Benefit Brow Zings

As many of you know I have used the Clinique Super Fine liner for my brows for years and years, I like that its fine tipped so you can draw in accurately where you want to fill in the gaps and you can get a nice thin line if you are extending your brows out past where they naturally grow, essential if like me your brows have been plucked to hell.

I had, however started to feel that the finish with the pencil wasn't all it could be.  It looked a bit too "drawn" on and not as soft and natural as I wanted.  I read everything I could on brow powder and whilst I really liked the softer more natural look of powder applied I couldn't find a single blog where powder had been used to basically create from scratch a brow were none existed.  All the reviews I read showed powder being used on already immaculate and enviable brows and I wasn't convinced that I would be able to use powder and a brush to create the sort of brows that I wanted.

For my birthday Em paid for me to have my brows tinted and shaped.  I have to say for all the things I have done to enhance my looks over the years for anyone over 40 with grey brows, or anyone with pale coloured brows, tinting is pretty much a must do.  Even before they were shaped the transformation was incredible.  For some reason the brows at the inside corner, by my nose, come through grey, so for years I had just plucked them out.  Trouble was as the grey spread back through the body of my brow so I was plucking more and more away, until I got to the point where my brows started halfway along my eye!  I had eventually realised that this had become ridiculous and had grown them back as much as I could and was colouring in the grey with my pencil.  The tinting turned those grey brows a healthy shade of brown - Emma, who was doing my brows - used a fairly light shade on the basis that if she needed to darken it up she could, taking away not being an option.  Suddenly having some brows, even though they were far from verdant, that started at my nose made a big difference.  Once the tinting was done and I was happy Emma combed and trimmed my brows, waxed the middle and underneath each brow, then threaded my upper eye lid to get rid of all those pesky fine hairs and finally finished off with her tweezers just to catch any stragglers.  Considering Emily paid £17 for all of this I was hugely impressed and I was made up with my new brows.

They looked great done with pencil but the following day I decided to bite the bullet and buy a powder.  I usually spend £11 on the pencil and given how much is in the compact I decided that whilst a bigger initial investment, if I was dubious about how well a powder would work and didn't want to waste my money there was no point buggering about with cheaper alternatives, the only way to go was Benefit Brow Zings.  

The lovely lady on the counter did one brow for me, which was all well and good but she was also happy for me to have a go myself, which was vital for me to be sure that I could get the look I wanted at home. She used the lightest of the 3 kits Benefit offer and it is spot on, possibly a teeny hint red but I don't really have an issue with that. I did consider buying the full size brush which was over a tenner, that I used in the shop, but the SA was adamant that the one in the compact was absolutely fine and I'd have no problem with it.  I really respect anyone that talks you out of a sale.

In addition to the fab brush for drawing in there is a blending brush, I have never used and a teeny pair of tweezers - maybe mine are duff but I have binned them, they are pants!

I was genuinely concerned that Brow Zings wouldn't live up to my expectations but I could not have been more wrong.  After a couple of days trial and error I found the technique that worked best for me was to not bother with the wax, it tends to make the powder a bit claggy and ended up looking a bit like the finish I was getting with the pencil which was what I wanted to avoid.  The powder is ideal because I can apply it heavily enough to fill in sparse areas and with a lighter hand where my brows are more lush so that I can actually create a brow that looks even and natural from a reasonable distance.  The little brush in the compact is all the brush you will ever need.  

This little brush is my new bestest friend.

The bristles are stiff and hold their shape so I use it upright to create the nice straight line I like on the inside of my brow and the horizontally to draw a thin line to fill out the arch underneath and to extend the outside ends down to where I want them to be. In fact if you are short sighted the fact that the brush has a short handle is a godsend, I can get the mirror near enough to be able to see what I am doing without having to accommodate a long handled brush. 

 I still comb my brows into shape with a baby toothbrush, draw in, and then comb again as this helps to blend everything and really soften the effect.  I am still being complimented on my eyebrows by complete strangers, which I know is weird, but I love it especially considering what my eye brows without the magic actually look like!

OK so this is the bit I couldn't find any where else - creating a brow from nothing in pictures, using only Brow Zings!

Ta dah! me with one eye brow!!

Of course I only managed to get round to this when I am in dire need of another tint & shape, ignore shoddy brow!

Hold brush vertically to create the nice straight line at the start of your brow

Nice straight line! Already looking much better!

This is with the body of the brow filled in.

Close up of the body of my brow - see how sheer the powder is close too?

And with the tail end of my brow drawn in, total fabrication, there is nothing there in real life!

See why I love this stuff?!

All done and dusted and it took moments.

So what do you think?  Are you already a huge brow powder fan, if so what do you use?  If you weren't already a convert to brow powder could this wonderfully enlightening post sway you?  I paid £22 for Benefit Brow Zings and you can buy it from the Boots website here if I have tempted you!

 

A work of fiction.

Dont' worry not going to get even more long winded than usual and write you a novel to wade through!  The work of fiction in question is my eyebrows.

Annabella from Skin Scrubs dm'ed me last night to say she wanted my eyebrows. When I stopped crying with laughter I realised she was after the version you all see in my fotd pics and not the really pathetic reality no one knows about.  So I thought I'd share the sad reality of my brows and how I get them to look as enviable (??) as I do!

