Brow-sing Naturally with Ecobrow defining wax in Marilyn

Brow are you?  Good? Then let's talk Ecological Brows or Ecobrow Defining Wax:

Eh,  a bit of a trite pun on words but how about the idea that first impressions count and people always are about that 'eyes are the mirror of the soul'. In that case, eyebrows are the framing of the mirror and they can be really important to characterize the face. The quintessential example would be Cara, but how about the 1920s moviestars who defined their fragile femininity with a thin & droopy brow:

source: Here & more brow-xamples

  I personally do not think "one brow fits all". Even if everyone seems to be into the Cara-brow, you got to consider her facial structure is delicate enough to pull off a masculine brow without loosing her femininity. I personally go for some more space between my eyes and a bit of a curve for a slightly more feminine shape on my squarer features. I still aim for a natural looking brow, ofcourse!

But let's take a look of how I liked Ecobrow as a brow-definer.

• Natural
• Lighweight
• beautiful Brow effects
• Smudge Proof
• Naturally Derived

Ok, last claim is "Naturally Derived": will that be true?

sorry for the smudgies

In the first place I find some of them sounding chemical, like Neopentyl glycol. Wiki says it is an organic chemical compound which sounds to me like a oxymoron...Organic and Chemical? Mmm... 

But I believe in their ecological sustainability just for the fact that I bought it from Sephora. You gotta trust the Americans for totally forking out all claims and promises like truth...or else...lawsuit!

In that case, let's check the "beautiful brow effect" it will bring me! Hurray!

Colour:

I picked Marilyn because it is the lightest colour around. I'm not a natural light blonde but my eyebrows have always been naturally light. I've been trying the darker ones, but they make my face look too stern. I simply want my existing colour to look thicker and shape some femininity in them.

The colour inside is a taupe with a slight hint of green:

The green won't show in the pot, but in the comparing swatches you will see it.

Comparing swatches:

I picked up my other blonde cream formulas to compare with Ecobrow Marilyn. They are:

• EB = Ecobrow Marilyn
• ABH= Anastasia Beverly hills Dipbrow in Blonde
• LM= Laura Mercier Brow Definer in Fair

My tools of the trade is my latest, supersharp Wayne Goss No. 8:

Swatches:

EB: Ecobrow Marilyn is the lightest of the bunch. I am so thrilled of this lightness because it totally fills my brow without altering the colour. Moreover, it is neutral enough without leaning either cool or gold.

ABH: I never noticed how greenly tinged Anastasia Beverly Hills in Blonde was before this swatch. I don't mind because it makes the drawn-in hairs appear more real. The colour is slightly on the cooler side and a bit too dark for a total brow-fill. It is pigmented enough to draw good hairs so I can alternate this with a lighter colour.

LM: Laura Mercier in Fair is a wonderful lighter colour with more warmth than Ecobrow. I do think it fades more quickly and it does not draw the hairs as vivid as Ecobrow.

Revisiting Promises:

• Natural: Mostly
• Lightweight: Very
• beautiful Brow effects: YES!
• Smudge Proof: Up to 8 hours with a natural fade
• Naturally Derived: I'm not specialised enough to prove it is but it has not been proven otherwise yes so I guess...

General review:

I have really fallen in love with Ecobrow Marilyn. It gives my brows a natural but sculpted look I love without looking fake. It last for a long time and I do not have to worry putting unnecessary chemicals on my face.

 Verdict = LOVE it.

Before Resolution 'Spend Less'...

I have found some really interesting sales going on:

Selfridges has the cutest Takashi Murakami Collection palette from £60.00 -> £40.00 in both colours. I have found some swaches here & here.

The SA in Holland said that Laura Mercier's baked eyeshadows "Les Petits Bonbons' were a limited edition and really hard to get. Well, it's on sale now over here in the most gorgeous wooden box. 
While you're saleshopping, do not forget Selfridges non-sale-but-really-useful Suqqu range & the hyped Charlotte Tilbury too.

Harrods has a good deal on the pricy Chantecaille range and especially their palettes are tempting: The Bengali Tiger & the Shadow & the Rose palette are half price now. Karla's famous arm shows Bengali over here

Beautybay is having a fair discount on the Le Metier de Beaute range and I already caved and own the gorgeous Carnaby Street Kaleidoscope. Cultblogger Sabrina from TheBeautyLookbook has them swatched here.  BTW, isn't it strange that the so-called 'exclusive' Bloomingdales/Neiman Marcus palettes are often to be found somewhere else? Not that I'm complaining.
Another cult-LMDB is their dewy lip & cheek Fresh Tints.
 Beautybay also has Rouge Bunny Rouge on sale & Edward Bess, but mostly for about 10% discount

Liberty is having the spring-zesty/summery Jovoy Mojito candle on sale with a gorgeous glass bell jar: what a way to tone down your Holiday's alcohol habit and rejoice for summery times & mojitos. If you prefer your room to smell like cake (think Marie Antoinette), they have this candle without the jar.

