REVIEW: Kat Von D 24 Hour Super Brow Long Wear Pomade

I'm not a huge fan of the Kat Von D brand for a variety of reasons, but I was still intrigued when Influenster decided to include me in their Kat Von D brow product campaign. For some weird reason, I've been really in to brow products lately, and I've been especially keen on comparing various micro pencils to my old faithful Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz. Given my product preferences and how I normally wear my brows, I assumed they'd send me the Kat Von D Signature Brow Precision Pencil. Instead, I received the 24 Hour Super Brow Long Wear Pomade and the new #70 brush. I was a bit irked at first, since I admitted to myself years ago that I'm too lazy for brow pomades. Yet I've actually started to like this product over the past few weeks, albeit for very specific situations.

The Kat Von D Long Wear Pomade (as I'll be calling it for the rest of the review) retails for $19 for 5 grams of product in a glass jar with a plastic lid. This is on the cheap side as far as pomade price-per-gram goes:

ELF Lock On Liner and Brow Cream, $4 for 5.4 grams -- $0.74/g
Makeup Revolution Brow Pomade, $8 for 2.3 grams -- $3.48/g
Kat Von D Long Wear Pomade, $19 for 5 grams -- $3.80/g
Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow, $18 for 4 grams -- $4.50/g
MAC Fluidline Brow Gelcreme, $19 for 2.8 grams -- $6.79/g
Benefit Ka-Brow, $24 for 3 grams -- $8.00/g

The ELF pomade is obviously a steal compared to all of these, including the Kat Von D, but it lacks a decent color range. By contrast, the Kat Von D Long Wear Pomade currently boasts 16 shades, 7 in "regular" brow colors and 9 in bright editorial or mixing shades, like a pure white and a vibrant pink.

 From left to right: Kat Von D Long Wear Pomade in Medium Brown; Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow in Medium Brown and Chocolate; L'oreal Brow Stylist Definer in Brunette; Milk Makeup Gel Brow in Pilsner.

Influenster sent me the shade Medium Brown, which is probably my closest match in the range, but not the best shade for me overall--I tend to prefer something ashier, like the aptly-named Anastasia Ash Brown. Still, it's not overly warm, and it's definitely a workable shade for me.

Here's a shot of one brow with the pomade and one brow without, just so you can see the undertones. Again, my brow hairs are cooler and this product definitely leans warm.

The actual application of the Kat Von D Longwear Pomade was about as fussy as I expected: you have to dip your brush in to the pomade, then wipe most of the product off on to the lid or the edge of the jar, or you'll end up with way too much pomade. While I prefer a less drawn-on look most of the time, I think you'll want to use light strokes no matter what look you're going for, since that makes it easier to control the application and shape. I started at my arch and worked back, since that's the more sparse part of my brows, then filled in the front of my brows with what was left on the brush.

Speaking of the #70 Pomade Brush: it's very meh. I found it a bit bigger and thicker than I like for most pomades. The smaller, thinner Anastasia #12 is better if you want to make precise lines and/or have more control over your application, and it comes with a spoolie.

The actual texture of this pomade is a bit lighter and less dense than Anastasia Dipbrow, but I don't think the Kat Von D is quite as workable. You need to work quickly and in small sections because attempting to go back over this product once it has dried will create a bit of a mess: you might pull up a bit of the pomade, but it's more likely that the wet stuff on your brush will stick to the already-dried parts. See this portion of my brow:

Is it super visible to the naked eye? No, but again, I always work slowly and with a light hand to prevent more obvious snafus.

The good thing about the fast drying time, however, is that it seems to improve the wear. I didn't wear this pomade for 24 hours because I refuse to sleep in my makeup, even for the sake of science, but I did wear it for 12+ hours on a very humid day that included some traipsing about town and an hour on the porch in a misty rain. Here it is at the 10 hour mark:

As you can see, the pomade stayed decently in place. I do seem to have a bit of fading right in the middle of the arch, but it wasn't noticeable to the naked eye--I actually didn't see it until I looked at this macro shot. I also have a brow hair that has clearly jumped ship, but that's normal for me and isn't the fault of the pomade. (I skipped clear gel on this day to get the most fair and accurate photographs possible.)

I've also tested this on my lids as eyeliner, and it works okay for that. It's not as smooth or workable as a regular gel liner, and it doesn't seem to have the same wear time on my oily lids as it does on my brows, but it definitely gave me a rich, dark line for most of the day without smearing or flaking. If you were in a pinch or trying to cut down on products in your travel makeup bag, this could work as a liner.

While the Kat Von D Long Wear Pomade is a solid product, and the shade range sets it apart, I don't think it's better than the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow. I found Dipbrow a bit easier to work with and even longer-lasting. Still, I enjoy wearing this product on days when I'm out in the elements for a while and I don't want to worry about touch-ups.

RATING: 4 out of 5

Kat Von D products are available at Sephora.

This product was sent to me by Influenster in exchange for an honest review.

Here's a Post About June

I thought I'd be insanely bored without blogging this summer, since it's probably my current favorite hobby. However, I ended up being totally immersed in Stereotypical Summer Fun with my partner, and I had quite a few products on my to-test list that kept me busy. (Actually, I still have a big list of products to photograph and document...why does this take me so long?!)

First, let me run over a few of my MVPs from this summer. I managed to snag one of these Sephora Chic It Easy sets when it went on sale for $25, which is a crazy awesome deal:

I gave the nail polish to my cousin's daughter, since I already have that shade, and got rid of the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer (not my shade and my mom still has half a tube) and Caudalie mist (contains alcohol). Everything else stayed with me. I was especially excited to have this small vial of Atelier Cologne's Orange Sanguine fragrance, which smells like a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice. I'm not usually big on citrus fragrances because they're so fleeting, and this Atelier offering is no different, but it's been perfect for carrying around in my purse this summer.

