If anyone has any pointers for helping me to improve my eyebrows, I'm all ears! At the moment, I have to take them off about a million times and start over because the individual brush strokes are either too thick or doesn't want to transfer onto the vinyl at all. So eyebrows are probably the most time-consuming for me.

Oh, and at the moment I'm using nail detail brushes with only a few bristles left, and Genesis paints.

A trick to looking younger – lush and full eyebrows. Someone needs to tell this to the woman who waxed mine last week. with my usual girl on vacation, I entrusted my brows to someone new. Apparently she must have thought I looked young enough. At least that’s what I’m telling myself would be the only reason for plucking and waxing someone to oblivion. Brow-ow.

Known for years at the go-to brow pencil, I gave the ybf Automatic Eyebrow Pencil a try. It claimed to be in a universal taupe shade. the brow pencil is supposed to change color based upon the amount of pressure you apply. I wasn’t sure about that. Could a dark haired beauty rock it as well as a fair maiden? actually, she could. I grabbed my blonde friend, and her lighter brows took to the pencil just as well as my darker ones did. the brow brush on one end of the pencil helps even things out by softening your drawn-on feathers even more.

I should have known something named ybf (your best friend) wouldn’t let me down. Now if only my waxing woman would get back from vacation.

The ybf automatic universal taupe eyebrow pencil (shown above with the bonus behavin’ brow gel) is available for $12 at ybfstacey.com.

I’m in love with swipe and go things. Makeup remover sheets, cleansing sheets, etc. Anything I can pull out, swipe across my face and drop in the trash has got my vote. even Dora the Explorer’s Swiper gets a bad rap, IMHO.

Enter the Facial Radiance Pads from First Aid Beauty (FAB, for short). Guess they would be FRP from FAB. that doesn’t sound as fab though. but trust me, these things are fab.

Just smooth on once or twice a day, and your skin gets the dynamic duo of lactic and glycolic acids to exfoliate and condition. for a little tender TLC, cucumber and Indian gooseberry tone while lemon peel brightens your complexion. FAB’s antioxidant booster of licorice root, feverfew and white tea, is a free radical’s worst nightmare, so your skin has an extra helped in fighting the war against the environment. After using them every morning (although you can use them in the evening too), I felt my skin was smoother to the touch and my pores seem less visible.

I know, all those “acids” sound daunting. but don’t get all sensitive. these aren’t the skin pads of yesterday. Gentle enough to use every day, they have no parabens, fragrances, harsh chemicals and even sensitive skin can use them without hassle. they aren’t anything like those alcohol-laden toner pads we used to use back in the day. the ones that made our skin tight and our eyes sting. good times.

So I’m happy with my new chance to swipe some great skin. but be warned, Swiper. You stand no chance of grabbing any of these.

Facial Radiance Pads are available for $28 at Amazon, Sephora and at firstaidbeauty.com.

I’m always searching for great night creams. since when you start to slumber is the time when your skin gets to work repairing itself, the cream you use should help it out a bit.

Last month, Vichy Laboratories launched its new Rhamnose 5% skin care anti-aging line. Although awkward to read (the word “Rhamnose” conjures up images of someone biffing you in the nose), this ingredient is a one-two punch against aging and wrinkles. A naturally derived plant extract, it’s been proven to stimulate skin rejuvenation from the inside out (that’s right in both your dermis and your epidermis). Which means collagen and elastin production are increased, combating those pesky wrinkles and sagging.

Low and behold, there’s a night cream in the new line—Vichy Liftactiv with Rhamnose 5% Night.

Although it falls pray to one of the biggest issues I have with night creams (why do they all have to smell so flowery?), the texture is rich and creamy without feeling like you just layered your face with another blanket. It immediately hydrates and gives a sense of comfort to your thirsty and tired skin. LiftActiv also features continuous release Vitamin C, clinically proven to boost the production of collagen and elastin fibers. Their studies have shown that combined with the 5% Rhamnose, visible wrinkle reduction is seen in two weeks. if you can wait eight weeks, you’ll see a 20 percent reduction of key issues likeforehead lines and crow’s feet.

Now that’s what I call beauty sleep.

Vichy Liftactiv with Rhamnose 5% Night is available at CVS and Walgreen’s for $49.

