15 Jul 2015

Brow Product Battle


Brows have become a bit of a thing in the past few years and everyone is preoccupied with perfecting their brow game… including myself. Brows can really make or break your look and I think that a strong brow is just as powerful as having perfect winged liner. I used to have terribly bushy and unkept brows and I started getting them waxed/shaped regularly in Year 11 and I started filling my brows in towards the end of Year 12. I didn't realise how important filling in and using brow products is in shaping your brows. I remember watching this Michelle Phan video on how to change your brow shape to achieve different looks and I thought "Oh wow, that's amazing!" The first brow product I used was the Benefit Gimme Brow in the Light/Medium shade and I was in love with it for reasons I will expand on later. When I finished my little tube, I really started to expand my horizons into other mediums. 

The Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil in Soft Brunette was purchased after a really bad brow waxing session where the beautician waxed off the front bits of my brows and it ended up that my brows started 1/3 of the way into my eye. I went straight into Mecca Cosmetica and straight for the pencil, turning a blind eye to the price tag. It turned out that this pencil was quite amazing. The thick angled nib meant it was easy to fill in sparse areas and it was easy to define your arch even more. I change my hair colour constantly and the shade soft brunette only worked when my hair was leaning ashy and had no red bits in it. Otherwise, the product itself and the shade was perfect, not to mention it stays on for a whole day! You do need to set brows with a clear brow gel as this product has no setting powers. 

Benefit Gimme Brow is your best friend when it comes to daily brows. It's a brow mascara that shapes, tints, and fills in sparse areas… in less than a minute. All you need to do is brush the teeny mascara wand across your brows, concentrating them in areas where you need a bit more filling in, and you're good to go. I like using this product on days of minimal makeup or days where I just cannot be arsed to do my brows. Don't be fooled by the tiny tube, this baby will last you quite a while. Both the light and dark shades lean quite ashy so there's no need to worry about weird red brows. 

The Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Brow Colour in Medium was introduced to me when I had my makeup done by Stila international makeup artist Ginger Seidensticker. Essentially, it's a fine nib watercolour pen that deposits a light (but buildable) wash of colour which makes it perfect for creating fine hair-like strokes in sparse areas. I love filling in my brows with this product because it's very hard to overdo it. If I'm looking for a bit more texture and oomph, I first fill in my brows with this and then I go over them with the Benefit Gimme Brow. I really love this product and I don't use it enough!

My most recent purchase is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Chocolate. You might be questioning my shade choice but I chose this based on the fact that my hair is currently ombre'd and because my natural hair colour is very dark brown, bleaching it turns it slightly orange. The darker shade in the pan is ashy and the lighter shade is more red. I use more of the darker shade to fill in my brows and shape them and I mix in a little bit of the red to just make it look more natural and not as intense. I definitely find brow powders the most difficult medium to work with because it's so easy to overdo it. It requires more time to do and a lot more patience but I like the final result a lot more than using a brow pencil. I'm actually thinking of picking up another shade, perhaps Medium Brown for when I change my hair colour and just to have a lighter shade. 

I'm yet to try gel brow products like the Anastasia Dip Brow Pomade or the NYX Brow Gel but I don't think I can manage those yet. If you're wondering what clear brow gel I use, I use the Body Shop Brow & Lash Gel

What's your favourite way to fill in your brows?

2 comments:

  1. I really want to try the Hourglass brow pencil. I've been using the ABH brow wiz for about a year, and really love how it looks and the colour match to my natural blonde hair. I also like the Benefit gimme brow, but I find it a bit messy to apply, and you really need to make sure you comb the product through so it looks more even. Love the post!

    Katherine || The Green Bows

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    1. Love love love ABH for their wide shade range! I totally agree with you with the Gimme Brow; sometimes the wand can pick up too much product and you end up with gloopy brows, I always have a separate spoolie handy to make sure everything is blended (even clear brow gels can sometimes look gloopy!)

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