I've been continuing my use-stuff-up journey as well, and I managed to finish a deluxe sample of the Kat Von D Lock It Concealer Creme in L3. This is still the best color match I've found for my foundation-free face, and as I've gotten more and more in to the no foundation look, I decided it was worth purchasing a full tube. I'm also working through another sample of Clinique High Impact Mascara, a great choice for full but relatively natural volume and minimal flaking or smearing. And while I've been lazy about wearing highlighter when I'm sans foundation in the past, I've honestly been loving the glow I get from Glossier Haloscope in Quartz. (It helps that I've had my hair pulled up almost every day this summer because it's so humid.) Glossier recently posted something on their Instagram stories about wearing all 3 Haloscope shades at once, and I won't even lie, I've been tempted to try it.

Now for a few product-related downers I've experienced. Influenster sent me the new Maybelline Brow Drama Shaping Chalk to test, and the shade 120 Medium Brown was definitely Not Okay. It's a little too dark for me and way too warm; it's so red on my brows, in fact, that when I wore it, my partner couldn't look at my face without laughing. (I removed it as quickly as I could to avoid being banished to the couch for bad brows.)

I will note, though, that I actually like the formula of this product. The packaging is a bit fiddly--it's a loose powder in a tube, so you'll get a few flakes on your desk when you pull the doe foot out--but the actual chalk is super pigmented and gives you a soft, filled-in look in seconds. If I could find a lighter, ashier shade, I'd probably buy another tube and use it for my lazier days.

They also sent me the Brow Precise Micro Crayon in 265 Auburn, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why they sent that shade. Medium Brown in one product, Auburn in another? WTF? Auburn is even more red than Medium Brown, so clearly, I won't be wearing it out and about.

Things have been rough on the face sunscreen front, too. Most of the American and European options I've been testing have irritated my skin, dried out my face, or produced a swath of pimples across my cheeks, so I've ordered four alcohol-free Japanese sunscreens that should be arriving...um, some time this month. In the meantime, I've been using my La Roche Posay Anthelios Ultra Light Sunscreen Lotion Spray SPF60 on my face. The lightweight formula is totally workable for the face if you spray it on to your hands, then rub it in. The only downside is that I have to keep it away from my eyes because it makes them water. Also, my bottle has maybe one spray left in it. $35 for a spray sunscreen galls me in my current financial state, so I've been trying a few others that ranked highly on the most recent Consumer Reports list.

I'M ON A BOAT!!! #boating #canoe #summerishere #sunday #sundayfunday

A post shared by Renee (@reneesanatomy) on Jun 25, 2017 at 4:33pm PDT

Speaking of sunscreen: did I mention that my partner convinced me to try canoeing? I was nervous that I would look like an idiot (because I'm not athletic in the least) or fall out of the boat (DID I MENTION THAT I'M REALLY NOT ATHLETIC), but I managed to keep my seat and really enjoy myself. I mean, I freaked out a little when Kirby shifted his weight and the canoe rocked, but beyond that, I think this could become my new favorite summer activity!

Pittsburgh's Wood Street Gallery has also had a couple of robots scribing religious texts and duplicating a photo of Mars for the past month. I'm a little offended that a freaking robot has better handwriting than me, but the fact that I can still read and understand some German is a fair consolation prize. The robots will be here until early September, so if you come to Pittsburgh, check them out! The Wood Street Gallery exhibits are always free.

Kirby's friends visited the city at the start of July, and we intended to take them to see the robots and a few other art galleries. Then they heard that Pittsburgh is home to the National Aviary, and it was all over. BEAUTIFUL BIRDS! GIANT FRUIT BATS! A SLOTH! Damn, I love the aviary. Here's our friend Krista feeding some Lorikeets, by the way, which is only $3 a person and totally worth it:

Last, but not least, my incredibly generous partner decided to take me to see In the Heights yesterday. I'd give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars: you can tell that Lin Manuel Miranda wrote this before Hamilton, since the latter is superior in most aspects, but it's still a damn fun musical. If you're curious, Amazon currently has a stream of the soundtrack available. I highly recommend "Breathe" and "Carnaval de Barrio."

We're pretending to be cultured today. #intheheights #musical #pittsburgh #theatre #linmanuelmiranda

A post shared by Renee (@reneesanatomy) on Jul 9, 2017 at 3:43pm PDT

Also, I want to take a moment to appreciate the navy blue jumpsuit I wore to the musical. It's the first jumpsuit I've ever found that actually flatters me. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a very clear, super-flattering photo of the actual outfit.) My aunt is a seamstress, and she shortened the pants for my little legs and raised the shoulders a bit so it fit me even better. Seriously, guys, if you want to look your best in your clothes, spend a couple extra bucks on some tailoring for your favorite pieces.

I'm usually in my pajamas when my niece comes over, so when I came home jumpsuit-ed and saw she was visiting, I made sure to snag a photo with my best girl. She'll be a year old this month!

Oh, and have I mentioned that I've managed to tan a bit? Because I have. I've gotten a hair darker on my face, but because I'm sunscreen-obsessed and usually wearing a hat on longer outings, the change is most noticeable on my shoulders. Hence, I currently have an NC5 neck, and NC15 face, and an NC25 set of shoulders. I will be a patchwork for the next few months, and I apologize in advance.

REVIEW: Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel

I have very fine, light brows, so I usually avoid tinted gels. In my experience, they either go patchy or full scouse. It's also difficult to find a color that won't read weirdly warm on me, for some reason. But I see so little written about Per-fekt's products that, when this brow gel popped up super cheap on Hautelook and looked great in the few Google swatches I could find, I took the plunge.

