About Sigma brushes

It is known that Sigma brushes are originally copied from MAC brushes, most of their professional makeup brushes like powder brush, blush brush, eye brushes etc are exactly the same as MAC brushes.

 

Although sigma brushes are just the copy of MAC brushes at the very beginning, now, sigma has evolved its own brand style and design.

 

Not like MAC brushes, sigma brushes have various materials, various colors, and more attractive design. They give different customers more choices on colors and designs. For the same brushes, they may offer Black, Purple, Coral, Aqua, Blue etc options.

 

Their Synthetic Precision Kit & Synthetic Kabuki Kit become so hot that other brands begin to copy their design; Their 7pcs brush set & 12pcs brush set has become classic; their brush containers lead a new design trend for makeup brush holders.

 

Now, MAC is still the leading brand in makeup brush industry, but its high price really stops most users, few people is willing to pay a month salary on a single brush; sigma brushes are cheaper than MAC brushes and have more color choice, so has attracted more and more customers.

 

Sigma tells a truth to all of us: no own design style at the very beginning is not so horrible, but to survive, we finally should find out and show our customers our own brand and design style.

MAC brushes will also have float hairs

Some customers trust MAC brush quality very much, and sometimes they even overrate the MAC quality.

 

For example, recently, there is a customer want to custom makeup brushes which are equal to MAC quality. After getting samples, she cleaned them with a mild brush cleaner and found that some hairs fall out, she was extremely surprised about this and believed we cheat her on the quality, per her description, MAC brushes will never fall out hairs, so our brushes can not reach MAC quality.

 

The truth is the MAC brushes she had have been used/cleaned for many times, it is impossible to have any hairs falls out. While our brushes are newly made and never been cleaned, the hairs falling out is the float hair.

 

It is known that for a new makeup brush, it is normal to have 2-3 hairs fall out. And before usage, the users should firstly clean the brushes which can remove the float hairs and can also ensure hygiene. After the first cleaning, there will be no more hairs fall out. I believe it is also the situation for MAC brushes if without cleaning before the first usage.

 

As a professional makeup brush manufacturer, we also produce makeup brushes for MAC or Sigma; these brushes are also made by Chinese makeup brush factory, so we completely understand the quality level. MAC quality is not unsurpassable, even if they are the most famous in makeup brush industry. 

 

Makeup brushes are made by human beings not machines, and due to the material limit especially the goat hair, even the best goat hair will have some float hair during production. Even MAC brushes will have such float if without cleaning before the first usage.

Something about MAC and Sigma makeup brushes

Q: Can you please explain a little about the difference between MAC and Sigma brushes. Some Sigma brushes are actually really good copies of the MAC ones and feel exactly the same way, but there are some which do not and it looks like the MAC brushes have more hairs and are much softer.

A: Yes, some MAC brushes are softer and have more hairs than Sigma brushes, that is a part of work craft of makeup brush factory. As you know, the makeup brush production is a manual work, so the hair usage and arrangement totally depend on the workers craft during brush production. Therefore, even with the same material, if the material usage and shape is different, the price will be different.

 

Q: What makes MAC brushes so good? Is it the amount of hair? Is it the way the hair has been treated?

A: The MAC brushes are good mostly because they use good material and good craft for their brushes; sometimes, some makeup brush suppliers will only quote you like goat hair, but the goat hair has more than 20 grades, so the quality and price varies a lot; also sometimes even quote the same hair material, some bad suppliers will mix some inferior hair.

 

Q: Is the dye used for the hair in the MAC brushes different from the one used for Sigma brushes?

A: The dying process of MAC brushes is different from sigma brushes; MAC brushes will not bleed;

 

Q: Why are some brushes softer than others? What does make one brush softer than another when the used hair is the same?

A: Some brush softer than another even with the same material, that is because of special treatment;

 

Q: Why do some Sigma brushes shed?

A: The Sigma brush shed, that is because the Sigma brushes are manufactured in several different makeup brush factories, these factories use different material and craft for these brushes. Also, for goat hair brush, it is normal to have 5-6 hairs falling at the first usage.

 

Q: how to solve these problems with the Sigma brushes and how to make them better/ as well as the MAC brushes?

A: To solve the problems with sigma brushes, the makeup brush manufacturers should mainly control the brush material and craft.

MAC brush fakes in China

Many customers may realize that almost every makeup brush manufacturer declares that they once made makeup brushes for MAC. In makeup brush industry, everyone know that MAC is somewhat the representation of high quality and high grade, if the makeup brush factory can produce MAC brushes, this factory must be very good and offer high grade makeup brushes.

