Maybelline EyeStudio Master Shape Brow Pencil in Deep Brown Review

I feel like I've always had issues trying to find the right colored product to use on my brows. I've been experimenting with different products for quite some time but I never the right color match. I used to use Wet n Wild's Coloricon Eyeliner in Mink Brown to do my eyebrows but I didn't really like it. Most dark browns didn't seem ashy enough or were too red toned and mixing black with a lighter brown didn't work out.

The eyebrow gods have worked their magic because I think I've found my perfect eyebrow color match with the Maybelline EyeStudio Master Shape Brow Pencil in Deep Brown. There are a few other shades in the line, Blonde, Soft brown, and Auburn but Deep Brown suits me perfectly with my dark brown hair.

Here's how it looks on my brows! This is my brow with no product

Here's a light pass with a brushthrough with the attached spoolie. I know it's a subtle change but you can see the difference at the end of my brow.

Here's a heavier application with an angled brush.

The brow pencil is dual ended with a spoolie at one end and the brow pencil and this isn't a twist up pencil.

6 hours after applying it and my brows still look good, even though I have oily skin. Since the pencil is rather waxy and a little soft, it helps tame your eyebrow hairs but if you have particularly stubborn eyebrows, you may want to use a clear mascara or brow gel to set it.

I find that you can build up the pigmentation so you can get a natural oomph to your brows or a more dramatic look depending on how heavy handed you are. I will suggest though that if you're seeking a darker brow, apply it with an angled brush and skip the spoolie that comes with the pencil (the way I did it in the last picture). The bristles are short in the spoolie so you're more liable to brush out the product versus distributing it evenly in your brows. I really like the pencil because of how well it looks with my hair color and the texture of the pencil!

I should also talk about the packaging because it kind of confused me at first. When I first got it, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to sharpen it or not because the pencil looked like it was encased in a plastic shaft. Turns out though that you CAN sharpen it. I know it's been a source of confusion for some people because I myself had to look up whether I could sharpen it too. My sharpener of choice is the Covergirl sharpener, I know others have tried using high end sharpeners that haven't worked so try out Covergirl!

What's your go to brow product?

In lieu of a new post

One of my big projects for the year is to update my old swatches, at least the ones that I can. If you click on the Indie Cosmetics Swatches and Mainstream Cosmetics Swatches Tabs under the header, there are links to many of the Swatch Posts I've done. All the swatches have been categorized by brand and the specific colors to make it easier to find what you're looking for.

There are a few that have a date indicating when they've been Updated but the ones that don't are either already done in my new swatching style or have yet to be updated.

I hope you find this a useful tool!

Face Candy Couture Eyeshadow Swatches and Review

Here's another set of eyeshadows I got through KimmieKarmaLove. I have actually tried Face Candy Couture before (they were sending out a few free samples for people to try out but I don't think they're doing it anymore) but for some reason I never blogged about them. I'll see if I can find the free samples I got and swatch them to go along with this collection. It seems as if they had closed down for a little while when the owner was moving but they seem to have fully opened up for business!

To be quite honest, I wasn't expecting to be wowed by the eyeshadows (it had been a long time since I played with the samples I got so I forgot about my experience) but I actually really liked what I got. I think it may be because there's such an oversaturation of Indies (like what Jill said in the comments) that it is quite easy to become underwhelmed by the option of having so many. I got three jars of eyeshadows in Burnt Leaf #104, Deep Cranberry #123, and Treat #118 and of the three, I absolutely loved Treat.

You can purchase the eyeshadows on their Etsy page or their own website. I would probably purchase from the website since it has different quantity specials that the Etsy page currently doesn't have. The specials allow you to get ANY eyeshadow colors on the site in options of 3 for $11.99, 6 for $20.99, 10 for $29.99, and 20 for $49.99. I would like to see a page explaining the shipping process and costs.

Each eyeshadow comes in a 5 gram jar with a sifter with 1.2 grams of product and retails for $4.99 normally or you can buy several using one of the quantity specials and save a little bit on each. Each listing tells you whether it's eye, face, or lips safe along with if you can apply it on the nails and an ingredients list.

I can also really appreciate the effort they've made into doing clear product pictures on the site in addition to having really clear swatches. It's things like that that really go into rounding out a business!

Now I did my swatches and product pictures under an Ottlite. I did the swatches over Coastal Scents Shadow Worx Matte Primer.

Burnt Leaf #104, Deep Cranberry #123, and Treat #118. Treat is a little less dusky, a little more blue toned in real life!

I also took a few blurry pictures to properly show off the sparkle in the eyeshadows. This picture makes them look most like the swatches on their site.

Burnt Leaf: "A gorgeous chocolate brown, slightly burgundy undertone". I can dig the description since I really managed to get the burgundy undertones in the pictures. It applied with a little more of a satin sheen but the sparkles were still there!

Deep Cranberry: " A yummy deep burgundy with hints of a dark plum color and copperish highlights". This one I didn't like so much only because it turned grey toned on my lids (although strangely enough, not on my swatch). It did become a little more satin on my lids than Burnt Leaf so perhaps just not the color for me.

Treat: "A delightful muted vintage looking blue with gold undertones" Utterly perfect, it applied exactly the way it did in the swatch as it did on my lids without losing any of the sheen or sparkle. You can see the gold sparkle in the second and third picture. If you're fond of turquoise but don't want it too bright, this is the color for you!

While I do like what I got, there are a few things I need to nitpick on.

