When putting on your face of the day, it's not only what you're putting on your face, it's also how. I have had these brush sets for a couple of years now, and it's very hard to think back to what I was using or how I was applying my makeup without them! Makeup application is so much easier and looks so much better when you use the appropriate tool. Today I thought I would share with you my most-loved and most-used Sigma Beauty brushes.
This was the first brush set I ever purchased from Sigma, and from that day on I was hooked. MAC brushes were the first brushes I started investing in, and while some of theirs are HGs for me for sure, I have to say, I love some of these just as much. The Essential Kit contains 12 brushes, I have listed what I personally use these for beside each one:
*E05 Eye Liner - bottom lid eyeliner or shadow
*E30 Pencil - fill in brows, outer V work, smudge eyeliner
*E40 Tapered Blending - crease work
*E55 Eye Shading - apply shadow on lid
*E60 Large Shader - to really pack color on lid
*E65 Small Angle - top & bottom eyeliner (fave)
*E70 Medium Angled Shading - inner corner/tear duct, outer V/crease, brownbone highlight
*F30 Large Powder - to apply face powder or to blend
*F40 Large Angled Contour - blush
*F50 Duo Fibre - bronzer (I go in and contour with Nars Ita brush after this)
*F60 Foundation - rarely use this
*F70 Concealer - to cover troublesome spots
As with all their other brushes, they are so well constructed and so pretty to look at, and are vegan-friendly as well. (Sorry mine are so dirty, you'll see below that I broke down and washed several of these after this blog post). The Mrs. Bunny brushes look a little different now, the ferrules on my brushes were a beautiful pink, now they are silver. Other than that everything is still the same. If you don't have any brushes and need all the basics to get you started, you cannot go wrong here. A little bit of an investment, but I have used these for quite a while now and they look brand new when they're, well, clean. lol. They hold up, don't shed, retain their shape, and you will be able to use and adore these for yearssss. Plus, how nice is it that Sigma brush sets come in these really nice brush holders? LOVE LOVE LOVE.
The Travel Kit in Make Me Blush, $75.00
If you follow my blog, then you are fully aware that I do not like packing my everyday items I use at home for travel use. I have makeup bags and toiletry bags that stay packed and ready to go so that I don't have to constantly pack and unpack all this stuff. So obviously, I have a travel Sigma brush set, lol. Mine are in Make Me Blush, a pretty pink set. And while these are still available on the Sigma website, they have changed a little as well. As you can see, the ferrules on these are a pale pink, where as they now are available in silver. Other than that, same exact brushes in the same lovely pink holders. The Travel Kit contains 7 brushes:
*E30 Pencil - fill in brows, outer V work, smudge eyeliner
*E40 Tapered Blending - crease work
*E55 Eye Shading - apply eyeshadow on my lid
*E65 Small Angle - top & bottom eyeliner (my fave)
*F30 Large Powder - to apply face powder or to blend
*F40 Large Angled Contour - blush
*F60 Foundation - rarely use
For added protection for my brushes, I put brush guards on all of them since they're always on the go.
Even though they take up some space (not too much tho), the brush holders are EXCELLENT when traveling. All your brushes are up and out of the way and not scattered all over the bathroom counter, they are all pointing up for easy access, and they're just so handy.
I have added several brushes that I have purchased individually to my collection, and out of all of those, these are my favorites. If you have a need for a brush, Sigma has got you covered. They really do have a brush for everyyyything. You could easily pull off just about any look you could ever want with the Essential Kit, but I have added some brushes that give me just a little more precision in certain areas. Also, sometimes you need more than 1 brush of a certain kind....(especially if you are not too good at keeping your brushes washed). For example, my F40 Large Angled Contour brushes are alwayssss dirty. I use these for blush, so at basically any given time you'll see one has maybe a pink or mauve blush on it and the other has a more neutral/earthy blush on it or whatever. You get the idea. Just so I don't have to wash this brush every single day. Also, sometimes I use one F30 Large Powder brush to apply a thin layer of powder, but sometimes I want a clean one just to blend. Anyways, pictured here:
*F30 Large Powder, $24 - to apply face powder or to blend
*F80 Flat Top Kabuki, $21 - foundation
*F84 Angled Kabuki, $21 - foundation
*F40 Large Angled Contour, $19 - blush
*F25 Tapered Face, $29 - highlight
*F86 Tapered Kabuki, $21 - to apply under eye concealer/highlight
*F35 Tapered Highlighter, $21 - for powder to set my under eye
*F05 Small Contour , $18- bronzer, highlight, or to blend
*E40 Tapered Blending, $19 - crease work
*E45 Small Tapered Blending, $12 - defining crease work, outer V
*E25 Blending, $12 - sturdier lid/crease blending and color application
People, if you've not tried anything by Sigma, let one of these be the first brush you purchase! Best brushes for foundation. Period. I use the F80 (Flat Top) here at home and pack the F84 (Angled) in my travel makeup bag. LOVE!!!
