August 28, 2014

Sephora Waterproof Retractable Brow Pencil: before & after, pics, swatch, review

Hello, Beautiful!

My son has finally started school again; fourth grade! He started on Monday and I've spent the past three days deeply cleaning my house, running errands, and relaxing a bit (since I feel like I'm getting sick), and I totally neglected my blog work - but I also was having issues with my wifi connecting so I technically couldn't get on the computer very much at all. This morning I thought I better get some blog work done and get back into the swing of things! I have SO MANY products I've taken photos of and tested out that I want to share with you all. I just need to take the time to process those photos and write up the blog posts. Expect 1 to 2 blog posts a day once I finally get back into the swing of things.

I'm also going to start filming YouTube videos, starting with an updated makeup collection & storage! I'll likely do a beauty room tour too, since I'm in a new house and everything is very different from the old set-up. Give me a week or two to get back into the swing of things, as I'm still working on deep cleaning & organizing my house, and then I'll be making blog posts and YouTube videos on a regular schedule!

Enough gibber gabber, let's get into this blog post!

In this blog post I have yet another brow product review for you! If you know me, I love trying new foundations and new brow products more than any other product (although I love my lippies too). I'm actually really excited about this blog post because the brow product I'm featuring is the closest dupe to the Anastasia Brow Wiz that I have yet to find, and it's $8 cheaper than the Anastasia. And by the way, why have I not done a blog post about the Brow Wiz from Anastasia?! It's my holy grail brow pencil, yet I've never talked about it here before. I guess I'll add that to my list of blog posts to do (I do have her Brow Pomade and Brow Powder coming up in future posts, just FYI).

The brow product in this post is the Sephora Waterproof Retractable Brow Pencil! I have the shade 04 Midnight Brown, but of course just shortly after I made my purchase online they added three new shades (one of which I think I would have liked to try out as well). This retails for $13, which is a decent price point for how great the product is!

Check out all the product info and my full review below, after the pics!


Sephora Waterproof Retractable Brow Pencil
Shade: 04 Midnight Brown







Sephora Waterproof Retractable Brow Pencil Info & Review:
Cost/Availability: $13.00 (0.003 oz full size). Available at Sephora.
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Kisses

Product Info...

These retractable pencils create fuller looking, perfectly-defined eyebrows. To dispense color, twist the pencil and the always-sharp tip comes up. Easy-to-hold, it give you perfect control to create precise hair-like strokes. Use the comb tip to brush brows and blend. Long-wearing formula stays put without smudging.

Now available in 7 shades (shades 05, 06, and 07 are the three newest shades):
  • 01 Honey Blonde
  • 02 Nutmeg Brown
  • 03 Rich Chestnut
  • 04 Midnight Brown
  • 05 Neutral Gray Brown
  • 06 Soft Charcoal
  • 07 Auburn


My Review...

I had purchased this brow pencil when Sephora only had 4 shades available; of course they now offer 7 shades (which went live on their website shortly after I made my purchase). I chose the shade 04 Midnight Brown, but seeing the new shades available I may have gotten 05 Neutral Gray Brown also to try, as I need an ashy brown shade.

I am in a constant search for an Anastasia Brow Wiz dupe, since $21 can add up when I can easily go through one Brow Wiz every 4 to 6 weeks (with daily use), and I have yet to find an exact dupe in the size, formula, performance and most importantly, the color match. In Anastasia I am Medium Brown (formerly called Ash Brown), and it's the best match to my brows that I've ever found (out of the 30 to 40+ brow products I've tried in just recent years). The Sephora brow pencil is a great dupe to the Anastasia in terms of size, application and performance - although the shade I have isn't an exact match to the Medium Brown shade from Anastasia (but maybe one of the other new shades would match?). Plus, this is $13 compared to $21, saving me $8 -- and they contain the same amount of product.

First, let's talk about looks. This is a thin, retractable brow pencil. It has a similar shape & size to the Brow Wiz and also the tip is similar in size -- although I think the Anastasia one is just a teeny tiny bit smaller. The major difference in looks is the Brow Wiz has a spooley and the Sephora brow pencil has a comb. I'm not a fan of the comb on the Sephora brow pencil, but it works a lot better than the comb on the Maybelline Define-a-Brow. I still prefer a spooley every single time.

The color choices are good. There are now 7 shades to choose from, which means you will likely find a great match for your brows. The shade I have, 04 Dark Brown, is actually a tad too warm toned but only by a little. In the photos it shows up more warm in tone than how it appears in person, as the studio lights tend to make everything more noticeable. It's a good enough match, and I'd definitely recommend it if you have brow hairs similar to me or are the Medium Brown shade from Anastasia.

The consistency of this pencil is a bit drier and less waxy than some other brow pencils, which I like because I find waxy pencils don't stick around and tend to smudge off very easily. They can also clump up in your brow hairs and make things look more unnatural. The comb that comes with this brow pencil will work to comb the product through, but I still prefer to use a spooley because I feel a spooley distributes the product easier and more evenly. Although the comb can make it look like brow hairs, depending on how you work it.

As far as how this performs, I find this brow pencil to really go the distance! Because it's waterproof, I find it sticks around all day on my brows - even in the summer heat. I didn't go swimming with it, so I can't comment on how waterproof it would hold up through swimming or the beach, but for my everyday life this pencil is morning to night wear.

I do use it as the only brow product for my brows, but I often will combine it with other products. For example, I'll use the Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade from mid to tail of my brows to outline and fill in, then I'll take the Sephora brow pencil for the inner third of my brow to outline and fill in - which gives me a softer look at the front of my brows but still defined.

I think this is a great brow pencil at a reasonable price point. Sure it's not drugstore pricing, but some of these drugstore products are right around the same price anyway - you just can't use coupons on the Sephora one as easily as you can for drugstore products. If you do like this brow pencil, I'd recommend using your 15% or 20% off coupon codes that Sephora sends out a few times a year and stock up on few; I know I plan to get one or two when I get my 20% off code!

If you couldn't already tell by my glowing review, I'd for sure recommend this brow pencil. The Anastasia Brow Wiz is still my holy grail but this Sephora brow pencil has been the closest dupe to date.

I think this is a great brow pencil at a good price. It's not drugstore pricing, but compared to higher end brow pencils this product at $13 comes in at a good price point. Certainly one to check out if you love the Anastaisa Brow Wiz but need a budget friendly option, or if you just want a thinner brow pencil that will make your brows look great and last all day!


Now let me know what you think...
What do you think of this brow pencil? Have you tried this or is this on your beauty wish list? Discuss in the comments below.

#sephora #brows #browpencil #dupe #beforeandafter

1 comment:

  1. I have a Sephora order on the way - I wish I would've seen this before I placed it! I use Tarte right now but it's nearly gone & I haven't found a good alternative. My brows are damn near black & the drugstore brands never seem to match. Thanks for the review!

    ReplyDelete

All comments are set for me to approve them before they post. I do this so I can read each & every one, answering any questions that may be in a comment. Please share your thoughts and questions below :)