Edit: Sigma Beauty sent me 2 brushes by mistake, the F05 & the F55, which were the brushes from my original order. When I contacted them to ask why they sent them, they said they didn’t know why they’d resent those brushes but they want me to send the brushes back to them, and they’ll reimburse me for the shipping costs.

I feel it is highly unprofessional and inappropriate of them to ask me to spend my time and money to return brushes to them that they sent to me by their own mistake. While I am sending the brushes back to them, and hopefully will get reimbursed for my troubles, I have removed their affiliate links from my blog and will not purchase from them again. They have lost me as a customer.

Edit: I was just contacted again by Sigma & told that I no longer need to return the brushes. Apparently Sigma has now changed their policies on no longer requiring customers to return products sent to them by mistake and they will be looking into changing how they ship out their brushes.

I first ordered from SigmaBeauty on December 28, 2010. I picked up a Small Contour F05 and a Small Duo Fibre F55. Both are face brushes. Shipping was $5.25 This package arrived on December 31, 2010. I was surprised that the brushes arrived in a yellow bubble wrap envelope, as it didn’t seem like it would be safe to send brushes that way, but they were safe inside the packaging.

The Face Brushes:
F05 is a small contour brush. (compare to the MAC 109)
F55 is a small duo fibre brush. (compare to the MAC 188)
These are $14 each.

I loved these face brushes! The F05 is exactly like the one I had used on me at the MAC store, so it’s perfect for contouring the cheek. The F55 is a tiny highlighter, which I really like.

The F05 small contour really does fit well into the hollow of my cheeks to define. I’ve been using it by making small circles going from my ears downward to the hollows of my cheeks and then back up. The F55 small duo fibre works perfectly to highlight on my cheekbones without using too much product.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark used to contour.

I liked my first two brushes so much that I decided to place a second order. I next ordered on January 10, 2011. I picked up a Medium Angled Shading E70, Pencil E30, Short Shader E20 and a Tapered Blending E35. Shipping was $5.45. I received my second order on January 14. Again they arrived inside a yellow bubble wrap mailer.

I was disappointed because 2 of my brushes arrived damaged, the E70 and the E35.

You can see how several of the bristles are bent at a funny angle.

I immediately took pictures of the brushes and contacted Sigma via email and twitter, but received no response. At this point I assumed they’d gone home for the weekend since it was Friday and that I’d get a response on Monday morning.

Monday January 17 comes and I got no response that morning. So I sent another email and another tweet on twitter and got no response. I did get some responses on twitter that I should post on their Facebook page as that gets immediate results. I shrugged and figured why not, I might as well give that a try. Predictably, I got help immediately from contacting on Facebook and received a response to one of the emails I sent.

Sigma sent replacement brushes out the same day, Jan. 17 and they arrived on Jan. 19.

The E25 blending brush was a free gift with purchase.

The Eye Brushes:
E35 is a tapered blending brush. (similar to the MAC 222)

This is the E35, with the E25, the MAC224 and the Urban Decay Blending Brush.

E70 is a medium angled shading brush. (similar to the MAC 275, the Too Faced Angled Shadow, the ecoTools angled crease)
The ecoTools angled brushes, the E70, the Too Faced and the taklon angled sculptor.

E30 is a tiny pencil brush. (similar to the MAC 219)

The E30 next to my fiber optic pointed crease brush.

E20 is a short shader brush. (similar to the MAC 214)
E25 is a blending brush. (similar to the MAC 217)
The eye brushes were $9 each.

What I don’t like about the Sigma Brushes:
First, they’re not vegan or cruelty free. Second, the handles are longer than I’m used to using for the eye brushes. Third, I don’t really care for the packaging that the brushes are mailed in, as I don’t think they provide enough protection.

What I like about the Sigma Brushes:
The brushes seem to be a good quality for the price. $9 to $14 for the brushes that I purchased is quite reasonable. They don’t smell. I’ve not experienced shedding with them. They seem to be the right density for application. The customer service, in my experience, is good. I was impressed with how quickly Sigma, once they read my comment on Facebook, replied to my email and sent replacement brushes out the same day. Also, it seems that Sigma Beauty is an Indie company, so I like that too.

Would I purchase again?
No. I really dislike that the brushes are not vegan. While I do like the eye shadow brushes, I still find myself reaching more for my synthetic brushes. The face brushes, however, I use almost every day and I adore them. I haven’t found a synthetic match to the F05 and none of my other brushes that I currently own compare to it for how well it works to contour.

Additionally, it has come to my attention that Sigma states that their brushes are made in the USA, when in fact they are not.

Finally, I think they are unprofessional in their actions.

Products purchased by me. All opinions are my own.