Vintage Sister Lip Balms Review

Aren't they just cute?!

The first time I saw them on Vintage Sister's website, I just couldn't resist them and I told myself I just gotta have my hands lips on them! And now I got them. And I bet it'll take me ages to finished them (Greedy me..).



I "used" to love MLS a lot but because they are so moisterizing, it accentuates my uber-thick-sausage lips... -_-" Sorry, MLS!

With Vintage Sister's balms, I can apply as much as I like without having the shine on! And they are really yummy as well!



Aren't Vintage Sister's balm the smallest of em' all?

Size comparison....


With my MLS balm...


I tried Vanilla ice cream and they do really tasted like Vanilla! Yum!



One thing that I dislike is their tin packaging...



Even though they do look cute, but then the "sliding up and down" of the balm just got my fingers dipped into it. *Grr..* If only they could make them into tubes....

Oh, Vintage Sister categorized these balms into two. One is Lip Indulgence and the other is Lip Licker. Lip Indulgence's flavour is to cater for those who love "wild" flavours like Magarita & Devil's Fruit Cake, while Lip Licker line caters more toward traditional flavours (those days when we were lil' kids) such as Gummy Bear and Bubblegum.


The price of each balm is $3.95, which I think is reasonable. Other brands such as MLS ($2.20) and Crazy Rumors ($4.00) for a tube of balm.

And with the price, we also get almost DOUBLE the quantity compared to MLS's / Crazy Rumors (0.15oz) balms!


Here's a lil' swatch of the Yummy Vanilla Ice Cream..


On my "sausage" lips..


The yummy ingredients..


Overall Review:
Pros
- Yummy flavours!
- Almost shine free!
- Moisterizing score would be (4 out of 5)

Cons
- The Tin Packaging

Price: $3.95 for 0.25oz of balm

My rating for this balm: (I loved it even though the sliding tins are abit annoying! :P)


PS: They shipped worldwide too!

PS again.. they've got some Spring flavours as well! You just got to check them out! :D

Sigma Makeup Brushes : For Face

Apologized for the long wait! Here I present you the crazily-out-of-stock Sigma Face Brushes...

When I got this set, the most attractive item was the face brushes! And of coz, the dupe of MAC 187 that I'm looking for.

Out of the three, I only fell in love with SS187. But I'll go with the least favourite brush of the bunch first (save the best for the last :P).





Yup. The Buffer brush. Why I picked this? You gotta see the up close of this little brush.



Don't get it? I think you can understand when you see this pic below.



Do you think its a picture of my hair? (LOL!)

And out of the three face brushes, this buffer brush bleed and shed the most! Until today (after 3 washes), I still see them having their regular PMS. -_-"




Overall reviews: SS182

Pros:
Picks up powder well.

Cons:
Bleed like crazy.
Shed like no tomorrow.
Brush bristles are a little coarse and I do feel a little scratchy on my face.
The brush handle is a little short (or I have fat fingers! :P)

Compared to MAC:
MAC 182 is $45
Sigma SS182 $16(a fraction of MAC!)

My Rating for this brush:


Next up:



From the top...


It has the same brush bristles as the buffer brush. And of coz, they have the same problem - Bleed & Shed.


See that icky-ink?

Overall reviews: SS150

Pros:
Picks up powder well. Has softer bristles and feels less scratchy than SS182.

Cons:
The brush still bleeds after 3 washes. It does shed like crazy for the first wash, but sheds lesser now (2-3 strands).

Compared to MAC:
MAC 150 is $42
Sigma SS150 $16(a fraction of MAC!)

My Rating for this brush:


*Phew!* After the long blab, here's the best of the bunch!

I placed a brush guard since I used them for the brush bristles for a week already. And the shape was so much "flatten up". :D

Look how "Long" this brush is!!

Closer comparison (I'll let the photos do the talking)..


In terms of sizing...


Brush handle finishing...


Without the use of brush guard...


With the use of brush guard:


The brush head difference (with the use of brush guard)...




Brush head density (without the use of brush guard)


Overall reviews: SS187

Pros:
Soft and fluffy bristles. MAC 187 has more firm bristles than this one. Picks up foundation quite well and blending job is as perfect as MAC's 187.

Cons:
The brush bleeds a little. Just like my MAC 187, sometimes. If you look closer at the pictures, the black bristles are a little uneven (at the outer part). Also, the color of the fibers are ivory (tad yellowish) in color.

Compared to MAC:
MAC 187 is $42
Sigma SS187 $16(a fraction of MAC!)