I paid less than $20 for both the Brow Perfection Gel and a small tube of their mascara because I got it on sale at Hautelook. The retail cost of this product is $22 for 0.15oz. The tube is similar in size to many mascaras, which makes it seem like a steal, but if you compare it to the amount of product in some other high-end tinted brow gels, you'll realize it's about par for the course. (As a side note, I find it interesting that Glossier Boy Brow gets a bad rap for being "a lot of money for too little product," yet if you do the math, it's par for the course for tinted brow gels.)

Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Brow Gel, $22 for 0.32oz

Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper, $26 for 0.14oz

Too Faced Brow Quickie, $22 for 0.17oz

Benefit Gimme Brow Volumizing Fiber Gel, $24 for 0.1oz

Glossier Boy Brow, $16 for 0.11oz

I got my tube in the shade Espresso because it seemed like the most logical choice for my hair color. I can tell you that it is, most likely, way too dark for me. However, looking at the limited shade range, I don't think I could've used the other two options, Champagne and Caramel, because they look very warm. Espresso may be a bit dark, but it's also very ashy. On the whole, I think this shade range should be a bit wider if Per-fekt wants to compete.

 Glossier Boy Brow on the left, Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel on the right

The brush for this brow gel made me a bit nervous at first; it's about the size of a standard mascara wand, only thinner. Compared to my mother's tube of Boy Brow, it looks gargantuan. That said, I found it very easy to control, probably because it's so thin.

Speaking of thin: the Brow Perfection Gel has a very watery texture. Hence, I didn't expect it to give me much color, just a bit of tint on the brows. The first time I tried it, I wiped off the brush once or twice, then went in.

These before-and-after photos are what my brows looked like after I used the Per-fekt brow gel, then went back in with a clean brow spoolie, because holy shit, does this thing drop a lot of product! And it's pigmented, too; it coats the brow hairs and paints the bare skin beneath. Normally I dislike this because, again, brow gels tend to look patchy on bare skin. But the Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel looks decently smooth and natural on my bare patches.

The next time I used this brow gel, I wiped off the brush a lot before going in. The above photo demonstrates the results: the color is off and I wouldn't call it perfect or natural, but it's certainly serviceable, and my brows definitely look fuller. As with most brow gels and tints, the Per-fekt product may be a bit better for people with naturally decent brows who just want to fill in small gaps. However, they'll still have to wipe off the brush to avoid looking like they took a Sharpie to their face.

While I like the general look of this product, especially for minimal makeup days, I'm not too impressed with its performance. It doesn't have much hold, so askew hairs are hard to cement in place. The staying power is iffy as well: it didn't fade or flake on me, but if I touched my brows, I could definitely smear it around.

It doesn't look too dark in this photo, but it seems to read a little blacker in real life.

As it stands, I think I'll finish up this tube, but I won't repurchase. Not only are the shade options all wrong for me, it doesn't have much hold and it's easily overdone. In the end, the Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel ended up being like every other tinted brow gel I've tried: not quite right for me, only recommended for a select group of people.

Rating: 3 out of 5

You can buy this product at Sephora.

Brows Two Ways

There's an old saying I'm fond of: "The grass is always greener on the other side." We look at others and we say, "Oh, man, if I could have ____ like them, I'd be so happy!" In doing so, we forget that we likely have some characteristic or trait that others envy. During my blogging career, this has played out in a rather consistent way: almost everybody who says, "I wish I had skin like yours!" has eyebrows I would kill for.

Because, you know, I don't really have eyebrows. There's a general shape there, just very few hairs, especially from the arch back. I can thank my father for this, since he is one of the most hairless humans on the face of the planet. That means I can skip shaving my legs for a month and nobody will notice*...but it also means less hair from the neck up.

FIRST, A FEW NOTES

To be clear, I am not an expert. I do not have naturally fabulous brows, I am not a super-talented makeup artist, and I don't have a weirdly chic or super easy** routine worked out like some people. I'm just a hobby blogger who said, "Hey, maybe this post will help somebody."

I'll also give a warning to those who haven't been here before: my eyes are asymmetrical. My right eye (the one with the freckle) is smaller, more hooded, and has a lower, straighter brow than my left eye. I used to be really funny about this, and it's one of the reasons why I got in to the habit of taking full-face photos at an angle. But I've kind of just accepted that this is my face and I should enjoy my quirks. If you're a stickler for perfectly-matching brows, though, this post will drive you nuts.

As per the Lisa Eldridge video linked above, I think "feathery strokes" are key, no matter what you do. I know some people like to actually draw straight across, but unless you like a very stark look (and hey, you do you!) or you're an expert, it's easier to get even lines and a textured/somewhat natural look if you do light strokes. Just pretend you're drawing on individual hairs!

Oh, and if you're like me and you like a sharp point on your pencils? Stick them in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. It hardens up the pencil briefly and makes it easier to sharpen for that fine point without wasting tons of product.

HEAVY BROWS

I've been going for a heavier brow lately, in part because I've been wearing strong lipstick or more obvious eye makeup. I prefer a creamier or waxier pencil for this method; these days, I've been using the Milk Makeup Gel Brow. This also works well with pomades like Anastasia Dip Brow.

To start this kind of brow, I brush my brows straight through with a spoolie. (My favorite is the cheapo ELF one.) Then I start filling in the very front of my brows. I do a few strokes and blend them with my fingertip to prevent harsh lines. Repeat until you get the depth you want: stroke, stroke, stroke, blend, stroke, stroke, stroke, blend...

My brows get thinner after the first third, so I have to draw in the shape. I sketch along the top of my brow line first, moving from the arch to the outer corner. Then I work back inward and create a bit of a "tail," but I don't outline the whole way in with the lower part of my brows. If I try to outline my entire eyebrow, I will always always always make them too thick.

