Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Review: Sigma Make Me Crazy Brush Kit

Sigma recently came out with new brush kits, these are the "Make Me Up" collection and come in 4 colours: black (Make Me Classy), purple (Make Me Crazy), pink (Make Me Blush) and blue (Make Me Cool). These kits include their 12 most popular brushes in Sigma's professional brush kit plus a handy brush holder. The main reason why I wanted to get this set was for the brush holder. At the moment, I keep my brushes on my bathroom sink, the most used ones that is, and the rest (kinda used ones) are under my sink in a ELF large brush holder (recommend that as well). I know it's bad to keep your makeup brushes in the bathroom because of the moisture and all that, however I do not shower in that bathroom anyway (we have two), but I do use the sink obviously so I know my brushes are probably getting dirty from that. That's why I like this brush holder because it can be closed by putting the one part on the top and securing it together, then your brushes are covered and safe.

These kits retail for $99 US on the Sigma website, which is the same price of the 12 piece in the brush roll. I prefer the brush holder that comes with this because it's super handy.

Here is the brush container closed with the brushes inside. This makes for great storage and you can even take this with you on travels. The container is a quite hard plastic, it won't bend or tear. I picked out the purple (Make Me Crazy) kit because purple is one of my favourite colours. I was going to get the black, but thought why get more black brushes? This way it adds a pop of colour to my brush collection.

Here are the 12 brushes that you get, they come with purple handles and pink ferrules, I think they look really nice. The numbering system is the same and the writing is in a holographic style (the shine on my flash is picking this up a bit here). I will now compare these brushes with the regular black ones that come in the 12 professional brush kit. If I haven't included a comparison brush below it means that I don't own it.

F30 - Large Powder brush: This brush is great for applying powder foundation or all over setting powder. Compared to the original F30 (mine is SS150 but it doesn't matter) I found the newer one to have a bit more rounded, tapered bristles, softness was the same, it bled some colour upon initial washing as did the black one. The black brush is a tad taller than the purple one.
Edit: The purple one continues to bleed dye as I wash it and is still quite stinky, I think with continued exposure to air it this should dissipate and the dye will stop.

F50 - Duo Fibre: This can give that airbrush look when applying liquid foundation. In this case, the purple one is a little bit taller. I feel like the purple one is also slightly less dense, is more floppy on the face, perhaps it has less black bristles.

F40 - Large Angled Contour: I use this to apply blush. Not any differences amongst these two that I could spot, the black one is slightly taller.


F60 - Foundation: Basic foundation painter brush, I use this for light foundation application sometimes, prefer flat top brushes personally. The black one is slightly taller, and it has a more defined tip on the bristles, whereas the purple is more rounded.

E55 - Eye Shading: Basic lid eyeshadow brush. Purple one is slightly taller, and the bristles are slightly taller too. Density is the same, not scratchy on the eyes at all.

E30 - Pencil: Good eyeshadow brush for applying precise colour to the crease. The black brush is quite a bit taller. Purple bristles are slightly more pointy, but not really to notice.

E40 - Tapered Blending: I use this one for blending concealer and setting powder under the eyes. These two brushes are probably the most similar in the bunch, brush length is the same and fluffiness and size of bristles is very similar. The purple one continued to bleed colour much longer than the black one did while washing, always wash your brushes before using!

F70 - Concealer: Good brush at precision concealing for spots and acne. These two are very similar too, brush length is the same. Purple brush has slightly more tapered bristles.

E60 - Large Shader: Good brush for cream shadow or pigment application. I don't own the original black brush but I have read that this purple one has a much larger head.

E70 - Medium Angled Shading: Good for applying crease colour or applying lid colour. I don't have the original one in this either, but it seems like a nice brush.

E65 - Small Angle: Used to apply eyeliner. I don't wear eyeliner, so I don't use brushes like this, but it's nice. Don't have the original.

E05 - Eyeliner: I don't use this brush either, same explanation as above, but this is a nice quite dense eyeliner brush. Only thing is, if you put the plastic cover on this, be careful when you take it off because it can bend the bristles on the sides.

And here are all the brushes, black and purples ones in the brush holder. Face brushes on the left and eyebrushes on the right. Not too sure how I am going to organize them yet, but I know some people separate their clean and dirty (to be cleaned) ones.

In conclusion, I see no real differences with these purple "Make Me Crazy" kit brushes except for the brush lengths themselves, only a few brushes were the same length, they seem to be all over the place. Not a big deal, but I am very critical of makeup products and I will point these discrepancies out. I know Sigma brushes are factory made so there probably isn't so much focus on quality control regarding size of handles. Also, the black ones overall feel heavier, that is probably because the ferrule on those is more of a metal, whereas the purple ones are aluminum looking. The ferrule is more pinched looking on the black ones too. I think these brushes are nice to have if you don't already have the 12 piece kit, or you want the brush holder.

Disclaimer: Products were sent from Sigma Makeup for review consideration.

Any comments or questions, please ask away!

7 comments:

Unknown said... Best Blogger Tips

What a great brush set and holder! Sounds like I have a similar set up to you Justine! I get ready in the hall bathroom and have very limited counter space for brush storage. I keep most in a cabinet in the large elf holder too. I think this case and set would be perfect! Thanks for the great review!!!

Tracy D said... Best Blogger Tips

Great detailed review. I like the idea of getting a different color, so much easier to pick the brushes out of the pack. The germaphobe in me also appreciates being able to seal these completely :)

Wendy Banner said... Best Blogger Tips

The purple is pretty! I want the pink set, but at the same time I'm so OCD and like that all of my brushes are black. I don't know how I'd feel about throwing in some color all of a sudden. Haha! But boy are they tempting...

Becky said... Best Blogger Tips

I love these brushes, there so pretty, but sadly out of my price range :( I hope you have another giveaway on them again sometime. :)

Also can you please do a review sometime on cover fx concealer. Thanks!!!

25FLNDN said... Best Blogger Tips

I read on the site that they are handmade, not factory made. Did this change but they've yet to update?

Justine (Productrater) said... Best Blogger Tips

@25LONDON - Oh yeah? Not sure.

Miu said... Best Blogger Tips

AHHHHHHHHHHH I'm so jealous >_< !