Budget Brows

I’m a huge fan of my Benefit Browzings but I’m an even bigger fan of a bargain. On the days when I can’t be faffed with gel and powder  I usually slick some clear mascara through my brows in order to stop my brows looking like they are trying to escape. A bit of colour and definition doesn’t hurt either. These are the bargain beauty products that I’m currently using. 

MUA mascara in shade 1. I’m said this before about the MUA range but I’ll say it again, ONE FREAKING POUND! What can I say about it? It’s clear, doesn’t leave my brows feeling crispy or tacky and does a decent job of keeping them neat. Not as good as the Browzings but not bad at all. Mental note to stock up on these. I just don’t see the point in spending any more on a clear mascara that I’ll only ever use on my eye brows. 

Then we have the Sleek Brow Pencil in Brown. Again this falls neatly in the budget category  costing just £2.49. Oddly they only do two shades, Brown and Black. Brown is a pretty dark colour too so those with fair hair aren’t catered for which seems odd. Now Sleek claim that this is a ‘creamy formula’ that will resist smudging or flaking. I wouldn’t call it creamy. In fact I find the pencil quite hard. If it were an eyeliner it would be too hard however it isn’t and I like it. I’ve swatched it here heavily and more lightly.

The hardness means it’s easy to do light feathery strokes rather than depositing too much colour and leaving me with Jordan brows. 

DO NOT WANT. So there are my brow products for groomed (but not scary) brows for less than a fiver. What do you use on your brows? Let me know in the comments xxx

ELF Clear Wet Gloss Lash & Brow Mascara

I’ve been using the MUA Clear Mascara to set my brows for a while now. For £1 it does the job but you know me, I’m a bit of a makeup slut and will try anything once. The ELF version costs a tiny fraction more at £1.50 which is neither here nor there. This is double ended with separate spoolies for the lash and brow sides. As far as I can tell the wands and formula are the same on each end and I should clarify that I only ever use clear mascara on my brows, not my lashes.

This is a totally different finish to the MUA offering. It has a much firmer hold which I like although it does retain a slightly glossy finish which I don’t. It isn’t noticeable enough to bother me day to day but I can tell it’s there. If I accidentally rub my brows during the day it doesn’t go all white and flaky like some clear mascaras can which is always a bonus!

I love that you get two small section of product as I always end up throwing out my MUA mascara long before the product is used up as the wand deposits traces of brow pencil and foundation in the tube making it go all icky. I actually get to finish this product up before tossing it. This and the firmer hold make it just that little bit better for me than the MUA version. In fact I have already bought a back up!

*Bought by me*

Benefit Browzings

I’ve always been simultaneously fascinated and dismissive of Benefit. Ok dismissive is too strong a word, disappointed more like. On the one hand I think most of their products look amazing and I have frequently walked into a shop with the intention of leaving with some whimsically packaged loveliness. The thing that’s always stopped me is the price. Take for example the blushes. At £23.50 each they aren’t cheap. Even though I know you get 12grams of product the teeny little boxes just make my tight arse Lancastrian heritage come to the fore. “I could buy a NARS blush for less than that!” I can hear my Mother saying. Yes you get less but... but... I have no doubt that when my budget problems ease up I will be treating myself to some of the products I’ve been craving for the last four years of student induced poverty. One product I’ve been eyeing up more than any other is the Browzings DIY brow kit.



So here it is. The £22.50 kit contains brow wax, powder, applicators, tweezers and step by step instructions to perfect Hollywood brows. The packaging is functional with a good sized mirror, I also like the sleek black casing. You can choose from light, medium or dark (which I have here). The instructions are pretty simple as you can see. (Sorry about the blur. They looked clear on my camera... of course I wasn’t wearing my glasses so I could have been looking at a picture of my cat for all I know...)



Ignore the colour of the product in the pan. For some reason it’s been totally washed out, it isn’t grey in real life! The swatches are true to life (powder on top, wax underneath).

I must say I surprised myself with this. I have naturally thick dark brows so I was mainly interested in this product for the wax. I just want to stop looking like I’ve modelled my brows on Stig of the Dump with hair pointing in all directions. I’ve tried cheaper options like clear mascara or even a spritz of hairspray on a brow comb but the finish always looks plastic and artificial. I gave the powder a go too anyway and I was actually impressed! When I’ve played with filling my brows in before it’s looked terrible and overdone, not so with this. The colour is a dead on match and doesn’t have any of the ashy quality to it than can make otherwise normal brows look grey in certain lights. The wax is pleasantly soft and tames brows without leaving them crispy. The brushes are a bit small and fiddly but perfectly functional. Here are some obligatory before and after pictures. Please forgive me the state of my brows. They are due a wax and I’m not the best at maintaining them.



The only bit I didn’t like was the tweezers. For starters I don’t tweeze on the go. I firmly believe you should only be allowed tweezers near your brows if you fit the following criteria;

• Sober (very VERY important)
• Somewhere quiet so you won’t get a fright and gouge your eye out
• Somewhere with a stable surface you can rest your elbow on to aid a steady aim. Trains and buses etc do not qualify

Even if I were brave enough to tweeze on the go these tweezers really aren’t that great. The short length means it’s difficult to squeeze them. I prefer my normal Tweezermans.

All in all I’m pleasantly surprised with how much I like this product. I do think I will get enough use out of it to justify the high price tag. In fact I strongly suspect when I run out I will be repurchasing as I have never found such a good colour match.

So what do you think, are Benefit products worth the pennies or is it too much cash for gimmicky packaging. Let me know!