Once I've got my outline created, I start filling in my brows, working from the arch to the outer corner with those light, feathery strokes. I use the brow spoolie again to get off most of the clumps that come off of creamier pencils.

This method and these creamier products tend to create a super drawn-on look that irks me a little. Hence, I go back over the brows with a q-tip, smoothing out the pigment and pulling off any remaining clumps. Weeee, the texture is back!

LIGHT BROWS

I think this method works best for me when I use a hard pencil. The star of my kit is clearly the Shu Uemura Hard Formula pencil they'll bury with me.

I start by brushing my brow hairs down to see where I'm especially bare at the moment. This helps me see where I need to apply a bit more pressure, slash, do a few more strokes. Then I brush the hairs right back in to place.

Instead of doing an outline, I just start filling in my brows, going from the inner corner to the outer.  I like to brush my brow hairs up and down once again to catch light spots (they're almost always on the tail), and I add more pencil as is necessary.

Because these brows tend to be lighter, I often like to add a bit of texture so they don't just "disappear" in to my face. I brush the front third of my eyebrows straight up with a brow spoolie; from the arch back, I go up and out--that lifts the brow without making it stick up, so you get the texture without exposing your bald spots. I fill in any now-bare spots with more pencil before setting the hairs in place with clear brow gel. My favorite is from Anastasia.

Boom! That's how I pretend I have eyebrows.


* If anybody ever does notice that I haven't shaved my legs in a while--which usually only happens when I mention it--and they get snitty, fuck 'em. We're mammals, we have hair, and it's not harming anyone. Whether or not you decide to go along with a certain culture's beauty norms is your personal choice.

** Into the Gloss asked me to link to their website's brows section. I was going to do it anyway, but they also emailed me after the fact, soooooo full disclosure!

REVIEW: Colourpop Brow Pencils

If any company has figured out how to use social media trends and YouTube "beauty guru" saturation to its advantage, it's Colourpop. As soon as a certain color or look is about to explode, Colourpop manages to create an entire product line in its $5-6 price range, package them up prettily for the most-watched bloggers, and send out those press samples so the videos and posts can pop up just before the launch date. Some people consider this sneaky or unprofessional, but quite frankly, it's a typical business practice...and it's clearly working for them.

Weirdly enough, the Colourpop brand hasn't worked so well for me. Yes, I know, I gave the original lip products and the blushes 4 out of 5 points, and a 4 on my blog generally means, "Yeah, it's pretty good." But if you pay close attention to the way I write, you'll notice that there are plenty of products I rate highly that do not work for me personally. I mean, if a foundation is really beautiful but doesn't suit my skin tone, or if a lipstick isn't to my usual taste but does most of what it promises, I'm not going to knock it. That's what happened with the Colourpop stuff I tried: I could see why people liked it, and I wouldn't be adverse to recommending it, but it wasn't my speed.

So I held off on trying more Colourpop products until they released a few new items. Since my blush/highlighter review, they've released liquid lipsticks (in matte and satin formulas), bronzers, eye liners, and brow products (in cream pot and pencil formulas). That was enough new stuff for me to place an order and give it another go.

Natural light on top, flash on the bottom. From left to right: Colourpop Brow Pencils in Bangin' Brunette and Dope Taupe, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Brown, Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Ash Brown, Milk Makeup Gel Brow Pencil in Pilsner.

Because I've finally admitted to myself that I'm too damn lazy to apply potted products a la Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow, I got two of the Colourpop Brow Pencils instead. The shades I purchased were Bangin' Brunette, a "true brunette brown," and Dope Taupe, a "soft taupe--the most versatile of them all." Swatched up against other products in my collection, neither is quite like the ashy brown I usually favor: Bangin' Brunette is darker and less gray, Dope Taupe is lighter and warmer.

Still, eight shades seems impressive, right?

Meh, maybe more in theory than in practice. I find that budget brow products tend to run a bit warm/red, and the Colourpop range doesn't seem to be any different. Dope Taupe looks nearly orange on my brows, and while Bangin' Brunette is definitely doable for me, it's still not what I'd call "ashy." Looking at swatches of the full range on other websites, it definitely looks like the range leans neutral to warm. I will also note that the pencil and pot formulas show slight differences between shades, though this may be due to how thick the formulas are when swatched.

With that said, I think most people will be able to find a shade in the range that works for them. I'm hoping they'll release a light gray or charcoal shade for our silver foxes out there, since the supposedly "universal taupe" they've produced is far warmer than the taupe offering in most brow product ranges.

Dope Taupe on left, Bangin' Brunette on right. Why is my face so round in that left picture?!

Colourpop claims that these pencils can be used to draw on individual hairs, but I have to disagree. The formula is just too soft and creamy for that. That's not to say it's always going to look painted on and fake--using featherlight strokes gave me full, but not painted on, brows--but actual individual hairs will be tough for the average user to swing. In this way, the formula reminds me of the Milk Makeup Gel Brow Pencil. (If you want individual hairs, by the way, you'll likely want a cream you can draw on with a brush, or a slightly harder pencil.)

The wear on these is above average. You won't get the "takes you through a war" performance of ABH Dipbrow; I noticed that this product smeared a little when I walked to work one day. It was raining, though, and I was walking half a mile with no coat or umbrella. In those conditions, "smeared a little" is really not bad. Honestly, it's on par with a lot of other brow products and should serve you well in most standard conditions.

Now, let's talk about the packaging. For $5, you get .09 grams of product. Yes, it's small, but this is comparable to the $21-a-pencil Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz, which clocks in at 0.085 grams. It comes with a brow spoolie on the end instead of a cheap plastic comb, which is a huge improvement over most budget brands.

It seems like fantastic packaging at an irresistible price, but there are still some issues here. First, the twist-up mechanism is not retractable. If you accidentally twist up too much of the pencil, or if you want to see just how much you have left, too bad. This strikes me as rather outdated packaging.