Eyes on the prize, they say. Well, there are some mornings where my eyes look like they didn’t even know there was a contest, let alone a prize. Lack of sleep, stressed out schedule, late night…whatever the reason, they sometimes look a little lackluster. Easy enough to solve. Put on a little eye-brightening shadow, and I’m good to go.

Luckily I haven’t gotten to the stage where this is a daily concern…droopy eyelids and brows. but I’m sure as time goes by, it’ll be on my mind (and in my mirror).

Known for relying on the prettiest mother of them all (Mother Nature) for beauty, Wei East has been using the delicate inner lining of the Chinese chestnut for its lifting creams for years. they introduced a new trick this month. they added Black Soy peptides for an uplifting experience in their Chestnut Firming skincare.

Specifically on my gotta-get list is their brand new Refirming Eye Treatment. the soy is a joy, lifting and toning drooping lids and brows, naturally restoring eye area elasticity and smoothing away imperfections.

The cream also boasts seaweed rich in minerals and vitamins to condition and revitalize dull skin; and Chinese Angelica, a true angel in natural plumping and promoting circulation.

I guess I have one thing to say. Droopy eyelids, see you never.

Wei East Chestnut Firming with Black Soy Refirming Eye Treatment is available at weieast.com for $35.

“I moved to London almost ten years ago now. I’m from a really small town called Wolverhampton; it’s near Birmingham right in the middle of England. My approach to beauty has always been experimental, but when I was fifteen I found my look and I have literally stuck to it ever since. Now, I’m twenty-seven years old and I still wear black eyeliner, eyebrow pencil, and some lip gloss, and all that’s happened over the past twelve years is that my products have gotten more and more expensive. We have a brand in the UK called Rimmel, it’s what every teenager starts using—I’ve been using a Rimmel eyebrow pencil since I was fifteen, when my cousin decided to shave my eyebrows as everyone does when they’re a kid when you’re testing stuff out. My mom went mental and she helped me fill in my eyebrows with a pencil and kind of since that day they’ve never grown back. And I really love thick eyebrows—my brow icon would have to be Brooke Shields. If I could have those eyebrows, I would cry.

When I wake up in the morning, I wash my face with Dermatologica Special Cleansing Gel and then I’ll pat it dry. Then, I kind of have a merry-go-round of moisturizers depending on if I’ve been drinking the night before—my skin will be really dry—but the one I’ve been using daily lately is the Kiehl’s oil-free one, the one in the little blue bottle. I brush my teeth while my moisturizer is sinking in, because if I try to put makeup on straight away, it just goes all greasy. I use that Marvis toothpaste in Jasmin. I love it—you can buy it from Liberty. Then I put my makeup. I’ll use MAC Studio Fix Foundation in NW50. Then I’ll do a sweep of black eyeliner with Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner. Then I’ll put on YSL mascara. Before I had a baby, I never used to wear lip color—I was always just a Vaseline girl, like bare Vaseline on my lips—but then when I had a baby and I didn’t feel so glam, I felt like lipstick was the quickest way to instantly make my face look good. So, I’ve started wearing lipstick. The one that I wear most to spice my face up is MAC’s Ruby Woo, which is a classic red one, or a YSL nude one, Nude Beige. I prefer a nude every day, because I like my lips to be almost the same color as my skin, does that make sense? I like it when it looks quite ‘60s, like when your lips are the same as your skin and just an eyeliner is popping out. I like that. And I love Yves Saint Laurent because of the packaging. I won’t buy a beauty brand if I don’t like the packaging, which is really bad. I love Aesop because I love the branding of it, and I use a lot of Kiehl’s. I kind of want my bathroom to look a certain way, which is white, gold, brown. There’s a photo on Into The Gloss that I just thought, ‘That’s my bathroom inspiration!’ where the girl has all of the Yves Saint Laurent mascaras on the fur—Lisa Marie Fernandez. I love her swimsuits. I love her aesthetic. When I saw that photo, I was like, ‘Yeah! That’s totally what I’m into.’ So, yeah, that’s kind of my face. You know what else I love? A little bit of Vaseline on the eyelids. Sometimes I feel like it makes my makeup move around but if I put it really close to lash line, like one dot, you’re good. I just love that glossy eyelid look. It’s, like, so 2002 or something.

