::Review:: Anasasia Brows In Bloom Kit
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free skin care · Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:39 pm

I just got this with my recent Sephora order (wish EDS had Anastasia!), and I really like it. It's a lovely compact with a cute blossoming cherry branch detail on the cover, and on the inside it's got a mirror, four little pots, and a short (and crappy) stiff angled brush. Here's a link to the product on Sephora, since it's oddly hard to find in their Anastasia shop:

http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P184208&categoryId=5746

The pots are two different brow powders, plus a cream highlighter and a "wax cream" to keep hairs in place. I ordered the kit in "Blonde", the lightest shade they offer. The lighter of the two powders is quite dark on me, and I have fairly dark eyebrows for a blonde (I'm going to include a terrible picture taken on my cell phone just now, but it should give you a sense of the shade - I'm definitely NOT blonde-blonde, especially not my brows!).

I can't even use the darker powder at all, or maybe I can but it would be quite dramatic. I think the idea behind the kit is that you use different shades during different times of the year as your brows shift with the seasons like a delicate cherry blossom petal, haha, but my brows don't change in color THAT much! We'll see, maybe I'll get brave and use the dark powder, but it's obviously less forgiving if I screw up, and the lighter one does a perfect job of filling in and darkening slightly. I'll probably end up using the darker powder as a powder eyeliner or something - it won't go to waste. It's a nice, neutral, not too brassy matte brown tone - might even make a nice shadow!

The brush that comes with the kit sucks, by the way - I used my new Too Faced stiff angle brush to do it, and when I tried doing a quick touch-up with the Anastasia brush it was not nearly as precise as before. But I imagine most people who go to the lengths of ordering a complete brow styling kit are probably makeup-happy enough to own a few good brushes. Smile

And it's not totally impossible to use the brush it comes with, it's just that I started with something so much better! Laughing

The cream highlighter is OK, but nothing special. It looks like it'll be nicely peachy and shimmery and skintoned in the package, but when I put it on, the color and shimmer is a bit sparse, and it's a bit too hard to spread evenly. I wound up mainly using it as a base for other eyeshadow to adhere to my brow bone. Plus, many blondes tend to be fair-skinned as well, and I found that the highlighter was actually a bit darker than my natural skin tone - not a huge problem, but I think of a highlighter as being a bit paler, not a bit darker. Small change, but thought I'd mention it.

The cream wax is both my favorite and least favorite part! Bear with me. Smile

The texture is pretty thick, and it's actually hard to get enough out to really gum up your brows - I found that dabbing my brush in it was the most effective thing to do, but then I have to really wash it out of my brush afterwards which is an annoying extra step, seeing as how I normally wash my brushes only once every week or so. Plus if you don't pull your brow hairs off the brush between strokes, they get stuck in the wax and are hard to get out, which drove me crazy! You really have to wash the brush afterwards every time with this stuff, but I find it too hard to get the wax out otherwise so I guess I'll make my peace with that. Or maybe I just like to use too much wax! I was excited to move from my old tinted Chanel brow mascara/gel to this because I thought this would have better hold and control. And it does, sort of - but not all day long. It shapes and defines MUCH better initially, but it seems like it lets my hairs escape mid-way through the day, or doesn't hold up to being accidentally knocked if I brush my bangs to the side and hit my brow on the way. My Chanel never held up to that either, though, and nor does just hairspray on the brows. I think you'd need a REALLY spiky-hard gel to withstand that, and I'm not sure I'd enjoy that texture - but for what it's worth, this cream wax is NOT a brow rubber cement.

Despite some of my complaints, I still really really like this kit. My friend and I had wandered around a Sephora testing out all the brow kit options, since she's fair-haired like me but nearly browless and she wanted my help selecting a brow grooming and defining routine that actually made hers show up. That's part of why I was a bit off about the color on me - we had tested all these on HER more than me, and I remembered this one being really nice and fair but she's not QUITE as fair as me (she's more of redhead/strawberry blonde, and a bit darker) so I should've realized it might not be the fairest of them all! But in our testings we found the lighter Anastasia shade to be the nicest, and we also liked the consistency of her cream wax better than all the others we tried.

This kit is a bit expensive at $28, but it's got the fab packaging, bonus of a highlighter, two powder options, and a nice wax cream compared to the others we looked at (all I remember now are Lorac and Sephora brand, but we tried tons), and I really do like it quite a lot. And even though the brush ain't much, at least it comes with one at all - I may replace it with another better brush someday that I break or saw off to be short enough, but I like that it has space for one there.

O-kay, I know this was a hecka long review for one simple product! But the overall verdict is that I'm converted now, and I like this better than my old Chanel brow mascara. Using a powder instead of a mascara is MUCH better at filling in sparse bits, and it allows me to chill out and let my brows grow in better if I overpluck a certain area by mistake, since it looks much better with powder while it's still growing in. And the highlighter is nice even on its own, just not what I expected. All in all, I just think Anastasia is the best brow brand out there that I've seen, and I'm glad I made this purchase.