Second, while the caps on the pencil end are tight, the caps on the spoolie end are loose and will fall off with some pressure or tapping. Most people won't mind this, since it's just the spoolie, but I'm not crazy about the idea of a brush rolling around in the depths of my handbag gathering dust.

Lastly, Colourpop is apparently incapable of shipping their shit properly. YouTubers are shown opening beautiful boxes full of products, but most regular customers receive their products in a mailer with no extra packaging, so the cardboard boxes for the individual products are always smashed to all Hell. I've even opened a Colourpop mailer and found my products outside of their boxes! I'm told that you need to order at least $50 worth of product to receive a box instead of a mailer, which is fine...but we should still get some bubble wrap. Yeesh.

Now for the crazy part: I'm going to admit that I really like these brow products. Are they the best on the market? Of course not. Shu Uemura Hard 9 Formula exists. But as far as budget brow pencils go, the Colourpop range has surpassed every other $10-or-less option I've tried, and I'd rank it favorably with many mid-to-high end offerings. Despite the somewhat irksome packaging and the limits of the current color range, I'll gladly use this pencil when I travel and have no qualms recommending it to my readers.

RATING: 4 out of 5

Colourpop products are available at Colourpop.com. This is an affiliate link that will give you $5 off of your first order and will award me $5 in store credit.

REVIEW: Milk Makeup

Milk Makeup first appeared on Sephora's website last month, apparating like a fun and funky makeup genie from a bottle. The brand caught my eye immediately with its minimalist packaging and promises of unique, easy-to-use products for on-the-go hipsters. Because as much as I enjoy spending a lazy weekend hour applying my makeup, I am always pressed for time when I wake up 20 minutes late on a work day and need to get myself together before I hit the bus stop.

I was interested in a lot of the Milk Makeup range, but I decided to start with products that might fill gaps in my collection (and were available at the time, since they seem to be rolling the line out over the course of the spring season). I grabbed the Coverage Duo in Fair, the Weekend Lash Stain in 8-Ball, and the Gel Brow pencil in Pilsner.

Let's start with the Coverage Duo, because I wasn't actually able to wear it: my skin responded badly during patch testing. Milk promotes this product as a multipurpose base product, with 0.33 ounces of liquid concealer and 0.08 ounces of cream concealer, housed in super-portable packaging. Now, they call it a liquid concealer, but if you watch their tutorial videos, the models who use this product often apply it in a thin layer over most of their face like a foundation. And the idea of a grab-and-go concealer and foundation drew me in.

But when you think about it, this is rather pricey. Most foundations are a full fluid ounce, while you get a third of an ounce in the Milk Makeup Coverage Duo. (Again, they promote it as a concealer, but it behaves as, and is demoed like, a foundation.) The cream concealer is also super tiny, especially compared to my NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer (0.22 ounces) and my Urban Decay Naked Skin concealer (0.16 ounces). I put a dime on the cream concealer and placed the pod next to a Becca Beach Tint for a visual size comparison.

So yes, it's very portable and small, and it'd easily fit in your purse. But if you break it down to dollars-and-ounces, you're definitely paying for the cutesy packaging and portability.

Here's the Coverage Duo swatched up against the OCC Tinted Moisturizer in Y0, Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint in Light, and Buxom Show Some Skin in Tickle the Ivory. This is too dark for me by about a shade, but it's also very very very pink. I'd peg it at about NW15. So even if I had gotten past the patch testing phase, this product would not have worked on my skin tone.

Despite the fact that I couldn't give these concealers a full test run, I was able to feel the texture and get an idea of the coverage and performance. The liquid concealer is incredibly thin and provides light coverage; it's also easy to blend in to the skin. The cream concealer has an interesting and pleasant texture, kind of like a marshmallow that turns to liquid under your fingers (no, really!). It provides medium coverage. Both feel very emollient, though the liquid stays a little dewy on my skin and the cream dries down to a satin finish.

I also wanted to talk about this liquid concealer applicator for a moment. The Milk Makeup line seems to be quite fond of these rollerball applicators, probably because the idea is that you can just swipe the product where it's needed, smear it out with your fingers, and go. In theory, it's a nice idea, but I have three major problems with it:

1. It's messy. As soon as you start rolling the liquid concealer, you're going to get product all over the packaging, and it can actually smear in to the cap.
2. Sometimes the rollerball puts out a ton of product, and other times you have to roll it for almost a minute to get the liquid out.
3. This isn't very sanitary if you're using it the way it's advertised--the only way you can really clean the rollerball is to rub it on a makeup wipe, and then you're wasting some of the concealer in the process.

Next up is the Weekend Lash Stain in 8-Ball, a jet black mascara that's designed to give you a natural look while lasting for days at a time. This is the product I was the most excited about, because while I don't sleep in my makeup (guys, please don't do that), I do sometimes work for 12+ hours or run around in 95 degree, 85% humidity weather, and a long-wearing, not-makeup-y mascara would be a homerun for me. I'm also a huge fan of mascaras in squeeze tube packaging because it makes it easier to manipulate the product and get every last drop out of there.

Unfortunately, this mascara did not wow me. As soon as you pull the thin, slightly-slanted wand out of the tube, you'll notice it is absolutely dripping with mascara. Wipe it off on the rim of the mascara tube and you'll make a mess; wipe it off on a tissue and you'll be getting rid of half of your mascara.

Even after dabbing off the wand, this product is a nightmare to apply. The formula is so, so liquidy that it clumps your lashes together and smears all over your eyelid. I had to use a lash comb immediately after applying to separate my lashes, scrub my lids with my ELF Makeup Remover Pen, and make sure I applied eyeshadow after mascara so it didn't get ruined. I'm completely baffled by a product range that claims to be low-maintenance, then puts out a mascara that's this much work.

