Miscellaneous, Softly Special: All About the Eyes, This or That
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Brow Maintenance: Products

To cap off the first week of this month’s Special Eye Makeup Feature, I will tackle the issue of brows! This is a very small thing you can do that I feel will enhance your overall look.

Brow Maintenance - Products

Honestly, I am pretty low maintenance when it comes to brows. I just kind of shade them in (as you would a blank spot in a coloring book) and call it a day.

If you are looking for some how-tos, here are some posts that I’ve enjoyed from other, more capable bloggers:
Ae from An Artechoke
Xiao from Messy Wands
Tina from What Tina Loves
Liz from Project Vanity

This is just an overview of the tools I use, in order of my preference. I don’t have a tutorial because I literally just brush through my normal eyebrow shape and comb through with a spoolie. I don’t typically outline the outsides, because I find that I look very harsh in the face, especially since I have been blessed with the Bitchy Resting Face. So I just randomly fill them in!

(Honestly, I just find makeup fun… so I’m just really glad whenever someone finds something I post to be helpful! 🙂 Haha.)

Onto the products!

BROW POWDER — The Body Shop Brown & Liner Kit (02)
Brow Maintenance - Powder

My most used product. It’s easy to use and it draws quite a light line that you can’t really tell if when you make a mistake. I mostly use the dark color, but if I want less of a harsh effect, I use the lighter shade. This is the effect:

LMdB Mascara

Brow Maintenance - Tools

I use any stiff angled brush—to apply the powder—and a spoolie—to brush through the hairs to make them neat. If I apply too much shadow, running a spoolie through the brows helps fix that, too.

Then, I set it with a clear mascara. This one is a generic, plain one by Nichido, but many people swear by products like MAC’s Boy Girl, which is tinted to help alter the color of your brows.

Brow Maintenance - Clear Gel

The wand is brown because of the brow powder!

WAXY PENCIL — random pencil from my sister, which she got from a drugstore in Hong Kong. Shade is “BR-1”

Brow Maintenance - Pencil

Random Brow Pencil

Random Brow Pencil

These are great for unruly eyebrows! The waxiness keeps the hairs in place. I find that this is quite soft and draws thickly, so I swipe it on in a haphazard-but-still-within-the-lines sort of manner and brush a spoolie to disperse the pigment.

For an alternative to this, try the e.l.f. Eyebrow Kit, which comes with a wax and a powder. It’s supposedly really good, but I myself have never tried it. 🙂 There are many drugstore alternatives, though, and I confess that this is my least-explored ‘genre’ of eyebrow enhancers, though it is a favorite for drawing on a really bold brow.

Another thing I haven’t tried before are the harder pencils, though I’m pretty sure I’d suck at using those. I’ve been wanting to try the hard pencil by shu uemura, but again, I have tons of products to use up first or dispose of. But those are supposedly really good and are a dream to apply when the actual pencil comes in contact with the oils of your skin. Here are a couple of great reviews by Mariana (The Beauty Bee) and Liz (Project Vanity).

EYE LINER/SHADOW — bareMinerals Liner Shadow in Bark
Brow Maintenance - Eyeliner

Eyebrows: bareMinerals Liner Shadow in Bark

Eyebrows: bareMinerals Liner Shadow in Bark

Sometimes, I just use a matte deep brown eyeliner or eyeshadow like this one by bareMinerals. The pigmentation is deeper and less “warm brown.”

I am wearing it here, and since it’s a loose powder, I have to set it with the clear mascara.

Many people use MAC eyeshadows for their brows. Popular choices are Omega, Wedge, and Mystery, among others. But, honestly, any matte shade that matches your hair color will do.

I think this may not work if you have super sparse hairs. I find that this liner/shadow in particular doesn’t really cling all that well onto your skin, either, so it’s not something I go to when I want super thick brows. As you can see, I had some trouble trying to fill in the sparse areas, too. The color is not as concentrated as when I use my brow powder.

Of course, you could use a cream eyeshadow, though I haven’t tried that yet. Liz’s tutorial that I’ve linked up there deals with this form of application.

MARKERS — Nature Republic Panda zero Waterpoof Eyebrow and K-Palette Real Lasting Eyebrow 24H in 01
Brow - PenMarkers

These are for “softly colored & long-lasting lines.” I think it’s mostly due to the fact that it tints the skin and stains better than say, a cream or a powder. I find the effect quite subtle and you can actually ‘draw on’ the hairs because of the thin tips of the applicator.

K-Palette, in Action:

Some swatches of the products beside each other:
Brow Maintenance - Swatches

I hope that helps! Be sure to check out the posts I linked above if you want some tips and advice on how to shape your brows. 🙂

12 Comments

  1. Pingback: September’s Softly Special: All About the Eyes (Master List of Posts) | Softly Sometimes

  2. My eyebrows are so sparse that I’ve considered using that “hair powder” you see on the shopping channel. The one men use to fill up their bald spots. lol.

    I think your prettiest brows are with the Body Shop brow powder. Very neat yet still natural, I love it!

  3. I think I’ve mentioned in a comment before that The Body Shop’s brow kit used to be my go-to product but I’ve found a holy grail in Shiseido’s Eyebrow Compact. I also have a Milani brow kit coming (I’m so excited about the mini tweezer inside it lol!) from the States soon, so I’m looking forward to try it out!

    How good are the Ecotools brush/spoolie for the brows? I will forever swear by my Marrionaud N 38’s!

    • Thanks for sharing! Please let me know how the brow kit is treating you 🙂

      They’re alright! I find that spoolies and stiff angled brushes are kind of all on a level playing field, lol.

  4. I enjoy experimenting with my brows. As I’ve never had it groomed (waxed or threaded or plucked), it really looks pretty different when I use different products. At the moment I’m hooked on In2It’s eyebrow kit, and before that I used a BYS eye pencil.

  5. Great post! I love eyebrow products! I never leave home without doing my brows. My eyebrows are so sparse I look weird if I don’t do anything with them. My weapon of choice is mostly eyebrow pencils. I use the Shu Uemura Hard 9 pencil and the Etude slanted brow pencil with a spoolie in one end.

  6. ManilaJen says

    I am obsessed with brow products. I like MAC lingering pencil with Etude House’s tinted brow gel. Though the one for Majolica is really good too. As for brow powders, I currently have the Wet n Wild one in rotation. I’m crushing on MAC’s brow duos or veluxe brow liners. 🙂

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