Early in February I picked up a rumor about a new upcoming brush kit from Sigma Makeup, and naturally I was anxious to see what they had in store for us. I recently decided to get their Professional Brush Kit with the brush roll, and I had the black Travel Brush Set from before. When their Hollywood Collection was launched I got the black retractable kabuki brush, and I haven’t regretted any of my purchases as of yet.

When the news finally hit us I was amazed! This new brush kit contained several brushes that I’ve been eyeballing at M·A·C, but couldn’t afford to buy. This kit contains the total of 15 brushes and a brush roll. There are 14 new face and eye brushes, seven of each, plus 1 new lip brush. I know some people was upset that these brushes weren’t sold individually or even without the brush roll, but even though I had a few of these brushes already, I didn’t think twice about getting the full kit. The brush roll is made of some kind soft, synthetic material resembling leather, and has a magnetic snap closure. It’s also got “Sigma Makeup” embossed on the flap – and it’s ideal to store your brushes in.

The plan was to wait a little before ordering, but I ended up ordering the Premium Kit right after the launch, and when I received them 11 working days later I was absolutely thrilled. I love them!

I have said it before, but I’m not going to stop saying it: having good tools is everything! I’m still not saying that cheap is good, but getting those good tools doesn’t have to be expensive. As already mentioned the Premium Kit has three brushes more than the Professional Kit, and the price has been increased by $60. I can understand that people are reacting, but when you think about it it’s no more than $20 per brush, and that’s absolutely reasonable for these brushes. For comparison reasons I want to mention that the 134 Large Powder Brush from M·A·C costs $52 alone. If you break it down you’ll discover that you actually pay less than $10 a brush with this Sigma Makeup Premium Brush Kit, and you get a nice brush roll to accompany your tools.

Brushes in the Premium Kit:
• SS227 Large Fluff Brush
• SS192 Large Concealer Brush
• SS131 Duo Fibre Powder Brush
• SS165 Tapered Highlighter Brush
• SS129 Powder/Blush Brush
• SS138 Tapered Face Brush
• SS134 Large Powder Brush
• SS222 Tapered Blending Brush
• SS226 Small Tapered Blending Brush
• SS217 Blending Brush
• SS195 Concealer Brush
• SS212 Flat Definer Brush
• SS214 Short Shader Brush
• SS316 Lip Brush
• SS210 Small Eye Liner Brush

You get 15 brushes in a convenient brush roll for $149 plus shipping, as opposed to the Professional Kit which is $89 with the brush roll. Keep in mind that several of these brushes are expensive if you are to buy them individually from a brand like M·A·C, to mention one of them. Even thought most of them are comparable in name, size and area of use, it’s up to you to decide which ones you prefer. There are small differences between the two brands, even though they have similar names. I’m also hoping that several, if not all of these brushes will be available as individual brushes later on, making it possible to buy backups or replace them without having to buy another complete kit. I know I’ll keep buying my brushes from Sigma Makeup in the future.

Have I tickled your curiousity?
Order your very own Sigma brushes here.

I have not accepted any free products or compensation to write this review.
The views and opinions expressed in this review are purely mine.

Photo © Sigma Makeup

I was supposed to post this in February, but I forgot all about it. I think I need to admit that I’m an addict. I’m heavily addicted to.. well, mail. What else? I love mail, mail makes me happy. Unless it’s bills, they tend to take me down a notch. More bills means less money for fun, like shopping on the Internet, which naturally results in mail.

In mid February I received another package containing two more LE i-Divine palettes from Sleek MakeUP named “Safari” and “Curious”. I got both on eBay, and was very happy to discover that I could whisk them away at retail price. Retail! How often does that happen? eBay is filled with greedy people who’s desire to become rich is a lot stronger than their sense of honesty, selling heavily overpriced makeup (and other items) that might not even be authentic. As I already said, both these palettes are LE and not available through Sleek MakeUP anymore. “Safari” is a gorgeous metallic palette with 12 colors that instantly made me think of the wilderness, lions, rhinos, giraffes and large, open plains with grassing Zebras! A very suitable name, indeed. “Curious” on the other hand is a rather strange palette, as it’s an odd mixture of shimmering and metallic colors (three blues, one teal, one yellow, one purple and so on). I do like it though, it’s just strange curious! Maybe it’s not so bad after all, at least I’m getting the correct associations to the given name.