To be fair, you don't have to fuss with this much after it's actually on your eyes. It lengthens a bit and looks very black, but is overall quite natural, which is what a lash stain should be. It doesn't smear or flake throughout the day, and as long as you use an oil-based makeup remover, getting it off of your face isn't that hard. But quite frankly, I don't think the 10 minutes of faffing around is worth it when I can get similar results from a quick coat of Maybelline Full n' Soft. I'm still not sure if I want to keep this product or not, but I'm leaning towards "return."

Natural light on top, flash on the bottom.

The product I expected to feel the most "meh" about, the Gel Brow pencil, actually ended up being my favorite of the bunch. I got the middle shade, Pilsner, which is a dead-on-balls accurate color dupe for the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Brown. (The Shu Uemura Hard Formula pencil in Seal Brown applies a bit lighter to my brows than the other two, but it swatches really red/purple on my hand...I need to just give up swatching that pencil, cause it never works.) There's also a taupe blonde shade called Pale Ale and a darker brown called Dark Brew. I love that the shades are named after beer, but I wish they had a good option for redheads.

The spoolie on the end of the pencil is very serviceable, though not the softest of the bunch, and the lids don't snap on quite as tightly as I'd like. Beyond that, I'm loving this pencil. It definitely has a gel-like texture that smooths over the brows easily without looking flaky or chalky. I can get my brows done in a minute with this pencil because it's so pigmented and soft: brush brow, apply pencil in soft strokes, brush again, repeat process on other brow. The one caveat is that the soft formulation makes it impossible to draw on individual brow hairs, so if that super duper natural brow look is your game, I don't think this product will work for you; it's always going to apply like a "smear" of color. A nice smear! ...but still a smear.

In the above photos, I'm wearing the Gel Brow pencil and the Weekend Lash Stain on the left and am bare-eyed (man, that sounds funny to me) on the right side. I think the done-up brow looks faboosh: emphasized, strong, and appropriately ashy-colored without looking very fake or drawn-on. The stained lashes are definitely black and noticeable, but the amount of work I had to do to get them that way was not entirely worth it.

Milk likes to promote their products as "high concept and low maintenance," designed for cool, young urban people on the go. But "high concept" doesn't necessarily mean "smart concept." It's fine to have some gimmicks, like fun video tutorials and a quirky little paper that can blot your t-zone and roll your weed, but you can't rest on those laurels--at the end of the day, products need to work.

Dear Milk Makeup: if you start focusing more on products that really are fast and functional, and less on products that just look neat in pictures, let me know. I'll give them another shot.

RATING -- GEL BROW: 4 out of 5

RATING -- WEEKEND LASH STAIN: 2 out of 5

RATING -- COVERAGE DUO: ???

Milk Makeup is available at MilkMakeup.com and Sephora.com.

REVIEW: Glossier Boy Brow

I am not the ideal Into the Gloss girl. I don't live in a city, I'm not an effortlessly chic beauty insider, and I was not wowed by most of the Byredo fragrance line. My Instagram has near zero photos of cool beach vacations or stylish outfits and is instead populated with awkward selfies, cat pictures, sloppy piles of makeup, and food glorious food. I own more than three lipsticks and will never be a size 2 again. I've accepted this. Different strokes for different folks and whatnot.

And for a while, I accepted that Glossier's products would not be My Thing, either, especially Boy Brow--because if you watch the commercial they created, every freaking model has decently full brows. I do not. I have some wisps above my eyes that pretend to be brow hairs, and that's about it. Stick me under a bright light and the outer half of my brows will outright disappear, almost like they're frightened little vampire brows who can't suffer the sun.

But somehow, some way, I got sucked in to it. Maybe it was the cute packaging. Maybe it was the YouTube raves. Maybe it was my desperate desire for a brow product that I could slap on in less than 3 minutes. Honestly, though? I think I just wanted to prove myself wrong. I wanted to prove that something designed for cool, full-browed, no-makeup-makeup beauties could work for me, too!

I proved nothing, my friends, except that my wimpy brows need pencil.

Let's start with the price and packaging. For $16, you get 3.12 grams of product in a cute, tiny, matte white tube. I actually like simple packaging like this, and because the tube is so small, it's great for tossing in your purse or traveling. The brush on this is also one of the tiniest I've ever seen on a brow gel, and I appreciate that--I have no idea why some brow gels insist on giving you the biggest, derpiest wands when our brows are kind of a small part of our face.

Despite the incredibly small size of the wand, I found it a smidge difficult to control the gel. The wand picks up a ton of product, so I have to wipe it off on the rim of the tube multiple times before applying. When applying Boy Brow, I often get small smudges of product on the skin above and below my brows, no matter how careful I am. It's easily removed with a fingertip, but it still annoys the shit out of me.

My biggest problem with this product is that it just doesn't work well on sparse brows. Now, if you see the photos above, you'll notice that the front half of my brows look okay: it looks fuller and well-groomed without looking overdone. This is partially because that part of my brow is slightly fuller to begin with, with coarser and more numerous hairs. But as soon as I get to my arches, where my brow hairs are finer and fewer, things get a bit rocky. The gel doesn't coat these thin hairs quite as well, and if it hits bare skin, it leaves flakes all over the place. Even after careful application, I'm left with brows that are slightly patchy.

I also tried sweeping a tiny amount of Boy Brow over brow pencil to see if I liked that look. This is slightly better--it adds a bit of texture to the look--but I have to use a very, very tiny amount. Otherwise, Boy Brow will pull off much of the pencil; even in the above photo, where I was as gentle with the gel as I could be, you'll see a few spots with less color on them.

