Premium Synthetic Kabuki Makeup Brush Set

A while back I saw a post on one of the blogs I read about essential brushes, and a couple of these brushes were mentioned in that post. (I apologize that I can't remember which blog I read this on or even which brushes were listed.) Pretty much immediately, I did some Youtubing about the brushes and then some Ebaying and, within a couple of days, some ordering. 

These brushes are said to be Dupes for the Sigma Sigmax® Essential Kit, which I do not own but have thought about ordering more than a few times in the past. It's always been the price that has held me back. At the moment, I simply can't justify over $150 for a brush set. Just can't. So these, at a whopping US$16.80 with Free Shipping and a few pretty good reviews on their quality were more than worth a shot. It took about a month (which is about standard for me when items are coming from Asia) and one weird anxiety spurred dream about them and now they're mine all mine.

PACKAGESSSSSSSS!!!!

Ahem. Keep reading for a closer look.

 l. to r. Tapered Kabuki, Flat Kabuki, Round Kabuki, Angled Kabuki, Flat Angled Kabuki

Tapered Kabuki - "Apply cream and liquid foundations onto the harder to reach contours of the face." This brush has very soft, very densely packed bristles. I feel like this brush will predominantly be used for blending out my undereye concealer, which is always something that I struggle with. It fits nicely in my undereye groove and the stiffness of the brush means that the product won't travel while I'm blending.

Flat Kabuki - "Application of liquid or cream products to flat areas of the face such as the forehead and cheeks." This brush also has very soft bristles, but isn't nearly as densely packed as the previous brush. I feel like this brush would be ideal for applying cream blushes. The head is rather large and I feel like it would pick up just the right amount of product for cheek colour.

Round Kabuki - "Blend mineral products onto the skin." Soft bristles, check, and VERY densely packed. This brush actually reminds me a lot of my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, which is by far my favorite brush to work liquid foundation into my skin and I assume that's what I'll be using this brush for as well. I will try it out with mineral foundation as well, though.

Angled Kabuki - "Buff cream blush or bronzer onto the skin." All of these brushes have soft bristles, but I'm still going to be redundant as hell up in here, since I already started. This one is similarly packed to the previous brush and, in fact, has very much the same feel. I used this brush to blend out my foundation this morning (Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous) and it did a very good job at blending it into the skin. This could also be good for a cream bronzer, I think, particularly around the hairline.

Flat Angled Kabuki - "Blends foundation easily onto hard to reach areas of the face. Angle fits all areas of the face seamlessly. Works especially well on cheekbones and contours of the nose." Soft, duh. This brush is similarly packed to the Flat Kabuki, as it isn't as dense and has a lot more give when you bounce it against the skin. This is definitely going to be a blush/bronzer brush and I have the feeling like it will be good for blending out a contour.

I like the feel of all of these brushes in my hand. The handle is a nice width and weight, which is more important than it perhaps seems like it would be, and so far I like the feel of using them. I'm looking forward to experimenting a little more and seeing what these brushes can do. 

Now onto the corresponding Precision Brushes...

 l. to r. Precision Round, Precision Angled, Precision Flat, Precision Tapered, Precision Flat Angled

Precision Round - "Apply eye shadow base or primer onto the lid." Soft, fluffy bristles. Not nearly as densely packed as its Kabuki counterpart. This brush feels really, really nice and I feel like it'll do a perfect job of doing what it's intended for, but also for blending out the crease of an eye look. (Which is what I used it for this morning. Perf.)
Precision Angled - "Apply product to areas such as the sides of the nose and the hollows of the cheeks." Soft. Again, not as densely packed but a little bit moreso than the Precision Round. I don't actually contour my nose very often, but I think I might start to experiment with it now that I have these brushes. If that doesn't work out, I'll probably use this in the same vein as the round one, to blend out cream eye products or crease colours.
Precision Flat - "Stipple conceal on sun spots, blemishes, and other small imperfections." Soft. Similarly lacking the density of the other brushes, like its Kabuki counterpart. I feel like this one is going to make me real happy when I have some significant blemishes to cover. A stippling motion of the concealer will keep it packed onto the spot but give it a softer appearance. I'm crossing my fingers that this one holds up like it's supposed to. 
Precision Tapered - "Exact placement of conceal in harder to reach areas such as around the eyes and nose, chin, and around the mouth." Soft. Really dense. Like really, really dense. I'm not going to use this for concealer. No, sir. I used this brush this morning to apply my darker outer V colour on my eye look and I am in love with it. This is actually the brush I was least interested in, but by far the one that I like the most after first use. It just... did the damn thing.

Precision Flat Angled - "Use for precise application of conceal products anywhere on the face. Works particularly well around the eyes and nose." Soft. Not so dense. Blah bliggity blah, you know. I actually think this might be the one that I'd like to use to try out contouring on my nose. I don't want to put too much product there and this seems like it would give me a nice amount of product while still keeping it exactly where it needs to be. Haven't tried it yet, so we'll see.

The thing that I like best about the Precision Brushes is the length of the handle. I know that might be a weird thing to get all excited about, but they're very long and it gives them both a good feel in your hand as well as added precision - at least I think so. Again, looking forward to seeing what I can do with these.

Gift with purchase: This random sponge that is pretending to be by Bobbi Brown. We know it isn't by Bobbi Brown, don't we. Apparently everyone who buys this kit will now get this sponge. I'm not so excited about it, especially because it smells really strongly of chemicals. I do not want to put this on the face at all. I wonder if there's anything else I can use it for... Like cleaning... Or rubbing poop off my shoe in a situation of poop on my shoe.

FIRST IMPRESSION VERDICT: At basically 1/10th the price of the brushes that they are duping, I feel like this kit is definitely worth trying. Even if I don't end up loving them all and eventually end up ordering the Sigmax brushes, this will give me a chance to figure out which ones I really want to order. Not a bad idea, right? We'll see how these hold up after cleaning. I have a feeling that they're going to shed a little bit, but a little bit of shedding I can handle - as long as they don't crumble in my hands, right? 

So yeah. Win, for now. Look for a review once I've been using them a while.

XO.