Olivia Sr. recently asked me if I could find her a really good eyebrow pencil. I looked at her stash and saw a bunch of eyebrow products already. She noticed my glance and explained, "None of these look like my brows!"
I had to interpret what Olivia Sr. actually expressed. None meant, "I am bored of these products." Look-like-my-brows meant, "I don't want cricket legs drawn on my face." And, the glance she gave me meant a simple product with little effort but maximum results. Okay, so this meant she was looking for a retractable pencil with a thin tip and a texture that was easy to work with and a brush or a comb at the opposite end. Easy to find, right?
Well, not really because the texture really comes into play and that is where the elimination round comes in. From my experience, I knew the texture couldn't be super hard where no color appeared with a swipe of a hair, nor could it be so soft where the excess had to be wiped with a q-tip. It had to be somewhere close to a No. 2 pencil texture. This left me with really one choice, returning to the cosmetics of the original brow guru: Eugenia Weston's line of Senna Cosmetics.
I had been familiar with Senna Cosmetic brow products since the 90's and I knew if it came to a good retractable pencil that it would have to meet the high standards of Eugenia Weston. I also knew it would be easy for Olivia Sr. to use.
Senna Sketch-A-Brow Pencil ($18) comes in Blonde, Light Taupe, Dark Taupe, Mink, and Ash Brown. This variety pretty much has the entire brow community covered. I actually bought the Light Taupe for Olivia Sr. and a Dark Taupe for myself.
What makes this pencil great?
First, it is retractable and needs no sharpener. That alone saves time and no pencil shaving mess to clean up. Second, the diameter of the pencil is small allowing it to draw lines that look like brow hairs.
Third, the texture is just perfect: not too soft and waxy and not too hard and dry. Fourth, it has a nice comb at the end to brush and blend brow hairs. Fifth, the colors blend in with any skin tone perfectly. The brows will look like brows and not some painted on or drawn on thick line.
The colors contain just enough ash and warmth to blend in with the brows and skin. You can see the difference of the taupes. The Dark Taupe is deeper with warmth and not too ash. The Light Taupe has some warmth but goes on lighter yet still looks like a natural brow color. These two will work great on a variety of skin tones. If you have really light colored brows, you may want to opt for the blonde instead. Remember, for eyebrows to look natural, the product should go with the depth of your skin tone. Nothing worse than seeing dark brows on pasty white skin, unless you are a vampire!
What did Olivia Sr. think about this?
She found it easy to work with and the color of light taupe perfect. Never looks too harsh and can never be drawn on too harshly! The perfect eyebrow pencil!
Olivia Sr.
The Senna Sketch-A-Brow Pencil gets the Wise Owl Approval stamp!
