I used to think that being blessed with naturally thick and dark eyebrows meant I never had to worry about filling my brows. I went for the occasional eyebrow shaping, but never busied myself with filling them in.
Thus, up till just a couple of years ago, I’ve always walked around with dark but unfilled eyebrows, no matter the dye color of my hair or whether or not I had bangs. (Do I see you nodding?)
Now, I fill in my brows 98% of the time. 2% for the very rare times where I really don’t have time, and would spend the rest of the day feeling like everyone must be staring at my yellow-brow hair with stark black brow hairs. That’s not true, I know. With only 40% of the female population in Singapore bothering to wear any trace of makeup at all, I should look and feel right at home.
But I’m a beauty blogger now and people do come up to me and say hello so I must always look put together. *flicks hair
HAHAHA! Just kidding! Even if nobody knew me, I’d still always want to put my best face forward. I don’t mind going out without makeup – restricted to the neighborhood and I don't give a **** when I'm sick – but when I do, I definitely will not ignore my brows now. It’s just bring responsible to my whole self-presentation.
And even though I have bangs that cover my brows, there's always the chance that wind will blow them out of place!
Okie, let’s get going with how to lighten your brows with the Kate Brow Color. I like to call it brow mascara, it just has more meaning to it.
If you have dyed your hair much lighter than the typical chestnut-browns or reddish-browns on the heads of most Asian girls, you would probably find that a normal eyebrow pencil does nothing to lighten your brows, not even the lightest of shades.
With my hair dyed yellow-brown with very light-colored highlights thus making me look yellow over all, no brow pencil could ever cover the black of my brow hairs.
See how incoherent the color of my hair and brows look!
One day I was feeling hot and casually lifted my bangs to air my forehead and my friend made the dreaded comment 'You look so fierce without your bangs." And he's a GUY. That meant the mistake was so MEGA a guy could tell there was something wrong with the look.
HORROR!
I NEEDED to lighten my brows to match my hair color! So I went into MAC, asked for an eyebrow mascara, and was recommended MAC Brow Set in Girl Boy. I didn't think I wanted to fork out SGD25.00 for a brow mascara, so I went into Watsons... and found the Kate Eyebrow Color! Actually the KATE one isn't that much cheaper than the MAC one. The MAC brow set is surprisingly quite affordable.
Left: LB-2 heavily swatched; Right: LB-2 blended
2 Easy Steps On How To Use The Kate Eyebrow Color Mascara
Step 1: Apply
Comb the wand through the hairs, not onto the skin. Do it carefully as the wand holds plenty of product.
Step 2: Blend
Use a separate mascara or brow wand to blend the product out evenly. I tend to concentrate the light color on the inner half, and allow the outer part to be darker so that the brow will not look flat with one color throughout.
By the way, I love how my highlighted cheekbones look in these pictures! 😀 It's the MAC Beauty Powder in Too Chic, my HG face highlighter!
And done!
Mirror-image-left-and-real-right brow has one light code of Kate Eyebrow Color mascara while mirror-image-right-and-real-left brow is naked.
Want to know how I got those fluttery eyelashes? Hint: Mascara from L'Oreal + Holy Grail material lash primer. I'll review them of course! 🙂
Just one thin layer of the Kate Eyebrow Color mascara, with no base or eyebrow pencil beneath, and it's changed my dark brow hairs to a light brown! Amazing, isn't it? Could never achieve that with typical brow pencils.
In this review I used the Kate brow mascara by itself so that you can see how it performs without anything else.
You really need an eyebrow mascara to do the job, simply because the liquid acts as a temporary dye and goes onto the hair instead of the skin beneath.
One layer of Kate Brow Mascara
Pair Kate Eyebrow Color With An Eyebrow Pencil For Better Effect
For better staying power and to get my brows really light yet defined, I usually use an eyebrow pencil first - Lioele Artist Auto Eyebrow Pencil being my favorite now - so that the tail of the brow can be brown as well.
I used the Kate Eyebrow Color mascara (on top of another brow product) in some previous eye makeup tutorials before. Check 'em out!
Makeup Look: Featuring MAC And MUG Razzleberry And Peacock Eyeshadows
Makeup Tutorial: MAC Goldmine, MUG Peacock, Shimma Shimma, Urban Decay Smog
and, it wasn't mentioned in the tutorial but Kate Eyebrow Color was the brow product used in Eyeshadow Tutorial for Asian Eyes Part 5 – Horizontal Gradient Method
Here are two more looks, not yet published! Previews for you! 😀
I LOVE this one!!! Love the gradient of green and teal and turquoise...
Totally get the Kate Eyebrow Color mascara if you have trouble getting your brows to look lighter than your hair. Helps that it's really easy to control the intensity of brown you desire, just apply more if you want it lighter.
Of course, even if you don't have colored hair, Kate Brow Color would also work for you. I believe the alternative shade, a darker brown, will suit many people. In fact, I think the darker brown will suit more people.
The 2 shades available. I have the lighter one on the left. (Image taken with iPhone)
Just bear in mind not to go out with light hair and black brows, unless you have bangs and are sure no amount of wind will blow them away from your brows. Hoho.
You know the cropped pictures showing my full face?
I was actually posing like this the whole time, for about 20 shots.
HAHAHA! Super awkward and not trying to act sexy at all okie~ And very tiring! You try having your hand on your head for 20 plus shots! XD
I had to do it like that so that my hair would cascade down the right of my face, near my brow, so that you can see that the temporarily dyed brow color indeed looks more in tune with my hair color. Much applause for this beauty blogger's efforts? 😀
Oh I placed the quiver symbols far away from my armpits in case you might think I have BO or something. LOL.
Where to buy products mentioned:
I can't find anywhere that sells KATE cosmetics online, so here're the MAC ones I was talking about and top results for eyebrow mascaras from amazon.com.
Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel Espresso
Bun Bun rates the Kate Eyebrow Color Mascara:
For your eyebrows, how light do you go? Do you take pictures in awkward positions just so that your pictures will turn out nice?