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California, United States
Hi! Thanks for visiting ^_^ My social media platforms: Instagram: meowmier Youtube: http://goo.gl/U5SnNM (formerly under the username francesvlogs but I don't have access to that anymore). I don't really do videos anymore simply because I think blog posts are more informative. Hope you enjoyed your time here! :)

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

All About Brows! Makeup Forever Aqua Brows, Anastasia Brow Powder Duo, Za Ever Brows Swatches & Review

Hello guys!


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So today! I want to do a little comparison and review on all the brow products that I currently own. So let's just get started shall we? ^_^


Pictures for each eye brow product were taken on different days, so just keep that in mind that the lighting is going to be a bit different. 



Let's look at my naked eye brows! 
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LOL my face is uber unsymmetrical.... -_-.... it's like the right side of my face is more lifted XD

Anyway my eye brows are naturally pretty arched... they're okay on the inner half, but toward the arch there are those bald spots XD 

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bald spot MAGNIFIED

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This side is better, muehehe


Okay, now let's look at how different eye brow products look on me!




MUFF Aqua Brows
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I have the shade #25

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As you can see, this shade has a lot of red in it.

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As I mentioned before, I have the shade #25. To be honest, I feel like it can look a little too dark on me if I'm not careful/use a heavier hand. I feel like my ideal color will be in between #25 and #15, but #15 looks a bit too light on me =_= oh well. Since my hair is on the darker side and I currently have no plans to lighten it, I decided #25 will suit me better.

So I mainly bought the MUFF Aqua Brows because I wanted something water resistant for my vacation last month. And I'm pleased to announce that yes it is water resistant and stayed on all day despite spending quite some time under the water ^_^ Major thumbs up for that! I do recommend it for those who want a brow product they can use for underwater.

I also have to say, I was very surprised at how natural is product looks. Because it's a liquid, I was worried if it's gonna look harsh. But nope! It looks super natural ^_^ As long as you use the right tools. My only complaint is the limited shades! I wish they have a shade that is this dark, but less red and more ashy!

I found the best way to apply this brow product is either with a Q-tip, or a shader brush like this (this one is by Sonia Kashuk, which you can find at Target). If you like the diffused brow look like I do (I don't like the super defined/drawn on eye brow look), I highly encourage you NOT to use an angled brush with this product, cuz the application can be a bit too harsh (angled brow brushes tend to deposit the pigment/product in a more concentrated manner, which I find a little bit hard to control)
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Any small brush with brush hairs that are not too packed/dense should work.



Anastasia Brow Powder Duo in Medium Ash/Medium Brown
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 You can see it's an old product LOL the new brow powders have been repackaged. I also believe the new packaging this shade is called "Medium Brown-- taupe based brown".

Don't know why I never did a review on this product since I use the crap out of it O_o I've had this for YEARS and look how much I still have left! Totally worth the price tag. As you can see, I like to mix the two shades, but I do use the darker shade a bit more :) My favorite thing about this product is that it's basically fool-proof, and it has no red in it :P 
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Anastasia brow powder is my everyday go-to brow product. Simply because it's easy and fast and lasts all day even if I work out :) the only time it doesn't last is when I swim-- which I don't expect it to anyway. My favorite tool to apply this powder is with my MAC... I believe 266? Just a regular angled brow brush. The reason why I like it is honestly because it's super old XD the brush has become quite frizzy, but also because of that, it kind of applies the product more diffusely? It looks more natural with this brush compared to my Hakuhodo brow brush. But really, I don't think it has anything to do with the brush quality... it's the age of this brow brush that makes it awesome XD 

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You can see how bushy/frizzy the brush hairs look.... and there's a piece of lint stuck to it -_-"


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Foundation: YSL Touche Eclat. Why is it that every single time I put this foundation on I'm blown away by how amazing it looks XD it never gets old hahaha. I don't use YSL TE every day  because it's expensive and I'll be sad if I run out T_T but actually I think I need to increase my usage for this foundation because it's going to expire next year X_X



Za Ever Brows
I bought it thinking it'd be more natural than brow powder, because for a while I noticed my Anastasia brow powder was looking a little too powdery. But later I realized it's because I used too much of the light color -_- so of course if a lighter powder is sitting on top of dark hairs it's gonna look powdery. I use less of the light color now and it's completely fine. I actually have 2 of the Za brow pencils... and I kind of wish I only bought one. At the time I liked it, but after using it for a while, I just prefer the Anastasia one for the ease of use. I feel like out of all my brow products, Za has the weakest staying powder? Don't worry it won't disappear on you-- but I do notice it fades more easily compared to my other brow products after working out, or if I rub my eye brows (I rub my brow bone sometimes when I get headaches). This is the only brow product I have noticed fading with, although it doesn't happen that often either. By the way, Za has a slightly waxy feeling to the application.