I get my hair done by Alex Brownswell at Bleach London; we share a salon with them. They basically brought out this dip-dye trend that exists now—it wouldn’t be mainstream without Bleach London. My natural hair is kind of like chin-length and then she puts in extensions, some Brazilian hair. The only thing I ever do is use Moroccanoil. So, I’ll wash it with Kiehl’s Amino Acid Shampoo and then I’ll use that cheap Aussie conditioner. I use loads of conditioner on it and then sometimes I’ll use coconut oils or treatments or conditioners from the afro hair shops—there’s so many afro hair shops in the square mile of my house. Every day I just rub a bit of Moroccan oil on it and I brush it. I recently watched Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, have you seen that Russ Meyer film? I was like, ‘The girls in that film look incredible!’ There’s a black girl, a redhead girl, and like a blonde-y brunette and their hair is so big and amazing. So, I did my hair a bit thicker this time. Like, I put more extensions in it and I curled the bottom bit because I wanted it to have that kind of seventies big curl bounce, do you know what I mean? I get a lot of my inspiration from films, to be honest, for almost everything. Like, when I was fourteen and watched that film Jamón Jamón with Penélope Cruz in it, and all summer I just wore espadrilles and a-line dresses. I love a woman in a film for makeup, hair, clothing inspiration.

When I was younger, I always painted my nails myself. I used to watch Clueless and I’d want my nails to match my eye shadow to match my hair accessories, so I remember painting them lilac all the time. And then, when I moved to London and started university at Central Saint Martins, I started getting them done at salons, but they were never like great. I remember seeing this one shot of an entire hand in Vogue, and the nails had a white base with a neon pink tip and a neon green moon—it was incredible. And I ripped it out and put it on my wall. But I was so frustrated with the fact that I could never go to the nail salon and they would just do something out of the box without a fuss. Like, sometimes they just wouldn’t do it, or sometimes they would do it but kind of begrudgingly. So then, when I graduated, I had a really good year of styling. I used to assist Nicola Formichetti, who was the fashion director of Dazed and Confused magazine back then—he was always so successful. And then I started styling my own stuff—I was styling loads for Nike and Levi’s, lots of really good commercial work, so I was earning good money. And then I just had the idea to open a nail salon, because I had another crap nail job. Like, I wanted a Dior-red base with white tip or white half moon and they just wouldn’t do it. I was so angry—when my boyfriend picked me up, I got into the car and slammed the door and said, ‘You know what? I’m just going to open my own nail salon!’ And that was that! And then he actually found the location, which was a couple of doors down from where we lived at the time. And when I look back, I was so naïve…I don’t know what I was thinking. I took the lease on the building, and we had no money left to fit it out by the time I paid the lawyers out for the lease—I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t think about that bit!’ So, we had to fit it all out ourselves. My boyfriend literally poured the concrete on the floor and I painted all the walls, everything.

I found my staff, then I had a few little private ‘thirty girls come get your nails done’ type things and that went crazy. WAH finally opened July the 31st, 2009, and the party was packed. Like, it spilled out onto the street. And all the convenience stores and the corner stores—like, there’s a fish and chip next to my shop—they stayed open two hours extra because they had so many extra customers spilling in from the party. It was so funny. Then what happened is, the salon is huge—it’s cavernous, when really all I need is four nail desks that take up a quarter of the space. So I met these super cool girls, hairstylists—one of them just came and got her nails done and she said, ‘I really love the salon. I really wanted to open one to be like this.’ And I kind of thought, ‘Oh, lots of people have kind of imitated the idea and tried to copy it,’ so I was really surprised that she came right out and told me that she wanted to do one like it. Like, once we started doing nails, girls just started popping up doing nails that had never been doing nails before. The fact that she outright told me that I was her inspiration for it, and didn’t have any qualms telling me, I said, ‘Well, why don’t you just have it in the back of here to start with if you want.’ So they were like, ‘Yeah, that’d be really cool.’ They’re my closest friends now. They opened Bleach in the back of my store on our first birthday, so they were just born and it was our first birthday. And the flyer we did, I did the flyer, I did a gif where it was Lil’ Kim and Courtney Love crouching down in the same pose, because, to me it was like WAH was like Lil’ Kim and Bleach was like Courtney Love…they’re like two sides of the same ‘90s experimental girl coin.”

