Brow Stylist

Aside from august being my birth month, ive been blessed with wonderful work opportunities as a makeup artist so I havent had time to update my blog as much as I would like to. And so, after a long hiatus from blogging, im back with a product review =)


I've been in constant search for a good eyebrow pencil. Ive finally found one that i've lked about a year ago, M.A.C. Lingering! Found it to be the perfect shade I wanted, the right consistency? (I dont like overly waxy ones) and it doesnt make your eyebrows look like they were fom the 1920's - nobody likes obviously drawn in eyebrows. The thing about the MAC lingering pencil though is, it only lasts me about a month (or less) and thats for persoal use only. It also is quite expensive if I keep on buying 1-2 every month. So I was bent on looking for a cheaper alternative. I've heard of L'oreal's Brow Stylist a few motnhs back, but unfortunately when I had gone to check it they didnt have any stock. But a few days ago Caby and I were going around Landmark, and I decided to go look at the L'oreal Counter and surprise, surprise..

L'oreal Brow Stylist in 501 light brown

(both ends hads caps btw, I just uhm misplaced the other cap haha)

The brow Stylist has 2 shades, the lighter one is taupe and the other one is a medium brown. I swatched both, and out of impulse bought the lighter taupe brow pencil. I woulsnt exactly say its inexpensive, but its a lot more affordable than the M.A.C Lingering pencil. It costs Php 695 ( I think, a few pesos short of 700)


What I like about te brow stylist was #1 it wasnt overly waxy, meaning it doesnt overpower my naturally thin eyebrow hair. #2 the shade looked natural, thoug you wouldnt think it would based on the actual color of the pencil. #3 It being an actual pencil, rather than the mechanical? type of pencil, it would last longer and #4 it allows you to build the color. Unlike the other pencils, it doesn' t shade like a Sharpie! haha




I've been using it on myself a lot lately, especially hen im in a hurry. I do like using brow powders, but it takes me quite a while to even out my nasty baldspots. With the brow stylist, i simply fill in the spots and it just looks like I naturally have nice even brows hehe.

Here is the swatch!


Top: swatched heavier ; Bottom: swatched lighter
As you can see, the light brown has a hint of gray which is perect for eyebrows



I'll post a mughsot of myself using it on my next post =)

Brow Powder + Swatches

Just swatches of a good eyebrow product. Fanny Serrano's eyebrow powder! I do like this although some people find it powdery. I dont have problems with it though, except for the 2 shades on the left being too dark (its darker in person) but I have seen some with lighter shades, so perhaps the new ones have lighter shades than the one I have.

First 2 are shades on the righ side of compact, last 2 are the shades
on the left side of the compact. Shades look a bit lighter in photos than in acutal.

Most of the time I use the first 2 shades swatched (the shades on the right side of the compact) I find the other 2 are too dark and barely use them. I wish they would come out with single pot shades or just the 2. But it comes handy when you do makeup since you never know which one you'll need. I really like it because the shades have a hint of gray to it, pure brown shades on eyebrows look really fake. And its very pigmented. Ive had this for almost 6 months now although im running a bit low on the 2 ligher shades.


Would I repurchase this? I would, but i'll probably go and try a different eyebrow powder after running out. In any case, its affordable so I can just go and get it when I get dissapointed with whatever product I will try after this ( around 400 PhP).


Another great product from a local cosmetic brand! Now I wish they would reformulate their powders and make them unscented haha. Anyhoo, have a great weekend everyone! :)

How to: Eyebrows

In my opinion, the hardest part in doing makeup is the eyebrows. Ive encountered different kinds of eyebrows: over plucked, shaved in half, bushy, brows with patchy no hair areas (my very own hah), etc. We read it all the time, that when we do our brows, we should follow the natural shape. That works sometimes when your own brows has a nice shape. But you sometimes have to go in and change the shape of the brows either by plucking/shaving or filling them in.

The main points of the eyebrows are: the starting point, the arch and the end point. This one you see in all those magazine and books where you measure by aligning a straight object (eg. a brush) along the side of your nose to the corners of your eye (end point), side of your nose along your eye (arch), side of the bridge of your nose towards your forehead (Starting point). Im sure its quite hard to imagine so here's an image from my portfolio of pretty Miel. You can use these lines as guideline when shaping your brows or when your drawing them on.

1: Starting point, 2: Arch and 3: End Point

As for filling in your brows, there are a lot of products in the market now. There are brow powders, pencils and even creams. Ive tried pencils and powders and I currently use a powder. I like that it gives you more control and isn't too overpowering unlike some of the pencils ive tried. The only decent brow pencil ive liked so far is M.A.C's brow pencil in lingering because you can slowly build the color and it doesnt look too fake.


I like to start filling in my brows in the middle and work my way to the end point where it should be the darkest. My own brows dont have an arch from the several times ive had people shave my eyebrows when they do my makeup (ugh. never ever again). I make sure that the arch on both sides are the same before I move on to the starting point. The starting point should be squar-ish in shape and a tad bit lighter then the middle part and end part of the eyebrow. I sometimes struggle with this because my eyebrows really need to be drawn on. So what I do is I draw the entire eyebrow shape and go back to the starting point and lighten it a bit with a qtip. Another good way to lighten it is by using M.A.C's brow set.

M.A.C. Browset in Girlboy, Beguile and Mink

Swatches (Girl boy, Beguile and Mink) w/ flash



Swatches (Girl boy, Beguile and Mink) w/o flash

My eyebrows: quickly filled it in with an eyebrow powder

Left: Beguile; Right: Girl Boy
I dont normally apply it over my entire eyebrow but I
did in the picture to give you a better idea of what it would look like.

My favorite is Girl boy which looks orange brown on the swatch but when applied looks like light brown. Beguile looks more like Golden brown but darker. I first purchased Mink because it was dark and thought I needed to swipe it all over my brows haha.

I really love the browsets from M.A.C. As nicely shaped eyebrows help frame the face, sometimes lighter eyebrows helps to make the face looks softer. And the browsets do that. If youre afriad of bleaching your eyebrows or want to see what you look like with lighter eyebrows, trying the browset is a good start!


A few more tips ive picked up that might be useful:
- An angular face (eg. square shaped) should have more of a rounded shaped eyebrows, while a person with a round face should make her eyebrows a bit more angular or a bit more arched.
- If youre a brunette your eyebrow color should be at lease 1-2 shades lighter. If you have
red or blonde hair, your eyebrows should be at least 1-2 shades darker


Hope this helps!The best way to get it right is to practice, practice, practice. I am no expert at this, its still a hit and miss for me sometimes and I even still struggle with my own, given that my eyebrow hair are so scarce hahaha.


Would love to hear from anyone who does her brows differently! hehe Ive yet to
try the cream one from MUFE as it is out of stock at the moment but ill let you guys know as soon as I get my hands on it. Oh and btw, if youre in the Philippines the Girl boy browset has been out of stock since March, hopefully they'll have it by next month. =)