Brows a glory!

2014 is going to be the year of the brow. I think the trend to emphasise brows and brow products have taken the beauty world by a storm. They are these days an essential part of any makeup routine and I have taken a likeness to a few brow products which I thought were worth mentioning.

I have been blessed with substantial dark brows that have a natural shape to them. They are quite thick and easily get over-grown though. So I like to get them threaded every 3 weeks and tweeze in between threading sessions.

I usually reserve the brow powders to the weekend when I have more time for my makeup or for special occasions as it takes a little more time but I do love the look they give me. My brow powder of choice is the Billion Dollar Brows (BDB) brow powder in the shade Raven. BDB go on Hautelook every now and then so look out for a sale. I think I paid $9 for this on Hautelook and they are usually $18. They have great shade range and are a soft consistensy that is easy to pick up with an eyebrow brush and stick onto your eyebrow hair and if you press further they can tint your skin. I just find that this eyebrow powder lasts all day and doesn't move all day. I used up the Billion Dollar Brows brow gel which is $16 and is a fab brow gel. I have to say I prefer Anastasia's version now that I've tried it, but I found that BDB's version helped my eyebrows grow (as in get thicker) and that was a HUGE bonus. So if you are in the market for a brow powder or a brow gel I'd recommend Billion Dollar Brows (BDB) as they are slightly cheaper than Anastasia and have a few products that might take your fancy.

I kinda sneakily mentioned my eyebrow brush but I never told you which one I prefer. Almost all brands have these kind of slanted flat stiff bristled brushes now, but the reason I love Bobbi Brown's eyebrow brush so much is that it's super skinny in the width department. Which means I don't have to be quite as careful (read I'm dead clumsy).

So like I said, I reserve the whole brow powder routine for the weekends or when I'm feeling decidedly fancy. On an everyday basis I tend to use an eye brow pencil and the one I use is by a brand called Sumita Beauty. I believe Sumita Beauty have a number of beauty salons in the States and they obviously now also sell some of their own brand products. They are sold on Birchbox.com if you are looking to try their products. I had some Birchbox points and decided to take a gamble and picked up their eye brow pencil in the shade Koyla (it means coal in Hindi), which is also called Dark. The product is made in Korea, and is 0.2 grams in size. The retail price is $11. Now the obvious comparison will be with the infamous Anastasia Brow Wiz which is amazing I'm sure but at $21 a pop and only containing 0.003 grams of product is really quite a bit expensive gram for gram. However the Sumita one does not come with a spooly and only comes in three shades.

The Sumita Brow Pencil is encased in a pewter metal case which twists up to reveal the pencil. The pencil is shaped in a thin oblong shape which I find gives a lot of control. The shade works well for me and the pigment from the pencil really grabs onto the hair. I am really loving this pencil! What a find.

I always use a clear brow gel and I recently ditched the Maybelline Clear Mascara which really wasn't very good. I have moved onto much more expensive but effective pastures. I am currently using the Anastasia Clear Brow Gel sample ($22 for a full size) and I am loving it. It really is like hairspray for your eyebrows! It's very lightweight and has great hold.