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We tried Huda Beauty’s first ever brow pencil, here’s what we thought
Described as being ‘like microblading without the pain’, is this all you need to make the most of your arches?
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Ask any make-up artist and they’ll tell you the importance of great brows. As they frame your face, they can often make or break a look.
Whatever brow hairs you’re blessed with, there’s a never-ending change of trends dominating the beauty sphere, from fluffy, overgrow hair to neat, flattened down styles.
Finding the right tools, however, is the hard part. Do you go for a powder, pomade, gel, pencil or pen?
Read more: 6 best eyebrow pens for creating the microbladed look at home
There’s currently a new kid on the block from Huda Beauty with the launch of the brand’s first-ever brow product; the #Bombbrow microshade brow pencil. Available in eight shades, it features “the finest tip possible for a brow pencil,” measuring just 0.9mm, and aims to deliver a microbladed effect.
The brand claims that “the retractable pencil precisely defines, shapes, and fills brows seamlessly as it creates soft, true hair-like strokes”. Costing £15, it’s also one of the most affordable products within the brand’s line up.
Huda Beauty, created by Dubai-based make-up artist and blogger, Huda Kattan, is well known and loved for its full coverage, high impact products, with everything from stick foundations to pigmented matte lipsticks.
The most popular products from the brand are its eyeshadow palettes which come in an array of shades, shimmers, glitters and sizes. It was yet to dip its toes into brow territory, until now.
We got our hands on the new micro-fine pencil and put it through its paces to see if it’s the key to perfectly groomed brows.
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Huda Beauty #Bombbrow microshade brow pencil: £15, Hudabeauty.com
The packaging
Huda Beauty puts as much work into its product packaging as it does into the product itself. On first impressions, this looks like a skinnier version of its dual-ended mascara (£24, Feelunique.com), with a hexagonal tube that ensures it stays put on your dresser or desk, rather than rolling off. Not only that it allows you to have a good grip of the product in your hand.
The double sided tool features a spoolie brush on one end for combing through hair to shape brows and blend any product you apply and a retractable pencil on the other.
Effectively you’re getting two products in one, and the spoolie is particularly useful for ensuring brows don’t just look unnatural or blocky if you’ve accidentally overdone it on the product front.
The product
Unfortunately for us, we’re not blessed with full, bushy brows, instead we’re lumped with sparse, thin hairs that need an awful lot of work to make them look good while still looking natural.
First up is the spoolie, which is a brush with short, even bristles which we found latched onto every hair to comb through easily. It’s slightly rough in texture too, which we loved as when it came to blending product with it by brushing it through hair, focusing it on the front section of our brows, it was easy to ensure a natural look – hair strokes still appeared defined without looking messy.
Now for the real work: the pencil. The eight shades range from a warm blonde to soft black, we tried out medium brown, which has a mix of cool and warm undertones.
It’s incredibly thin, as the brand points out in its marketing, and reminds us of the retractable pencils we used to play with at school, but has a circular tip so you can use it on its side for an even finer stroke or straight on.
Taking it through our brows, we applied the pencil lightly to try and mimic our natural hair and found it did a great job, especially in sparser areas where there’s often more skin than hair towards the tailbone of our arches.
The vegan formula is enriched with castor oil, coconut oil and vitamin E, although you would never tell, as it’s so fine it feels just like a regular pencil. It’s not waxy or fluid, instead, it’s quite hard, which we liked as it gave us more control and helped us keep it looking as natural as possible. That said, if you prefer a bolder brow, simply use more pressure and create bigger strokes, as you can easily build it up for a darker look.
Read more: We tried Urban Decay’s new Naked Wild West eyeshadow palette, here’s how it went
Medium brown is an ideal shade if you have mousy brown hair. There was a slightly reddish undertone, but this was only apparent when trying to fill out your brows in places where there are fewer hairs. This is where the spoolie came in handy for softening the edges and blending in the colour.
We particularly enjoyed how the fine nibbed pencil meant you carve out a neat, precise line under where your actual hairs start, which is what really gives them that microbladed look. As beauty salons aren't opening anytime soon, it’s the perfect compromise if you aren't ready to give up on neat, natural-looking brow hair.
According to Huda Beauty, the pencil is waterproof, smudge-proof and transfer-proof, which we can mostly attest to. We put it through its paces by wearing it during a run and our shower after. It barely budged, as long as you don’t touch your brows obviously, and while our skin was drenched in sweat and water, our brow hairs stayed intact throughout. Removal of it is easy too, a simple swipe of a micellar water-soaked cotton pad will do the trick.
The verdict: Huda Beauty #Bombbrow microshade brow pencil
When it comes to the different types of looks you can create, this latest launch from Huda Beauty is much more versatile than most of its other products, which tend to lean on the high impact, full coverage end of the spectrum. Instead, the fine pencil allows you to create hairlike strokes that are as fair or as bold as you like.
Once hair strokes are drawn on, they feel weightless and as if you’re not wearing any product at all, not to mention the application is speedy and takes little work.
For £15 we’re very impressed and it’s the perfect introduction to the brand if you prefer a more natural finish to your make-up.
For more eye make-up reviews, read our guide to the best eyeshadow brushes for every ability