Review: Anastasia Brow Wiz in Ebony
I think we’ve discussed before how I have no eyebrows. Seriously, you can barely see them if I leave them natural, which is quite an accomplishment considering that my eyebrow hair is nearly black. I’m basically drawing in about half my eyebrows every day, so good brow products are hugely important to me. My most-used brow thing right now (which I’ve mentioned before) is the Anastasia Brow Wiz in Ebony. So why’s it on my face more than pretty much anything else?
Packaging
Pencils are one of those things where good packaging is not only nice – it’s essential, since the packaging affects how well the product works. The casing on the Brow Wiz leans more toward average than luxe, but it’s very solid and has some nice perks. Like a lot of pencils, you twist the top to get the product out. You can roll the product back down, which makes total sense to me – I was completely baffled to find out that some pencils will only twist up, not down. I like to check occasionally to see how much I have left, so being able to roll it back down is vital. The caps snap on firmly and don’t get looser with use.
As you can see from the photo above, the pencil is fairly long (5 7/8″) and fairly skinny (1/4″ thick). Personally I’d prefer the casing to be a little wider, but I don’t find it uncomfortable to hold. It’s very light-weight and feels well-balanced in the hand.
One of the nice things about it is it has an included spoolie at the opposite end that you can use to brush out your brows. Unfortunately, it’s not my favorite spoolie in the whole world. The bristles are short and dense, which helps with softening and blending the product into your hair, but they’re also a tiny bit scratchy. There have been a few times that the brush pulled up a few flakes if the skin around my brows was particularly dry, so I just make sure to use a light hand with it.
The tip of the pencil is quite fine, which makes it easy to be very precise. That does mean it takes a little while if you’re covering large areas, though.
Color
I have neutral-toned, almost-but-not-quite-black hair, and it turns out that’s a surprisingly hard color to find in brow products. A lot of things I’ve tried were either too light, too red-toned, or both – even if they were the darkest color in the line. Filling in such large areas of my brows means color mismatches are really obvious, and Brow Wiz in Ebony was the first product I’ve found that really blends in well with my natural hair color. Where a lot of brow pencils are only available in three or four colors, Brow Wiz comes in six. According to the recommendations from the Anastasia website:
Ash Blonde – Suggested for light to dark blonde hair.
Caramel – Suggested for light brown hair with warm undertones, auburn, and strawberry blonde hair. Great for highlights.
Medium Ash – Suggested for light to medium brown and silver hair.
Soft Brown – Suggested for medium brown hair.
Brunette – Suggested for medium brown to black hair.
Ebony – Suggested for dark brown to black hair.
Texture & Wear
The other thing that keeps me coming back to the Brow Wiz is the wear time. Even though it’s a bit hard to swatch on the arm, it transfers easily onto the face (which generally has a bit more oil). My skin ranges from super-oily to normal, and it easily stays on bare skin through an entire work day. If I use NARS eye primer under it, it will also hold up to sweat or small amounts of water (like rain, not swimming).
In Short: I have yet to find another brand that matches real hair colors better, and the product is great enough that I’ve repurchased it multiple times.
Anastasia Brow Wiz is available at nordstrom.com, Sephora stores and sephora.com. For $21 you get .003oz/.085g
Helena
September 24, 2013 at 6:53 amLooks like a nice product!
the result is great!
Have a beautiful day!