Sigma brushes

You can have all the fancy make up in the world, if you don’t have the proper tools to apply it, it will never look good. Good brushes don’t have to cost a fortune either, which is good. I have cheapy brushes from drugstore brands, but when you want something a bit more special, you have to pay a bit more. I’ve yet to try very expensive brushes and the reason for that is that I fell in love with Sigma brushes when I first tried them. When they launched their kabuki line a while ago I was set on getting a few. I ordered the F80, F82 and P80 in January of this year and by now I’ve used them enough to give you a review of them.

Sigma brushes, in my experience, are sturdy brushes that do their job and they don’t cost as much as a MAC or Bobbi Brown brush. One thing I did notice when looking up information is that these have gone up in price. I ordered these on the official Sigma website and at the time the F80 and F82 cost 18 dollars and the P80 cost 16 dollars. Now the F80 and F82 cost 21 dollars each and the P80 costs 18 dollars. In Dutch websites you pay the price in dollars in euros. Another point I’d like to add here is that Sigma has started packaging and shipping their brushes in such a way that Dutch customs now pick them up as a parcel with imported goods, so beware that when you do order straight from the official website you will very likely be quoted additional import costs in order to receive your package when you’re in Europe.

Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki Face brush

What Sigma says:

Unique Feature: Dense and flat head Function: Buffed foundation application Recommended Use: Blend liquid or cream products onto flat areas of the face such as the forehead and cheeks. Bristle Type: Synthetic Sigmax™

It is indeed a dense brush and even though the company recommends this for foundation, I use this to apply my MAC Prep + Prime transparent finishing powder. It gives a good coverage of powder without it looking cakey. It is also great for buffing out heavily applied blush or toning down the look of too much bronzer. It is easy to clean despite the dense hairs and it keeps its shape nicely. To me this is a must have brush as I use it on a daily basis.

Sigma F82 Round Kabuki Face brush

What Sigma says:

Unique Feature: Dense and rounded head Function: Buffed powder foundation application Recommended Use: Blend mineral products onto the skin. Bristle Type: Synthetic Sigmax™

Another dense brush and this one I do use what it was meant for: for applying liquid foundation. Ever since spring however, I have been using BB cream rather than foundation and I find that applies better with my fingers, so this brush has been lying about gathering dust these past few months. However, now the weather is colder and I’m upping my skincare, a BB cream is too rich so soon I will be whipping out my foundation again along with this brush. I find it makes foundation easy to blend into the skin without giving too much of an exfoliating effect. Since the brush is quite stiff I feel it works well with liquid, watery foundation like the MAC Face & Body foundation I’ve used it with. With a brush that splays too much, you can’t control the coverage as much as with a brush that keeps it shape even when you’re working it in circles around your skin. Only downside: it’s a pain to clean. As you can see on the picture: there is still a trace amount of foundation left in that brush after washing it with baby shampoo. If you’re in the market for a good buffing brush for your foundation application, I can however recommend this. With another wash and a thorough cleanse this brush can still be cleaned.

Sigma P82 Precision Round Eye brush

What Sigma says:

Unique Feature: Small, dense and rounded head Function: Fingertip-like application Recommended Use: Apply shadow base or primer onto the lid. Bristle Type: Synthetic Sigmax™

What drew me to this was the ‘fingertip-like application’. This brush indeed looks like a finger tip and the times I’ve used it I’ve used it as indicated, for eyeshadow base and primer but I’ve also used it for under eye concealer. One problem though: this brush is too big for my eyelids or under eye area. It’s bigger than my fingertip anyway, which made me have to go in with a q-tip or fingertip after using this brush to clean up some of the mess or to make the product blend properly. It’s a nice brush if you want to apply a base to even out the color on your lids from lid to browbone for more elaborate looks, but to say this is a must have brush? No, definitely not. It’s a nice extra and could still be useful for spot concealing and blending that out, however, I don’t have a lot of blemishes, so I have not too many opportunities to test it as such.

Are you familiar with Sigma brushes?