Review: Maybelline Brow Drama

I was super excited to see this product on the shelves here in Australia, simply because I was that close to splurging on Benefit's Gimme Brow, and now there was a cheaper option for me to try out first! Good on ya Maybelline.

Maybelline's Brow Drama is touted as a "sculpting brow mascara" but, y'know, I'm happy to just call it a good ol' brow gel. It comes in a little black tube with the Brow Drama logo (which I think is quite attractive) and a little box underneath to tell you what colour it is - we've only been given medium brown and dark brown as choices here in Australia, although I'm fairly sure they have blonde overseas. Ce la vie, I grabbed medium brown even though my hair is ash blonde.

 I suppose what you would call the 'defining feature' of this product is the funny shaped spoolie they included. It essentially just has a little "ball" at the end of it which is what you use to apply the product - the rest of the spoolie is useless because the bristles are so short there is no way you can manoeuvre them onto your brows. Maybelline say the shape helps to 'comb and shape your brows into a natural curved arch'. Hmm. Interesting.

Overall, I do really like this product. I use it nearly everyday in my brows over my Anastasia DipBrow in Taupe to define my otherwise blonde hairs and keep them in place. The colour is definitely too dark for what I prefer (I'd pounce on the Blonde version!) but because it isn't being used to fill in your brows per se, I don't find it unusable. It's not too warm either - a nice, slightly cool toned brown that I can imagine would match most brunettes or dark blondes.

The funny little spoolie is actually not too bad too use. It does let you be a bit more specific about where you apply the product and it picks up just the right amount (unlike something like Australis' Tint my Brow). The bristles are a bit sparse, but, again, this doesn't seriously hinder the use of this product.

Brow Drama definitely keeps your brows in place and doesn't set them with too much of that 'crunchy' feel that others do, although it doesn't feel completely natural like DipBrow on its own does. It does a good job of coating each hair, looks natural and not clumpy. It lasts the whole day unless you're like me and are constantly touching your eyebrows (seriously, does anyone else do this?) and so for that I'm pretty pleased.

This is what my brows look like with DipBrow to fill and Brow Drama to define:

Not too dark, right? It is surprisingly natural when you finish up.

Brow Drama goes for $12.95 at Priceline and is available in Medium Brown or Dark Brown.

I had some great comments on Instagram, so let me know what you think of this product here as well!

And, as always, thanks for reading!

September Favourites

Let's not even mention what the date is (considering I did that last month...)

Here are my September favourites! A few of these are actually products I've had for a while and never really loved... until now! 

• Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Taupe
• Covergirl Trublend Fixstick in L1-4
• Chi Chi Metallic Eyeshadow Stick in Solid Gold Dancer
• Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate Moss Lipstick in 03
• Essence Bloom Me Up! Shimmer Powder

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Taupe

The one, the only. There's no mistaking Anastasia as a favourite for brows, with good reason. The Dipbrow is creamy, the taupe colour is spot on for light blonde or cool toned hair, and it outlasts anything else I've ever used on my brows. I use this everyday, and it is very, very versatile - you can use it to just fill in tiny spots in your brows, or go all out and pretty much redraw your brow, if you wanted to. The only issue I have with this (which may be user error since I haven't heard any others with the problem) is that the very centre of the product seems to have dried up slightly and is now no longer as creamy as the outside parts. However, I've just been working from the outside and ignoring the issue, hoping it will go away... I'm not sure if this is because I didn't store it lid side down the first week or so, or just bad luck, or I didn't put the lid on properly one day or something, but it is a small error I have found in an otherwise great product.  A favourite for September, and likely for a while to come.

Covergirl TruBlend FixStick in L1-4

Top: blended swatch. Bottom: unblended swatch.

