Quick review: Etude House Color My Brows

As I get older, I pay more attention to my eyebrows. I have extremely thick and bushy eyebrows. A set that's almost impossible to manage without regular trimming and shaving. Another problem is that my eyebrows have really black hairs. Many beauticians said that my eyebrows were the best to work on because they were so thick and dark. However, I'm not a certified beautician who can magically transform a set of unruly eyebrows. I find them really irritating to be honest, especially when my hair colour is significantly lighter than my eyebrows. 

I scrutinise them way too much, maybe more than a normal person should. 

Hence, I caved and decided to give the Etude House Color My Brows in #4 Natural Brown. I was hoping that this brow product will do a decent job in lightening the colour of my eyebrows, and it certainly did. 

The Etude House Color My Brows is now my go-to brow product! I don't use an eyebrow pencil anymore because I'm not proficient enough in using it for a well-diffused, blurred-at-the-edges look. So, this brow product is excellent! 

The Etude House Color My Brows targets customers who have too-dark or too-light eyebrows and want to match their eyebrows to their hair colour (me, me, ME!). I got it for S$7.70 (free Korea normal airmail) on Qoo10! There are 5 shades available - #1 Rich Brown, #2 Light Brown, #3 Red Brown, #4 Natural Brown and #5 Blondie Brown. 

Link: http://list.qoo10.sg/item/ETUDE-HOUSE-COLOR-MY-BROWS-4-5G/408426903?selectedOptions=

As you can see in the photo above, my eyebrows look significantly lighter. They match my hair colour perfectly and overall, my face looks less harsh when I have this product applied. 

It lasts an entire day without touch-ups (brilliant!) and the product does not melt under extremely hot/huid weather. 

The Etude House Color My Brows has certainly become a staple in my life! Love it!! 

Review: e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit in medium

I have been paying attention to my eyebrows lately. It's weird because I used to ignore them and let them grow till they look like caterpillars. Then I trimmed my brows, and I realised how important it is to have nice, proper and neat eyebrows. They really do make your face look more three dimensional (like not so flat lah) and sometimes well-trimmed and properly filled in eyebrows make you look more awake! 

I only have ONE eyebrow product, yes very embarrassing I know. That's why I'm looking out for more eyebrow products! Since I'm still quite new to it, I don't really want to spend a bomb on eyebrow products. Hence, I was quite excited when I saw the e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit in medium at the smoochiezz's stand at Tanjong Pagar MRT! I bought it for S$7 and the price is definitely cheaper than drugstore eyebrow kits. I read so many great reviews too so I was stoked!

The e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit promises to do the following:

Ingredients list

Packaging: I have always thought of e.l.f studio's packaging as being similar to NARS's packaging. Of course the quality of the e.l.f studio one is not as good, but there's nothing to complain about really. The mirror provided is also quite substantial. A great size for when you want to touch-up your eyebrow look. I will not recommend throwing away the plastic cover though (as seen from the first product photo), because it acts as a shield between the products and the mirror. Getting powder and wax on the mirror is not a pleasant situation, so keeping the plastic cover is a must!

Brush: The brush included is surprisingly of above-average quality. With reference to the photo above, the left side is supposed to be for the powder (for setting the brow wax), and the right side is for applying the brow wax. The left brush is very very soft and it's a good brush for people with thicker and fuller brows. Those with thinner brows will not like it because the brush is quite huge and it covers a bigger area. I still have trouble using the right side brush. It's good for drawing precise lines but the problem is when I use it to dab on the brow wax, the brush head splits into two? Then application gets really troublesome because the line drawn is not uniform! I still don't know what's the problem. BAH! I got so irritated, I started using an eyeliner brush instead. Worked so much better!

Swatch of brow wax, taken with camera flash

Swatch of brow wax + brow powder, taken with camera flash

Separate swatches of brow wax and brow powder, taken with camera flash.

Pigmentation: The pigmentation from the brow wax is stellar. It's so good that I'm scared I will apply way too much on my brows. But everything's good because for some weird reason, the wax applied lightly on my brows and I could build up the colour! Great product! The brow powder doesn't have much pigmentation but that's expected because the brow powder is supposed to set the wax and not to add more colour. So, all is well in the pigmentation world!

Application: I didn't like applying the brow wax with the given brush so I used my eyeliner brush instead and it worked just as well! The wax applies smoothly and it doesn't dry quickly, which means you have time to slowly shape your brows. If you realise from the above photos, the pigmentation is not so strong on the brows right? I personally like it that way. I was so scared I would look like a clown! Thankfully, it applied lightly, and yet it could fill up the holes! YAY to e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit!

Longevity: This product lasts a long long long long time, even under the crazy Singapore weather conditions. I'm super impressed at how long-lasting it is! The application didn't smudge or fade away. It stayed put for for an entire day and I didn't have to touch up at all.

