Review (5/5): Love the shape and shade! Worried how shape will hold up over time though
LOKNGXU Eyebrow Pencil
🟧OUTER PACKAGING
This comes in an outer product box that is inside a sealed plastic bag. Ingredients are listed on the box. It is made in China.
🟧CRUELTY FREE STATUS
This has a cruelty free logo (PETA). But, I don’t think they’re actually cruelty free. The brand name on the box says AMIIR. I did a search for the brand name, manufacturer name, and cosmetic production license name and nothing showed up on PETAs website where you can do a search. So, if you’re cruelty free, you might want to look into it some more.
🟧DUAL ENDED
This is dual ended - one end the pencil, the other end a standard spoolie brush. The box was a little smashed when it arrived. Unfortunately, the part with the spoolie had kind of bent and came out. Fortunately, I was able to pop it back in (as you can see in the photos, but can also see the line where it bent some). Once popped back in though, the spoolie worked fine so I was happy about that! The spoolie is nice. It’s not too rough. It works well.
🟧MY BROWS - THICKNESS, COLOR
I don’t have unruly or thick brows, but they also aren’t really thin. They’re a little sparse in areas, but for the most part not bad. I just like to lightly fill in the sparse areas.
I have a hard time getting the shade for me. I have medium to dark brown hair. My brows are like a muted black color. Whenever I get brown brow pencils, even the dark brown ones, they tend to be way too warm and don’t look right in my brows. I’ve found the best luck with charcoal, gray, dark gray, and black shades. Though, some of those are too pigmented and can be way too dark in my brows.
🟧SHADE OF PENCIL - 3# Dark Grey
With this pencil, I was excited when I saw a “Grey Brown” shade. I’ve tried others that were similar in name and the shade worked well for me. But, with this one, in the product photos the hair they showed with it looked more like ash blonde and said “suitable for maroon or coffee color,” which definitely wouldn’t work for me - coffee color maybe, but maroon no way! But, the actual brows in the photo looked like the color would work well. But, then I looked at the photo they had all the shades on the arm to show it was waterproof, and in that the shade “Grey Brown” definitely looked more like a light brown or ash blonde kind of brow shade. They also had a “Dark Grey,” which looked like a charcoal black kind of color - not full on black, but not gray. I was a little worried it might be too dark, but figured I’d have a better chance with “Dark Grey” than with the “Grey Brown” shade given they used the word “maroon” when describing who it would work for.
Fortunately, the color “Dark Grey” does work really well for me. It can be too dark so I have to use a light hand, but I find a light hand is easy with this formula.
🟧SHAPE OF PENCIL
I tend to like precise, small tipped brow pencils. My usual go to ones are the Nyx Micro Brow or Elf Ultra Precise Brow Pencil. They’re affordable and have a really small tip so I can get good hair like strokes and they work nicely.
This is a unique shape. Triangle shapes are usually too thick for me to get precise, thin hairlike strokes. Not with this shape! This is more of a diamond shape. There is an extremely thin line where you can easily get thin hairlike strokes. You can also use the really pointed tip to get thin hairlike strokes.
**NOTE: I will say I’m a little worried how the shape will hold up. I’ve been using this every day since I got it and notice the shape is wearing down…like the defined and pointed areas I love so much. It makes sense that those would wear down, just like any pencil does and will eventually need sharpened. But, it’s not like you can really sharpen this back into that original shape. So, unless you’re careful and try to use it evenly on both sides and tips to kind of make sure it wears the same and kind of maintains the shape….and who has the time and patience for that?!…it’s going to eventually end up being like a chubby angled liner shape. So, we’ll see how much I like it at that point? With the price and how much I like it, depending how long the shape lasts for it might be worth it to me to just purchase a new one at that time. So, I will just have to see how long the shape lasts and go from there.
🟧FORMULA OF PENCIL (HOW IT APPLIES, WEARS)
The formula is really nice! It glides onto my brows easily. It’s really creamy. It doesn’t skip at all, doesn’t tug at all. It doesn’t feel or look waxy. It is pigmented, so like I said, it can be too dark for me. But, it glides on so easily, it’s easy to use a very light hand. It blends in with my brow hairs nicely. When using a very light hand and the thin line, I get perfect hairlike strokes and don’t even need to use the spoolie to blend them in because they look perfect and natural! Though, if you want more of a faded look, the spoolie can do that too! You can also press harder for it to be darker since it is pigmented. It lasts well throughout the day. Usually with really creamy formulas, they just wipe off when I blend my brows with a spoolie and if they don’t, they wear off quick. So, I usually like ones that are in the middle of waxy and creamy - waxy enough to last, but creamy enough to glide on easily. With this one being so creamy, I expected it wouldn’t last well - it would just go away if I used a spoolie in my brows or it would wear off quick - but it actually lasts all day long even through a hot day outside or a day at work running around and sweating!
🟧OVERALL THOUGHTS
If you’re looking for a great brow pen, I’d definitely recommend trying this one out! It has a unique shape that works well, it has a great formula that is really easy to work with, and it lasts well all day!