I didn't have high expectations for this concealer, only because I seem to have better luck with liquid concealers rather than cream, but I was pleasantly surprised with this product. The pink undertone makes it perfect for concealing my blue under-eye circles, and because it's in stick form just makes it really quick and easy to use. It's twist up (thank goodness) which is just a godsend after the issues I've had with jumbo pencils (see below...). It's highly pigmented, and blends in well, but seems to disappear easily if you over-blend. From what I've experienced, it has fair staying power, although I struggle noticing staying power of concealer because it gets used in conjunction with foundation (obviously) so if it disappears I always wonder what role the foundation underneath played in that. Nevertheless, if you're looking for an easily portable concealer to chuck in your bag for touch ups or for travelling, and you aren't looking for a heavy duty concealer, Covergirl might have just made your perfect product.

Chichi Metallic Eyeshadow Stick in Solid Gold Dancer

Heavy swatch in natural light.

This is one of the only eyeshadow pencils I own that seems to actually be of a fairly "eyeshadowy" consistency when applied. Very different to, say, Rimmels Scandaleyes Pencils, this Chi Chi pencil is seriously metallic and quite dry to the touch (not sticky). I prefer this, as the lasting power is vastly improved with such a formula. It can be slightly patchy to work with, but the formula can be layered to reduce this issue. It's also a huge bitch to sharpen, but I've found that this varies drastically depending on your jumbo pencil sharpener, since people always seem to complain about NYX Jumbo Pencils and I have no trouble at all sharpening those. Weird. Anyway, I wore this to a festival (Listen Out!) as liner this month and it did not budge! Very, very impressed with this, especially as something I picked up to use once for my formal last year. Definitely a keeper.


Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate Moss in 03

Unattractive angle lip swatch.

The only decent full face photo I could get that showed the colour true to life. Oh man I love this lipstick.

A browny-taupe nude with a creamy finish. This is the nude that made me fall in love with nude lipsticks. It lasts well for the price, smells amazing and is super opaque. I prefer this formula over the Matte Kate ones (in the red tube) but I haven't tried it in other colours so there might be some variation. I am absolutely in love with this lipstick though, and it has definitely opened up the world of nude lip colours to me. I've had it for a while but its only been this month that I've realised what a good product it is (does anyone else do that? Forget or not realise how great a product you own is?)

Essence Bloom Me Up! Shimmer Powder

Pretty design imprinted into the powder, but of course I didn't take a photo before I used it...

Attempting to show the colour. It's lighter than this in real life.

Swatch in natural lighting.

I got this, obviously, as part of Essence's recent Bloom Me Up! collection, which was a nice refreshing change from the mostly unattractive look of the other recent trend editions (despite there being some really good products in them). Maybe it's just because I'm really not a fan of Essence's branding in general... Oh well. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous highlight. It is definitely on the shimmery side, but I somehow don't mind as much as I normally would because it looks so natural! I pat this on with my finger (because I hate getting glitter in my face brushes then forgetting about it) on the tops of my cheekbones and set with a setting spray and I really love the effect. It also has pink undertones which is right up my alley. Definitely go check out your local Priceline and see if they have any of these left over, it's definitely worth it for just over $5!

So those are my favourites for September. Let me know what you think!

Review and Swatches: Glamourdolleyes Eyeshadows

Hi guys! Today is a long overdue review of six gorgeous Glamour Doll Eyes eyeshadows that the very lovely Vanessa sent to me to try out. I got to choose six colours I thought looked interesting and she sent them internationally for me! I felt so so lucky to be able to get this opportunity, and I wanted to give a really detailed review based on my experiences with them. So let's go!

Before we get to the shadows, I'll give you some background on Glamour Doll Eyes. It's what most people refer to as an "indie" company, or individual, as they are small and often have prices that rival the drugstore, yet quality that matches the mid-range. Their eyeshadows tend to be loose, very pigmented and often come in sample sizes. They also release lots of collections and are generally very exciting! Glamour Doll Eyes started in 2008 and currently sell eyeshadow, primer, blush, glitter, and even lip products, but the eyeshadow is definitely the biggest range.