Photographed by Rachel Chandler Guinness 

Filling in my brows is the most important makeup routine for me because I have baby fine brown hair, so if I don't use eyebrow makeup I look different. Even if I have already grown my brows it's still not as visible as I want it to appear because it's still sparse. I use eyeshadow on my brows and it works great but recently I have been using pencil more because I can draw fine strokes and make them appear like my natural hair. I always try new stuff to the find the perfect one for me so when I saw this on the counter, I just had to get it. The hard plastic packaging is really clean and pretty, and comes with about 2 inches of product which should last for about 2-3 months depending on how much product you use on every application. 

This brow pencil is automatic so no need to sharpen it anymore. Just twist it, turn it, and apply. This is a crayon eyebrow pencil hence blendable, soft, and could easily break so don't twist it up too much. You can create natural looking brows by drawing feather like strokes and brushing it with the spoolie that comes with the product. It's very easy to blend that you can use an angled brush spread it evenly for a smoked out effect. It's also buildable you can add more product for thicker and bolder brows. 

wedge like lead

comes with a soft spoolie

The shade I have is in 04 brown and there are 3 other colors to choose from. The shade is a natural brown and perfect for my liking. It comes with a soft spoolie that doesn't hurt my skin when I use it and I really like it! Staying power is incredible as it can last for more than 9hrs. It's not waterproof but stays on really well even on this extremely hot weather! 

The Face Shop Lovely ME:EX Auto Eyebrow 04 Swatch

I love using this brow crayon pencil but I still prefer using a brows pencil as I have better control.  Hard brown pencil is easier to apply and I have less tendency of over-drawing and depositing too much product. Still this is a good quality product and inexpensive. 

My verdict: 4.5 STARS! I recommend this to anyone who likes using brow pencils to fill their brows. The Face Shop is a great brand and this is a quality must have product. 

Image: © .shock / Fotolia

The shape and form of the eyebrows plays a big part in your whole image. Below you will find a few tips on how to make your eyebrows beautiful and give them a well-maintained look.
Eyebrows add content to the face and help determine its shape. This is why proper cleaning of the eyebrows is so important in adding to your overall beauty.
Tweeze in the evening. This will allow sufficient time for the redness and irritation of the skin to pass. There will be no trace of them in the morning.
The tweezers should be held at an angle and the hairs should be pulled individually in the direction of growth.
Do not remove the hairs above the eyebrows. This way you will help them keep their height and natural look.
Do not pluck more hairs than necessary.
For a better grip, use a short eyebrow pencil. Begin applying it at the inner part and stroke toward the outer part of the eyebrow.
Follow pencil application with a brushing, to give it an even spread.
The best eyebrow shape is considered to be the one ending a little way from the outer corner of the eye and peaking at the outer corner of the iris when looking straight.
And a few more tips:
Before tweezing, clean the eyebrows with an alcohol based lotion. This helps to numb the area and dull the pain of tweezing. An ice cube can be used instead of lotion.
The tweezers should be used at a 45 degrees angle.
If you are applying eyebrow pencil, choose one which is at least two tones lighter than the tone of your hair.

What I Used:

under eyes: Make Up For Ever HD Concealer in 325

eyeliner: The Body Shop Liquid Liner in Black, NARS Eye Pencil in Hollywoodland

eye shadow: MAC Eyeshadow in Pen ‘N Pink, NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Bellissima

eye brows: MAC Eyebrow Pencil in Fling

eye lashes: Lancome Hypnose Drama

cheeks: NARS Blush in Penny Lane

Okay, here is your opportunity to put that Cat Eye to use that  I know you’ve been practicing since I posted my Cat Eye tutorial two weeks ago! In my last post, I demonstrated a smudged eyeliner, so today, as a little “compare and contrast” exercise, you’ll see how a clean, liquid lined eye can totally change the shape of your eye.  I think it pretty incredible how something as simple as eyeliner can completely alter our face.  I urge you to experiment with varying techniques to see how they change your own face.  You’ll probably find one way you think looks best (for me in the winged liner), but don’t get pigeon-holed into only wearing your makeup that way.

I began this look by lining the top lid with liquid liner from The Body Shop.  This is a great liquid liner if you’re a beginner because it’s not waterproof.  That means you can apply it and then shape it easily with a damp Q-Tip.  I made pretty a dramatic, ’60s cat eye here.