Anyway I feel like the price is expensive for this product for what it (around $10 USD ish). For a meager 0.17g (which doesn't mean much to me XD just refer to the pic below), I feel like this product is quite expensive. Especially in comparison of my MUFF Aqua Brows... which is $20, and there's a TON of product.
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I believe if I am diligent with this and use it everyday, I can probably finish it in 2-3 months? Maybe I should do that lol but it's just not a product I reach for.

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The shade I have is in 03 Natural Gray
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I like to use the pencil in short strokes to fill out the eye brows, then use the spoolie end to brush out the edges only (by the way I try to use the spoolie to comb my brows in place first before applying brow product-- that tends to work better)

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Foundation: MUFF Mat Velvet+

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crazy dark circles =_=



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The spoolie in the back. Honestly I have no idea how to tell a good spoolie from a bad one? They're all the same to me XD Except some feel more plastic-/rubbery to me. But it works *shrugs*



Jealousness Eye Brow Pencil
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So Jealousness is a Taiwanese brand. If your scroll all the way up to look at the first pic you'll notice it says "USA" on the pencil. LOL. Taiwanese ppl and their false marketing -_-||| Incidentally, I don't know if they named the brand Jealousness to sound cute, or they actually don't know the noun for jealous is jealousy XD

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The shade I have is in light brown. It has some red in it too. Not as red as MUFF, but I'd say it leans more orange/yellow?? Probably more suitable for those who dyed their hair light brown/blond.

Ummm... I wasn't wearing any makeup that day and was too lazy to put on a full-face makeup just to take pictures of my eye brows, so please don't mind the bareness XD 

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I'll admit when it comes to eye brow products I really don't know a whole lot about them... mainly because the first brow product I ever got was the Anastasia one and it works perfectly, so I never really feel the need to go out and try a lot of products. But with this pencil, I definitely started to understand what the gurus mean when they say certain brow products contain a higher wax content XD this pencil definitely feels very waxy. Since this brow pencil is in "light brown," it is pretty light, and contains a lot of yellow. I reserve this product for when I colored my hair. By the way, between Za and Jealousness, Za is easier to use because it has less wax. Jealousness can sometimes be a bit tricky because I found sometimes the wax can "plaster" the brows down if you apply more pressure. So my advice will be to be patient when you want to build up the intensity. I do feel like Jealousness is more long lasting than Za though. Between all four products, longevity MUFF > Anastasia ~ Jealousness > Za (Can't really tell if Anastasia or Jealousness last longer-- generally I don't have any problems with either. It's only ever with Za that I notice some fading).


Lastly, thought I'd include a comparison swatch:
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Left to right: Jealousness, MUFF, Za, Anastasia (dark and light)

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Jealousness and Za were hard to swatch because of the wax content-- you can see they swatch rather blotchily. I'm quite surprised at how dark Jealousness came out-- but I did press pretty hard for the color to show up. Just keep in mind it is a yellowish brown.

That's all I have! Hope some of you found it helpful. What are your favorite brow products? I'm pretty happy with my products thus far and not planning to buy more =P


<3 Frances

8 comments:

  1. Never found a product that I love for eyebrows, I want to try one of anastasia's but are somewhat out of my budget. Now I am using a pencil from etude house Brown/black and the nyx powder duo in ash/brown and those two make good browcombo. =)

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    1. I've never tried a NYX product before but I've heard so many things about them =) I want to try their butter glosses =P (totally off the topic LMAO)

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  2. I've heard so many great reviews on the MUFE aqua brow...ive always struggle on finding the most suitable brow product but never have found one =( I think ill splurge on the MUFE =)

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    Replies
    1. the MUFE will last you forever and ever XD honestly I'm more worried about not finishing the product in my lifetime XDDDDDDDD

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  3. Thanks for the comparison! Makeup Forever works great for me :)
    xo,
    ~Pauline @Kallony

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    Replies
    1. thanks for always reading and supporting my blog Pauline ^_^ glad to hear that it works great for you =DDD

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  4. question I have with your Anastasia powder brow duo is the case made of a silver plastic container or is it a metal container? my email is jocelyn512@att.net

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jocelyn! It's plastic. It's old packaging though... I believe the new one is made of plastic as well.

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