My Rating for this brush:


Overall..........
Sigma Makeup's brushes are quite good in a whole, but I would highly recommend the SS187 if you are skeptical on the brush kits. :D

**Btw, Sigma Makeup just send me a newsletter today**


And do you know that some of the brushes (including SS187) are already available on their website?!!!

Sigma Makeup Brushes : For Eyes

Can you spot which are sigma brushes?
.
.
.
.

Yup. The top 3 brushes in the above picture. The other three brushes below are some random brushes from my own collection.



I'm going to feature the eye brushes first for this review. I'll post up the face brushes in the next post so that I don't flood / slow down the loading of pictures in blogger.

Basically, I'll explain more about how I felt about them (pros and cons), the price comparison, and whether I'm repurchasing them for back up in the future.

First Brush: SS239 Eye Shading Brush




compare with Taiwan/China-made brushes..


Sigma's Brush Description:

Soft and dense to shade or blend eye shadow or emollient-based products. This brush has a tapered, rounded edge with smooth, firm, fine fibers. It can be used to build intense color on the eyelid.

Overall review:-

Pros:
When I first saw SS239, it reminds me very much of my Taiwan/China-made brushes. Don't you think they look alike (3rd pic above)? :P The bristles looks coarse in the picture but in real life, it is soft and very dense and firm. It does not poke my eye when I used it. MAC's 239 Brush is very different from this one. MAC's 239 has white and longer bristles than Sigma's 239. It's soft and pick up eyeshadows without pressuring/scratching the eyeshadow pans.

Cons:
The length of the brush handle. I'll prefer Short handled brushes instead of the current one (longer by MAC about 1 inch) because sometimes I stand too close to the mirror. (oh, I normally stand in front of the mirror instead of sitting because I don't have a decent makeup table) :P

Compared to MAC:
MAC 239 is $24.50
Sigma SS239 $9 (a fraction of MAC!)
Sigma SS239 brush handle is longer than MAC 239

My Rating for this brush:



Second Brush: SS219 Pencil Brush





Compared to MAC's 219 SE


Sigma's Brush Description:

For precision shading on lid, in eye crease or along lash line. The soft, smooth fibers of this brush are gathered into a pencil-shaped tip. It is ideal for blending eyeliner into eye shadow to create a smoky looking eye.

Overall review:-

Pros:
From the top view of the brush, Sigma's brushes seriously frayed like crazy. Haha! I like this brush although it's a size bigger than MAC's 219SE. I used this to draw my cease line (I have a pathetically small cease :P). The brush itself is soft and I prefered this over to my Coastal Scent's Italian Badger Round Cease Brush! But of coz, what you paid is what you get eh! :)

Cons:
Erm. Not for this one.

Compared to MAC:
MAC 219 is $23.00
Sigma SS219 $9 (a fraction of MAC!)
Sigma SS219 brush handle is longer than MAC 239

My Rating for this brush:


Third Brush: SS224 Tapered Blending Brush





Length Comparison:



Sigma's Brush Description:

For precision shading on lid, in eye crease or along lash line. The soft, smooth fibers of this brush are gathered into a pencil-shaped tip. It is ideal for blending eyeliner into eye shadow to create a smoky looking eye.

Overall review:-

Pros:
Let's keep the fraying issue aside. I only like the softness of the SS224 brush bristles compared to my MAC 226 (the only blending brush that I had). Reason is because it is fluffier and it does not poke into my eye.

Cons:
Well, obviously this was the most crazily frayed brush of the bunch! The bristles are not totally black and you can see little strands of brownish/greyish bristles in this one. Apart of this, it also bleeds, which the other two doesn't.

Even though the "blending job" of this brush is good, but I think it eats up alot of colors. When I tried to blend out my eyeshadow colors on my lid, the colors just disappeared (not all of it, but most of it)! Well, maybe I need to be super-light-handed with this one.

Compared to MAC:
MAC 224 is $28.00 / MAC 226 is $24.50
Sigma SS224 $9 (a fraction of MAC!)
Sigma SS224 brush handle is longer than MAC 224 / MAC 226

My Rating for This Brush:





The above photo taken with the other random brushes is because it was my first impression on Sigma brushes. Just look at the bristles, they are somewhat "connected" from the same family tree! :P

Overall these brushes served me quite well even though it's only a week plus. I think it's a good buy if you are seeking for a MAC-a-like brushes.

3 Sigma Eye Brushes = $9 x 3 = $27

3 MAC Eye Brushes = $24.50 + $23.00 + $28 = $ 75.5!

But then again, there are other cheaper alternative (ie. Coastal Scents / Crown Brushes) if Sigma's prices still does not work for you. :)

I'll reviewed the Sigma Face Brushes in my next post soon, I hope!