Next I applied MAC Pen ‘N Pink (a light matte pink) shadow to the lid from liner to crease.

Then I used the brownish-gray shade from the NARS Bellissima Duo to contour into, and slightly above, the crease of the eye.  You should keep the contour shade around the outer area of the eye, as bringing a dark color toward the inner corners of your eyes can create the illusion that your eyes are closer together.  (I’ll do a post on this phenomenon at a later date.)

Next, I applied the NARS Eye Pencil in Hollywoodland wrapping around inner corners of the eyes.

Then I applied NARS Cream Blush in Penny Lane to the apples of the cheeks with my finger.

Finish the look with mascara.

Eyebrow pencilling is something that came quite late to me. Mine are naturally dark so it’s not something I ever felt would make all that much difference. This changed when I worked briefly on a Benefit cosmetics counter as a BA and was told bluntly by the beauty manager that my naked brows simply wouldn’t do and that I’d better get on it, stat.

As you’d expect, counters tend to be quite strict with the products their BAs wear to work. I had this brought home to me when I wore a combination of Urban Decay’s Money (shimmering blue-green) and Radium (cobalt blue) eyeshadows and a customer asked me if I could do the same make-up on her. I was INCREDIBLY flattered but unfortunately I couldn’t recreate the look on her because every eyeshadow Benefit sells is a neutral. Awkward. The upshot is that I had two options for on-counter brow definition, Benefit Instant Brow Pencil or Brow Zings, which is a small box containing tinted brow wax, setting powder, miniature brushes and a teeny, tiny pair of Tweezerman tweezers. This latter option was always extremely popular, despite costing £23.50 and being, in my opinion, a right royal pain in the arse. I can be bothered to do a lot of ridiculous, time-consuming things with myself, but applying two separate products to my eyebrows with little brushes my gargantuan sausage fingers are ill-equipped for is not one of them.

Benefit Instant Brow Pencil in Medium, £14 from Debenhams

The effect of Instant Brow Pencil, however, is much more, er, instantaneous. Admittedly it has the same number of steps to it as Brow Zings (i.e. two), but it’s so much faster and easier to use and there are no small parts to lose (or pose a choking hazard if you have young children in the vicinity). You simply shade your brows in with it and then blend the wax a little using the comb (technical term: “spoolie”) at the other end of pencil. Boom.

The pencil comes in three shades and you will almost certainly be the middle one, ‘Medium to Dark’. This is because the ‘Deep’ shade is not black but a sort of charcoal grey – the only time I sold one of these in six months was to a girl looking for a grey eyeliner, not a brow pencil – and the ‘Light’ shade is only good for those with the very fairest of colouring. Unfortunately Benefit hasn’t yet cottoned on that 90% of their customers are going to need this medium shade and frequently run out online and at their counters. If you find one in stock somewhere and you like it, buy it!

Although Instant Brow Pencil is more or less beloved by all, the common complaint seems to be that it runs out too quickly. This is actually a case of user error rather than a serious shortcoming on the part of the product; the pencil is very soft, so if you use it with anything less than the lightest of touches you are going to end up a) getting through a whole pencil every month and b) walking around looking like Frida Kahlo, i.e. terrifyingly hairy. Next time you use it try delicate, feather-light strokes and build up the shading gradually. That way it’ll seem less outrageous that you spent £14 on a single eye pencil!

Naked eyebrow (excuse the shine; I’ve just oil cleansed!)

After applying Benefit Instant Brow Pencil

I've read reviews and decided to give 1000Hour Eyelash & Brow Dye Kit a go because it had lots of positive reviews everywhere. I wanted to get it in blue black colour, but Priceline didn't have any, so I bought one in natural black instead.

Once I opened up the pack, this is what was inside:

The instructions were quite clear, but slightly long - I would have preferred if there was also a summary stating how many drops of liquid and how much dye cream to use and for how long to leave it on, instead of me having to go through all the instructions to get this information.

Obviously, I have experience with DIYs when it comes to dying hair, so I thought that long and detailed instructions aren't necessary, but I'm sure that some might find them useful.

Apart from the instructions, the dye kit contained the developer liquid, dye cream, application wand and a dish to mix the products in.