Also, this Kenzo cosmetic purse is now discounted from £90.00 to £27.00 so you can be fierce about carrying your makeup around.

"How about Brow?": Kanebo Kate vs Laura Mercier eyebrow pot

Must be Clara Devingue...but brows are a hot topic lately.

I have been using them a bit more to draw the attention upwards. Not that I have an ample busum, au contraire. Women who do often notice that few men stare into their eyes at first glance:

"how ya like my eyebrows?"

Dolly Parton always has the funniest and most self-ironic quotes about beauty:  1. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap” | 2. “I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb - and I'm not blonde either.” | 3. “I was the first woman to burn my bra - it took the fire department four days to put it out.” (more quotes here) 

Ok, enough about the rack and lets go to the frame for eyes instead.

I bought the Kanebo Kate Gel Eyebrow in 2011 (review here) and the Laura Mercier about 3 months ago. The 3rd one is a Inglot Brow Wax that I have since 2011. It's not a real colour but a coloured gloss to make brows look shinier.

Swatches: daylight, no sun.

Visuals: 

• Kanebo Kate has the most pigmentation (after 1 1/2 year!)
• Laura Mercier is not so pigmented
• Laura Mercier Fair is slightly cooler & ashier 
• So Kate is warmer in colour
• The Inglot eyebrow wax is transparent with a hint of ashy brown

I feel meh about the pigmentation of Laura Mercier. I have been storing it with the lid closed and it is already so underpigmented after 3 months.

The next test: After rinsing the arm with lukewarm water:

Laura Mercier dissapeared into a sad shadow, whereas Kanebo Kate is still there!

Conclusion:
 Kanebo Kate is almost the best in every aspect: price ($10 vs $24), pigmentation, durability, waterproof-ness and the smoother way it disperses on my eyebrow brush. The only thing Laura Mercier is better at is the colour match: the slightly cooler hue suits me better.

Newbies

Goodie, I haven't planned any no-buy so I am glad I could stock up on some beauty items

1. Fairydrops Mascara in Long & Curl Always a good excuse to buy mascara as you have to replace them oftenly in order to keep the lashes fresh

2. L'oréal Professional hairmasks: Left is the Nature Re-Naitre and the turquoise one is their latest Pro-Keratin refill.

I will keep you updated how it works. I hope I don't chat too much about hairstuff but it's my thing at the time being ;-)

3. SpaceNK Sale haul:
WOWEEEEE,  the first surpise it that they deliver to Europe again and the sale was superduper excellent. I bought a Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited in PK 375 based on Driveller's Kate swatches (here). And a Laura Mercier mini Palette from the Christmas 2012 range in Smokey Taupes.

Xmas Tingies

Some Chrismas presents update and other tingies...

1. My little golden Seahorse:

I love underwater life even though I haven't been diving for ages. When I was 16 I did my Padi course on holidays, and I saw a seahorse for the first time: 

Magical! 

Did you know that seahorses are really feminist? The males are the ones getting pregnant and delivering their babies. 

Some other new babies: 

2. Laura Mercier Eyeliner Set

This year I was quite underwhelmed by most Christmas sets, or perhaps I have bought too many Lunasol and other sets in the years before because I wasn't really tempted.

I went for the Laura Mercier kohlliner's set after seeing some excellent swatches on makeupguru Karen: she tries out a lot so if she likes a kohlliner it must be something. Also, her cat approves...so, in her words "how cool is that?".

Some Used ups

I finally got the cultstatus SK-II Facial Treatment Repair C and finished it. I really like it for it's neutral value and I think I'll repurchase.
Phytospecific Night cream for hair: Meh...


Japanese Liese Hairdesigning jelly in I: I actually like this for keeping my do less frizzy. My hair is straight but with some broken strands that can frizz up during winter. This one tames them a bit.
Madara Deep Moisture cream: Yummy for daytime in winter and not that greasy-feeling for a Deep Moisture cream, quite light. Perhaps a repurchase too but I'll try the products in the winter set first.