These 3 give you the most perfect under eye makeup you could ever achieve. The F86 (middle) applies the perfect amount of concealer under your eye, and takes all the guess work out of where to apply. It kind of takes care of it for you, soaks up what you don't need so you don't end up getting all cakey-eyed, etc. Same goes for the other two, they finish your face so perfectly, blend great and are quite forgiving if you go a little heavy with certain products.
The most perfect eye makeup brushes. Aye-aye. I can't say enough good things about them. My E40s (first one) stay dirty usually with something like Makeup Geek Peach Smoothie or Beaches and Cream, Urban Decay Naked or Buck, or any other blending out crease color. The 3rd little guy, the E25 Blending brush, is very similar to a MAC 217. I use it the exact same way. I sometimes apply color on my lid with this, sometimes I use it to apply darker colors to the outer 1/3 of my lid and to blend up in my crease, and sometimes I use it clean with no product on it whatsoever, to blend, blend, blend my crease and corner. And the middle one? The E45 Small Tapered Blending brush is perfect for adding your dark, smokey shades. It's very small and very tapered and keeps you from having that 'black eye' look. It's shape and size let you lay down product exactly where you want it. If you're like me and you've ever used the wrong brush when attempting a smokey eye, then you already know - NOT pretty. Instead of giving you that sultry, sexy, smoked out look you end up with a thick, muddy, heavy mess that isn't flattering by anyone's standards. Like I said, beautiful looks are easily accomplished with the basic Sigma Essential Kit, but these other brushes really help you with the precision work. Ugh. So perfect. You can buy any and all of the brushes I have mentioned today here.
You'll be happy to know they've all had a bath now, lol. I know a lot of people use brush guards and brush trees to dry their brushes. And while it makes perfect sense to do so, I just never have. The whole logic in drying your brushes vertically is so that when they're wet the water won't seep up into the ferrules and loosen the glue that is holding your bristles. I don't argue with that one bit, and maybe one of these days I'll pay for not doing it, lol. But, I have always just washed, rinsed, and dried my brushes laying flat. I never have shedding, never have any problems whatsoever. And let's face it, I just want to do it and be done with it and don't invest too much of my time doing this activity. As far as what I clean my brushes with, I have used a variety of things. Started out using only baby shampoo. Then, I went through a phase where I only used Dawn dishwashing liquid and olive oil, followed by only Parian Spirit, etc etc etc. Now I just use whatever. Doesn't really make a difference from what I can tell, and doesn't really matter to me. I'll use all of those I mentioned sometimes, I'll use shampoo (of any kind, usually something I've bought for my hair that I didn't care for), Dr. Bronner's, whatever. Again, I think it's just important they get cleaned, and cleaned well, a couple of times a month or so. I only wear makeup on average about 1 day a week, so mine are not getting used all that often. Also, when I am sitting down applying my makeup, I use wet wipes and have a dry hand towel handy. At various times while I am sitting there, I will swirl my brush on the wipe and swirl it on the towel and clean it off. I don't think you have to worry in all the specifics that much, just clean your brushes every now and then. The last 2 or 3 times that I have cleaned my brushes I have used the güd Natural Nourishing Shampoo by Bert's Bees in Vanilla Flame. It's veryyyy gentle and makes your brushes SMELL SO GOOOOOOOD. Literally, you will want to sit around huffing them. Smell lasts when they dry. Love using this stuff! Got it from Target many moons ago, and while it's not my favorite shampoo for my hair, it is definitely one of my favorite brush cleaners. I didn't see it on Target's website, but it is available here.
How you store your brushes, I think, is more important than what soap you're using. I use a Pampered Chef caddy designed for kitchen tools to sort mine in. It spins around so you can easily grab the brush of your choosing. And, it allows all my brushes to stand with their bristles facing upwards, so nothing is crunched or too tight. Nothing worse than reaching for a brush and all of it's bristles are either curved or bent or they're shooting in every different direction. Noooooooo!
If you're on the market for some makeup brushes, then hopefully this helped you out. If you have any questions just leave 'em below! Have a great weekend!