It seems that the disclaimer in each listing is copied and pasted from one source since they all have the same spelling mistake in "dramatic". They also seem to have the same ingredients which puzzles me. I didn't think you could achieve such a wide range of colors from just Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxide, and Tin Dioxide but of course I'm not a formulator. I should also note that the "Ingredients" link on their site doesn't actually lead to anything.

This is also extremely nitpicky but I can't say I'm too fond of the name. I guess for me the word "couture" has been overused in the last few years when it was a popular term to apply to anything. Nitpicky like I said but something I just thought about.

I do wish that they sold samples. I'm so skittish of Indie Companies that I usually prefer purchasing samples first and then full jars later. I don't know if they're planning on adding samples but I hope they decide to.

One last thing I noticed in the checkout is that no matter how large your window for the website is, you still have to scroll within the frame of the website to view your total since the frame isn't wide enough to show your entire cart. I would like to see that get fixed!

If you're still reading, you should enter their newest giveaway to win some eyeshadows on their Facebook page! Like the page, click on Contest Giveaway and then enter using the Rafflecopter Widget!

Disclaimer: I received these products for free from a friend as a gift. This doesn't alter my opinion of the products at all and I wasn't paid to write this post!

MAC Hot 'N' Saucy Tendertone-Swatch, Review, & New vs Old Comparison

I've basically waited for years for the Tendertones to be repromoted by MAC and so when I went to the MAC Shop MAC, Cook MAC Event (event pictures and recap here!) I had to pick one up. I went back and forth on which one to get but decided on Hot 'N' Saucy. I may go back for one of the other ones though, depending on whether I want to stick to a makeup detox for the month of February.

Hot 'N' Saucy is described as a "soft cherry red" and that's pretty accurate. Tendertones are sheer though, so don't expect to get tons of color payoff with the product. Out of the four shades being released with the collection, I think Hot 'N' Saucy was the most pigmented one. These retailed for $15 and have 6 mL or 0.2 oz of product.

Unfortunately it seems that Hot 'N' Saucy is sold out on the MAC website but I checked and you can still purchase it on Nordstroms and Macys!

To go with the MAC Shop MAC, Cook MAC theme, these came packaged with a matte pink gingham sleeve

and the back of the paper sleeve. I was hoping that they would be packaged in this versus it only being a sleeve, but I suppose I can't complain.

The actual box is shiny, with an opalescent Mother of Pearl-esque finish with MAC embossed on it.

The Tendertones come in a glass pot like the MAC Paint Pots with a black lid. I'll talk about the lid later in the post when I compare this new Tendertone to the old Tendertone I own. These also have a pleasant scent to them, I'd say a fruity strawberry kiwi scent. Very summery and one of the biggest reasons why I love Tendertones. My Tendertone from 2008 still smells fruity!

Lip Swatches Time! I did a heavier layer on my lips to show off the color better and this was taken in natural daylight.

Bare Lips

Hot 'N' Saucy Tendertone.

I also made a gif to better show the difference between bare lips and post application.

It is a heavier application but I do like the sheer coverage on my lips. It's got a real shiny finish to it that lasts for several hours (about 3-4 on my lips). I absolutely love it on.

I wanted to take this time to compare my old Tendertone from the 2008 Tendertones Collection to this new Tendertone that came out. I do wish I had Hot 'N' Saucy from the 2008 collection to do a better comparison but I only have Sweet Tooth so I'm going to be comparing the two for any differences in packaging and scent.

New Tendertone on the left, Old Tendertone on the right.

At first glance, it seems like the only differences are in the stickers. The new Tendertone has a larger black sticker that covers the bottom of the jar whereas the old Tendertone has a smaller white sticker that only partially covers the bottom. The jars are similar to the paint pot jars with a glass jar bottom and a black screwtop lid. I didn't notice a difference in the shine or scent, which was actually my biggest worry, I thought they might have changed the scent in between the 2008 versions and this year's version.

Now a big reason why I enjoy the glass jar with black lid packaging is because the lids feel substantial; when I unscrew the jar, it makes this pleasant, enjoyable sound as the lid slides against the threads of the glass jar and the sound is present in the old Tendertone packaging.

The new Tendertones come with a black lid that is virtually indistinguishable in appearance from the old Tendertone lid but it's actually lighter in weight and it feels like it was made out of a cheaper material. The difference in weight makes it so there's no satisfying sound when you open and close the container. As someone who enjoys the sounds and weight of the old lid, I'm disappointed that they switched over to one that feels like cheap plastic. The plastic has a much smoother/slicker feel to it versus the old one which almost felt like it had a semi matte feel to them.

I don't own any of the recent Paint Pots (which have the same packaging) so I can't comment on whether the change in lid is only present in the Tendertones or whether it's a change that they slowly implemented without any warning. I may explore my local MAC counter to check if there have been any changes and report back on that.

I'll admit, discussing the weight of the lid is rather nitpicky, but that's what I'm here for!

Packaging aside, my MAC Tendertone was everything I have been waiting years for. My only complaint is that they only released four colors. I'm hoping that maybe they'll come out with more soon! I did like the look of Tread Gently, which was a sheer green Tendertone that also came out. It really reminded me of Spring Bean Lustreglass which I believe is a long discontinued color. Ignore me! Rach from The Beauty Spot set me straight and it's actually permanent! Spring Bean is this green lustreglass than when mixed with your natural lip pigmentation, sort of turned itself into this gorgeous caramel color with green sparkle. I'm really thinking about getting it.

So get a Tendertone while you can!