Tapered Blending Brush (that is used for the eye crease) as a concealer brush since Rochie recommended it, and I love it! It was so easy to blend out the concealer (I used the MAC Select Cover Up which is very liquidy) and it didn’t make my base makeup cakey! Shall try with the Amazing Concealer, which is a little more difficult to work with.
All in all, I would recommend the Sigma brushes as they are so affordable and the quality is great! Simply put, a bang for your buck. No more MAC brushes (though I hope I wont have to eat my words!) for me!
P.S. Does anyone else find it a pain to wash their brushes and let them dry before using? Can I justify it as reason to buy another set of eye brushes? Oops :X Rochie if you’re reading this, LOVE!
Iariae 
noo its not wordy! its very comprehensive! XD ❤ the review!
aiyo bleed and shed so much ah..yeah last time i also read that sigma is quite good too but i baulk at the price and there are some reviews are a little contradicting hehe.now still thinking want to try sigma or not haha (cos i abit bias against made in C stuff)…you got try before ecotools? try that!!its great AND affordable! no shedding!(but ecotools is also made in C) haha i'm a oxymoron! haha sometimes i wanted to use some brushes but found out they are still drying. makes me feel so gggrrrr hha so i try to wash it in the morning~
You know babe, you have the same name as my girlfriend from school! XD
Thank you for taking the time to write such a nice comment, most people would find this blog entry too long, but my friends and you included have been extremely supportive to read it through 😀 *bows*
TBH I was horrified to see dye on the tissue. IDK if the color will migrate, but that would have made me break out. But I guess this cant be helped since there probably is dye on the bristles still, so T____T.
I heard of Ecotools, they are under ELF right? Again, my OCD doesn’t allow me to try it since I hate having brushes of so many different sizes and colors. I know I’m disgusting, lol. But babe, there’s a 10% off for Sigma now and I believe they are good enough to last ages 😀 Though a bad workman will always blame his tools la 😛 I’m trying to make use of my brushes now hehe.
Maybe only the Kabuki brush is made in China, hmmm. The rest of the brushes have USA printed on the handles. Not sure if they are trying to proclaim Sigma as a USA brand or the manufacturing country, hmmm.
Urgh, I usually wash them late at night so by the time I wake up, they are dry! Hehe.
hehe *psst its actually my internet name when i first started? then it kinda of got stuck plus i like it sooo…^^(aiyo this is the first time i tell ppl that)
aiyo if you try etude house one before it bleeds even worse…bought once cos of internet reviews but never again..
haha i’m ok with the sizing(telling myself to keep one eye close haha)…ooh ehh i dun think so cos i abit bias to ELF…
orhh tsk the branding is too ambiguous!(heading over to sigma now~^.^)
Sorry for the late reply babe, I got your comment yesterday but I was having a super lousy-bad-tiring-annoying-frustrating-emotionally draining day that I didn’t want to reply with a two-liner. That wouldn’t sit well with me as you made the effort to make such a proper reply 🙂
I like Etude House for their polishes, wanted to try out their brushes but again the OCD self takes control. Omg, poor you. That’s money wasted babe! I hope you can hawk it off at sg_beauty:)
Heh, it looks like I should try out Ecotools, the lady below loves it as well in her blog post! Butttt, OCD! >_<
Thanks for this post! I was actually debating between getting either the Naughty travel kit from Sigma or the Face and Eyes Kit you featured here. I love the side by side comparison in both length and what seems density. If I do decide to invest in Sigma brushes I will definitely get the face and eye kit. So is the duo-fiber brush supposed to take place of a large foundation brush or ….? I found it a little odd that that wasn’t included in the face portion of the set. I would get the whole professional brush roll, but I think at this point I want to invest over 100 for it. Also, like Evie, I definitely recommend looking at Ecotools. They aren’t made by ELF but instead by a company named ParisPresents. They work really well for me, and are very affordable! I also like the way they look! If you would like to see some close up views of the brushes I have a few on my blog post from a few days ago. I love the post, thanks so much- very informative and helpful! Look forward to reading more! 🙂
Hello Alyssa, thank you so much for such a lovely comment, it was really a joy reading and responding to you 🙂 You have no idea how happy it makes me to see that I finally am able to generate something worthy for people to want to comment on ^^
About the duo-fiber brush, its actually used for a ‘stippling’ effect to make your liquid foundation apply flawlessly. In the words of Rochie (my makeup guru), she says that you pump the foundation on the back of your hand, take the brush and dab at it only with the white brush hairs (meaning to say, the top of it) before patting it on your face in small circular motions. Needless to say, stippling is an intensive effort requiring loads of time (you can’t sweep it around that will totally destroy the natural airbrushed look) so me isn’t a fan of it. Unless you have four hours to spare heh.
But babe, you can consider it for your wedding 😛 I popped by your blog and I’ll be adding it to my blogroll 🙂 I agree, you shouldn’t invest in a professional brush roll, unless you are starting out. At USD100+ a pop, not worth it especially when you would already have some brushes in your kit.
Me is now tempted to try out Ecotools but OCD says I shouldn’t cave in! *images of Sigma’s pink brushes dancing in head*
Of course! Oh and the comments are much deserved! I love how thorough your review was of these brushes! Also, thanks for describing the ‘stippling’ effect. I definitely do not have time to spend four hours, I’m lucky if I can spend 30minutes on makeup lol, so that’s really good to know. But yeah, that’s something that I’ll have to consider for my wedding, thank you. Would you say that the Face and Eye Kit then would be a pretty complete set for just starting with Sigma? I like your suggestion of using the tapered blending brush for the foundation! I’ll definitely try them out once I get the brushes. Thanks for the reply and thanks for the add! 🙂
Hey missy 🙂
Haha, thank you for the compliments but I think there’s always someone better XD I’m so new to makeup, I can’t really say that these are the best of the whole lot out there since I’ve only tried MAC and Sigma, but I love them. And you should try them out!
I take slightly under an hour just to put on my base makeup cos of OCD. I have to wash my hands everytime I use my fingers to apply the primer/pore concealer and that has always made me late! T_T Needless to say, I rarely wear eyeshadow as I’m already late >_<
About 'em brushes, I would say that the Face & Eye Kit is a great starter for anyone to Sigma, the only brush that's missing is a blush brush (which maybe the F50 can multitask) or a highlighter brush. All three eye brushes are awesome, bb the tapered blending brush is for patting on concealer. That is my new love seriously, the brush rocks when used that way XD
I hope you would love the Sigma brushes the same way I do mine when you get yours babe, I can't wait to see your review of them as well ^^
Have a good night (seeing that you are in the US heh)!