MAC 239 vs. Sigma E55

Before purchasing my Sigma brush kit a year ago or so, I tried asking around on MUA, which brand people liked better for brushes, Sigma or MAC. By that, I quite frankly meant: Are the MAC brushes so much better than the Sigma ones, that they are worth me spending so much money on them.
Obviously, people had different opinions. However, I noted that one person told me that the Sigma ones can do just as good a job as the MAC ones - except for the MAC 239 brush, which that person said simply could not be duped.

Lucky for me, I already had the MAC 239, so I decided to purchase a Sigma Make Me Blush kit, and definitely do not regret it. Don't get me wrong - I do own a few MAC brushes and I absolutely love them - but I also feel that spending so much on brushes doesn't really make sense, when I can get almost the same thing for a lot less. I'm not a professional makeup artist, makeup is my hobby, so why not just spend the extra money on actual makeup, then?
And yes... I do admit that the fact that Sigma has pink brushes, might have played a small role... a girl never gets too old for a little bit of pink!

Above to the right, you can see the MAC 239 brush (the lower one) and the Sigma E55 (the upper one), which is supposed to be a "Sigma version" of the MAC one. Both of these brushes are meant for packing colour onto your eyelids.

Now, as you can tell from the top picture, and the one to the left, the Sigma one is bigger and thicker. This is both a good and a bad thing. Since the MAC one is smaller, it can fit into the corner of your eye more nicely and it is precise enough to be used for placing shadow under your lower lashline as well - the Sigma one is too big for this. I also find that the MAC brush delivers more colour to the eye - the shadow's pigments seem to transfer better with it.
However, the Sigma brush does a good job when dealing with glitter - and it is my go-to brush for that. That being said, I don't use glitter on my eyes very often, so for me, the MAC brush is a winner here.

Definitely worth the money, and although you don't feel like splurging on all the MAC brushes, I think you should check the MAC 239 out - it will be your best friend before long!

What do you think? Have you tried either one of these brushes? Tell me!

Love,
Miss Diorista

Book Review - Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller

Hi again!

A few weeks ago, I decided to take on a really fun challenge, called 52 Books in 52 Weeks. It doesn't take a whole lot of explaining to understand what it is about, since it basically just is what it says: You do your best to read (at least) one book each week, for a whole year. That makes a total of 52 books, in 52 weeks.

I'm a few books behind, but I intend to catch up on that during the weekend. Please head over to the site of the challenge, and see if this is something for you - it's a whole lot of fun, especially checking out what other people have been reading that week.
And it's never too late to join in - you can catch up in a matter of few weeks, for example by reading shorter novellas.

I will be doing book reviews here on Miss Diorista when I finish a book in English, German or maybe Danish, if I feel that I have something to say about the book. I probably won't write about Icelandic books, although I do read a whole lot of those as well as in other languages, since most of my audience comes from abroad.

To start this off, I am reviewing Arthur Miller's famous play, Death of a Salesman. If you are interested in seeing what I am reading at the moment, you can check that out on the right side of the site.

The play was first published in 1949, has been very successful and still is, to this day. No wonder - reading it, as well as watching it, is a pure joy.
It is a tragedy of the best kind, with Willy Loman as the protagonist. His name is a play with words - it represents his low status in society. He is very unhappy, a little over sixty years old, and hasn't accomplished anything of what he thought he would. Worse yet, his sons, in whom he had great faith, haven't met his expectations either. Throughout the play, he slowly sinks deeper and deeper into a storm of dark thoughts: What could have been?
His wife, Linda, is a very strong character in the play, and my personal favorite. She loves Willy very dearly - more than so, actually - despite the fact that he isn't always very nice to her. As he gets sicker, and more lost, all she thinks about is trying to help him - she is even willing to sacrifice all contact with her own son. Whether or not you agree with her strategy there, the way Arthur Miller molded this character, is simply extraordinary.
As you can hear, I do wholeheartedly recommend this play. It is written very, very well, and with a sharp eye for human nature.

What are you reading these days? I'd love to know, looking for more books to read!

Love,
Miss Diorista