MAC The Stylish Brow Collection Discussion (December 2012)

[Odelia]

Thanks for the pic reference! Seeing it has settled it for me. It can look lovely! I saw T's pics and I found hers a bit too defined for my personal liking and it scared me off a bit on the brow fluidline. Then again her brow pic of the new pencils looked a bit patchy somehow! With this pic and Liba's' excellent tips + suggestions I've been easily turned to preferring the fluidline

 

[Odelia]

It's mostly in the application, I think, but getting a good color effect is important too, especially if you have a lot of filling in to do.

The brow f/l colors are very soft and even the darkest one runs pretty light and gentle, in my dark-browed opinion, so I don't think they'll be a problem on their own.

Years ago, when full, natural brows were the normal style, the makeup tip for doing your brows would be to use a very fine tipped brush and draw fine, wispy lines like hairs sort of slanted back, inside the edges of the natural brow, then brush up and back with a brush. Doing brows like that was good training for me at the time, because it taught me to notice how the hair grew and how it lay, and where the natural arch was.

The way people do it now, with a distinct line on the top and bottom is harder to do, in my opinion - you need a steady hand for both sides of your face, which can be tricky.

What I like to do is sort of cross between the old way and the new way. First off, I grew out my brows all the way last year and just keep the arch and a bit at the ends defined with plucking - so I have plenty of room to maneuver. I use a fine tipped brush to draw a line that will give me the direction and shape I want in the center of the brow (1-3 strokes going back starting from the full part by the nose to the center of the arch and then one line from the arch to the outer end). This line gives plenty of definition. Then I go back with a slanted brush with just a touch of f/l and use it to subtly straighten out the lower edge, blend that center line up and out a bit, and add some definition on the top of the arch if needed.

I've been using f/ls for my brows for a while like this, so I'm happy about there being an actual brow formula now. It could use a little deeper shade past deep dark brunette, in my opinion, but the style is for lighter brows anyhow, so even deep dark brunette's got a fashionable look on my very dark brows. I just have to get used to it a bit. If these become perm, I bet a darker shade will get added in.

That's pretty much how I've I have been doing mine. I never really touched my brows until this past year when I started taking more of an interest in them. I found it really framed my face and just gave it an overall completed look. I'm an eyebrow noob so I really appreciate the detailed explanation of the way that you combine both ways!

I am always so paranoid about having both sides even that I can drive myself nuts sometimes lol.

I think I might still need to finally get the brow set clear gel or the wax finisher just to make sure that no random hairs go up or down throughout the day. Or would the fluidline sort of take of that? I bet not if I want a natural look lol.

 

[PrettyKitty]

I was thinking that too, a bit too much concealer. I think that's where people go wrong, you only need a tiny bit of concealer to "clean up" the brow.

Yes exactly. I like the shape and how defined they are, but it would have looked better with less concealer.

Oh well, I wish my brows would grow back so I could have natural looking brows, but what can I do!

 

[Michelemu21]

I like the carved brow and use concealer on too of my brows every day. But i like them to look more like Erinne's friend than the blog pic. I was using Quite Natural pp but it was too dark for me so I switched to Benefit Instant Brow pencil in light or taupe and it is perfect. I use Mac 208 brush to scrape the side of the pencil. I am going to cHeck out the dark blonde fluidline and see. I think it would be easier. I wonder how it compares to Laura Mercier brow definer. Thank you Erinne for explaining the difference in brushes. I was using the Mac 266 and that wasn't as nice.

 

[elegant-one]

Quote: Originally Posted by Odelia
I saw T's pics and I found hers a bit too defined for my personal liking and it scared me off a bit on the brow fluidline. Then again her brow pic of the new pencils looked a bit patchy somehow! With this pic and Liba's' excellent tips + suggestions I've been easily turned to preferring the fluidline

I agree...I did not care for how it looked on her at all

erine's friends pic is much better

It looked waaay too ...hey I filled in my eyebrows not well kinda look. I prefer a much more natural look. Just my humble opinion

 

[elegant-one]

Seriously! I'm sorry (not really), but i like realistic brows.

yup, me too!

 

[liba]

Oh well, I wish my brows would grow back so I could have natural looking brows, but what can I do!

It took me a pretty long time for them to get back to natural - a good 8 months, I'd say, and I never had them very thin. They didn't look bad as they were growing out, though - I'd fill them in and from normal talking distance it looked just fine. We always see every tiny pore and hair and no one else EVER does - this is beauty rule #1 in my mind.

If you want to grow 'em, it's really not a huge struggle.

Then again, I never waxed my brows, only plucked. I think years of waxing would eventually kill a lot of the roots off and make it pretty impossible for them to grow back well - why I always stayed away from brow waxing! Legs = great, brows = keep away!

 

[PrettyGirlDoc]

I was hoping they brought back brow set colors like Dressed. It is the perfect color for my Super red hair.

