Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup

A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

Even Brows Need Good Arch Support, and the Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil Delivers That

by 24 Comments

katy perry moment!

Did you hear the news?? TMZ is reporting that pop princess/cat lady Katy Perry attended the SF Giants victory parade in San Francisco today. 🙂

And that’s not all. Surrounded by throngs of rowdy revelers, she threw an impromptu concert!

LOL! Yeah, that’s me hammin’ it up…

Dude! I have to tell you about a great product I used today, but before that, you ever play Where’s Waldo?

Or how about Where’s Marmalade? Can you spot him in the top pic? I figured that since Katy’s a cat lady, I ought to have at least one kitteh with me on tour.

Please, I implore you, don’t tell Tabs…

So, that blue wig? I LOVE IT! But too bad it hid my brows today, because I think they looked pretty darned fierce thanks to the new $32 Hourglass Arch Sculpting Brow Pencil.

Surprise! — I was running late getting out of the house in Katy costume this morning and had a lot to do, but only 10 minutes to do it in, so I raced through everything. Quickly, I filled in my brows with Arch’s awesome twist-up triangle tip, using broad strokes with one of its longer edges to fatten the sparse spots.

After that, I sculpted the ends a little, sharpening them using the triangle’s tip. All told, it probably took about a minute.

Of course, the brows were concealed by my wig…but I knew they were there, looking all full and fabulous, as opposed to harsh, ala Cruella de Vil.

According to Hourglass, the Arch Sculpting Brow Pencil’s formula combines the benefits of a powder and a wax to create brows that look soft, natural and full. Not quite hard like a stiff eye liner, or soft like a creamy kohl, the consistency has a little give to it. It’s firm, but not too firm, and it feels almost powdery. Soft wax within the formula binds the powdery pigments to each individual hair, keeping the strays in line.

I’m sporting a pretty strong brow look in these before and after pics, but I could’ve toned it down by running the included brow brush, which is on the opposite end of the pencil, through my brows.

hourglass arch review before after
Before (left) and after (right)



Hourglass Holiday 2012 Swatches
Swatches from the left: Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil in Dark Brunette, Film Nor Kohl Eye Pencil in Eclipse, Panoramic Long Wear Lip Pencil in Icon, Femme Rouge Velvet Crème Lipstick in Icon, Extreme Sheen High-Shine Lip Gloss in Icon and Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Icon

Arch comes in three shades — Blonde, Soft Brunette and Dark Brunette. That’s quite a limited selection (boo! — where’s the red?), and it’s not the cheapest brow product on the block, but I do like the soft look.

It also lasts a good, long while. All day, no problem.

Nice job, Hourglass. 🙂 Now how about a friends and family sale?

PRICE: $32
AVAILABILITY: Available now at Sephora stores, Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman and sephora.com
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B+

And here’s where being short is a clear disadvantage…

Parades! And other big crowds.

At the World Series victory parade in the city today, this was pretty much my view the entire time:

Yeah…I didn’t really see much at all. A very helpful ninja turtle standing next to me, whose name I believe was Leonardo, offered to lift me up in the air so that I could see more of the action, but I declined…

I just didn’t want to take a chance being dropped by a turtle.

So I held my camera above my head and snapped as many pics as I could. A few of them even turned out alright (meaning I got something other than the back of someone’s head, haha).

I had a good time. It was neat kinda feeling like a part of Giants history.

Now I’m just hanging out at home and watching random horror movies on TV. It’s been raining all night long, so we only got a couple trick-or-treaters — the really diligent ones, who made out like candy bandits, LOL! 🙂

Hope you had a nice Halloween. See you soon.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Love all the photos but I’m a bit bitter. Go Rangers! I didn’t get any trick o’ treaters tonight but after a couple glasses of wine that big bowl of candy is looking reeeeaaaal good!

    Reply

  3. I wish they had a raven/black haired version, too! I love Hourglass products. This sounds lovely, but with my cool almost black hair, I need to use a charcoal or soft black, lest I look like I’ve just put brown eye shadow on my brows…

    Reply

  4. That looks great on your brows. I have black brows and have finally found a product that doesn’t look brown on my brows while at the same time doesn’t make them look too black. I use Maybelline’s 24 hr Color Tattoo eyeshadow cream in “tough as taupe”. I apply it with a Mac 208 eyebrow brush. It looks super natural and doesn’t come off until I wash it off with makeup remover.

    Reply

    • Hi Marla,

      I think I remember you mentioning that a while back. If/when I dye my hair darker I’ll definitely give that a go. Thanks for the recommendation!

      Reply

  8. I am SOOOOOO excited about this! I’ve been looking for a brow pencil like this for ages! I know some Asian brand(s) makes one with the same shape, but naturally it’s impossible to find it here. I know Suqqu has one as well, but it’s also very fiddly to get that here (and it’s probably even more expensive) so yaaay for Hourglass! I think soft brunette will work for me. You look too darn good with those brows girl!
    Sunny @ Mostly Sunny recently posted … Smizing with Tom Ford Diabolique Lip Color!

    Reply

  9. Karen,

    What lipstick are you wearing in the before and after Hourglass Brow Pencil picture? Also, what color brow pencil do you have on? I’m digging how beautiful you look!

    My newest furbaby, a 4.5 lbs. kitty, is having surgery right now. I’m trying to take my worried mind of things by looking at makeup.

    Thanks!

    Reply

  10. Your eyebrows look awesome! I’m in the market for a new brow product so I’ll keep this in mind (especially being a pencil fan).

    Nice job on the pics and definitely a good call not to climb up on the turtle. HAHA! I’m happy for you all – congrats on the Championship!

    Reply

  13. It looks like you had a lot of fun at the parade! I remember how crazy it was here in Chicago when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup a few years ago. During the parade, downtown was NUTS. I was so happy that I had stayed home and watched it on TV instead of going into the city. (Also, that whole week, everybody was blasting “Chelsea Dagger” by The Fratellis out of their cars. Good times.)

    All that aside, I love the color of Icon. The creme lipstick and lip gloss forms of it look especially nice.

    Reply

  14. This sounds like a wonderful pencil..I am currently using a Chanel eyebrow pencil; how do you think they compare? Is it worth it to consider buying this one as well? I do not mind paying the price, but; I don’t just want to spend to spend….

    Thanks for the always helpful reviews. Your writing and pictures often really does make me “laugh out loud”!

    Reply

  16. I really want to try this product! for some reason I was always told a brow powder looks better than a pencil but I have trouble with application. may have to play with this pencil. I love that it has the brush attached.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Copyright © 2020 Makeup and Beauty Blog. Get in touch.