Have you heard the saying “Your eyebrows are sisters and not twins”? Well, grooming my brows was one of the makeup steps I had a really tough time learning. From being heavy-handed to not knowing how to properly shape my brows, it was a rough process to try to get them to look like cousins - let alone siblings.

Seven years into my makeup journey, I would like to think I have gotten better at it, especially now that we have so many products and styles to try and choose from!

These are dark times, my friends, but I hope you can still allow me to share something that I’ve been working on for a year now! After the successful launch of the Ellana x Project Vanity Life-Proof Eyebrow Gel in 2018, we have a follow-up that I think you guys will enjoy using everyday. Theresa Carbonel-Buenaflor (the founder of Ellana) and I made this for busy ladies who can’t spend too much time on their makeup; it’s something that you can apply quickly and beautifully with little effort.

A micro-tip brow pencil has always been my weapon of choice when it comes to doing my kilay. It’s easier to draw fine, hair-like strokes with a slim tip so I’m able to achieve the naturally #blessed brow look - just the way I like it! 

A good micro-tip pencil to me should meet these three criteria:

We were legit shookt when Vice Cosmetics started teasing what looked like a brow kit on social media. It was high time the local brand took on brows! Still, I felt it was a tad ambitious to start off with a retractable microbrow pencil and a brow gel as both are regarded as relatively more advanced and premium tools for makeup enthusiasts. I was truly curious with what the brand would come up with, considering their affordable product price range.

Recently, Sunnies Face released their third product: the Lifebrow duo consisting of a retractable skinny pencil and a grooming gel. The promotional photos were truly gorgeous, but what hooked me was the smallness of the grooming gel’s brush, which is not something we see in the market that often. I thought the price was right, and there was no store queue at the UP Town Center branch, so I went to buy them as soon as they launched.

I've tried so many eyebrow formulas at this point, but I always keep coming back to pencils. They're the fastest to work with and delivers near flawless results most of the time. Staying power, while variable, remains generally good across different brands. Truly, it's hard to go wrong with a feathery pencil in a shade that matches you!

If you're part of a Facebook beauty group, chances are you saw the viral post of a Staedtler pencil (used for drawing) was used as eyebrow pencil. While most people might be amused then dismiss it as another crazy hack, I was reminded of an old Get It Beauty episode that featured the famous Korean makeup artists Son Daesik and Park Taeyoon of Son&Park fame. They talked about how they actually use Prismacolour Ebony Pencils for drawing eyebrows!

Fellow writer Kristel (who was based in Seoul for a time) has also mentioned seeing this art material in Olive Young stores and its popularity among Koreans beauty fans - they consider this to be the perfect gray brow pencil. As someone who likes to sketch in her spare time, I was intrigued by this concept so dipped into my pencil case of art materials and decided to try it for myself!