My Eyebrow Routine

The Products

 (L-R) 17 Eye Liner: GOSH Brow Pen: Bourjois Ombre Stretch 

Before

After

This may seem like an odd post but for years I never use to do much with my eyebrows except tweezer them. I'm naturally fair and I have "slug" eyebrows, as I call them. So I have always been envious of Kiera Knightley's brows and others of the like. I would love to have big brows but sadly I wasn't given them :(. As you can see in the before picture my eyebrows are fair, shapeless and sparse. 


It may look like I use lots of different products but they each have their own role. I use the Benefit Speed Brow for defining the brow hairs and setting them in place. I use the Bourjois Ombre Stretch in 04 Flexi Brown because this has great tones for the body part (the thick bit) of my eyebrow. Then I alternative between the 17 Eye liner pencil in Brown and the GOSH Brown Pen in 004 Wheat for defining the tail bit of my eyebrow (the thinner end). 


I apply the Bourjois Ombre Stretch with my Elizabeth Arden brow angled brush, which I believe is the best angled brush on the market. It is smaller and thinner than most others. In the photo's above I have compared it to the Real Techniques Brow Brush and the visual  differences between them. I have used the Real Techniques before but because my eyebrows are very small (smaller than average) the make-up on the brush smudges above and below the eyebrow and it comes a such a mess. 


The Prep:


Step 1 - In this picture I used the GOSH Brow Pen, whereby I drew the outline of my eyebrow but from only the underneath. Then thickening the line when it reaches the tail end.


Step 2 - On my Elizabeth Arden angled brush and using the Bourjois Ombre Stretch. I flick strokes in different directions on the main body of the brow. The reason for going in different directions is to make it more natural. 


Step 3 - I brush on the Benefit Speed Brow Gel to fix the eyebrow hairs. I stroke the brush upwards and then drag it down the top part of my brow. 


Then I have more defined brows and am ready to go. 


How do you do your brows??

Boots 17 Super Shine Lipstick in *Barely Blush

This 17 Super Shine Lipstick from Boots in Barely Blush RRP£4.99 is probably my favourite spare of the moment buy for February. The main photo of me the colour looks a lot pinker, I think that is because I have put a little bit of a matte undercoat lipstick on. But the swatches about are the correct colouring. 


For a high street brand the lipstick is a great and I know it sounds odd that I put a matte lipstick underneath a shine one but that was simply to create the colour that I have above. Though this lipstick on its own I love the pigmentation of it for an everyday look. Especially as my look is quite girly - it suits :-) 


What is your opinion on high end vs high street lipsticks?

17 Photo Flawless Eye Pencil

I purchased this 17 Photo Flawless eye pencil in Green/Black for £2.99 in Boots and got my 17 Hide & Chic eye brightening concealer free. (see post). Now I was really happy with my concealer however I was disappointed with the eye pencil, as you can see from the bottom picture when I drew a sample of the pencil on my hand, I immediately was 'wowed' by the colour. I knew this would be great with my green eyes and because it was a mix of green/black which basically, for me it separated itself from the other plain green eyeliners that I already have.

On application it glided straight over my lash line, I doubled up to make the line thicker to great a more of a cat eye effect. When I pencil in a lower lash line it came out more black rather than green. Afterwards I put mascara on and by this time, the line had smudge and it had blended together and made me look like I had a black eye. 

All in all, I was really annoyed with this product as after I tested it in the shop, the colour hyped me up for an amazing application. As I loved the colour so much, I will be trying to use it again but this time maybe adding a base eye shadow first to see if that stops it blending. 

Has anyone else tried this? Or have any tips on how I can stop it smudging?

17 Hide & Chic Eye Brightening Concealer

For all my lovely UK followers you will all be familiar with Boots - my favourite toiletries stores. They are all over the UK and most people shop there. If you shop here regularly you should have a Boots Advantage Card, it is amazing. My friend Meg (as you probably will know as well as me soon) reminded me, while back, that the extra advantage kiosks which are scattered around the stores. To me they are the pink little bubbles which are places where you can put your advantage card in to see what your own personal offers are. And when I went to mine the other day one of the offers was that I could get this number 17 Hide & Chic Eye Brightening Concealer for free when I brought any 17 product. As it was new out and I was eager to try it (that and I had finished my YSL Touche Eclat and didn't have the money at the time to replace. lol) 


So how does this replacement match up? Well it retails at £4.99 which is a bargain as it works pretty well. Obviously it isn't in the same league as YSL but that is because it isn't high end and it is also a quarter of the price. With that in mind I think it is a good budget substitute, I have the shade Medium Rose. It takes a while to get the concealer first out but has a twist bottom which allows you to slowly add the concealer to the brush. I have a self conscious issue about how the bags under my eyes are getting worst so I really appreciates it when i can find a product which conceals this. I even put it on little blemishes and it covers that too. 


I love this. And will be purchasing again if I don't have the money to treat myself to a YSL one.


Has anyone else tried different brand substitutes to the Touche Eclat?