I'll also note that I'm kind of "eh" about the shade range. I got the shade Brown, and while it isn't the warmest brow product I've ever tested, it's not as ashy as I'd like. I also think three shades (Blonde, Brown, Black) leaves a chunk of the population unrepresented, namely folks with white or gray hair who need a gray or taupe product.

Lastly, I had a real problem with this product yanking out my brow hairs. I'd apply it to my brows, pull the wand back, and notice several of my delicate hairs stuck in the product. This isn't the end-all, be-all, because my brow hairs are quite wimpy and are more easily yoinked than most people's. But it's still worth mentioning.

I do think Boy Brow will work well for people with moderately thick to very thick brows who like an effortless look and hate faffing about with pencil. The fact that it has a clear customer and some efficacy prompts me to rate it a 3 instead of a 2. But overall, I don't think it's worth the mad hype it's getting on YouTube and the blogosphere. It often flakes, sometimes applies patchy, is easily smeared despite the small wand, has a limited shade range, and doesn't have the hold of, say, the Anastasia brow gel. It will suit a certain market, but fine-browed folks like myself should give this a pass.

With all of this said, if you're interested in purchasing this product (or any others) from Glossier, feel free to use my affiliate links in this post--everybody with an account gets one, so this isn't a paid post, I swear. You'll get 20% off your order, I'll get $10 in credit, and who knows? Maybe they'll produce something I can actually use. If that's not your thang, just go to Glossier.com to get your products, no affiliation required.

RATING: 3 out of 5

Affiliate Link: Glossier

REVIEW: Maybelline Define-a-Brow Pencil

  

 My biggest beauty-related frustration would have to be my brows. The hairs are incredibly fine and light, so if I'm not wearing any brow product, they disappear in most flash photographs. The front is noticeably thicker than the arch and tail (though that isn't saying much). And because I sleep on my side, my brows often end up looking like cockroach antennae, poking every which way and necessitating copious layers of brow gel to tame them. A lot of beauty bloggers say they skip their brows when they're doing "quick makeup," but for me, that's not an option.

Enter the noble brow pencil--in this case, Maybelline Define-a-Brow, a cult classic some of my friends have used for years.

Maybelline Define-a-Brow comes in a thin, bright green, twist-up tube with the product on one end and a comb on the other. I've seen this product range in price from $2 to $5; I personally got two pencils for $5 and had a $1 coupon to drop the price even lower. That seems like a real steal, but it's worth noting that you don't get a ton of product: there's only .001 oz of brow goodness in there. Compare that to .003 oz in the Anastasia Brow Wiz and the never-ending .14 oz Shu Uemura Hard Formula pencil. Still, the tiny size makes it handy for traveling or tossing in your purse.

The packaging is cute and the lid stays on there, but beyond that, it's pretty lackluster. For starters, you can't retract the brow product: once you've twisted it up, there's no going back. This means you have to twist up a little, start doing your brows, twist up more as you need it, and so on and so on. It's a bit fussy and time consuming. The rigid plastic comb is also absolutely useless, unless you have the thickest, most unruly brows known to mankind. A spoolie would work better for most people.

 The formula of the Define-a-Brow pencil is very creamy, with just a hint of waxiness. Though pigmented, it's hard to overdo, in part because the thinness of the pencil makes it easiest to use quick, small strokes. I was able to use brow gel and brow wax over this product without smearing or pulling off the color, provided I used a tiny amount--too much brow gel will result in bare patches on your brows. I got good wear from this product as well, with no fading throughout the day.

The Define-a-Brow shade range is rather limited, with only 4 shades. 3 of those shades looked very yellow, but the shade I picked--Medium Brown--looked a tad more neutral. As you can see in the above photos, it really, really isn't; it has a definite red cast that looks incredibly fake on my face. I might have been able to get away with this when I had my bright red hair, but as a mousy brunette, it's not working for me.

Here is Define-a-Brow in Medium Brown compared to the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Brown. You can clearly see that the ABH product is ashier. Not surprisingly, the Anastasia suits me better. Again, you won't find much in the way of ashy shades in this range, so unless you like a warm brow, steer clear.

Define-a-Brow is a decent budget option in terms of the actual pencil, but the shade range leaves much to be desired. The packaging is also outdated and only halfways functional. If Maybelline makes a few tweaks to this pencil, they'll have a much better product on their hands.

RATING: 3 out of 5

Sample Rundown #7

It's time for a new Sample Rundown! Guest starring, yes, an earbud to keep the mascara tube from rolling away. You're welcome.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Dark Brown -- Beyond the fact that these shades are definitely too warm for me (Ash Brown is probably a better fit), this is a pretty impressive product. A little goes a long way, so I'll actually be giving the leftovers from this sample to a friend of mine. The powder is very, very pigmented and applies quite smoothly with the ABH #12 brush. This has pretty good staying power, though it isn't entirely sweatproof, so I'd save it for cooler weather. The darker shade was a little less tricky to apply, which I think is obvious in the picture below. I still find a pencil better suited to my needs, but this is good stuff; I'd recommend it for people with heavier brows who just need to fill in the gaps.

Hourglass Film Noir Mascara -- Another really good product! The formula is very creamy, and you can layer it for a minute straight without getting chunky, clumpy lashes. The mascara gives good amounts of both length and volume, and it's jet black. I wore this to work for 12 hours and experienced minimal flaking or smudging--just a few spots right around the eyes at the very end of the day. Film Noir is relatively easy to take off with an oil-based makeup remover. Unfortunately, this one carries an Hourglass price tag at $28 a tube and doesn't impress me as much as NARS Audacious. If, however, you want something gentler than the NARS, this could be a good option, because the brush is soft and the formula is smooth.