So here's me sans brows.  

These look much better than they used to.  I have over plucked from next to my nose - they used to meet in the middle and were down to my chin at one time and I over compenstated in my teens!  I have grown them back by having them threaded a few times, which really helped and by learning that when they grow too long rather than pluck them out and trash the shape you can take a pair of nail scissors to them and trim them.  Just comb them upwards and carefully snip off the ends that go over the line of your brow. 


My brows drop down on the ends which makes my eyes look closed in so I have decided to pluck the ends out and just leave the upward flick of the brow and to draw in the bit from the arch down, does that make sense.  Ideally its best to have a full brow but I didn't have that choice!

I use the clinique superine liner for brows in soft brown and as its a waxy, soft pencil I always powder my brows to stop it wandering off half way through the day.  As you can see I extend the brow toward my nose a tad, too much and it looks really obvious.  I then draw a line that runs slightly under my brow and up to the "arch" or end of my natural brow!

Then I extend that line outwards rather than down to keep my eye area open (thats the theory anyway but I did make it up!)  Then I fill in the brow.

The best piece of brow advice I have been given is to remember brows are sisters and not twins - in other words they don't have to be identical and symetrical!  So then I do the other side, same process as before.

And now I have a matching pair!

The End!

Life in freefall and a duty free haul

Selling a business and buying a house is exhausting and a complete and utter sodding nightmare, I am totally strung out and don't have the energy for photos of my purchases but have found a couple of great products that I want to share and I need to update on the Clinque eyebrow pencil I bought recently.

First up, best new foundation ever Max Factor Experience weightless foundation, it is billed as weightless flawless foundation and is frankly both and brilliantly. I honestly think it is the best foundation I have ever bought. Had loved Second Skin and was running out when I read this review on the Beauty Bite for this product and whilst on her lovely skin it looked like it might be a bit sheer I wasn't sure that it could be and still claim that all important "flawless" tag. Spent an age slapping it on in Superdrug (its not in Boots yet) and am seriously pleased that I did. I used Creamy Ivory in Second Skin and find that Beige Linen in this is actually a better shade for me. It has quite a dense, creamy texture which is great for my dry skin and gives great coverage, and builds well if needed. It is much less sheer than Second Skin so if you are feeling with the winter coming that you want a bit more between your pores and the rest of the world I would recommend this. I love it with my MAC Uncommon creme blush on top, will try and get some pics when I look less haggard.

Whilst in Superdrug I bought two MUA eyeshadows for £1 each, got shades 12 and 14 and am seriously impressed, Leanne has done a fab review so I recommend having a read of that.

After a week in Ireland stood in a field in the cold and rain, all in the name of earning a living (say it with me Fran "I must get a proper job"!) I decided that I NEEDED a duty free splurge. I got Clarins gentle peeling exfoliant, Clarins Eau Dynamisant shower gel, Chanel Aqualumiere gloss (a real treat!) and a clinique extra fine liner for brows. I also bought Em a MAC lip gloss in Bountiful, because she's my honey.

Having used the new Clinque brow pencil for weeks and struggled to draw my crappy brows into something that looked half decent I decided to go back to the super fine liner. I think the new thicker brow pencil would be great if you have fab brows that you just want to define, if you have crap brows that you have to create freehand then I for my money you'd be better off with the super fine liner. Lesson learned!

Clinique Instant lift for brows.

Spending embargo continues but some things a girl just cant live without. An eye brow pencil being one of them. I have always used the Clinique Superfine liner for brows in soft brown, its a great propelling brow pencil so no need for a sharpener, the only downside is that once it has been propelled up you cant propel it back down again so you never know when its going to run out and I refuse to buy 2 at a time to always have a spare. So was very pleased to find that Clinique have now brought out a new product called Instant lift for brows, its a thicker propelling pencil that goes down as well as up! on one end and highlighter on the other, the idea being you draw in your perfect brow and then highlight the brow bone. Lovely if you are 20 ish. Not so much if you are 44. I took photos of this on my eyes and I am almost too ashamed to show them on here, I have the eyes of a 90 year old. There is nothing like taking close up photos of bits of you to really highlight how utterly knackered you are, til about an hour ago I thought my eyes were in pretty good nick.



Look away now if you don't want to see your future.....


dear god.

Whilst I like the shaper and think I will find it easier to fabricate my eyebrows, which are straggly and patchy, with the thicker pencil I think the highlighter is a bit chalky, although perhaps if you have bouncy plumpcious eyelids then it might be fine.

Here is the shaper


And the highlighter


And here a swatch of both of my hand. Jeez my hand. Took these swatch photos and nearly screamed when I uploaded them. I have the hands of an 80 year old too. It's like Cocoon in reverse round here, bloody awful. So I gave my hands a scrub and slathered on some Soap and Glory hand food before taking the photos again. Now I have the hands of a 60 year old. God knows what the nasty black bit stuck to the highlighter is, probably some other part of me that fell off mid-photo.


And this stunner shows off the chalky highlighter.


Am off to find a photo of me to stash in the loft, Dorian Gray stylee!