Oh, last thing - the compact is not particularly portable - it seems like it takes up WAY more room than is really necessary given the size of the product. So it's good for AM makeup, but not so great for on-the-go touch-ups - but then, I tend not to do those on my brows anyway, so I don't mind. Smile

Ah, fashion over function, once again! Hope this review helps!

free skin care · Sat Sep 01, 2007 10:54 am

Great review, I like the price compared to others I've seen, thanks!

free skin care · Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:38 pm

No prob! FYI, I tried the darker brow color on this morning just to test, and it looked ridiculous - WAY too dark for my coloring! "Blonde" my *ss. Ah well, it'll make a good liner/shadow for sure, haha. And I'm still digging the rest of the kit - powder+wax is definitely better than mascara, turns out!

free skin care · Sun Sep 02, 2007 10:24 pm

Thanks for the review!

free skin care · Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:37 am

I've been wanting to find a good eyebrow kit - no Sephora close so no opportunity to try things out. Crying or Very sad

It's nice to get an in-depth review. Sounds good - I'll be checking this out.

free skin care · Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:44 am

Oh, that's a bummer, it helps so much to be able to sample things! Normally I'd offer to decant you a bit of whatever I was trying, but it's kinda hard with an eyebrow kit. Laughing

Glad to know this may have helped!

Sat Sep 08, 2007 5:29 pm

Yes, Anastasia is considered a brow Guru.

I've already been asked about adding her line to EDS' site. I'd inquired before others started bugging me about it.

Know that Anastasia's products are exclusive, elsewhere, for a certain retail corp.

However, as a former make-up artist, I wish to inform you that there are no bells or whistles to her brow kit(s).

For as much as the kits may bear the Guru's name, those whom buy this shall have to groom their own browns, and results will vary.

For newbies:

* have your brows proefessionally groomed (waxed or tweezed), and try to maintain the basic shape.

* invest in a good set of tweezers.

* brow wax & shadow are inexpensive. Within North America: NYC Cosmetics can be found within any drugstore.

Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:24 pm

Thanks for the review.

I enjoy the Anastasia Clear Brow Gel on my dark blonde eyebrows -- would love to find a slight "gold" eye pencil because all the blonde brow color looks witchy on me, with the exception of Chanel. Anyone suggest anything? I could just use a cheap gold eye crayon, I s'pose...

free skin care · Mon Sep 17, 2007 3:59 pm

Hm, if you found a good shade with Chanel, I'd stick to it, since it's so hard to find a good match for many blonde-browed gals. The Chanel Taupe colored Forme Sourcils tinted brow gel is the best shade for my blondish brows - not too dark and witchy. And I TOTALLY know what you mean about the witchiness - that's how the darker of the two Anastasia powders is in this kit - no thanks!

free skin care · Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:46 pm

So I've been getting bolder about using the darker shade in my kit, and I must say it's growing on me! I think that initial shock of seeing myself with dark dramatic brows was a bit much, but I sometimes use the dark shade now to fill in patches I've over-plucked or that are sparse. I've also used it throughout on dramatic eye makeup days/nights, but not for normal light day wear. When I have my glasses off it looks freaky, but once I put my glasses on it's not so noticeable. Also, I can only pull off the dark brows if I have PLENTY of mascara on, but I like to wear lots most of the time, so that works out OK. Smile

free skin care · Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:53 pm

Ginnielizz, is this supposed to help grow your brows and make them denser? Or is it just purely cosmetics? Does it work for someone with black brows? Your brow looked gorgeous, and your pic looked like that from a sunglass model pic. Very Happy

free skin care · Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:03 pm

bkkgirl wrote:

Ginnielizz, is this supposed to help grow your brows and make them denser? Or is it just purely cosmetics? Does it work for someone with black brows? Your brow looked gorgeous, and your pic looked like that from a sunglass model pic. Very Happy

You are SO SWEET, thank you for that awesome compliment! I'm insecure about my brows as I sometimes think I don't have a "refined" enough look, so it's nice to hear someone tell me otherwise!

To answer your questions, this stuff is just for cosmetic use, it doesn't help your brows grow at all. I occasionally use Lush Lash or Ardell on my lashes and/or brows, but honestly I have really full and long hairs in both areas so I don't really *need* it, I'm just chronically addicted to trying new products. Very Happy

But the Anastasia is just cosmetic.

As far as use on black brows, I certainly wouldn't recommend the "blonde" palette I have, haha. The darker powder might be OK for some black brows as it's a fairly neutral-toned shade, but I imagine you'd want to find something darker and more blue-toned. If you have truly black brow hair but you don't want something as strong as most black powders, I might even suggest trying a matte dark grey powder, as it's the same color range but less intensely pigmented. Hope this helps!

And thanks again, you made me grin!

free skin care · Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:17 am

I also use this kit, but I just have the stencils, which I bought at sephora website and use it with the BareEssentials brow powder and brush.

Heaven! Laughing

free skin care · Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:55 am

Thanks for the reviews.

free skin care · Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:07 pm

I want to try the tarte brow kit -- it's cheap and sort of similar. anyone used it?

free skin care · Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:18 pm

I haven't, but I also want to try it based on how great the packaging design seems. Laughing

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