The instructions say to mix 2.5cm of cream with 10 drops of developer liquid - as I wasn't going to dye my eyelashes, I decided to half it and use 1.25cm of cream and 5 drops of developer liquid instead (and I still had leftover product). 

The cream and liquid took a little while to get mixed together - it looked gluggy and separated at first, but after a little while, it all came together and it was ready to use!

The application wand isn't the best - it's not bad for the brows, but if I were to dye my lashes, I would definitely use either a disposable mascara wand (Manicare does good ones!!!) or a mascara wand from an old mascara (if you chuck these out when you are done with your mascara, you might want to reconsider - mascara wands are super useful!) to get better, more even coverage.

The instructions said to leave the dye on for 6 minutes - I left it on for a little less than that, as I didn't want my eyebrows to be very very dark.  After I wiped the eyebrows off (note that you need to use Vaseline around the brows, so you don't stain your skin!), I was left with eyebrows that were slightly darker than what I expected, but after washing them, they looked normal and very natural, just darker!!! 

I'm very impressed with this product and I will most definitely repurchase it because it has lived up to its claims and it's pretty affordable - if you were to use a recommended amount of product, cost per application  is $1.58 and if you are like me and decide to use less product, you will end up with 24 applications out of this package and it will cost you only $0.79!!! Now compare that to eyebrow and eyelash tinting at a salon!!! A lot cheaper, huh?!

So if you are like me and have light eyebrows and wish that they were darker, give 1000Hour Eyelash & Brow Dye Kit a go and you will not regret it!!!

How you used 1000Hour Eyelash & Brow Dye Kit before? What are your thoughts?

Ms Jelena xx

It’s no secret that most women wish for natural beauty. The type of beauty where no makeup is needed because the skin tone and complexion is flawless morning, noon, and night.

Well in reality, few women are bless with this natural beauty, and therefore most women desire the fabulous wonders that make-up and beauty products provide. But with the plethora of products available, one can often feel as though they need to be a cosmetologist simply to be able to apply their own personal make-up.

Well fear not. We know how tricky make-up products can be, and how certain products should be particular to certain skin, etc. Therefore, we’ve compiled a list of gorgeous make-up and beauty secrets to help you achieve that standard of beauty you so deserve.

1. Brighten the eyes.

Smudge a little dark blue eyeliner on the inner rims of the upper eyelids. That is all! How simple. The deep blue color contrasts with the whites of your eyes making them stand out.

2. Apply concealer by patting.

Don’t rub it on, but rather apply by dabbing or patting. Once again, never rub it in.

3. 3-Step long lasting lips.

Step one, prime the lips using a primer. This helps the color last. Step two, apply a lipstick designed for all day wear. Step three, use a colorless gloss to provide a wet mirror shine.

4. The nude look.

This secret involves using concealer and foundation to give your skin that flawless complexion. Define your eyebrows with powder, or an eyebrow pencil. Also, highlight your cheekbones. Be careful not to overpower the look with heavy mascara. Try using a natural color as opposed to black. As for the lips, go nude with a colorless coat.

5. Perfectly defined eyebrows.

Make sure you get noticed with thick, strong, perfectly defined eyebrows. Meticulously shape the eyebrows and keep the stray hairs at bay by tweezing regularly. In addition, fill them in with an eyebrow pencil to help frame your face a little more. Another important tip for defined eebrows is to keep your makeup natural. Matching your foundation, while not wearing mascara, will help achieve a strong eyebrows.

6. Beaming with blush.

Although subtle, blush adds a sheer color that helps highlight the definition of the cheekbones. Don’t over do it. Apply by sweeping the blush across the cheek bone, continuing upwards toward your ear.

7. Stroke the eyes differently.

THe trick here is to use two kinds of mascaras. Use a volumizing one to coat the top lashes which creates thickness. Use a second waterproof formula mascara for the bottom lashes. Wah lah, beauty!

8. Dark makeup trend.

Spice things up with a dark, mysterious, and sexy look. Use more eyeliner than usual, but still use eyeshadow to help achieve that “smokey eye” look. Apply black shadow to the outer corner of the eyes, as well as above the creases. As for the eyelid, apply an earth-toned iridescent shadow. Don’t forget to cover the black shadow with the iridescent shade as well, by moving from the outer corners of the eyes toward the nose. Top it off with using a lash brush to apply mascara for a spider effect.

