L’Oreal Paris recently launched a fantastic collection of creamy brow pencils called the L’Oreal Paris Brow Artist Xpert. Normally, high street brow shade ranges can be a little sparse; Light, Medium, Dark and possibly an Auburn if the brand are feeling especially adventurous, but L’Oreal Paris have gone all out on their brow shades, with an amazing eight shades to chose from.
The shades are brilliantly thought out with variants on blondes and brunettes, so you get warm shades, cool shades and ashy shades, making it a million times easier to find your perfect match. As someone who’s always seeking to find the perfect ashy brow shade (I often use a grey-toned eyeshadow, I really like it ashy!) I jumped all over this collection when it was first launched, and even before I was sent the rest of the shades I’d already picked up the Cool Blonde shade and found myself hugely disappointed as a product being marketed as ‘cool’ came up extremely red on me – to the point where, had I blind tried it, I would’ve guessed it to be an auburn shade. However, don’t let that put you off if you’re also seeking something cool-toned, as the Brunette shades are here to save the day.
First, let’s have a quick look at the shade line-up: above, starting from the top, there’s Blonde (101), Cool Blonde (102), Warm Blonde (103), Brunette (105), Cool Brunette (107), Warm Brunette (108) and Ebony (109). There’s also another shade in existence called Ash Brunette (106) which I will try and get my hands on soon. I personally think, unless you don’t mind a bit of warmth, the Blonde shades are mostly to be avoided as they’re confusingly labelled, but the Brunette shade are are a whole other thing, offering brilliantly cool and ashy shades that are very wearable, even if you’re blonde and pale like me. The great thing about the Brow Xperts is that they’re creamy, but firm, so you can start off lightly and build up the colour and coverage.
I’ve pressed hard in the swatches above to make sure you can see the full depth of the colour, which is why they’re a bit grainy in parts. I’m mostly reaching for the Brunette shade, but I also like the Cool Brunette which I find offers a slightly deeper, stronger finish – as a rough guide, I go for Brunette on low maintenance make-up days and Cool Brunette when I’m wearing a make-up look that can handle a stronger brow. One end of Brow Xpert contains the colour, whilst the other contains a good, solid spoolie for brushing brow hairs into place and also blending out any harsh lines on application. The L’Oreal Paris Brow Artist Xperts are a fantastic budget find that are well designed with a fantastic array of colours that should mean most people can find a spot-on match. They’re £5.99 here – link.
*PR Samples