Moving on, here is what my six sample jars looked like: 

The colours I chose were:

• Bittersweet
• Mushroom
• Brown Eyed Girl
• Lethal
• Bella Donna
• Aqua Foil

I decided with this review not to give individual reviews of each colour, as I found them to be very, very consistent in quality, so I will instead give a general review of the eyeshadows I received and my overall thoughts at the bottom.

Here are my arm swatches of each colour. I put them over Jordana 12HR Made to Last Eyeshadow Stick in Continuous Almond to get more even swatches and also to compare how they lasted over the day.

From top to bottom, these are in the same order as above:

The above pictures, as with each below, have natural lighting on the left hand side and flash on the right.

Initially, I was most intrigued by Mushroom as I thought the taupe/silver duochrome (where the colours shift in different light) was absolutely gorgeous. However, I soon realised each of my colours had a very unique colour shift or colour undertone that made them stand out from any other eyeshadow colour I've tried before. These are all super shimmery and highly pigmented.

Here are close-ups of each colour and a description, before I move onto the review:


Bittersweet
Deep taupe base with orange/gold duochrome

Mushroom
Deep taupe base with silver duochrome

Brown Eyed Girl
Shimmery brown with hints of purple undertones

Lethal
Deep taupe base with purple duochrome

Bella Donna
Turquoise with subtle purple undertones

Aqua Foil
Turquoise with hint of gold

I gave myself plenty of time for this review as I really wanted to get a feel for what these eyeshadows are like, considering they were my first indie purchase and my first foray into loose shadows. So what do I think?

Firstly, each of the colours I picked are absolutely gorgeous. I know I keep saying that, but it's true. Each could be used as a single wash of colour over the lid and it would look like finished, due to their colour shifts that add real depth. Aqua Foil works really well as an inner eye pop of colour on an otherwise plain eye, and Bittersweet would have its place in any warm neutral eye look.

The sample jars I was given were very generous, with a little shadow going a very long way. I barely needed to dip my brush into the colour to get enough to cover my lid - they don't shy away from pigment over at Glamour Doll Eyes!

I also like the aesthetic of the brand as a whole - it's a breath of fresh air from other well-known brands, and I like putting these jars on display as they all match and look good together.

However, as with most products, these eyeshadows come with some negative aspects.

Firstly, I really had difficulty getting used to having loose eyeshadows. In general, you have to be a lot more careful as they can be easy to spill, and you have to watch the amount you have on your brush before you apply. However, this is obviously an issue with application I have personally, and is no reflection upon the quality of the product. It is just something for others to consider before purchasing, as I know many people mostly work with pressed eyeshadows. There is definitely a learning curve with these shadows.

Moreover, the packaging slightly bothered me as I would have preferred to have the colour name or some sort of reference to the colour on the lid of the jar, as opposed to underneath, simply so when they are all lined up I can easily grab the colour I'm looking for. I know I could always just store them upside down, but then you don't get the pretty brand name, so neither is perfect. Also, Aqua Foil unfortunately stained my Real Technique Base Shadow Brush - after a few washes it seems to be back to normal but it made me quite sad that the tip was all blue instead of white.

A full size of one of these shadows will set you back $6 USD, and you get the choice of with or without a sifter included. A sample baggie is $1.25, and a sample jar like mine is $2.50. This is seriously good value, especially if you want to try out a whole bunch of shades and you barely ever hit pan on anything (I know I don't...). GDE have free shipping on orders over $50 worldwide, and have plenty of Gifts With Purchase that change often, so you always get a little bonus!

On the whole, I'm really glad I have these shadows in my collection. They are unique, bright and fun, and the colours are very wearable. They don't get reached for as much as, say, a pressed palette, simply due to the fact they take a bit more work and aren't fully appropriate for the morning rush, but their quality cannot be overlooked. I will definitely be making a future order with them!

And that's my review for today! Have any of you tried Glamour Doll Eyes? What do you think?
Thanks for reading.