I have a few long-held beliefs about eyebrows. First, they will frame a face nicely when done right. Second, as the saying goes, “eyebrows should be sisters, not twins”. And third, less is more. I’ve never been a fan of the overdone, perfect, stencilled eyebrow look. I have mine shaped and threaded every two weeks and keep them under control with regular maintenance. Good enough, right?
Maybe not. I walked into a cosmetics store last summer and a sales lady approached me suggesting that I needed “mascara for your eyebrows”. All I could picture was stiff, matchy eyebrows with no character, so I refused even her offer to demonstrate. Then, a few months later, I had my make-up done professionally on the morning of my best friend’s wedding. The make-up artist began brushing a powder onto my eyebrows with a stiff brush. I pulled back and asked her what she was doing. “Your eyebrows,” she said matter-of-factly. I didn’t want to cause a scene at the salon so I let her proceed and decided if I hated it, I’d wash it off before the bridal-party photos.
Well, I loved it. My face popped. The very next day, I went to a drugstore to find the proper equipment to do the same for myself at home, and for the next year I deftly powered up my brows with a few swift flicks of a brush and a just-the-right-colour-for-me powder. I looked glammed-up without looking unnatural. Good enough, right?
Think again. Benefit has once again raised the bar with its Benefit Brow Collection. Four mix-and-match products that help you create exactly the right frame for your face.
The Browvo! conditioning eyebrow primer sets the scene for each brow product. With keratin and soy proteins, the clear gel works for all brows, giving them a fuller look and keeping them perfectly tamed. It felt like hairspray for my brows, with just the right amount of hold. It added a level of confidence I only usually feel on the day of and the day after a threading appointment. Everything was held in place.
The Goof Proof eyebrow pencil fills in patchy parts with a smooth, crayon-like pencil that is angled and never needs sharpening. The unique shape lets you precisely fill in your brows at varying thicknesses, without clumps. I needed to “start” the colour on my hand before using it, but once I had, it was smooth gliding. The pencil has a built-in spoolie-brush on one end for extra fullness, even colour distribution and taming.
The Ka-Brow! eyebrow cream-gel colour is a beautifully packaged, elegant product that combines a small pot of colour with an angled brush, which attaches to the top of the pot to create a longer wand, which makes building colour easier. The gel also needed to be “started” on my hand and it took a bit of trying before I found the right shade, angle and texture. I found it tricky to use by myself, but I could see this being a great benefit (no pun intended) to a make-up artist working on people with different eyebrow shapes and needs.
Finally, the Gimme Brow volumising eyebrow gel is a small mascara for your eyebrows. This one was the one I was most hesitant to try, but the one I ended up liking the most. The gel contains microfibers that adhere to skin and hairs, adding fullness, while the small brush lets you shape even the thinnest width of your brows. Small flicks of the brush on my brows added up to perfect colour on both the thicker and thinner parts of my shaped brows.
Personally, my perfect combination is the Browvo! conditioning primer with the Gimme Brow volumising eyebrow gel for daily use. But I would certainly use the Goof Proof Brow Pencil or the Ka-Brow! cream-gel colour for a more dramatic look on special occasions, or when I have more time to create a look.
• Browvo!, Dh135; Goof Proof, Dh125; Ka-Brow!, Dh125; Gimme Brow, Dh125, available at Sephora stores across the UAE, www.sephora.ae