Rimmel London Professional Eyebrow Pencil in 002, Hazel

0.05 oz.-Made in Italy-$3.14-Permanent

This eyebrow pencil comes in three shades total. My brows are quite dark, and I find this shade to be perfect, so those with lighter hair might find that this pencil is too dark.

That being said, Hazel is a light brown shade with slight red undertones. If you're like me, and your hair doesn't have much red in it, you can only put so much of this pencil on until the red looks odd.

The formula is very smooth and easy to draw on. I unfortunately don't have an ingredients list to show you because there wasn't enough room on the pencil itself to fit it.

The pencil also comes with a seven-bristle brush on the cap, which is surprisingly useful. This is a great pencil on the go, overall.

The Pros:

It's cheap, the formula is good, and it's very travel friendly

The Cons:

The shade range is in a dire need of lighter and ashier shades.

The Bottom Line

8.5/10

I really like this, but from a consumer viewpoint, these three shades won't work for everyone.

The best part about groomed eyebrows is that it tends to give you a more polished look.  When my eyebrows aren't perfect, I always end up wearing more makeup to compensate for my wonky brows.  But great brows can really make you look put together and can help your face look more symmetrical and beautiful.

The following pictures are best viewed when you click on them to make them larger, so you can really zoom in on the eyebrow look we are featuring:

Thin

Medium

Medium penciled in

High arch, lengthen with eyebrow pencil

Bushier penciled in with ybf universal taupe eyebrow pencil

Bushier and straighter

Bushy

Here are some tips for choosing a kit and heating wax:

• DO NOT buy the kits that come with wax already on a strip that you are supposed to rub between your hands to warm up.  They do not function as well as real wax that you heat up.

• When you buy a wax kit, make sure it's specifically designed for the face.  If you buy a kit meant for waxing legs, the wax will probably not be suited for your sensitive skin on your eye area.

• Follow the directions very carefully, especially when it tells you how hot to heat up the wax, but use common sense.   I recently bought a kit that said put it in the microwave for 3 minutes and it will be melted.  Well, I put it in for 3 minutes and it was still hard as a rock.  So, I continued putting it back in for 30 second increments until the wax had melted.  Then I made sure to test the wax on my wrist to see how hot it was before putting it on my friend's eye area.  Burnt wrist or burnt eye?  I'd rather have a burnt wrist.

• Even if you put something in the microwave for only as long as the directions indicate, sometimes even that is too long.  If wax comes out bubbling or boiling, do you think you should apply it to your eye area?  Use some common sense.

• Exercise caution when using any method of heating wax.  My mom and I used to wax our brows  and heat up the wax in the microwave.  One time we put the wax in and after only 10 seconds, the microwave shorted out.  I was glad I wasn't standing there looking at it to see how fast it was melting.  Keep your face away from the microwave!  Now, when we heat wax we boil water on the stove and use a grill tongs to hold the wax container in the water (lid off) until we can see it melting.  Use a way that works for you but don't be stupid, be careful.  I'll admit we moved and even though I had a bad experience with the microwave last time I heated wax, I tried this microwave and it worked just fine.  But I didn't put my face near it and I was very careful, only putting it in for 30 seconds at a time.

Application Techniques:

Other DIY Notes:

• If you are new to waxing, don't try it yourself for the first time.  Go get it done at a salon so you are use to the way it feels when the strip comes off.  If you do it yourself at home, you're going to have to be the one that pulls it off, and you don't want to be surprised by the pain the first time.  

• Even if you are a DIY waxer all the time, every couple months, let a professional do it.  I like to make sure I have a good arch to follow when I wax my strays.

•  If you have a unibrow, you should definitely wax the center area above your nose and between your brows.  Just make sure that you are aware of where you want your brow to start.  If you need to, put a mark with eyeliner where you want to be sure to stop waxing so you don't end up with brows that don't start until the middle of your eye.

• Avoid putting lots of lotions or masks on your face right after a wax.  I like to prep my brows with a toner, witch hazel, or something that takes the makeup off of that area quickly.  After a wax, I usually use the mild calming lotion that comes in the kit.  Try to keep makeup, acne products, or anything else harsh away from that skin for at least 2 days just to give it a rest.  You don't need a rash!

Yours in Beauty,

Justina and Jessica