I've been using NYX products since they first became available in my area so many years ago. I remember when I dyed my hair black in high school. After I was left looking in horror at my blonde brows in the mirror. At a distance you could not tell that I had any brow hair at all. That's when I learned how crucial brows were to the overall look of your face. Back then no one filled them in, which is nothing like now. I feel like people have only started paying attention to their importance in the past few years. None the less, I ran off to Ulta to pick up my first ever brow product, NYX Brow Cake Powder. It worked well enough and was a good price; an absolute must for someone who changed their hair on a monthly basis. I believe I have tried every brow product NYX has come out with to date, although I no longer have them all on hand.
Eyebrow Cake Powder ($5.99)
These are perfect for a beginner, but for a brow veteran really it's not worth picking up. It comes with a spoolie, angled brush, clear gel, two shades of powder and is available in 6 colour options. The only shade I haven't used before is the auburn because it seemed like it would look odd on my face even when I had red hair. Each kit comes with two brow powder colours with lighter/darker options and a variance in tone in some as well. A lot of these powders come off quite warm which isn't always flattering. The formulation isn't anything special, but it is easy to blend and make look natural. The brush included is absolute garbage but they have come out with their own double ended brush that would be worth picking up if you don't have one. The gel is useless to me. It doesn't hold anything in place and is rather gooey.
Control Freak Eyebrow Gel ($5.99)
This is hands down the best clear brow gel I've ever used. It doesn't mess around with the hold and distributes the perfect amount of product every time. It keeps a natural finish rather than going overly glossy or matte, which can make the brows quite strange. This rivals every high end brow gel out there.
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| NYX Control Freak Eyebrow Gel |
Tinted Brow Mascara ($6.99)
Most of the tinted brow mascaras I've tried have had fibers in them and that's been a turn off for me. This doesn't, but is still able to give amount of colour to the brows. I can't think of a better product for a light fill in for those who want natural brows. Although I do use it in the aforementioned way, most of the time I like to finish off my brows with this. The blonde shade is cool toned enough to almost "correct" brow colours that are too warm. I love placing this on top of powders and pencils.
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| NYX Tinted Brow Mascara in Blonde |
Automatic Brow Pencil ($4.99)
In 8 shades, this has the most colour selection. A lot of these are far too red to look decent with most hair colours. The cap has a brush on it that I'm not the biggest fan out, but it works well enough. They all come off very faint on the brows unless you layer it, which is great if you want super natural brows. With the quantity of pencils on the market, this really doesn't stand out in any way.
Micro Brow Pencil ($9.99)
Although it's twice the price of the previously mentioned pencil it's light years better. I really didn't think I would like this. It swatches horribly and is very stiff. I was surprised to find that the colour really transferred well onto my brows and was very easy to control. This is my favourite brow pencil and performs the same way as the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz but at half the cost.
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| NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Taupe |
Eyebrow Gel ($6.99)
NYX is one of the few brands that creates black brow products. I applaud them for it especially because if you have a dramatic cool toned hair colour, a warm dark brown more than likely won't look right. That being said, the black in this product scares me. It looks like actual paint to me. Although this comes in 5 shades, I really don't think all of them are usable on most people, but it's a matter of preference. I picked it up in Brunette (which at the time my hair was) and it looked red on my face, so back to the store it went. The formula itself I liked but it took some work. It held my little hairs in place well but getting it to look natural wasn't an easy task. My brows ended up looking painted on and given the mess created due to the tube packaging, I decided I would be better off with something else.
Tame and Frame Brow Pomade ($6.99)
I love this product so much. It comes in 5 shades that all seem like they would go well with a variety of hair colours. I've used Blonde and Espresso, both of which were very flattering. At the point of purchasing this I was a slave to the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow. I know I'll probably be burned at the stake for this but I like this a little bit more. The pomade itself is creamier than the Dipbrow and doesn't dry out as quickly. I also find it to be much easier to blend. I feel like with Dipbrow it's easy to go overboard and end up with sharpie brows where as this comes off more natural. The only downfall is that it doesn't have as strong of a hold, but I don't think it lets them get out of control either.
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| (Left) Anastia Beverly Hills Dipbrow in Chocolate (Right) NYX Tame & Frame in Espresso |
Eyebrow Marker ($9.99)
I can't express how much I hated this. After one use it was completely dried up and honestly, I wasn't that upset about it. I purchased this in Medium without swatching it and it was a mistake. The marker made my brows look bright orange. There's only one other shade which is Deep, so not much to choose from. This was the biggest let down of any NYX product I've ever tried. It went back to the store that same day.
NYX products are buy two get one free at Ulta
Sep 27th - Oct 3rd