Moroccanoil Body Souffle in Fleur de Rose -- The disappointment of the bunch is this body moisturizer. It promises "intense hydration" and "immediate smoothness," which is what I've come to expect from body butters. But the formula is actually really thin and has a powdery texture. I used the entire sample packet on my legs; compare that the performance of a similar amount of Haus of Gloi Pumpkin Butter, which can cover my entire body. The moisturization level was very, very light, and I had to apply another lotion to my legs the next morning. The scent is decent--a powdery tea rose--but nothing special, especially for the $56 price tag.

Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream -- I've used samples of this eye cream before. It's never wowed me, to be honest, but no eye cream has. However, I'm trying to be more careful with my eyes as I age and to add some extra moisture to the area. And if extra moisture is your main goal, it's hard to top the Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream. A tiny amount of this thick cream goes a very long way; I used this sample packet over the course of two weeks. While the cream is intensely moisturizing and insanely rich, it doesn't leave my eye area feeling heavy or filmy. I'm sure there are similar creams at a lower price point, but I can't deny that I enjoy every sample packet of this stuff I get.

Anastasia Brow Products: A Run-Through

Anastasia Beverly Hills was launched by makeup artist Anastasia Soare in 1997. While they make a small variety of makeup products, the company has focused primarily on creating cult-favorite brow products, like the Brow Wiz pencil and the Clear Brow Gel. I have a hard time finding products that work for my sparse, fine brows, but there's a good chance that if it comes from ABH, I'll like it.

Obviously, this isn't every brow product Anastasia has made: I haven't tried their tinted brow gel, the brow pen only comes in two warm-ish shades that don't appeal to me, and I'm not patient enough for most brow powders. But I definitely want to go over the products I have tried, which constitutes about half of their brow line.

Anastasia Dipbrow - Soft Brown and Taupe

 Wearing Soft Brown on the left and Taupe on the right.

The newest product in the Anastasia Beverly Hills product line is the Dipbrow Pomade. A densely-pigmented cream, you need the tiniest amount of this product to get the job done. It's become popular on Instagram for people who like really drawn-on drag queen brows (nothing wrong with that, but that's really what they are), but you can get a more natural look with this product by using as little as possible and drawing it on in tiny, gentle strokes.

On top of being pigmented, Dipbrow is incredibly long-lasting. I've worn it for 12-hour days and walked through rainstorms with this stuff on, and it didn't budge. You'll need oil to remove it.

Unfortunately, a lot of the Dipbrow shades are quite warm/red. I prefer a much ashier product. It also takes a few seconds to dry down; if you run a spoolie through your brows before the product has fully dried, you may pull off chunks of it.

Perfect Brow Pencil - Medium Brown

My Perfect Brow pencil in Medium Brown is actually a deluxe sample, bought cheap on Reddit.  I actually didn't expect to like the pencil at all because multiple reviews have called it "waxy" and "lacking in pigment," and I mostly bought it for this review. However, I ended up kind of liking this pencil.

The Perfect Brow pencil definitely is a bit waxy, but not enough to feel uncomfortable or to pull out your brow hairs. The harder formula makes it easy to draw on individual brow hairs. It can look a bit clumpy and fake, however, on the sparser portions of my brows; I have to quickly smooth over any tiny clumps with my finger.

Brow Wiz - Medium Brown

 The most popular Anastasia brow product is definitely the Brow Wiz pencil. The pencil itself is a creamy twist-up, which applies easily to the brows with little pressure. As long as you don't press too hard, you can get a very natural look. It's also a very thin product, which makes it easy to draw on individual brow hairs and avoid overdoing it. There's also a tiny brow spoolie on the end of the pencil.

My one qualm with the Brow Wiz pencil seems minor, but it's a major annoyance for me: if you aren't careful, you can put the lid for the brow spoolie side on to the pencil side, smooshing your product. The caps are two different sizes, yeah, but it's easy to mix them up if you're in a hurry.

Clear Brow Gel and #12 Brush

I've been obsessed with the Anastasia Clear Brow Gel for years now. It makes my brows look slightly glossy, but not "fake" or coated the way clear mascara does. It also holds the hairs in place for hours on end without feeling hard or crunchy. If I want to brush my hairs up, the way they are here, I just use a tiny amount of the brow gel, applying in small, upward strokes. My only qualm with the brow gel is that it smells pretty funky.

The #12 brush is also fantastic. While it's considered a "partner product" to the Dipbrow Pomade, I can see it working with a lot of brow powders, creams, and even eyeliners. I also love that it has a teeny, tiny brow spoolie on the other end because I hate carrying tons of brushes when I travel.

So what should I keep?

All of these products are pretty great, but I can't keep every single one. Hence, I decided to look at the shades and choose what was most flattering on my face. As these swatches show, the Shu Uemura Hard Formula Brow Pencil in Seal Brown and the Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Brown are both slightly ashy brunette shades. Dipbrow Pomade in Taupe is, by contrast, quite light and golden...and, as I mentioned previously, most of the Dipbrow shades read neutral-to-warm for me. It's hard to find a truly ashy shade in the line.

Just to make sure I wasn't going crazy with regards to Dipbrow's too-warm shades, I did a very scientific poll on Makeup Alley. Here are some of the responses:

Yeeeeep. It's Perfect Brow or Brow Wiz--those ashier shades--that most people think look better on me. The next ashy shade in the Dipbrow line, Medium Brown, is too dark for me. It's a real shame, because I absolutely love the formulation of the product and would continue to use it if I could get a good shade.

I'm in love with the brow gel, the #12 brush, and Brow Wiz; they're staples in my collection. I don't think I'd purchase a full size of  the Perfect Brow pencil, since I prefer the Shu Uemura Hard Formula brow pencil, but the tiny size and decent formula make it a great product to drop in my makeup bag for touch-ups.

Last, but not least, here are close-ups of me wearing all of these brow products.