In fact, the situation is not true in China; I do not know the situation of MAC’s OEM factories in other countries. But in China, it is not always true. We all know that it is impossible for MAC to release their brush production to so many factories, while due to the good fames and popularity of MAC brushes, also to gain more orders, many Chinese makeup brush factories declare that they can and once made brushes for MAC.

They may really make brushes labeled MAC, but not for MAC company. They get orders from trading companies in China or abroad who require MAC logos but at much lower price. At such target price, it is impossible to have brushes with the same quality level as MAC. Therefore, under the permission of customers, they reduce the grade of material and craft. For example, the MAC powder brushes are usually with ZGF top grade goat hair and copper ferrule, to meet the customers’ very low target price, they will use BJF or even HJF goat hair and aluminum ferrule which is much much cheaper, it will greatly reduce the cost on material; also with such material, the craft will not so good either. In fact, the customers have known that they can not get MAC equivalent at such low price, their purpose is to get fakes just labeled MAC.

The result is: in China, the brushes labeled MAC is even worse than unknown brands. Everyone knows that there are too many MAC fakes in China and having no ability to distinguish real and fakes, they have to buy from abroad at much higher price or choose other brands which may be better and cheaper than MAC labeled brushes. As to gain more profit, the suppliers offer MAC fakes at high price which is far away from the quality level.

Of course, it is illegal to label MAC logo without the permission of MAC. Toney, as a responsible and professional makeup brush manufacturer, always require customers to provide the approval documents from MAC on logos, so that we can agree to label MAC logo for our customers.

Anyway, the customers should note that:

1.       Not every factory who declare they can offer MAC brushes is good;

2.       To evaluate a makeup brush factory, you should firstly require samples made by them;

3.       If you buy MAC brushes at very low price, you probably get fakes;

4.       If you want to custom makeup brushes but have very low target price, it is impossible to get MAC equivalents.

Personal opinion on famous makeup brush brands

Now, there are more and more articles appear in many platforms to show their recommendation of some makeup brushes or some makeup brush brands, the following is one article which shows his reason to recommend a famous makeup brushes brand:

1.      All makeup brushes are manual made.

2.      Each brushes use different precious animal hairs which feel soft and smooth.

3.      The brush handles use durable birch, the handle length is available for professional makeup and travel makeup

4.      Makeup brushes for different function have different weight, which can help perfect makeup

5.      The bristle density and shape are precisely calculated, which can fit different position and the makeup can be more even.

6.      There are more than 40 type’s makeup brushes in a whole makeup brush set.

Having been in a China makeup brush factory for many years, I have different opinion on the above reasons:

1.      “All makeup brushes are manual made”, it is known that makeup brush manufacturing is a typical labor intensive industry, just like making clothes; all clothes are made by workers. For makeup brushes, the bristle shaping, cutting and installing, all are done by workers one by one, and it has nothing to do with high-grade or low-grade, low grade makeup brushes are manual made too.

2.      “Each brushes use different precious animal hairs which feel soft and smooth”, different brushes use different hair types are totally depends on product performance, and “precious animal hairs” the world itself has misunderstanding: sable hair is surely precious, and then are goat hair and pony hair not precious? Each brand uses pony hair and goat hair on their makeup brushes, some use nylon and the brushes are perfect. Many people prefer natural material, while now many Synthetic material have totally replace natural material.

3.      “The brush handles use durable birch, the handle length is available for professional makeup and travel makeup”, I find the description on birch performance in a professional website: birch, a quite heavy wood, with thin structure, big mechanical strength, no corrosion resistance, easy to crack and warp, easy to process…Use birch to manufacture makeup brushes is because it is easy to process and cheap, not durable. By the way, the disposable chopsticks we use are mostly made of birch. While traveling, it will be more convenient to use short handles, while generally speaking, the long handles are better for makeup, it depends on personal preference.

4.      “Makeup brushes for different function have different weight, which can help perfect makeup”, it is quite difficult to understand, we know that big head will be heavier and small head will be lighter, while which brushes should be lighter and which should be heavier?

5.      “The bristle density and shape are precisely calculated, which can fit different position and the makeup can be more even”. How can the makeup brush manufacturers achieve this?

6.      “There are more than 40 type’s makeup brushes in a whole makeup brush set”, the above mentioned makeup brush brand never manufacture makeup brush sets with tens makeup brushes.