I just got my package yesterday and haven't used the brushes yet (They are drying now) but I will test them out today w/ my Style Warriors stuff lol. So these are my first impressions. I'll try to edit this after I actually use them and let you know which ones are worth the dough.
I did notice that my ss219 ferrule was loose and emailed the company about it. Still waiting to hear back from them about that. I don't have the mac 150 or the 182, but I do have the mac counter parts for the rest of the brushes that came in the face and eye kit.
From inspection and limited use so far: **** EDITED TO ADD COMPARISON PIC W/ MAC BRUSHES and REVIEW AFTER USE****
ss150: Nice big powder brush and is very soft, didn't shed too much while being washed. All of the larger brushes w/ the black bristles (ss150, ss189, ss182) bleed dye ALOT while being washed.
Compared to the powder brush I use, the Mac 129 (the smaller one obviously lol)
The handles all seem to be longer than their mac counter parts. But they have good weight. But OMG this brush is SSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOO soft!!! I used it to apply MSFN and it worked well. Next time I'm going to try using the kabuki to really buff it in.
ss182: Nice soft kabuki. The handle seems a little small though...I don't' really use kabuki's on myself that much anyway...but I'll give it a try to see if I like it. I'll update when I do actually use this.
ss187: Head is less dense than mac 187 and flares out more...so basically it's a little bigger than mac 187. It also doesn't have as much resistance while stippling as the mac 187. With that said, it still seems like it will do the job of stippling liquid foundation or lightly applying powder products very well anyway. I don't like the fact that it's wider than it's mac counterpart though since my face is kind of small. But, that is a problem that I can easily correct w/ a brush gaurd since I have them lol.
In all 3 pic below -L to R: Mac 187, Sigma ss187
w/ flash
w/o flash
Like I said, the ss187 flares out much further then my mac 187. I haven't used the sigma one yet, so another update later.
ss219: shorter and fatter than the 219, but offers the same amount of resistance. If my ferrule wasn't loose, I may say I actually would prefer this brush for the lower lashline over the 219. But for defined crease work or my tear duct, I would probably still reach for my mac 219.
* I got a notice that they will be sending me out a new ss219 tomorrow
.
Mac 219 is on the right
ss224: Shorter and smaller than the mac 224. It was really soft to the touch and seems like it will do just as good a job.
I would say this brush is much closer to the 222 than the 224. It's really dense and kind of stiff. It fits into my crease perfectly, but that is also a reason that I prefer my 222 over the 224. It did a great job applying color to my crease, just like the 222. However, for blending the color out I would still reach for my 224 only b/c I prefer the bigger head of the 224 to do blending if I'm not trying to do precise crease work.... Now between the 222 and the ss224, I think I may like the sigma brush better. But we'll see after a few more uses.
Mac 224 is on the right
L to R: mac 224, ss224, mac 222
ss239: This brush is shorter and wider than the mac counterpart. ****EDIT: they are the same size, but I swear it feels like the sigma brush is different lol**** It seems to be just as dense and should do well to pack on lid color. Since my eyes are small, I would probably use this for all over color.
The ss239 does it job and does it well!! It packed on color like nobody's business and blended like a dream. This works just as well if not better than it's mac counterpart. The handle is thicker though, so that may be why this brush feels bigger to me..even though it's not.
Sigma brush is the brown one ;-)
