Brows-ing Benefit Cosmetics
If you were young in the 90s, you’ll remember all too well the trend of over-plucked, pencil thin brows.
Everyone was channelling this ‘carried away with tweezer’ vibe; hey, it was in vogue.
I remember being in Primary school and being super aware of not only how thick my eyebrows were, but also how dark they were too. I’ve always had very unruly brows that grow in all directions and with individual hairs being super long.
My mum always kept tweezers handy, so I frequently hacked into my eyebrows trying desperately to thin them out and make them look like the celebrities in my magazines like Mizz and Sugar, often I’d take them in too far in the middle and look ridiculous – or commit a cardinal sin and tweeze from above. Don’t even ask what happened when I discovered razors.
For Christmas this year, one of my brothers bought me a Benefit brow set with five different products that I’d been eyeing up, and while I was more than chuffed with it, it got me thinking about the transition from skinny, barely there brows to the current trend of strong, shapely brows that definitely frame the face better.
This Instagram highlights it better than I could, and really the skinny-brow vibe goes back further when you think about it – plenty of proper old portraits show these teeny squiggles that claim to be eyebrows.
Proof that even Chrissy Teigan gets it wrong from time to time...
For this post I wanted to share some of Benefit’s top brow products, what they do and what I think of them.
The ‘Magnificent Brow Show’ came in lovely packaging. I’ve said before that I don’t really care much for either the look of products or the boxes they come in, but this carnival-style box with pull out drawer is very cool. The rear side of the drawer also comes with hints and tips on how to create your best brow looks.
So, in the words of Brad Pitt, what’s in the box?
Gimme Brow+
This is actually the only Benefit product I’ve used before, the small wand coats eyebrows with a fibrous tinted gel to give instant volume and colour. Quite often this is the only brow product I use if I’m having a low-makeup kind of day.
Precisely, My Brow Pencil
The ultra-fine tip of this pencil is perfect for creating the illusion of individual hairs, meaning it can be used to fill in sections of your brow where a little more depth might look better. The other side of the pencil has a super handy spoolie to keep brows brushed in the right direction and to help smudge any errors.
Goof Proof Brow Pencil
This thick, tapered pencil is great for quickly filling brows and giving the illusion of thickness. The tapered end is great for adding little bits of definition where needed, this pencil also comes with a spoolie on the opposite end.
Ka-Brow!
This pot of gel-cream is perfect for creating a highly defined and sculpted brow look. The tapered brush within the lid is ideal for creating a statement eyebrow.
24-Hr Brow Setter
This clear gel is the finishing touch for setting your filled brow or can be used alone to simply give a little oomph to plain brows. Coating from root to tip, it helps define and hold wayward hairs in place. It’s the closest any of us are going to get to brown lamination for the foreseeable, and to be honest I’m here for it.
As I mentioned previously, I’ve used the Gimme Brow+ before as have had a couple of wee sample sized – so it’s always been used quite sparingly. I’m excited to have a fullsize brush to really see what it can do.
For my first time playing about with it, I used the Precisely My Brow, and 24 Hr Brow Setter.
Oddly, it has been so long since I wore a proper makeup look that I couldn’t tell whether I’d gone totally overboard with the pencil and made my eyebrows look mental, or whether I’m just so used to plain brows with a bit of coloured gel.
I’ll finish off with the continued belief that eyebrows are a work of magic, and while a matching pair are covetable and rare, don’t go attempting them with your mums old tweezers.
Have you tried any of the Benefit brow products? I'd love to know what you thought of them.