Sonia G. Brushes The Sky Face Set First Impressions & Initial Review, Launch Info

The Sky Face Set

Just in time for the holiday season, Sonia G. is releasing a “travel” set! It’s The Sky Face Set ($270.00) (and yes, an Eye Set is coming in the future!) and features new, sparkling blue-hued, tapered handles and includes five brushes. Per the brand, the brushes may be sold individually in the future if they are well-received, which is how it has worked in the past.

The set retails for $270.00 and includes five, full-sized brushes; they are designed for the functional needs of traveling and not as space savers. Sonia G. has a detailed post regarding how the brushes are made, what they’re designed for, and how they look pre- and post-washing and compared to other existing brushes by the brand. The Sky Face Set launches tomorrow, September 16th, at 10AM PT at Beautylish.

Many Sonia G. brushes have made their way into my list of go-to brushes since the brand’s debut, and I’ve had no issues with the quality of the brush heads or ferrules, shedding, or shape retention with any of the brushes released to date (which are all). Per the brand, this set’s hair bundling is a bit different than past releases and was noted that there might be slight shedding in the beginning, though I didn’t notice any shedding, whether after washing or during use.

I’ve only had the brushes for a couple of days, so here’s some insight into how I’ve trialed them to gather initial impressions. Each brush has been used to apply at least two different products within each product type (e.g. two different powder highlighters, two different powder blushes, and so forth) that it is best suited for.

I try different methods, based on the type of brush, and I try to run through motions like sweeping, feathering, tapping, patting, and buffing, along with light-, moderate-, and heavy-handed pressure. I move the brush in different directions across my face to see how the bristles move and feel at different positions and pressures. I always use new brushes with products I am familiar with so that those are more of a “control” and if, for example, a go-to blush didn’t blend out well, I’d know it was more to do with the tool than the product.

For initial reviews of the individual brushes, see below, but my overall thoughts are that the brush set is of quality and the brushes seem to suit their purposes. I’m not sure that five cheek/face brushes are really what I’d put together in a travel set–I think I’m more in the camp where the Mini Cheek, Classic Cheek, and Soft Cheek do it for me, while the Master Face will be less usable in my regular routine. I enjoyed the Worker Fan but don’t think it would be a must-have if I was paring down brush options for travel.

What brushes make sense for your own travel set really depends on how you apply your products, what products you use, and what kind of shapes work best for your features and techniques, so this set could certainly work well for some. If you’re undecided, there’s a high chance that the brushes will be available individually in the future, and the sets are the equivalent of purchasing each brush at full price individually based on past releases.

I don’t know if any of the new blush brushes will be replacing my favorite, Face Two, though the Soft Cheek may make its way as a go-to for more pigmented formulas and deeper shades. I’ll definitely be trying and using the Mini Cheek in the future with more sparkly/glittery highlighters and seeing if that’ll be is primary function for me. Tentatively, I’m thinking I might end up preferring the Classic Cheek over the Cheek Pro on the whole (solely based on personal preferences/techniques).

The Sky Face Set

Permanent

14.5

Product

14.5

Fitness

Durability

Construction

98%

Total

Mini Cheek Brush

Mini Cheek Brush is the smallest brush head in the set, and it flares outward and has an airier quality at the edge than a typical blush brush. It was designed for “targeted application,” and I’d agree with that; it worked well for placing more precise highlight. I preferred the other cheek brushes in the set (as well as from past sets) for applying blush and bronzer to my cheek area and for blending out more pigmented products. I would see using the Mini Cheek for applying more metallic or glittery highlighters to more precise areas–you can get the sparkle but then not worry too much about diffusing and getting glitter far past the area you wanted.

It is made out of brown and white saikoho goat hair.
172mm length, 27mm hair length, 12.5x7mm ferrule width

Mini Cheek Brush

A+

Permanent

Product

Fitness

Durability

Construction

100%

Total

Classic Cheek Brush

Classic Cheek Brush is designed to be the “most versatile and universal blush brush” the brand could create. The shape feels familiar to typical blush brushes–dense, slightly domed–but it differs in that it has a smaller, narrower brush head and has a more tapered edge (still domed overall but yields a more diffused applicator initially as a result of the more tapered edge). From initial uses, it worked well for applying blush, highlighter, and bronzer on cheeks and other areas of the face, as it was small enough for applying highlighter just to the cheek bones but could also disperse and blend out blush on my cheeks or take bronzer up toward my temples. The brush itself was silky-smooth against my skin.

