Sigma Travel Kit Hot in Pink - Review.

So yesterday I did a haul post mentioning this brush kit I purchased from Sigmabeauty.com. (You can read the post here to read my initial thoughts and see what else I purchased).

This is what it looks like in the stock photo:

$49 paid for 7 brushes (3 face brushes and 4 eye brushes) and this hot pink clutch/tiny brush roll. I usually go for black but since most of my collection consists of black I thought I'd try something different and I'm glad; the brushes themselves have a dark pink handle rather than garish hot pink, which is pretty. On the Sigma site it says that $49 is the sale price and it's usually $59 but that label has been up for quite some time so I don't know if it's a limited sale or extended sale. All the brushes are slightly shorter than the normal range.

So it came in a black coverlet.

The actual clutch is nice. Nothing special but still nice.

It has a zip compartment (not much space but I guess you could add a couple of eyeliners in there for storage) and a cover over the brushes.

The brushes all come in plastic sleeves.

The first brush is the Tapered face brush (F25).

All the brushes have the number and name printed on the handle.

I told you I'm photographically (?) challenged, it's just so blurry!

I was really looking forward to using this brush because I've not seen many brushes with this shape before. It's very soft and I think the tapered edge makes it great for using as a highlighting brush (though I think Sigma do have a similar brush that's slightly smaller than this particularly for that purpose. For me, this does the job fine). So far so good right?

There are cons however.

I don't know how Sigma makes their brushes or what dyes they use in their black bristled brushes but every single Sigma brush I have used that has black bristles has leaked navy blue dye in the wash. On the first wash I expected it but Sigma brushes seem to bleed EVERY SINGLE TIME I wash them. It worries me a little because I don't know what chemicals are in that dye and I feel like if the chemicals remain on the brushes then aren't they also going onto my skin every time I swirl powder onto my face? Also their brushes are made in China and people always say you need to be wary about purchasing makeup from there. Brushes aren't makeup but blue dye is still chemicals. I dunno what to think really, but I know bleeding brushes can't be good.

The other negative is the shedding. At least 75% of the Sigma brushes I own shed in the wash but some also shed just with simple use. They just don't feel well constructed.

I took a photo of my tapered face brush after I'd washed it so you can see the shedding and leaking dye:

Pretty revolting right? The water was running bluer than it appears in this pic but you can still tell that the water looks dirty which it shouldn't have - it was my third time washing it!

So I did like the softness of this brush and the ease of use. The bleeding dye and awful shedding put me off completely though. I wouldn't recommend the Tapered Face brush to anyone.

Next is the Duo Fiber Powder/Blush brush (F15).

Again, this brush is soft and the handle is a nice size and weight, making it comfortable to use. It doesn't have densely packed fibres though, so it didn't do the best job of applying either my powder or blush. The dye also ran even after a few washes. So again another miss.

The Large Concealer Brush (F65) is kinda weird - it's an unusual size for a concealer brush.

Size wise it's in the middle of an average foundation brush and average concealer brush. It's made of synthetic fibres so would work well with liquid and cream products. I'm on the fence about this at the moment - I don't think this worked so well at concealing my under eye area (I prefer a smaller brush) but I think this would work well with a lot of people. I'll try using this on clients.

The Large Fluff Brush (E50):

I have a few similar brushes from Crown Brush so this isn't a special purchase for me. If I'm honest I don't know what I'd use this for apart from to highlight the brow bone.

Next is the Small Tapered Blending Brush (E45):

I did like this one to blend out crease shades.Again, it's another soft brush. But it has more of that infamous bleeding dye.

Short Shader (E20):

I wanted to like this as I have slightly hooded eyes that are on the average to smaller size so I thought a smaller brush would be perfect for me. Didn't like it though. Bristles were too hard.

Finally the Eye Liner Brush (E10):

This I did like! It's super thin and applies liquid liner really precisely. I wanted a thin brush to use when I do others' makeup and this is ideal for that. 

So overall the E10 was my favourite. The E45 was good. Everything else either I'm still unsure about or didn't like. Thus I wouldn't recommend this brush kit to anyone.

The never ending bleeding dye in the wash really worries me and even more so since Sigma make all their products in China. It won't stop me from using their brushes completely since I'm sure Sigma will say they're completely safe to use but I will definitely get more use out of the white and brown bristled brushes since they don't bleed and use the dyed brushes only occasionally. I think this is my last foray into Sigma product - I won't purchase anything new from them again.