Today, I am going to do a review on two Sigma Beauty makeup brushes. For those of you who are makeup addicts like myself, you probably already know all about them. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they are good quality makeup brushes that sell for a fraction of what MAC charges for their makeup brushes. The Sigma brushes were originally styled to be very similar to MAC brushes. Once upon a time, they even had the same numbers I believe.
Sigma has come a long way since then. They now make all kinds of brushes that are unique to them and are not simply MAC knock-offs. Specifically, I am thinking of their Precision Line etc. Now before I go off on a tangent, let's get back to the matter at hand. On the left in the picture above, I have the E55 brush which was originally meant to be a dupe for the MAC 239. Personally, I don't find these brushes to be remotely identical. They both are for the purpose of packing eye shadow or colour onto the lid. The Sigma E55 is a wider, thicker, denser brush. I actually prefer the E55 for packing on a lid colour. It does the job better and faster. What I do like the MAC 239 for though is that does that job too, albeit not as well, but it also works well for making an outer "C" into the crease or for shading in a crease colour onto the outer corner of the lid. The E55 can also do that somewhat, but not as well as the MAC 239.
On the right, we have the Sigma E25 which is a near dupe of the MAC 217. A man on a galloping horse wouldn't know the difference between the two. They look the same except I believe the MAC 217 may be a tad bigger (bristles longer). These brushes serve the same purpose - they apply colour in the crease. The Sigma E25 is a little more precise, but is scratchy I find. The MAC 217 is softer.
Let's talk price. The MAC 217 is $28.50 Canadian/$24 U.S. The E25 is $12 U.S. Less than half of price! I confess that I am not willing to part with my MAC 217 anytime soon. However, rather than buy a spare at that steep price, I am more than happy to have an E25 or two on hand. For those of you on a budget, this is a no brainer. The E25 does the exact same job, the brush is just a bit lower quality.
Now for the E55. It's $12 U.S. The MAC 239 is $30 Canadian/$25 U.S. To me these two brushes are different animals. If you are just looking to pack on colour to the lid, I would definitely opt for the Sigma E55.
Here is a link to my review of MAC 217 and MAC 239 brushes if you are interested:
http://mymakeupissues.blogspot.ca/2012/03/if-i-could-only-own-3-makeup-brushes.html
In the interests of full disclosure, I was sent these two brushes for review by a great new shopping website that I have discovered - ObsessedLook.com Here is the link to the Sigma brushes that they carry http://www.obsessedlook.com/categories/sigma-brushes.html Their prices are in Canadian dollars, however, they are very reasonable and they ship Sigma Brushes free within Canada! There is no minimum purchase. How great is that???
I do own a number of Sigma brushes. I own several travel or mini sized E25s, but I didn't have the full sized one until ObsessedLook.com was kind enough to send me one. I also have a smaller E55 from one of Sigma's eye shadow palettes, but again, I didn't have the full sized one until recently. I have paid anywhere from $9-$15 U.S. in shipping charges when I have ordered from Sigma Beauty directly. That is a lot and it adds quite a bit of money to the cost when purchasing these brushes. This is especially the case if you are trying to save money and not fork out for the MAC version. You don't end up saving a ton of money if you only order a couple of brushes once shipping comes into the mix. Maybe if you live in the U.S. it's cheaper???
If you live in Canada like me, you can't get a better deal on Sigma brushes than from ObsessedLook.com. They also carry a lot of hard to get makeup in Canada like Barry M, Lime Crime, TheBalm etc. You should check them out. I sure am glad I know about them now.
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