Benefit's New Brow Range!

Hello everyone!

Apologies for the lack of posts from us, we have both been super busy recently and have been away at Glastonbury followed by seeing Beyoncé on her stadium tour so time and wifi access a been very limited! We are super tired and looking forward to quiet weekends to catch up on everything so expect lots of posts to be uploaded soon.

The first post I needed to write was to tell you all about the new brow products from Benefit.

I'm sure by now you have all seen the new range but i really wanted to give you my thoughts on it too. 

When I heard that Benefit we're bringing out even more products and redoing their packaging I was equally excited and a little confused, surely there couldn't possibly be any more brow products that were necessary?? Aren't benefit the top sellers for brow products anyway, how can we need more??

Well let me tell you I was suitably impressed when I was invited to the Benefit counter in Boots Llantrisant to see the new products in action. 

There are many of them for starters, and also in new much needed shades. There really is something for everyone depending on the brows you have, the colour of your brows and also the look you want to achieve (which if you are anything like me will change regularly!)

First we had a demonstration of the products to give us an idea of the purpose of each of the products and then we were allowed to go crazy and test them all out ourselves which was fun.



So here's the run down of the new range (all 10 products!) in full:

1) Browvo! - this is a conditioning primer to enhance colour and extend wear, it will help to make your brows appear fuller-looking too which is an added bonus! £21.50

2) Goof Proof Brow Pencil - this pencil twists up to dispense the product and the pencil is flat with one side wider than the other, this makes it so so easy to get your brows on in the morning! Cannot go wrong with this style and it's available in 6 shades. £18.50

3) Precisely, My Brow Pencil - a super fine pencil for the ultra-precise brow and creating individual hair like strokes with 12 hour wear. Available in 6 shades, £18.50.

4) Brow zings - the old favourite and best selling kit has new packaging and a new extendable dual ended brush, plus guess what? Available in 6 shades! £24.50

5) Ka Brow! - this is a new cream gel that almost feels a bit like a mousse, it's waterproof and buildable for all brows even the big ones! 24 hour wear, available in 6 shades, £18.50

6) Gimme Brow - another favourite of mine but now the volumising fibre gel now comes in three shades! £18.50

7) 3D-Brow Tones - a totally new idea to me, this gel will give you subtle brow-enhancing highlights to stop your brows from looking flat. As far as I can see this is available in 2 shades, £18.50

8) Ready, Set, Brow! - this newbie is a shaping and setting gel to keep the brows where they need to be. This one is clear and quick setting to stay for 24 hours. £18.50

9) High Brow and High Brow Glow - these pencils blend super easily to give highlights on your brow bone, one is more luminous than the other

There is also a pencil sharpener, angled brow brush with spoolie, and a grooming tweezer with brush too.

I'm already a big fan of Gimme Brow and have used Brow Zings in the past and liked that too. Nowadays I like brows to be as quick as possible and take minimal time, but I do particularly love the new Ka Brow, the new colours are really good and the gel is so buildable I spent ages playing with it and getting the look just right.

After this I tried the Precisely, My Brow pencil and this was really good for adding in the extra hairs where you may have some gaps.

After this I also tried the 3D BrowTones and was surprised how this came out, it actually looked like my brows weren't flat but they weren't glittery either. I'm not sure I'd purchase this myself but I can certainly see why some people may need it to stop their brows looking so drawn on.

Lastly i finished off my look with the Ready Set Brow! setting gel which was great and something I would definitely want to get my hands on.

So how did it look? See below for some quick selfies post event:

I really like the overall effect and although I was sceptical that I would need even half of the products I can understand why you could need all of them!

They each have their own job and they do all of them very well. I already have Brow Zings and Gimme Brow, but I now realise I need Ka Brow, Precisely My Brow and the Ready, Set Brow! setting gel. Luckily we were given a sample of the setting gel so that will keep me going until I splash out soon!

Have you seen the new products? Which are your favourite?


They are all available and have been since the 24th of June, see you in store!

Thank you to Benefit Llantrisant for inviting me to their event :)


L xxx

Smashbox Brow Tech in Dark Brown

Hello there!

If you're a regular reader you will know that a few weeks ago we went to a Smashbox, Bumble and bumble, and Ojon event, at which I obviously spent a little cash...
A substantial dent was made in my bank account and I've been using them ever since.

This is the first of three products, the Brow Tech, in Dark Brown.

The Brow Tech contains three products, two powders in a lighter and darker shade followed by a wax.
They recommend the Angle Brow brush to apply them but I use the detailer brush from Real Techniques and find it gets in the gaps of my brows very well.

