$1000 Makeup Brush Giveaway!

Twelve lucky winners will win a total of $1000 worth of makeup brushes from Sigma! This huge giveaway is spread across my different platforms - Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. Watch the video above to get all the details on how to enter to win.


**HOW TO ENTER ON YOUTUBE***

You must be Subscribed to my Youtube channel
You must Favorite the above video to your Youtube account

(Make sure your Favorites and Subscriptions are public on your channel - I will check!)

1. Make a video response:
- Attach a short video in response wherein you answer the question "What does Makeup mean to you?"
- 1 Video entry per person only

(Video kann auch auf Deutsch sein! The video can be in German language as well!)

Prizes: 3 x Premium Brush Kit ($149 each)

2. Leave a comment on the contest video on Youtube (not here on my blog.) You can enter as many times as you like. Comments marked as Spam are still considered valid.

Prizes:
1 Complete Brush Kit with brush roll ($99)
1 Eye Brushes Kit ($45)
1 Synthetic Face Kit ($42)


***HOW TO ENTER ON FACEBOOK***

https://www.facebook.com/MizzChievouz

"Like" my Page
Be an active member on my Page! Leave comments, Wall posts, participate in Discussions, Like my updates, etc. Winners will be picked thereby. NO SPAM! Spamming will disqualify you from the contest.

Prizes:
2 x Complete Brush Kit with brush roll ($99)
1 Eye Brushes Kit ($45)
1 Synthetic Face Kit ($42)


***HOW TO ENTER ON TWITTER***

http://twitter.com/MizzChievouz

Follow me on Twitter and stay up to date with my tweets. I will tweet a link on how to enter to win multiple times throughout the contest. All details will follow on Twitter.

Prizes:
1 x Eye Brushes Kit ($45)
1 x Synthetic Face Kit ($42)


***Sigma Makeup Discount Code***

http://tinyurl.com/sigmamakeup

Discount code: JULIA2011
10% off all purchases until May 31, 2011


THE CONTEST IS OPEN WORLDWIDE, all ages and sexes! Contest ends May 31, 2011. You can enter all the contests to increase your chances, but you can win maximum one prize per person. If a person wins twice, the second prize will be re-offered. If you're under the age of 18, please ask parents' permission prior to entering. ALL winners will be announced at the beginning of June on my Youtube channel.

Follow Sigma on Twitter!
http://twitter.com/#!/Sigma_Beauty


GOOD LUCK!!!

Hakuhodo Love

I cannot stop raving about Hakuhodo brushes. I've since acquired a few new ones, maybe I shall post a picture of them here. I've always had a thing for makeup brushes, and I can appreciate any product that is made with meticulous care and quality control. I worked at Rolex for a while, so I could see first hand that quality comes at a price.

I saw that Hakuhodo have now uploaded their company profile video on their website, so I thought I'd share that with you, since this wasn't available when I made my initial video on their brushes. At about the halfway point, the video shows how the actual brushes are handmade in Japan and what techniques they use to bind and roll the brush, and sort the hair by quality. The attention to detail is incredible!

HAKUHODO FUDE BRUSHES from HAKUHODO USA on Vimeo.

If you haven't seen my review video, you can check it out here. And of course, Hakuhodo brushes can be purchased online through their website, or at upcoming makeup artist tradeshows such as IMATS or The Makeup Show in NYC.

Huge Rave for Hakuhodo Brushes

I was recently given the opportunity by Hakuhodo to try their brushes. Clued out as I was, I had never heard of this company before but became much more interested when I saw "Made in Japan" and celebrity makeup artist Elke Von Freudenberg mention them on her blog, as well as a handful of beauty bloggers who had tried out and raved about them.

I was not disappointed. Without a doubt, these are the softest, densest and most luxurious makeup brushes I have ever used. The company's PR DVD that I was provided with further elaborated how the brushes are actually handmade in their Japan factory, and you saw crafty Japanese workers laboring over each individual brush head, removing lesser quality hairs strand by strand with a fine toothed comb, until the finished product resulted in a luxurious makeup brush. Their factory is located in Kumano, Japan, where over 100 brush companies produce 80% of all brushes manufactured in Japan. Hakuhodo has also become an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), meaning they produce the makeup brushes for various high end cosmetic lines. This article has an interview with the founder and also some pictures of their meticulous production.

I was also impressed by the wealth of information available to the customer about each type and grade of hair that is used for a particular brush. No less than 6 different types of goat hair are used and elaborated on, as well as squirrel, weasel, horse, badger, and synthetic fibres, all of which are attained cruelty-free, as I was assured by the company.

The brushes I show in this video in order of appearance are listed below. Click on the link to take you to the exact brush on the Hakuhodo website.

1. Kokutan Finishing Brush LAG
2. S 103 Blush Brush
3. K002 Finishing Brush round and flat
4. H1062 Blush Brush round and flat
5. E0154 Highlight Brush round and flat
6. K004 Eye Shadow Brush round and flat
7. S 142 Eye Shadow Brush round
8. E0183 Kokutan Eye Shadow Brush T
9. E1143 Eye Shadow Brush Pointed
10. E1112 Eye Shadow Brush round and flat
11. K 005 Eye Shadow Brush round and flat
12. E1116 Lip Brush round and flat

My personal favorites so far are Nr. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 although I have used all of them by now for a couple of weeks and will certainly continue to use them in the future.

In the video I kept stressing how expensive these brushes are, which in retrospect isn't really right. While these brushes certainly are no eBay bargain bin set, I've actually now realized the prices are about the same to what you would pay for department store brushes here in Europe such as MAC or Bobbi Brown, and some are even a bit less expensive. So while they may be a bit more costly than MAC brushes in the States, they are in my opinion a step up in quality overall, and they come in a variety of series and price lines. Definitely not brushes I would recommend to a beginner makeup aficionado but a great investment for professional makeup artists or people passionate about craftsmanship and makeup brushes in general.

About the short handles as I've addressed in the video: I sent a follow up email to Hakuhodo and they told me that some of the brushes are available in different handle lengths: short, medium, and long. So if you wanted the longer handles ones, I'm not sure what you would have to do exactly as I see no different options on the web shop. I guess I would contact Hakuhodo before placing an order and if any of the brushes you're interested in do have the option of long or short handles. Besides the issue of the shorter handles on some, I was trying to think of any other cons to these brushes and I honestly could not find any.

Overall, I highly recommend these professional makeup brushes and like them better than many of my MAC brushes. I have dubbed them the "Rolls Royce" of makeup brushes. You can order through their online shop, or catch them at a makeup tradeshow in the future (apparently they were at the IMATS show this summer in California.) The quality is superb and the hairs are so soft and of such a high grade. I also loved how the bristles didn't splay like crazy after washing, even without using the Brush Guards I normally use for my other brushes. All the brush heads took on their shape again easily. A note on washing - do not "overwash" these brushes. You can find out on their website how to properly care for your Hakuhodo brushes, and you can be sure I will be treating mine like the treasures they are.

http://www.hakuhodousa.com/


Link to the video