CoverGirl Brow and Eye Makers Brow Shaper and Eyeliner Swatches and Review (for blondes and redheads)

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First things first: These are not fucking eyeliners. Ignore the name. If you try to use these pencils as eyeliners, you will be sorely disappointed (literally, ouch). The blonde one was the first eyebrow pencil I ever owned, back when I was 15, but I bought it to use as eyeliner. It was so hard that I would hold the tip a millimeter away from the lightbulb of my desk lamp in order to soften it up. These pencils are still exactly the same as they were then, approximately 1 million years ago. So I repeat: DO NOT TRY TO USE THESE AS EYELINERS. There are so many much better, affordable eyeliners out there, that there is no reason you should be reduced to scratching your eyelid off with these things.

That said, they are pretty decent eyebrow pencils, and they are fucking cheap. For $3 (or less), you get two pencils and a sharpener. And they come in 5 color options. I recently picked up three different shades, because I couldn't find any good swatches online to help me decide which one would work best. So I also decided I should post some swatches for that reason.

So here are the three shades that will suit people with blonde, red, and maybe even light brown hair:

Left to right (natural light): CoverGirl Brow and Eye Makers Brow Shaper
in Soft Blond, Honey Brown, Soft Brown.

So you can see in the swatches how they kind of stick to little hairs. It looks kind of gross here, but it's actually a bit of an advantage for an eyebrow pencil. It means that the hairs in your brows end up the same color as the shit that gets deposited on your skin, and things look a bit more natural. It doesn't look clumpy on the eyebrow itself, because you're not going to be rubbing it back and forth with a lot of pressure the way I did to swatch them. Don't believe me? Fuck you! No, but here, just look at a close of up of Soft Brown on my eyebrow:

CoverGirl Brow and Eye Makers Brow Shaper in Soft Brown

See? It's fine. I've actually come to prefer eyebrow pencils over powders or other types of eyebrow products lately. The trick, to make sure it doesn't look like you drew on your brows like Marlene Dietrich if that's not what you're going for, is to use short, light strokes. Use the pencil as though it were a brush. In my experience, this method is the best way to get a natural looking brow with the least effort.

These pencils are stiff and creamy, if that makes any sense. I don't like them as much as the Avon Ultra Luxury Brow Liners pencil that I reviewed before. The Avon one is more dry feeling, but in a powdery way, almost like chalk, which makes it smooth and easy to apply. These CoverGirl ones are more sticky and hard. But they're fine, really. They do the job without any difficulty.

As for the differences between the three shades I purchased, be aware that the Honey Brown shade is really designed for redheads. It's very warm and orangey. For me, with my current sort of strawberry blond hair, it's a bit too warm. Soft Brown looks more natural on me. It's still just a bit on the warm side, but closer to neutral. I don't think the name is very descriptive. Honey Brown will work best if you have bright red hair and/or your natural brow color is orangey red. That is, if you are going for a natural look, which I am. You could also combine Honey Brown with your usual eyebrow product if you want to warm it up a little.

Soft Blond is also quite a warm shade. It's the lightest of the bunch, though, and the only one they have that's really blond. On me, it looks a little too warm, and so I've been combining it with he Milani Brow Tint Pen (reviewed here) to tone down the tawniness a little. Soft Brown is another good option for those of you with cooler toned blond hair - just use a light hand.

So there you go. These are decent, functional, budget-friendly eyebrow options, especially if you are looking for colors beyond the basic light brown, medium brown, and black. Like I said, you get two pencils and a sharpener for under $3. Right now, drugstore.com also has a $1 coupon that you can use on these, to get them for really super fucking cheap. Just check the little box below the shade options to apply the coupon.