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!