Anastasia Beverley Hills Dipbrow Pomade in shade 'Dark Brown'
£15 from Cult Beauty
Okay, so this is a product that everyone and their mum's have raved about, but I wanted to give it a fair go before deciding on my final verdict. I've been using this since the day that I received it (I got it for Christmas off my boyfriend), so it's given me a good 2 and a half months of daily usage and, as you can see, it has barely put a dent in the pot.
First impressions:
After first hearing about this, I spent so much time watching Youtube and Instagram videos and reading blog post after blog post, trying to figure out if this product was something that I would use or not. By the time that I got my hands on it, I was sure that I'd be an expert and have fantastic brows in a swish. No. This was NOT the case.
So, Christmas day, I sat on the bed along with all of my new makeup, with the intention of making myself look like a beauty godess, and the only thing that I was interested in was this. Grabbing it first, I decided to use my every-day eyebrow brush (Real Techniques angled eyeliner brush) which is fantastic, may I just add. As all of the reviews said, you only need a tiny bit on your brush and so that's what I did. I put the tiniest bit on my brush.
Error #1: Listening to other bloggers about how much you need on the brush. I find that I need a normal amount of eyebrow product to get this to work wonders for my brows- just a quick heavy-handed swipe will be more than enough, but a slight 'dab' into the pot is not going to work for you.
Error #2: Using this product heavy-handedly with the intention of cleaning it up and using a concealer to cover the damage. Nope. Well, technically yes but there's alot of scrubbing to be done, leaving a nice, red mess. Not very Kim Kardashian at all.
Price & shades:
At £15, it's not exactly expensive if we compare it to the infamous Benefit Brow Zings, however it is slightly more expensive than, say, the Collection palette that you can pick up for just under £4.
My only gripe with paying this price is that here in the UK, the only way of getting your mitts on it is to order online (Cult Beauty and Beauty Bay stock it) meaning that there aren't any samples and you kinda have to guess what shade you are. Obviously, if it comes and you see it and you think that it's the wrong shade, then of course you can send it back, but I am very lazy and get too excited for the delivery, so that's a no-go for me. I spent a while looking at pictures of people using it and guessing what shade- I quite like dark brows anyway, so I went for Dark Brown, however I think a lighter one would have been better suited, especially as I'm trying not to wear so much fake tan.
Cult Beauty offer 11 shades, ranging from blondes to brunettes to auburns, so there really is something for everyone, however it really is just a guessing game as to which one you will need.
Longevity:
In terms of how long the actual pot of product will last, as you can see from the photos above, it's had almost 3 months worth of daily useage and that is all that I've used, so I can see this lasting a good 6-9 months, which is fantastic. The only thing that I was slightly worried about is that gel/cream products tend to dry up after short lengths of time, but it's been three months and the further down I'm getting, the better the product seems to be getting, which is fantastic!
In terms of the longevity on the face, this product lasts all day. No budging, no slipping, no smudging. Once it's there, it's there until you cleanse it off. Usually when using any other brand of brow product, I find that I touch my face throughout the day and come lunchtime, I'll have one patchy brow and the other will be smudged down my face, but this has stopped all of that.
Removal:
Now, I'm sure that we have all read about how hard this product is to remove, however the only time that I've stuggled with this was when it was on bare skin. There was one day that I was in a major rush, put no foundation on *shock horror* but (of course) had to have my brows on, duhhh. That was pretty hard to get off- however with just a couple of swipes of my trusty oil-based eye remover, I was brow-free in a short space of time, but yeah, on a daily basis, I think the oil in my foundation helps to budge this off so there is minimal scrubbing around the eye area.. I don't want saggy eyes, thanks!
Overall:
I'd probably give this 8/10.
There aren't many negatives for me, but here are a couple that just knock it off the top spot;
- There are no samples. No stores that we can visit and get colour-matched, so it's a guessing game as to which shade to purchase.
- I can see it drying out before I get a chance to use it up.
- For some reason, I keep getting bobbly-bits in my brows upon application. Not a massive issue as a quick run of the finger and they're gone, but it looks a little messy. Maybe it's an error in technique on my behalf, so hopefully I'll find a way around it.
- It takes quite a long time to get used to it. In fact, it's been almost 3 months and I am still trying to use it to it's full potential.
- Quite frankly, this product was too hyped up. I hate it when something is raved about and then you get it and you're slightly disappointed and I just feel like that's what has happened here.
Have any of you tried this yet?
xxx