It’s similar to the Cheek Pro, which is slightly denser and has a more flared edge, but they’re functionally similar to me and there’s not one I prefer over the other at this point.

It is made out of white saikoho goat hair.
173mm total length, 33mm hair length, 16x11mm ferrule width

Classic Cheek Brush

A+

Permanent

Product

Fitness

Durability

Construction

100%

Total

Soft Cheek Brush

Soft Cheek Brush is supposed to give “sheer to medium coverage” with a slew of cheek products, up to and including setting and finishing powders. It fluffs up a decent amount after washing, which gives the edge a softer, more feathery feel and gives a more diffused applicator of cheek products. It has an incredibly silky-smooth feel but still picks up product well and can spread/diffuse them on my skin.

I liked it with softer powder blushes and bronzers and more pigmented, denser powder products but would use something else for denser, more sheer to medium coverage powders (which I’d use a denser, flatter-edged brush for). The overall brush head is longer than the average blush brush, so if you’re someone who struggles to be lighter handed, that built-in length might be useful.

Soft Cheek Brush

A+

Permanent

Product

Fitness

Durability

Construction

100%

Total

Worker Fan Brush

Worker Fan Brush is supposed to “do any task you want” and balances “size and density to handle blush, bronzer, sculpting, and even highlighter.” It is a “smaller version of the current Sculpt One,” but it has “thicker hakutotsuho bristles” that are “highly efficient and blend as they apply.” I preferred this brush after one wash, as it fluffed up and resulted in a more diffused, dispersed application but there was still enough density to the brush head to pick up product evenly.

It’s the denseness that separates most of the Sonia G. fan brushes from typical ones on the market–it is a truly substantial, dense, and smooth brush. The edge moves together with all of the bristles coming together, which enables excellent pick up of even sheerer products but also enables the brush to blend as it moves against the skin. If you’re someone who has been reaching for a fan brush for more light-handed, sheerer application of products, I don’t think this fits for those purposes; it’s better if you like the size and shape of fan brushes but need more moderate pigmentation.

I preferred this for applying highlighter to cheek bones, down the bridge of the nose, or gently swept on my forehead or with contour/bronzer products in the hollows of the cheeks brought upward to my temples. It was too wide for blush applicator based on my facial features/techniques, though it definitely could apply and blend blush products out. The brush felt smooth and silky against my skin regardless of direction and technique (swept, tapped, etc.).

It is made out of white hakutotsuho goat hair.
170mm total length, 30mm hair length, 20mm ferrule length

Worker Fan Brush

A+

Permanent

Product

Fitness

Durability

Construction

100%

Total

Master Face Brush

Master Face Brush is supposed to be used for powder foundation, setting, buffing, blending, and bronzer and blush brush (the latter function more based on precision requirements). I could see this being best for powder foundation as it has a denser, more dome-shaped brush head that would pick up product more evenly and deposit with greater coverage compared to the dispersion preferred with a translucent setting powder.

For me, it felt a bit too dense for all-over application with something like Guerlain Meteorites and didn’t diffuse as naturally as a result (I liked the Worker Fan brush with the Meteorites more). For setting powder, I also felt like it was a bit dense and rounded, so it didn’t fit as well into nooks and crooks of my face for all-over application, though the denser brush head made it better for anyone prefers to press setting powder into place over sweeping or dusting it on. Wit this brush, I felt like it could work for the products mentioned, but I didn’t feel like it was the best for that purpose.

It has a larger brush head, so it would work well for those who tend to apply bronzer all over, but I’d only see it being workable with a sheer to medium-coverage bronzer. For blush, I think it would be too large for most facial features. It was most useful to me as a blending/buffing brush, and I felt like it did a great job here–it effectively diffused and softened harsh edges without too much effort and the bristles were smooth so that they didn’t lift and push around base products while doing so.