The powders in this shade are perfect for me. My brows are almost black in colour naturally, but who on earth wants to fill in their brows with black powder?? I'm also super pale so if I did fill them in with black I'd look quite ridiculous.

Although I say all this, I've struggled to find browns sometimes that are the right shade. I need it to be dark brown and not a grey shade or a redder shade, sometimes they make my brows look gingery and that's even worse!

This powder however is absolutely perfect. I use the lighter shade to fill in my brows, especially the gaps that i have. I know most people have some gaps but I have some that matches my mums! It's definitely a hereditary thing!

That being said, I then use the darker powder to help define the beginning of the brows and underneath to create a clean line:

It can be difficult in the morning before work to create a brow that's defined and filled in properly. I use Rimmel's Brow This Way to brush my brows through and then I use the powders and wax as quickly as I possible can and hope not to make a mess!








I mostly manage to keep them even though sometimes it does smudge. The colour is pretty perfect for me and the brow wax works really well at keeping brows in place all day, even through a stressful day at work.

The Brow Tech trio costs £17.50. I'd say it was a really good price for three separate products in one pot and that means it's great for me for travelling as I only need to take this tiny thing!

Have you tried the Brow Tech from Smashbox? What did you think?
What is your favourite Smashbox product?

I bought two other products at the same time as this so will be reviewing them soon!

L xxx

Review: Elf Studio Eyebrow Kit

Hi 

Hope you all had a great New Years Eve and are feeling ready for the New Year. L and I had a night in with a Chinese, cider and films. We decided to have a chilled one as neither of us our fans of New Years Eve and had drunk a little too much on the weekend.

It was really nice to wake up today and not be hungover and feel positive for what the year brings. I've even been for a run today. Now I just need to keep it up. I'm so excited for this year already. I'm feeling in a much happier place with lots to look forward to including the prospect of buying a house, seeing my brother get married in Cyprus, Glastonbury with some of my closest friends and a few challenges including tough mudder and a half marathon. What plans have you got for the New Year?

Anyway onto today's review. I'm always on the quest for perfect brows. Being pale skinned with lilac/blue/pink (it's a mess) hair at the moment I aim for blonde brows as I think they suit me best. I always like my brows to look well defined with good shape but not too drawn on, powdery or dark for me. Two of my favourite products are BrowZings and New CID I-Groom brow pencil. I love both of these but had heard good things about the ELF brow kit and like the sound of the gel as I thought it would help soften my brows.

With ELF opening up in Cardiff I couldn't resist a sneaky purchase. I tend to not order make up online that I've not been able to look at in person so had been put off until the store opened. I was a little put off by the staff as customers around me seemed to be getting more assistance than me but it did save me money as I only got what I wanted. I'm excited to go back and try the cream bronzer though.

The brow kit has a slight rubberised packaging and comes in an impressive 4 colours. It does get dirty but it is a bargain at £3.50.

I went for the shade light. I'd be keen to see ash in person as I'm not sure which would suit me more. It comes with a brown gel and a light coloured powder. It also comes with a brush which I tend to ignore in kits like these. It had a few stray hairs on it so went straight in the bin.

I was excited to try out the gel. I love that it lightly tints my brows, holds the hairs in place and adds a soft amount of colour that looks natural and not heavy. I then add a small amount of the powder to set the brows and add a bit deeper colour. 

Here are a few photos of my brows done with the elf brow kit.

The kit has really impressed me. The colour is great. It gives light brows without them looking powdery. Below you can see it next to BrowZings. The gel is a light consistency than the wax and the shadow in the ELF is lighter. I still love BrowZings and when I dye my hair on Saturday will probably end up using the gel from the ELF kit and the powder from BrowZings.

Overall I'm really impressed with my first elf purchase and will definitely be repurchasing it though I can see it lasting me a long time. 

Have you tried the Eyebrow kit? Any Elf product recommendations? Are the brushes any good?

Love M

xxx

Benefit's BrowZings

Hi ladies!

I've been having an absolutely crazy past few weeks and cannot wait for this weekend to chill out and catch up on some much needed sleep and relaxation.
To top it off work has been hectic with so many people being off on holiday and leaving me to do things which is stressful seeing as I have only been there 2 months.
I cannot wait for my own space and time again!

A staple of my current work make up bag is obviously a brow product, I'm a firm believer in defining brows for your face and not fighting your natural shape. I love big and beautiful brows and I wish mine were a bit Cara Delevigne, but unfortunately I'm out of luck.

