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Showing posts with label Sigma. Show all posts

Sigma Creme de Couture Palette

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

So I must have been living under a rock because I hadn't heard of the Sigma Creme de Couture Palette until recently. For some unknown reason, I kept thinking that this palette was made up of all creme products so I didn't really have any interest. It wasn't until someone informed me that I was entirely mistaken that I found myself genuinely interested in acquiring this pretty palette.

I googled a few swatches and next thing I knew, this sweet little thing was on its way to me. The packaging is really adorable, inspired by macarons! How sweet (literally) is that? The lid comes off completely from the palette, like a box. I'm a sucker for mattes and a lot of these shades looked absolutely incredible. That is, until I swatched them.

So the thing is, I had stumbled upon a blog where the blogger had these incredible swatches over bare skin. I was amazed, that's what made me pull the trigger. However when I actually had this palette in my hands, it didn't swatch nearly as intense. Granted a lot of these shades are softer pastel colors, but the pigmentation just wasn't there.

Swatched very, very heavily over bare skin. I know I usually do really neat swatches that run the width of my arm but I just didn't have the heart to do it for this palette.

It wasn't until I swatched these over both primer and NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk that the colors appeared true to pan.

The texture of these was nice, very finely milled and smooth. None, save for Meyer Lemon, was chalky at all (and Meyer Lemon is only a bit chalky, not really too bad).

Here's a look I did with Cafe au Lait, Ginger Pumpkin, Violet Whip, Almond Pear and Creme de Menthe. They weren't bad to work with, but they definitely need primer and a creamy white base to show up.

One last thing worth noting, the pans in this palette are small. In between the size of a dime and a nickel.

So overall I'm feeling rather lukewarm about this palette. The packaging, the concept, the colors themselves... all fantastic and just really beautiful. The pigmentation of the shades leaves a lot to be desired, but at least they are all consistently mediocre (is that a plus? Not really, I suppose). I'm sort of kicking myself for letting a single blog sway my decision to buy this.

The Sigma Creme de Couture Palette is $32 and available on the Sigma website.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Three Smudge Brushes at Three Price Points

Monday, June 3, 2013

One of the types of brushes that I've recently been infatuated with is the smudging brush. Short and stout with a rounded shape, it gives the user a lot of control and the ability to really pack on color. They're also great for creating smokey eyes and smudging out liner. Here are three very differently priced smudge brushes.

Let's start with the most inexpensive. Made and sold by Rite Aid, $3.99. Synthetic hairs. It looks like a duo fiber brush but that's just the coloring. The bristles are not varying sizes like a real duo fiber, but they are very soft. The least dense of the three brushes. Slightly tapered plastic handle.

Next, the Sigma E20 Short Shader. $10, natural hair. Medium density and the hairs are a bit blunt so it can feel a bit rough when smudging out color.

NARS Smudge Brush, $26. Natural hairs. The most dense out of all the brushes, softer than the Sigma.

Out of the three, my favorite is the NARS followed by the Rite Aid brush because it is very soft. The Rite Aid brush has slightly longer bristles that are more pliable than the other two. Having these two, the Sigma I could do without. However, Sephora Collection has a Pro Smudge Brush #11 that I think is VERY comparable to the NARS brush, I would most certainly call it dupe worthy as it very similar and cheaper at $18.

Have any favorite smudger brushes? The next one I have my eye on is the Laura Mercier one, because it has a smaller head than the ones I have.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

A Tale of Two Sigma Brushes

Sunday, February 10, 2013

I've been curious about this brand's brushes for quite a while and I must say that I'm ~~a bit of a brush freak~~. I'm a total brush freak. At my high point I had around 80 but not only was that annoying as heck to wash, I no longer needed so many because I was not applying makeup to other people. I've since then eliminated my brush stash down to under 40 brushes and must admit that I have rather high standards for the ones that I buy these days.

There was however, two very specific brushes that I felt like I was missing in my collection. I wanted a small smudge brush and a tapered cheek brush. Luckily I had an Amazon gift card laying around so I decided to put it to good use and order a couple Sigma brushes.

I ordered two Sigma brushes, the F35 Tapered Highlighter and the E20 Short Shader. Sigma brushes have nice solid handles (I actually have no idea what it is made of, black lacquered wood or plastic? Morgan and I spent some time puzzling over it. I'm leaning towards plastic because of the engraving and the weight.) and double crimped ferrule. The brush number and the Sigma logo have a nice deep holographic which I'm quite certain will last longer than MAC's notoriously fast fading brush markings. Neither one of these brushes bled or shed any hairs while I washed them (I've washed them each about 4 times now), though I have read some blogs mentioning that some of their brushes bled.

First, the F35 Tapered Highlighter. Natural bristles, pretty soft and the cut is pretty nice. However, it is a bit smaller/not as dense as I would have hopped, not nearly as round as pictures of it on the website suggest. As a result, I feel like I lack control when applying either a highlighter or contour shade with this brush and the area of application is rather small, I don't really find that I reach for it. If it been a slightly larger and denser head, I think I would have loved it. Perhaps I should take a look at the much larger sister F25. The F35 Tapered Highlighter is $18.

The E20 Short Shader on the other hand, I grew to like quite a bit. Again, I feel like it could be denser and softer but it is a great addition to my brushes. It is very usefully for depositing color in my lower lash line and for small areas of my eye, like smudging color into my upper lash line. I think that in the future I might look into NARS #15 Smudge Brush, because I think it is a bit smaller and would be even better suited for my needs. However, the E20 is quite a bit cheaper at just $10.

To sum it up, I would recommend the E20. In fact, if I lost it I'd probably repurchase it. The F35 however, is just ok. I think this highlighter brush is nothing to write home about and probably won't be used very often at all. I think the quality of Sigma brushes (based on just the two that I bought) is good for the price, but then again you have to remember just how low the prices are. If you're looking for beginner brushes for makeup, these would work splendidly. But there are definitely better quality brushes out there and I think it is worthwhile to invest in those.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Review: Sigma Indian Girl Eyeshadow

Sunday, September 26, 2010

I saw this shadow on AllCosmeticsWholesale a long time ago, always curious about it but never bit the bullet and ordered it. Much to my dismay, it went out of stock and I -think- Sigma, the company that makes it, stopped making cosmetics and stuck to brushes.
Well of course, once it was discontinued and hard to find, it became my obsession to track down this dark sparkly taupe. Unexpectedly, a kind MUAer went out of her way to procure one and gift it to me. Ahh, the kindness of strangers!

Swatched outdoors, dying sunlight. No flash.

So here I have it, Indian Girl. The pigmentation is excellent, and the quality is really nice. It's not super finely milled, but definitely not chunky either. It's not super frosty, more of a darker, very sparkly taupe with a silver sheen. It's darker than say, Cargo Yukon but less purple than Ulta Twilight.
I must say that I really like this taupe, though it has very little purple tones, it's quite flattering. I've worn it for a few days now and it definitely lasts, though the shimmer may be a little more subdued by the end of an 16 hour day.

So the bad news is that this shadow will be hard to get a hold of... but the good news is that I'm impressed with the quality of Sigma shadows and will try to get my hands on more! Oh wait, is that really good news? I hear my wallet crying in the background.

Product was gifted to me.