Kanebo KATE lasting eyebrow W

Hey everyone! Missed me? Lol I guess I’ve only been one post short this week so probably not. I’ve had my PT session at the gym – and survived (yay!) – and am enjoying it so far! I will have been four times this week including tomorrow afternoon, and hope to continue that pattern. I run so much better (mentally, not just physically haha!) when I am fit.

If you are trying to cut down on your spending and/or are a sucker for Internet shopping, do not (I repeat do NOT!! ) visit the website yesstyle.com (I found out about it from the lovely Madam M, who appeared on the blog as part of the My Beauty Diary Mask series a little while ago! ) They have a huge range of Asian inspired clothing and brands, a good range of accessories and a variety of Asian skin care and cosmetic brands in stock… It’s easy to spend a lot of money on this site as the clothing is reasonably priced and you can get free shipping!

To date I’ve placed two orders with them – one to update my t-shirt collection and the other to update my leggings and pants selection. These sorts of stores are great for me as sometimes I have trouble finding clothes in Australian stores that fit me well, unless I want to pay mega $ for designer brands!

As part of my second order I grabbed an eyebrow pencil from Kanebo KATE. (For more background information on this Japanese brand – and to catch up on my previous less than flash encounter with the brand – head over here.)

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I was excited when I found the KATE pencil at an AUD RRP of ~$19 on yesstyle.com, as it appeared to be a cheaper alternative to the fantastic square tipped eyebrow pencil from New Cid which I’ve previously raved about!

Unlike the New Cid product, you get two in one – on one end there is a pencil, and on the other there is an eyebrow powder with a marker like tip (which KATE call a “chip” for some reason?!):

check out how square the tip is!

the polish is one of those bargain “kink” ones I picked up – shade “Cosmopolitan”

It’s in shade BR-3 which is a medium brown shade that medium to dark brunettes could get away with. But holy moly, the first time I used the powder tip, it was way too over the top! Make sure you tap it gently before use and then you’ll be just fine. Here are two pics of my brows; one has the pencil only, the other the powder. Can you tell which is which (I’ll pop the answer at the end of the post )? Be kind; I took these photos at 9:30pm after a long day at work and Japanese class… no primer used here haha! I’ve left the pics big so that you can really see what the eyebrow product is like.

A

B

The pencil is a little hard, but if you warm it up a little (roll the pencil between your palms for a while – with the lid on!) it applies more smoothly. The square tip is fantastic; I find that for brow pencils it seems to give a much more accurate and groomed effect overall, if compared to a standard pencil.

The key difference in using the pencil vs powder with this product is that you have more control with the pencil. I recommend the powder end if you need to fill in a big gap in your brow or are confident in using brow pencils and can accurately do your brow in one full sweep. Going back to touch up the powder is a bit tricky, as it has good staying power! Same goes for the pencil, too. It does live up to its name of “lasting eyebrow” – I had to go over it with eye make up remover twice to get it all off, which is actually pretty good if you are in a hot climate and/or heading out for a big night!

Beautiful rating 8/10: quality 4/5, value 4/5. I really like it but the pencil is not quite as smooth as the New Cid product!

Perhaps my relationship with KATE is looking up?!

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Have you ever used eyebrow pencils? What has your experience been, and what brand of pencil is your favourite?

PS. A is pencil, B is the powder. The colour is very consistent, isn’t it?!