 

[erine1881]

I like the carved brow and use concealer on too of my brows every day. But i like them to look more like Erinne's friend than the blog pic. I was using Quite Natural pp but it was too dark for me so I switched to Benefit Instant Brow pencil in light or taupe and it is perfect. I use Mac 208 brush to scrape the side of the pencil. I am going to cHeck out the dark blonde fluidline and see. I think it would be easier. I wonder how it compares to Laura Mercier brow definer. Thank you Erinne for explaining the difference in brushes. I was using the Mac 266 and that wasn't as nice.

 

[Prettypackages]

I believe she is talking about filling in brows, and then using concealer to shape (carve) them to perfect the shape.

OH that's what they call that... yeah I don't do all of that.

not sure I'm getting these. I have a brow combo from smashbox I rarely use. The color I use isn't a dark brown, and I don't think these brow fluidline colors suit me.

 

[Prettypackages]

I've been growing my brows out for the past two months, and just got them threaded. It wasn't bad at all...

 

[PrettyKitty]

Quote: Originally Posted by liba

It took me a pretty long time for them to get back to natural - a good 8 months, I'd say, and I never had them very thin. They didn't look bad as they were growing out, though - I'd fill them in and from normal talking distance it looked just fine. We always see every tiny pore and hair and no one else EVER does - this is beauty rule #1 in my mind.

If you want to grow 'em, it's really not a huge struggle.

Then again, I never waxed my brows, only plucked. I think years of waxing would eventually kill a lot of the roots off and make it pretty impossible for them to grow back well - why I always stayed away from brow waxing! Legs = great, brows = keep away!



I only plucked mine, but I did it for about 10 years so I know there isn't much I can do. I didn't pluck any hair that's been growing back where they are tattooed, and tried Rapidlash, Stimulash Fusion and castor oil. Not much luck, I started in February. :/ I see tiny fine hair but it doesn't even look like brows, more like baby hair. I'll continue to wait, there's not much I can do. Thanks for your help!

 

[liba]

I only plucked mine, but I did it for about 10 years so I know there isn't much I can do. I didn't pluck any hair that's been growing back where they are tattooed, and tried Rapidlash, Stimulash Fusion and castor oil. Not much luck, I started in February. :/ I see tiny fine hair but it doesn't even look like brows, more like baby hair. I'll continue to wait, there's not much I can do. Thanks for your help!

Don't worry - I always plucked mine too, and for twice as long as that, especially around the edges by the nose. The fine hairs ought to eventually get replaced by stronger ones - at least, that's what happened for me. It's worth it. Fashions come and go, but as we get older, a more natural brow is very age defying!

 

[sherm]

Doing my brows is the most important part of my makeup routine so I don't know how I forgot about this collection! Holiday madness has been eating my brain. Anyway, I think I'm going to pick up the deep dark brunette gelcreme! I use powder right now and it works fine in the pigment department but something a bit more long-wearing would be great. I'm missing a chunk of one due to a scary "professional" wax back in the day and it's never grown back so I hate hate haaaaate not having them fully filled in. I'm so paranoid about it I check myself in the mirror several times a day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PrettyKitty

Oh well, I wish my brows would grow back so I could have natural looking brows, but what can I do!


PrettyKitty I just wanted to let you know that yours are like my dream brows!! I love a delicate-looking arch.

 

[mousygiggles]

I had plucked and waxed for over 15 years and the NYX and Anastasia brow serums saved me. Just letting them grow was not helping. The serums did. They both worked equally well. Sheeew finally.

 

[elegant-one]

The worse looking eyebrows are the comas or crochet hook looking ones

I see news reporters or talking heads sporting them all the time. Sometimes it helps to take a picture of your face straight on & then you can see where they need shaped.

My eyebrows grow back in like....oh, say 3 hours

ugghh

 

[mousygiggles]

The worse looking eyebrows are the comas or crochet hook looking ones

I see news reporters or talking heads sporting them all the time. Sometimes it helps to take a picture of your face straight on & then you can see where they need shaped.

My eyebrows grow back in like....oh, say 3 hours

ugghh

You may not believe me but you are lucky!!! I am the least hairy person I know ( I could go a month without shaving my pits and no one would notice), and it has it's downsides. My brows were and continue to be so hard to keep full and not be patchy.

 

[elegant-one]

You may not believe me but you are lucky!!! I am the least hairy person I know ( I could go a month without shaving my pits and no one would notice), and it has it's downsides. My brows were and continue to be so hard to keep full and not be patchy.

Really!? do you have light colored hair? I grow monkey legs in the winter

well....when I'm lazy

 

[erine1881]

Really!? do you have light colored hair?  I grow monkey legs in the winter :lol: well....when I'm lazy

Same here. I HATE shaving in the winter. It happens rarely.

 

[mousygiggles]

Really!? do you have light colored hair? I grow monkey legs in the winter

well....when I'm lazy

Not really light. It's sort of a rainbow right now but naturally was a darker dirty blonde. My kids are the ones with really light hair. Both them and their Dad have white WHITE eyebrows and lashes. Even fling is too dark for my daughter. She gets teased because it looks like she has no brows so I try to help her darken them just a touch before school if I get up early enough.