I need eyebrow help!

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Avon has gone and betrayed me by discontinuing my favorite eyebrow pencil. It was the perfect not-too-soft, not-too-warm blonde pencil. Swatches and reviews here, here, and here. I only have half a pencil left, so I know that means only a couple more months of bliss. Then I'm going to have to find something new. (There are a few of them still available on Amazon, but because the seller used my photo for the listing without my permission, I don't want to buy from them.)

I am conducting on my own search, but just in case: does anyone have suggestions for neutral-to-cool taupe eyebrow pencils that are easy to use? Most of the blonde options I've tested have been on the warm side. I'd prefer something not too expensive, since I go through them pretty quickly. And I'm too lazy to fuss with formats other than pencils, for the most part. I'd appreciate any help I can get!

Drugstore Dupe for Anastasia Brow Wiz (from Budget Beauty Blog)

The Budget Beauty Blog is a great source for dupe info. Here she compares Anastasia Brow Wiz (the pencil) to the new L'Oreal Brow Stylist Definer, and finds that they are nearly identical. Nice!

My cheap favorites: the best makeup under $10

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I wrote a post like this way back when I started my blog, so I thought it might be interesting to update it and see how many of my favorites have stayed the same and how many have changed, now that I've tried a lot of new shit. I've also compared a lot of cheaper things to more expensive products along the way, and in all cases, the makeup in this list equals or outperforms pricier alternatives. I'm just doing makeup today, but I'll follow up with another post about my cheap favorites from other categories like skin care and hair products.

My cheap favorites are reliable and inexpensive. They're things that I replace when I finish them. Obviously I don't use these products exclusively, but I keep coming back to them because I prefer them to others. Below I've included links to previous reviews on my blog, if they exist. I've also tried to link to the best places online to buy these things, to my knowledge. Most of them are easy to find in any drugstore or Target/Walmart, etc.--in which case you might be able to get them on sale. But you might be like me and prefer online shopping when possible, so I've linked them below.

There are a few categories of makeup for which I don't have a current cheap favorite. For example, foundation: I'm picky about it and haven't found anything I absolutely love at any price point, though the Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Foundation, reviewed here, is decent when sheered out, and Boots No. 7 Lift & Luminate Foundation is amazing if you can find a good color match (I can't). As for concealer, I have a favorite (reviewed here), but it's not cheap. I've used some good drugstore concealers, like Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circles, but I tend to run into problems with the range of shades available. I had a favorite powder (Maybelline Mineral Power Finishing Veil Translucent Powder--lots of Maybelline here in the "almost" category) but of course it's been discontinued, so I'll have to find something else soon. I don't have a favorite bronzer, because I almost never wear bronzer. I also don't currently have a favorite lip gloss, I guess because it's not a product I love to wear in general. There a plenty of perfectly fine lip glosses out there, but nothing that I am particularly excited about.

But let's get to my actual favorites. My photos aren't the prettiest, because I am currently using most of these things and, in many cases, have been using them for a long time, so they're a bit beat up. (Lots of images after the jump.)

A whole fucking dissertation on eyebrow products for blondes and redheads, plus a mini review of L'Oreal Voluminous Butterfly mascara (photo-heavy post)

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So this is the latest installation of a quasi-series in which I pull out all the products I have in from single category and try to decide what I should keep and what I should get rid of. Spoiler: I decided that I'm going to keep all of my eyebrow shit, because it's practical and really won't ever expire, so I'll use it up eventually. I did come to the radical conclusion that I should stop buying more, though. Duh.

All my eyebrow products (top to bottom): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Auburn/Red; e.l.f. Studio Eyebrow Kit in Light; Milani Brow Tint Pen in Natural Taupe; CoverGirl Brow and Eye Makers in Soft Blond; Avon Ultra Luxury Eyebrow Pencil in Blonde; and Benefit Gimme Brow in Light/Medium. 

My hair color over the last few years has run the gamut from blonde-blonde to strawberry-blonde to dark-blonde to red to really-fucking-red. Some of the products below have served me well no matter my hair color, such as the e.l.f. kit and the Avon pencil. Others, like the NYX kit and the CoverGirl pencil really only well with certain hair colors - but then they work very well.

You can tell from the photo above that almost every brow product I have has been well used, so I know them intimately. Look at those stubby pencils! The one exception is Benefit's Gimme Brow, which I got as a graduation present in May. It actually came from the Benefit vending machine in the Minneapolis airport. That's a thing that exists.

In the past, when I thought about my minimum makeup - like what I'd wear if I was running out the door and only had time for a couple of things - it was always just mascara and blush. Maybe under-eye concealer. Lately, though, I feel like I can really take or leave those things so long as I've filled in my eyebrows a little. They're fairly invisible on their own, and as I've pointed out before, they really do make a difference.

