Review: eBay "Jessup" Brushes

Hi guys! If you read many beauty blogs or follow beauty Instagrams, you might have come across a brand of brushes known as "Jessup" that have been touted as Sigma dupes. Unfortunately I don't own any Sigma brushes so I can't do a comparison but mine came in the mail while I was in New Zealand so I'll be doing a review for you.

These come in eight or ten piece sets, with the choice to buy just the eye or just the face brushes. There are also other sets of eye brushes, but I only have the ones that came in the set.

Prices vary slightly - I got my ten piece set for about $18AUD with postage, which I think is slightly more than average because I specifically wanted the silver and black set (they also come in silver and white, gold and black, gold and white, and some coloured ones, depending on seller). But, in comparison to Real Techniques or Ecotools at Australian prices, you can't really go past it - one Real Techniques brush retails for about $15 at Priceline. So I decided to give them a go.

And I'm so glad I did.

In general, this set of brushes is amazingly soft, sleek and professional looking, with NO hairs falling out (so far at least, I haven't washed them yet). The one big setback I saw many bloggers talk about was their 'chemical' smell. I did purposely smell them as I opened them, and did notice this smell, however I really don't think I would have if I hadn't specifically been looking out for it. If that makes sense. Also, once you use them for any sort of product or even leave them out in the open for a bit, the smell completely disappears. Now they just smell like makeup.

These can be easily found by googling "Jessup Brushes" on eBay and scrolling through the options until you find the set and colour you want. Be warned, the shipping will likely take forever, but, again, a small price to pay for what you are receiving. I bought mine here but there are plenty of sellers to choose from.

The ten brushes you get in the set are:

• Flat Kabuki
• Angled Kabuki
• Tapered Kabuki
• Round Kabuki
• Flat Angled Kabuki
• Precision Angled
• Precision Flat Angled
• Precision Round
• Precision Tapered
• Precision Flat

Face Brushes

Flat Kabuki, Angled Kabuki, Tapered Kabuki, Round Kabuki, Flat Angled Kabuki

This is a great little five piece set. They have made welcome additions to my admittedly small collection of face brushes (two stippling brushes and a powder brush... shame), and I've found that, although they have some similarities, each has its own purpose.

The Flat Kabuki is a wide, fluffy and soft brush, much less dense than the others (except the flat angled). I use it interchangeably with the flat angled brush, mostly for my setting powder, as I feel it places the powder much more precisely over my massive powder brush. It is good for swirling the powder onto parts of the face you might want more coverage. 

The Angled Kabuki is super soft (as they all are, but I feel the need to repeat myself for emphasis), with short bristles. It is fairly dense and works well for applying blush or a powder highlight, depending on how precise you want the application.

The Tapered Kabuki is the brush I thought I'd like least, but is actually the opposite. I always thought Tapered was close to a flat foundation brush and never really saw the appeal, however having one has made me realise how useful it is. I use it to apply my contour in the hollows of my cheeks, then use the Flat Angled Kabuki to blend upwards. It also works well for my powder highlight (specifically, the highlight shade from the Face of Australia Leopardess Palette, even though it's still a bit dark to truly 'highlight' my face, it kind of doubles as a blush or bronzer). It is great because it's not too pointed, and instead is a good dome shape which seems a perfect size for the face.

I use the Round Kabuki for application of my liquid foundation (normally Revlon Colourstay). It has short bristles and is even more dense than the Angled Kabuki. It is really good for buffing foundation right into the skin, however lacks an ability to blend well. However, it is my most used brush and feels like heaven on my face (my old foundation brush was a scratchy stippling brush). Definitely a good addition to a collection and reminds me a lot of the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush.

The Flat Angled Kabuki is probably the least dense out of the five, and I found it a bit useless when I first got the set. However, I've found its best use to be either patting on my setting powder or blending out my contour, as you can use the flat side for a more natural blend, or turn it and use it on its edge for precise blending.


Eye Brushes

Precision Angled, Precision Flat Angled, Precision Round, Precision Tapered, Precision Flat

I found these brushes not as individually important as the face brushes. I use nearly all of them interchangeably (except the Precision Tapered) as blending brushes. However, if you were going to have doubles of a brush, a blending brush is probably the best choice as blending eyeshadow always turns out the best with a clean fluffy blending brush - meaning less cleaning for all of us! Yay! So, I don't regret getting all five of these brushes, I just think they aren't as unique as the face brushes are.

The Precision Angled is the biggest brush out of all of them (even though it doesn't seem so in the picture). It is super fluffy and its bristles are quite long. (Is bristles the right word to be using? I'm not even sure). I mostly use it as a blending brush for the crease and up to the brow bone.

The Precision Flat Angled is the least 'perfect' looking brush, as my one has uneven bristle length and its shape seems a bit off - but maybe that's just my individual one. I mostly use it to blend out under eye concealer.

The Precision Round is the perfect fluffy blending brush that reminds me of a MAC 217, but with slightly shorter brushes and a less domed appearance. I use it the same as my Precision Angled brush and for when my Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush is just way too big for blending (which, to be honest, is most of the time).

The Precision Tapered, as with the face brushes, turned out to be my favourite. I realised I have no brush like this, except maybe my Ecotools pencil brush, which is actually way too pointed and not bendy and just a pain to work with. It applies eyeshadow easily into the crease or even into the corner of the eye or on the lower lashline. A great multitasker.

The Precision Flat Brush is like my Flat Angled Brush in that some of its bristles are a bit long and its shape is a bit out of whack, but is still a good brush to have. It can be used as a blending brush, but I think I'll be getting the most use out of it as a nose contouring brush, or even as a contour placement brush for when I want a really subtle contour.


There you go! I think they are a great brush set to add to your collection, and with the insanely cheap price you absolutely can't go wrong. They feel sturdy and long-lasting, not cheap at all. The only downside is, as I said, the time it takes for postage (I think mine was about a month), but, to be fair, they do point out the estimated delivery time on the page, so you can't really complain about that.

For less than a night out, this brush set is a definite must in my opinion.

Let me know if you've tried them and what you think.

Thanks for reading!