Sleek MakeUP i-Divine Palette in Safari

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Yesterday Mr. Postman brought me a pretty nice box from Cherry Culture! My original plan was to order a few of the “The Runway Collection” palettes from NYX Cosmetics, but I came to my senses after a long talk with Sneezingpanda, and ended up ordering ten lipsticks and three pair of lashes instead. Much better! No, but seriously, why should I spent money on palettes from other brands when I already have a favorite? And what I wasn’t planning on saying out loud was that.. if I refrained from ordering the mentioned palettes, I’d have more money to splurge on M·A·C some other time. It’s important to always have a good excuse prepared, you know. Let’s call it.. prioritizing?

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Imagine the disappointment when I woke up and discovered that Mr. DHL had tried to call me while I was visiting Nemo in Dreamland? I quickly checked my tracking information, just to discover the message: “address information needed, please contact DHL”, so I did. Luckily I’m blessed with a Mr. DHL that now knows my name and where I live, so that wasn’t really an issue, but I returned his call too late to get my shipment delivered today. Bummer! But as you all know, I already have the perfect man in my life. He doesn’t only bring me roses, chocolates and jewelery – he also brings me packages, and today was no exception. He went out, collected my package from DHL, and made my Monday perfect.

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In late October last year I wrote about the gorgeous palettes from Kat Von D for Sephora. I posted pictures of three of her palettes, “Beethoven” and the two LE “Metal Orchestra” and “True Love”, which I was lemming very strongly at the time. I later caved, and ordered them all three through MyUS – and I adore them all of them, even though I must say that “Metal Orchestra” is my absolute favorite. When I suddenly noticed that she had launched another LE called “Memento Mori” – “Remember you are mortal” – and it showed up on Sephora as “sold out”, I instantly felt so sad and disappointed that I had missed it. These palettes sell for a small fortune on eBay, and I’m not really tempted to go bananas anymore. I guess the fright of getting fake products when paying for the real thing has overcome the joy of an insane eBay-spree.

“Memento Mori”

As I’m sure you’ve already noticed each of these palettes contains 8 eyeshadows. From left to right they are called True (cream shadow), Solitude, Meditation, Agatha Pink, Sugar Skull, Peggy, Hard Luck and Tijuana. The one cream shadow is perfect to use as a base for the other shadows, but please remember to use a primer underneath to prevent creasing. xSparkage has posted a very cute tutorial for a look based on this palette on YouTube, and you can watch it here.

There’s nothing very special about the colors in these palettes, and I’m sure most of them can be easily duped by other brands. I still love the whole look and feel of these palettes though, which is why I own three of the palettes. I’m also a big fan of Kat Von D and her art, and I think it’s cool that she’s implemented her tattoos on the packaging of her own makeup line. The one thing I would have changed if I could is those hideous sponge applicators, they should have been replaced with miniature editions of her brushes instead. Luckily I discovered that it was back in stock at Sephora, so soon it will be mine!

Now I’m sure several of my female readers will shake their heads at me for actually buying the following item, but what can I say? I’m don’t have the heart to walk away from insanely cute things, and therefore I just had to get it. Isn’t it just the cutest little coin purse you’ve ever seen? Apart from being insanely cute I found it to be very handy for the days that I don’t want to carry a handbag around with me. I’m not the handbag-carrying-kind-of-girl, even though I must admit that I enjoy buying them every once in a while. I don’t like handbags big enough to house me and a small town! Anyway, this cute little thing is from Miss Sixty, a brand for teenagers I know, but what do I care. It’s perfect for carrying some money and the necessary credit cards around, and seeing that it’s too easy for a random bystander to rob me (when I’m keeping my wallet in my lap), it’s assuring that it comes with a chain for wearing across the body.

Insanely cute!

After discussing a lot back and forth with my sweet Amira, I went on a hunt for Stila Diamond Lil’ (grayish taupe with golden shimmer), an eyeshadow very similar to M·A·C Smoke & Diamonds – which is one of M·A·C’s most popular eyeshadows. Naturally it’s a LE, and therefore close to impossible to get your hands on, unless you were one of the lucky ones when it was repromoted in the Love That Look collection earlier this year. Anyway, I was supposed to write about Stila. I also wanted to try out the infamous Kitten (nude pink with shimmer), and seeing that Stila had extended their promotional offer of a free Precious Pearl Palette with any order of $40 or more, I pretended that no one saw me as I quickly added Black Cat (soft black with shimmer) to my cart before I checked out.

I’m hoping Mr. Postman will find his way to me soon, and shower me with packages from all over the world. Oh.. and in a few days Mr. DHL will come bearing gifts as well, because I got a mail from MyUS telling me that a shipment is on its way to Trondheim, Norway!

Photos © Sephora and ASOS – edited by Shamini Thevarajah ‘10