All makeup lover knows that brows are everything and can either make or break a look. A lot of us need a bit (or a lot of help) in the brow department; we have to fill them in to get them looking fleeky. I have gone through a lot of brow products; it’s an ever evolving process. There are many different kinds out there from powders, pomades, pencils, crayons and so forth. I own all the the above listed, but in this post I want to concentrate on brow pencils. The aim of these types of posts is to save you guys some coins and give you alternative low end products that are just as good as the high end ones. I’ve done this type of post previously for mascaras and setting sprays. 

I have used all these brow pencils quite regularly and interchangeably; I will give you the tea on each including the things I like and not like about it.

MAC Brow Pencil – Spiked – R250
This was one of the first roll up brow pencils that I used and I fell in love with it immediately. The colour was just right for me and the pencil part was nice and thin so it worked well for drawing in my non-existant tail of my brow. I did find that during the warmer months, the pencil broke very easily, even when I hadn’t rolled up a lot – I wasn’t too happy about this because this pencil is expensive! I will combat this by keeping it in the fridge in the summer time. Other than the price and the fact that it doesn’t have a spoolie, I highly recommend this brow pencil!

Essence Eyebrow Designer – 04 Brown – R27
This brow pencil has been a staple in my makeup stash, I keep on repurchasing it and keeping a back up in case it ever got discontinued. This pencil is a bit more on the brown side than the other pencils I have used, so it gives a more natural finish to the brow. The cap also doubles as a brush to get your brow hairs in place, I find this brush insufficient though, I always reach for a spoolie instead. My pet peeve about this product is that it’s an actual pencil and it has to be very sharp for it to work precisely, that minor detail aside, this product is good value for money.

LA Girl Shady Slim Brow Pencil – Blackest Brown – R85
This product is a fairly new addition to the LA Girl stand in South Africa, I first heard about it through Jackie Aina, she gave it a thumbs up. In my opinion this pencil is a dupe of the MAC one, they perform similarly well on my brows. I use the lighter version of this pencil as well, in the colour Brunette, when I want a more natural look to my brows. This brow pencil comes with a spoolie on the other end and this is so convenient when you are doing your brows. I haven’t experienced the problem of it breaking like the MAC one, but I’ll have to wait till it gets really hot to see if it does indeed break. I highly recommend this brow pencil, it does the job well.