Instead I use this very trusty kit from Benefit, which you will of course have heard about. I know i seem a bit behind the times but it took me a while to come around to a brow kit and I have no idea why!

This kit is a perfect compact set of products and tools to shape and define your brows on the go or at home to set yourself up for the day.

It contains a wax for shape, powder for setting, tweezers for shaping and two brushes to help use the powder and wax.

As with all Benefit products it contains a booklet with a lesson inside, which are usually pretty good but this one especially was helpful when using a brow kit.
The technique can take a bit of practice to get your brows just right, so they're not taking over your face but are neatly defined. It can be daunting and a bit off putting, but these lesson booklets are great.

The step by step guide as shown above is super helpful and typical of Benefit products.

I'm sure you'll agree with me, the packaging is perfect! Super cute and perfectly compact, it's contains everything you need. The black print on the outside is also pretty cool, I love all of their packaging but this is one of my favourites as it's so simple.

There are 3 colours, light, medium and deep.
I have almost black eyebrows and super pale skin, which has meant that it has been hard to find a brow kit that is the right colour for me.
My brows, although dark, are not the red tone that lots of brow kits seem to have in the darker shade which is quite frustrating, but when M gave me this one to try I was amazing that the light was a perfect shade!

M has informed that apparently Tanya Burr also uses the light colour, which just confirms everything really doesn't it!
I couldn't resist having a quick use before photographing so let's give me a quick slap on the wrist for that....

You can see the wax and powder in the photos and the tools that come with it:

I find this kit so easy to use i am annoyed at myself for not trying it before!
The photos below show my brow before and after using the kit (apologies for different lighting, my camera was having issues!)

You can see that without any product in them my brows are quite long but are patchy at the beginning and a bit straggly at the ends.
The wax allows me to create a more defined shape, and the powder fills in the patchy bits so they look more uniform.

I adore using the Brow Zings kit and I'm so grateful to M for giving me a spare one that she had.

It really has completely changed the way I do my brows and therefore my make up every day of my life!

Do you use Brow Zings? Have you picked a colour different to the one you thought you'd be?

L xxx

Eylure Shape and Shade

After seeing a photo @LydiaEmillen (you can find her blog here) posted on twitter I instantly noticed her perfectly groomed eyebrows and had to ask her what she used. Eyebrows is something both L and I notice on people and I think a well groomed brow really finishes a make up look and frames a face. I have very fair brows due to being blonde and if I don't use any product on them they are easily hidden.

My two favourite before discovering this pencil were the New CID i-groom pencil which costs £15.50, found here. This comes in one colour which is meant to suit everyone. It works really well on my faint eyebrows! It comes with a groomer on the end and both have lids to keep them clean.

Image from New CID website

The second brow product is the Eylure Brow Palette. This is a set with two brow shades a highlighter and a wax, aswell as stencils. I'm not someone who has got into using a wax yet. I just can't get into the habit and only one of these shades suit my brows. This retails at £10 and can be found here. While I like the powder it wasn't my perfect brown product as I found I only used one thing in the set. The brush was ok but got dirty quick.

Image from ASOS

Onto my new eyebrow love. The Eylure Shape and Shape. I use this in Shade 3 for Medium to Light blonde. This is £5.39 from Boots and is currently on buy one get one half price.

It's a simple packaging with the colour of the product the colour of the packaging. It comes with a cover for the pencil but not the groomer which I would prefer it did.

It comes in three different shades and is described as being good to fill in sparse brows. I agree with this. It really fills in the bald patches in my brows. I always seem to have a slight bald patch annoyingly, and this fixes it.

The pencil itself is quite hard but I like this. It's easy to do lots of little strokes to build up brows so they look natural. I find some pencils that are softer hard to build up a natural look as you get large strokes.

The brush part is pretty standard. It does the job well. I like to brush my brows down after I've applied the pencil as I find it gives the best result and blends the pencil into the brows further.

As you can see here it's quite a natural blonde shade. For anyone one with lighter hair that doesn't like to dark of a colour and just to enhance there natural brow to shape the face this is perfect.

Please ignore my unplucked brows and slightly swollen make up free eye I was sporting a very unpretty eye infection that meant no make up. I still did my brows to give my face a little something. As you can see it just gives a nice natural effect.

This is my new favourite eyebrow product. Thanks for the recommendation Lydia. 

I have such brow envy! and make up envy in general of Lydia! Doesn't she look flawless!

I really want to try the New CID i-fix next in my quest for the perfect brow. Have you used any of the products mentioned? What's your brow go to product?

Love M

xxx