With Benefit’s announcement of free brow service on your birthday, they also included a few of their cult favorite brow products, which I swatch and talk about in this video–a bit of first impressions with some review, since I have used a few products mentioned in the video previously! I posted reviews for both Brows A-Go-Go and High Brow this past week, and since the pencil isn’t my shade, I’m not reviewing it at this time.
Benefit High Brow
Benefit High Brow ($20.00 for 0.10 oz.) is designed to “lift” and enhance brows by brightening with a “soft, matte linen-pink” shade. Benefit recommends applying it beneath your brow, just following the arch, and blend.
Inevitably, one wonders what is the difference between Benefit’s Eye Bright and High Brow, as they’re both pink pencils designed to help brighten eyes — well, Benefit wrote a blog post explaining the differences. To summarize, High Brow is a neutral pink while Eye Bright is a cool-toned pink; the cooler tones in Eye Bright as designed to combat dark circles. Benefit warns that using High Brow on undereye circles may look too light, while using Eye Bright to define brows may look too pink.
It’s absolutely true that Eye Bright is a cooler-toned, more blue-based pink, and it also has a bit of micro-shimmer–very subtle but still there. I think those who are naturally cool-toned, one could get away with using both. For those with warmer undertones, the difference is likely more noticeable.
I like High Brow for more minimal looks; not necessarily five-minute looks but when one wants to have that natural look. The creaminess of the product makes it easy to blend, and it dries down quickly and holds up fairly well alone (about six hours). I applied it in the photos below so you can see how it looks, and I deliberately went heavy-handed, because I wanted it to show up in photos–the effect can be subtler if one desires.
Where to Buy: Benefit, $20
Benefit Brows A-Go-Go
Benefit Brows A-Go-Go ($38.00) is an all-i-one brow kit, which includes both Light and Dark Brow Zings Powders (0.04 oz. each), Brow Zings Wax (0.03 oz.), Smokin’ Liner (0.01 oz.), Eye Bright (0.03 oz.), Brow Highlighter Powder (0.04 oz.), mini tweezers, and dual-ended brush.
Benefit and brows take me back almost ten years (which makes me a little nauseous to think about, because sometimes I think I’m still 18 and when I’m clearly not). One of my first beauty experiences was begging my makeup-enthused best friend to tweeze my brows, and she always carried Benefit’s Brow Zings and their mini tweezers. I can’t tell you how I longed for a pair of my own mini tweezers–they just seemed so cool at the time. (With my hands, I can appreciate full-size tweezers for regular maintenance but minis are nice in a pinch.)
The lighter shade is a medium-dark taupe brown, while the darker brow shade is a dark brown with subtle red undertones. The wax is a cross between the two–not too dark, not too light. I found the eyeliner to be fairly black but a bit stubby so it may be difficult to hold for some. I actually liked the shimmering icy pink of the highlight powder; not quite as cool-toned as Eye Bright, which is a creamy, pale white-pink.
The dark shade works well for me, having nearly black natural brows. I like mixing the two, though, for a softer look as well. I would be careful using the highlighting products on deeper skin tones, because I think it may turn a little ashy, but they work well on light and medium skin tones.
Where to Buy: Benefit
MAC Impeccable Brow Pencils: Dirty Blonde, Blonde, Taupe, Black
New for the collection are Impeccable Brow Pencils. The new brow pencil is available in four shades, and the names do correspond to what probably fits the majority. I’m more of a brow powder kind of girl, having used MAC Espresso Eyeshadow for about six years now, as my go-to for brows. I like this, but I don’t love it. For those who want more definition, pencil is definitely a better option than shadow. I would still suggest using a fluffier brush like the 266 or a clean mascara wand to brush through brows for a softer, more natural look.
Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel ($19.00) is an easy-to-use, multi-tasking product to keep your brows looking polished and in place throughout the day. It’s available in three colors: Caramel (warm golden light brown), Espresso (rich dark brown), and Granite (grayish taupe). The one pictured above is the Caramel shade, which is a bit too light for my tastes, but at the same time, the formula is sheer so it does help make my brows look less severe and very natural. I recommend Espresso for those with dark black/brown brows like mine, though–it’s a much better color match!
Brow gel is designed to keep your brows in place; it’s very similar to gel that you’d use in your hair in the same sense that it gives you hold. Since these are tinted, they can also help fill in sparse spots in your brows and eliminate the need to fill in. I find that when I use Anastasia’s Brow Gel, my brows are held in place all day long, even though they tout that you can easily toss it in your purse for touch-ups! (You definitely can, it’s not a heavy tube or anything, but I had no reason to touch-up!)
Anastasia states that the botanical formula plumps the hair follicle, which helps to give the appearance of fuller, thicker brows. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you if it was true, because my brows looked to be normal fullness once they were set with this. Because of the tinted nature of the product, I found it hard to truly tell if my brows were all plumped up (mine aren’t too sparse). I think if you had sparser brows, you might be able to ascertain whether it does or not! One thing I do wish they’d change is the size of the applicator brush; it’s basically a mascara wand, but it’s just a little large for my brows. If you have very full brows, you probably would have no issues with the size.
You can find yours at Sephora.com.
Anastasia Highlighting Brow Kit ($32.00) is a totally new product to get 2009 started off on the right brow, err, I mean foot! 
The kit consists of a tri-colored baked brow powder as well as a tri-colored baked highlighting powder. The trios are terracotta baked and can be used wet OR dry–using it wet won’t ruin the product like it often does for regular powder products. What’s fun is you can also use these wet for eyeliner in a pinch! Both trios come housed in a sleek silver compact that’s lightweight and small enough to keep in your purse. I found using a stiff angled brush was ideal for getting my brows defined to my specifications, and then any eyeshadow brush works well to highlight just under and above the brow to better accentuate the brow’s shape.
This lovely brow kit doesn’t release until January 29th, 2009 — BUT you can win one of your very own right here at the blog!
To enter: Leave any comment on this post. To double your chances, follow us on Twitter (please include your Twitter name in your comment!). To triple your chances, subscribe to our RSS via e-mail (see the giant RSS button on the right!).
But maybe you want to take a peek inside, first?! 
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