I used to use the sort of technique where you define the bottom edge of the brow completely and then fill the rest in, but recently I've much preferred Lisa Eldridge's method of focusing on the peak of the arch and working lightly out from there. (If you have never watched a Lisa Eldridge video, do it some day when you're in a bad mood or stressed - trust me, she's so soothing.) This method really does create a more natural-looking effect. I do fill in the part closest to my nose more than she does, however, because that's where the hair on my brows is the lightest and thinnest. If I don't add a little extra there, my eyebrows look too far apart - I think they still do sometimes, honestly, but I'm not (yet) totally comfortable filling in where there's no real hair at all. Anyway, as you can see in the photos below, this isn't the super-defined and polished look that you tend to see in closeups of dramatic eye makeup. It doesn't look flawless. Super-defined is pretty, but it's just not what I'm going for. My brows might look a little less than perfect in a super closeup, but no one is looking as closely as my camera is getting in these photos - and the lack of perfection is what makes them look natural, I think. Here's what they usually look like at a normal distance (scroll down).

I hope you have a couple of weeks to read the rest of this post, because as usual I am long-fucking-winded.

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.

Fix Your Face: My new favorite brow product, Avon Ultra Luxury Brow Liner in Blonde (with photos and a mini tutorial)

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My usual favorite brow stuff is the e.l.f. one, but lately I've been feeling lazy, and since using a brow pencil is one step instead of two, I've mostly been using this Avon pencil, with regularly costs $6 (thought Avon has frequent sales).

I haven't used an eyebrow pencil in years, but I don't remember the texture of most of them being like this. It's quite dry and powdery-feeling, rather than creamy. It reminds me of a pastel pencil - kind of chalky. This is actually an ideal texture for doing my brows, because it means that it doesn't glob up in the hairs. It works a lot like a powder, but I think it goes on more evenly, because you don't have to keep adding more to your brush. It's a steady supply.

I suggest a light touch. Use short, brushy strokes. I outline the bottom edge of my eyebrow, then the top edge, and then I fill in the middle with upward strokes. If you want more details on how to fill in your brows, here's a tutorial from The Beauty Department.

That's it, usually, although if I have a little extra time, I'll also clean up the edges with some concealer, like so:

You don't need to be too precise, obviously.

Straightish lines along the top and bottom of your eyebrows. This works best if you use a liquid concealer that isn't too opaque or thick, and a brush. I've found that the NYX concealer that I otherwise wasn't too impressed with works well for this purpose. Adding this step just cleans everything up a little and makes your brows look neater. Then blend it, focusing on the edges furthest from your brows, with your finger.

Here's the before and after, with my nearly invisible natural eyebrow, and my finished and penciled in new-and-improved brow:

Before.

After.

I realize that in this photo the concealer is still slightly visible. Trust me when I say that it is not noticeable in person. You can only see it here because it is an extreme closeup taken with the macro setting on my camera. 

So that's my technique with the Avon pencil. The Blonde shade is a nice, neutral taupe that looks natural whether my hair is blonde or red or light brown. It also comes in Light Golden Brown, Dark Brown, and Soft Black. This Avon eyebrow pencil would be an ideal tool if you're just starting to play around with filling in your eyebrows. Just keep it sharpened and use a light touch. I find it easier to use than powders, gels, waxes, or pens. And it's pretty cheap.

An AMAZING holy-shit guide to buying pencil makeup products (from Beauty and the Bullshit)

This is mandatory reading. Seriously.

Some highlights:

• 'Your brands do not manufacture your pencils. They all source from the same suppliers. [...] There is no exclusivity.' [Ed.: HELLO DUPES. Dupes are frequently exactly the same product, then. Holy shit.]
• 'Sharpening has its advantages you know. [...] In automatic pencils, the lead hangs inside the plastic container unlike in wooden pencils which is totally embedded/supported by the wood.  This has an implication to the texture.  That means that the texture should be hard enough so that even if it is thin, it will not break inside the plastic encasing.'
• '...a good rule of thumb is that the more sophisticated (read, better) formula will be in a plastic "wooden" pencil with airtight caps [i.e. ones you have to sharpen].'

Blew my fucking mind, even though it's all so logical once you think about it.

Fix Your Face: Milani Brow Tint Pen

When I bought this a couple of weeks ago and tried it that night, I was super excited to review it, because it was AMAZING.


Then the next morning I used it again so that I could take photos … and it wasn’t quite so amazing anymore.

What I really liked about it the first night was how saturated and inky it was. By the next morning it seemed like it had completely dried out, and I was pissed.

It turns out it wasn’t actually dry, and I figured out that the trick to getting it to work is that you have to set it upside down for a few seconds to get the tint to flow to the tip before you use it. They say to store it horizontally to make it last. And then you have to kind of hold it bottoms up while you’re using it to keep it flowing, which can be awkward.

Anyway, having figured out how to make it work, I do still like it. What I especially like about it is that, since it’s a thin liquid, it actually darkens the hair on my eyebrows, instead of just coloring the skin behind them like most powders (and even pencils) do. I have invisible blond eyebrows, so this is great. It does add color underneath to fill in gaps too, and it’s nice and precise. Plus it lasts all day and then some. I still have eyebrows when I go to bed at night! It costs $6.