Product Smackdown: Sigma F80 vs. ELF Powder Brush

So, there has been a lot of hype around flat top makeup brushes for foundation. Personally, I love them too.  I have both the Sigma Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki F80 and the ELF Powder Brush. Let's start with ELF.

The ELF Powder Brush is first and foremost very, very soft. It feels great on the skin. You can buy it online at the ELF website or at Target for $3. That's an excellent price for a brush. I find that it works better with liquid-y type foundations. Forget trying to blend, let's say, Revlon Colorstay with this. Even if you apply dots of foundation on your face and then blend, you're going to have slightly patchy foundation. Never a cute look. It works better when you stipple the foundation into your skin and then swirl. The brush is dense but it's not extremely well packed. It can be a little flimsy and it almost feels like your pushing the foundation more into your brush than into your face. It's excellent for powder. I even use it for blush sometimes. Another con however is that, over time the bristles get a little "raggedy" looking and you'll have to keep buying them. The more you wash, the worse it gets. I compare it to trying to wash synthetic hair extensions, it just looks bad. The bristles come loose as you wash as well. It's tempting not to wash it because you don't want it to get messed up, but re-using a brush over and over without washing can lead to a whole slew of problems.

Next up is the Sigma F80. This brush is extremely packed. The bristles are stiff and sturdy to blend the thickest of foundations. This is great but also causes a bit of a problem for me. I have a dry skin and the brush is so stiff that it tugs on my skin a bit and lifts all my little dry patches and makes them visible. My way of avoiding this is stippling only. No swirling. This creates more of a heavier coverage. I'm okay with it, however. It gives a pretty flawless look. No shedding almost ever. Sucks up a whole lot of product. And the product is very difficult to remove from the brush. Other than that I think it's worth the money you pay. For $16, you get a great brush and you won't have to repurchase like the ELF brush. My true opinion is that both brushes are great brushes to anyones collection. F80 for foundation and ELF for powder. I'm still searching for the perfect foundation brush.