For brows I am not super picky and I love my drugstore options. Some of my favorites are by Soap & Glory, Maybelline and Catrice. However, one of my ultimate favorite brow products is the Essence Make Me Brow. So when Essence came out with a brow pencil I was intrigued.
Essence Micro Precise Brow Pencil Blonde
As always, Essence puts out affordable products. This brow pencil only retails for €1.99. That is by far the cheapest brow pencil I ever tried. It is available in three shades of which I bought the lightest one. Blonde brow pencils are incredibly hard to do right: they are often too warm and therefore hardly a great match if you have blonde hair. So I was curious to see how this would go.
The Packaging
The micro precise brow pencil comes in very simple packaging. It is just a brow pencil afterall: there isn’t much you can do in terms of packaging. This twist up style pen is my preferred brow pencil. You don’t have to sharpen it and it means it is easy to use. This comes with just 0.05 grams of product. That is quite standard for a brow pencil but it does mean that you can run out of it quite quickly.
The Pencil
The Essence Micro Precise brow pencil is exactly as the name suggest: a very thin, skinny brow pencil that can be used to draw on brows in a very precise way. The pencil is quite soft and it is easy to apply. That does mean that you use quite a lot of product each time you use it. It does fill in the brows quite nicely and I can use it to reshape my brows a bit where they need it.
The Swatch
As predicted the pencil is a bit warm toned. It is not super orange though and that is a good thing. It seems to have more of a reddish undertone. As you can see, the pencil can draw some pretty thin lines but as it starts off quite square it is rather thick when you first start using this. As it wears down, you will easily get a sharper point that is even more precise that this. It works well, stays put all day and looks very natural to boot.
The Application
My brows are pretty decent: they don’t need much, but mainly a refill. However, I have been getting my brows done lately and they have been thinned out quite a bit. So now that I am using the pencil more regularly, I do use it to do a bit more than just filling in. I now have brows that could use a bit more shape and this pencil works really well for that. Granted, it is not fine enough to really draw on a new brow, but if you have a bit to work with, it can really work well.
My only concern is how long this will last with everyday use. Because of the soft formula, I have to use quite a bit per use and I find myself twisting the pencil up when I switch brows. So even if this is very affordable, if this is one of those brow pencils that runs out after 2 – 3 weeks, then it does need repurchasing on a regular basis. That would just make this pencil as expensive as other drugstore options.
The Conclusion
The Essence Micro Precise brow pencil is a good one. I really like the quality of the pencil and what it looks like on my brows. If this lasts a decent amount of time and I don’t run out of this too quickly, it will be a great budget option to use. However, because it is a touch too warm for me, I will be going back to one of my other favorite brow products after this. But if you’re looking for a good, affordable brow pencil: this would be it.
6 responses to “Essence Micro Precise brow pencil”
Essence is such a great affordable brand, I use a few of their products in my makeup routine, I panned one of their brow pencil’s last year it was just a normal pencil not a twist up like this one. I’ve tried a few like this from other brands and I didn’t mind them but I felt like I went through them really quickly and felt like I was having to pick up a new one with in a month or so. I guess when I’m used to using brow pomades that a longer time to use up they will seem like that, I think thats why I decided to go back to using brow pomades, I like that I don’t have to repurchase them too often. Great product review.
I only have that issue with very soft pencils like this one. I have used plenty of pencils that have held up very well.
My favourites are Essence Make Me Brow and Kiko’s Precision Brow Pencil. This one isn’t too soft/waxy and there are several shades available
I will have to try that Kiko one! I love one by NYX and Soap & Glory, but have also liked Catrice and Maybelline pencils in the past.
I have thick, black eyebrows so I don’t always need anything to fill them. It depends on how they come out when I shape them. If they come out too sparse, I’ll use ABH brow powder duo. I also like Ka-brow gel because it not only fills in gaps, it holds the hairs in place. Now, as far as the brow pencils work, I’ve had no luck! I tried 3 kinds (just like this Essence one you’re showing, only different brands) and they either didn’t show up, or I had to push harder to get them to show up and it made my brows too dark. That said, I really dislike brow pencils, but that’s just my 2 cents! 🙂
I have tried pomades and gels etc but find it too much work. A pencil is so much quicker.