brows

February 2016 Favorites

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February 2016 FavoritesFebruary 2016 Favorites
1.Pantene Pro-V Stylers Max Hold Mousse, $7 / 2. Coastal Scents BR-B-S03, $5
3. Etude House Drawing Eye Brow, $5

This is the shortest favorites I’ve ever done. February has been impossibly draining so I really haven’t spent that much time playing with beauty products. It’s been an unprecedentedly demanding month (at ye olde day job); I basically get up, go to work, come home, do more work, make and eat food, shower, dry hair, sleep. On weekends, I do…you guessed it, more work, and veg out. Here’s the few things that earned their places as my February 2016 Favorites, though!

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Brows on What?

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Confession:

The term, “fleek,” makes my skin crawl.

I don’t love it.

Not for sculpted, perfect eyebrows. Not for flawless, gorgeous highlights. Not for sharp, crisp winged liner.

“On point,” I can dig. But for some reason I just can’t stand, “on fleek.” I’m not anti-slang, it’s just this specific term.

Research suggests the term has been tossed around since at least 2003; but it came to prominence after a Vine user mentioned it to describe her own brows while en route to a party. Somehow, it blew up and became this meme-esque slang phenomenon.

I don’t get it. Maybe I’m getting old?

Brows on what? Listen, dear – your eyebrows, highlight, and winged liner look fabulous and masterfully executed…but stay out of my dang hyacinths and azaleas, alright?

April 2015 Favorites

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April 2015 Favorites
April 2015 Favorites
1. Chef’n Fresh Force Citrus Juicer, $25 / 2. Josie Maran Argan Infinity Lip & Cheek Creamy Oil, $11 /
3. Urban Decay Freelove $18 / 4. Plus White Gel, $9 / 5. Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade, $18

I hope you all aren’t bothered by a non-beauty item sneaking in here every now and then, but I’m unreasonable excited about the first one in the April 2015 Favorites graphic.

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Anastasia Dipbrow Tutorial

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Dipbrow Tutorial - Social

Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade

Last week, I rambled about liking Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade. Check out my review here. This time, I’m going to share how I use it. Brace yourself, as the majority of this post contains lower-quality photos than I normally try to secure (I didn’t use my DSLR, this was unplanned). It might be a good thing, my brows are unruly (for me).

Start by sweeping your ungroomed brows into a semi-respectable shape with a spoolie. Ignore the fact that they are terribly ungroomed because you’re growing them in anticipation for a brow wax soon.

Anastasia Dipbrow Tutorial - Brush Brows

Crack the Dipbrow pot open and try to keep it open for as little time as possible to prevent the Dipbrow pomade from drying out – just like you should with any creme/gel brow, liner, or shadow products. The best way to do this (and to apply) is to scoop a tiny bit (get less than you think you need – this was too much!) from the pot with the bristles of your brush (I’m using my LAB2 Brow Brush) and either

  1. Swipe it onto the back of your hand (what I do) and cap the pot or
  2. Swipe it into the underside of your cap and then invert the pot onto a flat surface to reduce air exposure.

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Worth it? LAB2 Angled Brow and Eyeliner Brush

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Wal-Mart is opening locations still (how are there so many…) and the newest one in my area features an expanded beauty section that includes brands like e.l.f. and Real Techniques. One day, I went to check out their Real Techniques selection and noticed a brand I wasn’t familiar with…LAB2? Who is this? At a glance, they seemed to have pretty clean, surprisingly professional-looking packaging and are priced in a very wallet-friendly drugstore price-point.. I snapped a picture to remind myself to look into them.

LAB2 Angled Brow and Eyeliner Brush - LAB2 Display

LAB2, which is actually written out, “L.A.B.²,” and pronounced, “LAB-squared,” stands for Live and Breathe Beauty.

Later, I went to look them up, never having seen them – I couldn’t locate a website, but I did find this entry on Justia Trademarks for the brand name, indicating that the rights are held by Pacific World Corporation – who also owns Sensationail, as it turns out, as well as some other drugstore beauty tool brands. Searching, “LAB Brushes,” or, “Live and Breathe Beauty Brushes,” or, “Live and Breathe Beauty,” at the time brought up nothing.

Although I didn’t come up with much about the brand, I DID find a YouTube Channel for LAB2, which features a few brief demo/tutorial videos and an intro to the brand. They don’t seem to have much else in the way of branding or social media presence, however.

Because I’m still on the hunt of The One Angled Liner Brush to Rule Them All, I picked up the LAB2 Angled Brow and Eyeliner Brush. Checking it out without opening the packaging, the synthetic bristles of the brush appeared to be cut with a greater level of precision than, say the e.l.f. angled liner brush. I figured that a $6 brush wouldn’t result in overwhelming disappointment if it didn’t work out.

UPDATE 2/26/2015: The proper name of this brush is the Get In Shape Brow & Eyeliner Brush!

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Worth it? Benefit Brow Bar

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Benefit Brow Bar
Benefit Brow Bar

I visited a Benefit Brow Bar at my local Ulta to whip my eyebrows into shape for the first time. I plucked for years (more on that in a minute) but was ready for some professional help. But first, here’s why I eschewed it until my mid-twenties.

Prior (Jaded) Experience

Let’s rewind a handful-or-so (cough) of years. I was getting my nails done and my nail technician offered a brow wax. I had no idea what the heck to do with my eyebrows. For only $7, I figured it would be fine. (Narrator: It was not fine.)

She whisked me to the rear of the salon and plopped me into a chair next to a few vats of warming wax. She grabbed a coworker and spoke to her, gestured to her own brows, and directed her back to me – evidently not everyone was qualified to perform waxing services. Fair enough.

Wordlessly, this new employee tilted my head back in the chair and grabbed a popsicle stick. She didn’t speak to me, ask what I wanted, if I had done it before; immediately, she dipped the stick in the wax and spread it around my brow, applied a cloth, and ripped with no warning. She did this several times, then moved to my left brow. She repeated the same process on the left. When she moved to the tail area of the brow, she pressed the cloth down and yanked again. It was far more painful than the other previous yanks of cloth-and-wax. I opened my eyes, wincing, and noticed her eyes were wide and concerned. “Oops…” she said.

So…that’s how you end up with half of an eyebrow. From the arch to the tail – gone. Thankfully, I wore side bangs at this time (because I had neither the product or the skill to fill in my now-misshapen brows). I eschewed waxing for years and plucked instead. Can you blame me?

Get in Shape

I was scarred (emotionally) for YEARS, so I plucked on my own. I later noticed that reputable area salons and spas in my area offered brow services along but couldn’t help but wonder:

Although someone knows how to effectively rip hair from your body with sticky goo, do they know shaping best practices?

Legs, underarms, and Brazilian waxes don’t exactly require much shaping; many cases like a closeout sale everything must go. That isn’t the case with our eyebrows, though, as they serve to frame our eyes and face.

I discovered that Benefit offers select waxing services at their Brow Bars located in Ulta stores, Macy’s locations, and a half dozen other places. Members of /r/MakeupAddiction on Reddit passionately instruct newcomers to take their their untouched brows to a Benefit Brow Bar to fix them up.

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