Will I buy it again? Yes. Of course I will be getting eyebrow products from other brands as well, but I have a feeling at the end of the day, I will go back to the e.l.f. studio Eyebrow Kit again. It's foolproof (perfect for beginners) and it applies beautifully!

Smoochiezz Haul (April 2013) - e.l.f Studio cosmetics, Leaders Insolution masks, O.P.I nailpolishes

While walking back to Tanjong Pagar MRT from a job interview (which was a success, HOORAH! No more job-hunting!! They also read this blog, so HELLO!!), I realised I was in Tanjong Pagar Xchange! I can buy cheeky makeup stuff from Smoochiezz! It was the best walk-to-an-MRT-station ever because I wanted to spend some moolah!! 

I got myself quite a few random things, which totalled to S$39. Not too bad. Not too bad! I controlled myself very very well because initially I wanted to get the NYX Nude on Nude Palette, but I decided to save up for the LORAC palette instead. VERY GOOD. 

Beauty items:

• e.l.f studio Eyebrow Kit in medium (amazing stuff, review coming up soon!) - S$7
• e.l.f Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Sun Kissed (this is a repurchase! I used up my last one COMPLETELY. Love this product so very much) - S$4

Skincare items:

• Leaders Insolution Teatree Relaxing Skin Renewal Mask (1 for S$3, 2 for S$5)
• Beauty Clinic AC-Dressing Ampoule Mask (1 for S$3, 2 for S$5)

Nail items:

• O.P.I The Blondettes Collection (or The Skyfall collection) - S$20
• mini Seche-Vite topcoat (I misplaced my other one booooo) - S$3

Overall, I'm pleased with my haul. Tried everything out (except the masks) and so far so AMAZING! :) Smoochiezz really earning a lot from me. HAHAHA. Thank goodness the company is moving to another location soon, but I may need to rethink the "thank goodness" part because apparently the new location is only a 3-minute walk away. So, expect to earn more from me, Smoochiezz!! :D

Review: Etude House Drawing Eye Brow Pencil

I finally bought something for my eyebrows!! I feel so proud of myself. :D Doing eyebrows have been a nightmare in the past because I simply didn't know how to go about doing it. More often than not, I would end up looking like a complete eyebrow amateur, and I would remove everything that I had just applied. 

However, I realise that having well-maintained and properly managed eyebrows creates a huge difference on how you look. You look more polished even without heavy makeup. Also, good eyebrows make your face look more defined in terms of your features! 

Hence, I finally went ahead and bought myself an eyebrow product. I didn't want to spend much money on a product that I normally don't use, so I was browsing through Qoo10 for a cheap one. I decided on the Etude House Drawing Eye Brow Pencil (a lot of Asian beauty bloggers raved and recommended this product!). It was S$3.40 (S$5.30 with Korean normal mail), and that's an amazing price! 

Purchase yours here: http://list.qoo10.sg/gmkt.inc/Goods/Goods.aspx?goodscode=407646448 

Packaging: Simple packaging. Not trying too hard at all. Sometimes, a simple but functional packaging is all you need to have to attract customers. It's a good size because it fits into most makeup bags. Also, Etude House included a spoolie brush at the other end of the pencil, which is amazing because then you can tame stray hairs after applying the pencil to make your brows look much neater.

I bought it in 03 Brown, since my hair is permanently brown/red anyway. Black will be too harsh. 

Pencil shape: The Etude House Drawing Eye Brow Pencil has a great pencil shape. It's designed in the above 3D triangle shape to facilitate application! So you can use the sharp ends to create the well-defined "borders" first, and then use the flat areas (that fit perfectly on your brows. GENIUS.) to fill in the empty areas. 

My only complain is how little product I received!! The above photo shows you how much product you are getting. I couldn't unscrew further, that's all you get!! PFFT!!

Pigmentation: The thing with eyebrow pencils is, you cannot have products that are too pigmented because that makes the life of newbies highly tormenting. A great eyebrow pencil will have a slight pigment on first application, and it will buildable on consecutive applications. The Etude House Drawing Eye Brow Pencil does just that, and so I am a happy girl.

I tried to be artsy and drew an eyebrow on my hand. Turned out to be quite natural-looking hor? :D

Longevity: Lasted me all day. I had no problems with this melting away or smudging. I forgot that I had eyebrow pencil on and I scratched my brows, but haha the product stayed put, so yay to that!

A photo of me after applying the  Etude House Drawing Eye Brow Pencil for the first time. I like it! :) 

Will I buy it again? Obviously. Since the Etude House Drawing Eye Brow Pencil contained so little product. =_= It's a good product nevertheless so I will definitely get the refills.

HAVE AN AMAZING CHINESE NEW YEAR GUYS! :)) Thanks for reading!