Like Gigablack Mascara, the two brow pencils in the new RiRi Hearts MAC fall collection are re-promotes from the permanent line bedecked in eye-catching limited edition pink packaging.
Even before they were RiRi-fied, I kept both of these brow pencils in various makeup bags and — ahem! — the glove compartment of my car, because I never knew when the urge to wear a bold brow would hit me.
Turns out it happens often. 🙂 One minute you’re driving along, dippity-doo, when you glance at yourself in the rearview mirror and think, “Yeah, those brows could be bigger.”
Not a problem if you have one of these around.
I wear both of these colors all the time and have always liked the hard texture. Generally harder pencils like these seem to last longer on my brows. I also dig the slightly powdery finish and how it looks quite natural, as opposed to stark.
Deep Brunette, a blackish brown with slightly reddish undertones on my NC42 skin, leans warm, while Deep Dark Brunette, a grayish, brownish taupe, has a cooler color temp; it’s also a smidgen darker.
My dark brown hair and I alternate between both colors, depending on whether we’re wearing warm or cool-toned eyeshadows.
Sometimes we even mix both shades together (like when we’re feeling fancy).
I did swatch the pencils from the regular permanent collection beside these RiRi ones to see if MAC tweaked the colors, and if they did, I can’t tell.
I mean, the brushes sure feel different. The bristles of the RiRi brushes feel stiffer than the perm ones do to me, but either way, they both do a good job of distributing the product and getting it all up in my brows.
When I want slightly formal brows, but not full-on catwalk definition, these pencils are great. I get better definition with them than I get with a brow powder or eyeshadow, yet they’re not as harsh as brow-fillers like gels.
It’s also hard to go wrong with the practicality of a pencil when it comes to brows. With these, all I do is fill in the sparse spots in my arch and the tail end of my brows (the side closer to my ear), brush through with the built-in spoolie on the end, then run the remaining product on the brush over the inner side of my brow (the side closer to my nose).
Boom. Done. Just like that, and super fast. 😉
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Out of curiosity, what do you think of the RiRi Hearts MAC fall collection overall? Inquiring minds want to know.
P.P.S. How was your hump day? Doing anything interesting tonight? I don’t think I am… I might go get a quick slice of pizza and look at shoes.
Donna Vitan says
September 18th, 2013 at 8:51 pmI really love the re-packaging as well! Would you say that this is the must have brow pencil in the make-up case?
Dhariane says
September 18th, 2013 at 9:09 pmOoh Karen your brows look amazing! I’ve been a little obsessed with brows as of late and actually just purchased that hourglass eyebrow pencil last night (which may or may not have propelled me to VIB Rouge status… oh gawd, please don’t remind me of how much money I have spent on cosmetics in the last year…)
I really didn’t expect to like anything from the RiRi collection, but I have to admit that I think the Bad Girl Gone Good powder blush and Her Cocoa Eyeshadow palette might make it home with me. I’m a little sad about the quality of the bronzer/blush duo especially since the blush looks so amazing on you!
Woo, happy hump day! It’s been a tough one.
CKG says
September 19th, 2013 at 3:49 amYour eyes look amazing! So neat. I can only dream lol
hanna says
September 19th, 2013 at 4:13 amThis brow liner looks really nice.
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Kelly says
September 19th, 2013 at 4:43 amI can’t help myself when it comes to pretty brow pencils! I agree with the ladies about the packaging looking really cute! I haven’t checked out this collection in person yet.. but I have a strong feeling that I won’t be able to buy just one item from it 😉
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Veronica says
September 19th, 2013 at 6:57 amI’m not usually so ecstatic about brow pencils because I tend to stick to my one and only Spiked by MAC but I may have to give in and get these. Thanks for sharing!
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Kiss & Make-up says
September 19th, 2013 at 7:42 amI literally went ‘oooooh’ when I saw the photo. And then three seconds later I went ‘aaaaah’. And then my man went: ‘huh what?’ from the living room.
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Gowthami says
September 19th, 2013 at 9:00 amDamn lovely pencils!! Lovely on you…
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Danielle says
September 19th, 2013 at 10:38 amKaren, your brows look great here!
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Jasmin says
September 19th, 2013 at 2:22 pmI’m so excited for RiRi’s Fall collection. I was thinking of just purchasing the lipsticks, but I might change my mind after seeing posts of what everything else looks like. Thank you for sharing. I might end up getting this.
Liz says
September 19th, 2013 at 9:24 pmI’m not as excited about the RiRi collection as I’ve been others but I’m still looking forward to taking a few pieces home with me – debating over the Nude lipstick which may be too brown for me. The pkg looks fun…girly!
Joanna says
September 20th, 2013 at 11:39 amLooks great mixed ..will do the same.
Amy B. says
September 21st, 2013 at 4:44 pmIs it bad that I immediately fell in love with the eye look rather than the eyebrow pencils?? Not that your brows don’t look amazing! Cause they are gorgeous! Blending the two colors is genius, but I’m LOVING the smokey/smudged liner and I wanted to know what colors you used and how you got that look. I feel whenever I try to smudge my liner I end up basically erasing it =(