Black and Cool Tones for Brows, Please!
I’ve been really annoyed by this for a while now. We need more black and cool tones for brows, please! There’s a dearth of cool toned and black brow products. I have a ton of brow products and the majority of them lean warm. I mean some of them look flat out orangey on my neutral skin. Orange is not a good look on me. Really. Anyway, I thought I’d bring you a swatchfest of brow products (just about every single brow product that I own, I think) so that you can find your next perfect brow product or color.
Black and Cool Tones for Brows, Please!
This post contains a mix of press samples and products purchased by me.
Of these, Senna Cosmetics Sketch a Brow in Ash Brown is the most neutral toned.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Brown is warmer than Senna Ash Brown, but still workable.
Urban Decay Neutral Brown looks more warm-toned to me, like chocolate.
Urban Decay Warm Brown is definitely warm-toned.
I want to point out that I love the texture of the Senna Brow pencils. They’re really easy to use and hard to overdo. Urban Decay’s pencils are really nice too. The Anastasia Brow Wiz is nice but the Perfect Brow Pencil is really easy to overdo.
Senna Cosmetics Sketch a Brown in Mink is a dark neutral brown, but when compared to Granite it looks warm.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Granite is the most cool-toned dark brown.
Tarte Rich Brown is a slightly less cool-toned dark brown when compared to Granite.
Urban Decay Dark is warmer than Granite and Rich Brown but more neutral than Mink.
Brett Freeman’s Dark Brunette duo has one side that’s slightly warmer and one side that’s slightly cooler. (Brett just came out with a cool brow palette!)
Tarte Brow Mousse in Taupe is a warm orangey taupe on me.
Tarte Brow Mousse in Rich Brown is a deep cool brown.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow in Dark Brown is a deep neutral brown.
Life’s Entropy Brow Theory in Dark Brown is a deep neutral brown.
Nyx Eyebrow Gel in Taupe is a cool-toned taupe.
Nyx Eyebrow Gel in Black is a deep dark black-brown, and it turns brown on me.
Silk Naturals Brow Cream in Soft Black is a deep cool black.
Silk Naturals Brow Cream in Medium Ash is a midtone cool taupe.
Too Faced Bulletproof Brows in Universal Taupe is an orangey taupe on me.
Too Faced Bulletproof Brows in Universal Brunette is a midtone neutral taupe.
While I absolutely love the Nyx Eyebrow Gel formula, it’s got a bit of a learning curve because you need to use the tiniest amount possible. It’s still easier for me to use than the Anastasia Dipbrow, which is just way too easy for me to go overboard with. I find that the Too Faced Bulletproof brows is probably the longest wearing of all my brow products.
What’s completely missing in my gigantic brow product collection is a lot of black brow products. Yes yes I know that people say ‘you shouldn’t use black for your brows’. I get that straight up sharpie brows are not cute. However, some of us, who have naturally dark or black hair, or who dye our hair, would prefer black brows.
I did just receive the Nudestix Eyebrow Stylist Pencil and Gel in Brown Black, which rivals Nyx Eyebrow Gel in Black & Silk Naturals Brow Cream in Soft Black for the blackest brown-black that I own. I also bought Senna Brow Powder in Noir to test out. (Update, holy crap I love the Nudestix pencil shape and the color is great. Video soon!)
If you decide you don’t like any of theses options, one thing that I love to do is use matte or semi-matte eyeshadows to fill in my brows. I actually love Sugarpill eyeshadows for this and my friend Cin loves Darling Girl. For purples, I like Sugarpill Elemental Chaos or Poison Plum.
So tell me, what do you prefer to use for your brows? Do you go for a natural look or unnatural brows?
Great info!
I have ash brown hair and it used to be so difficult for me to find brow products that matched!!! Especially since I like light to medium shades – when I first started filling in my brows they all looked so red on me and did not match at all. These days I like using ABH ash brown pomade and powder, and Nyx blonde brow gel. I agree we still don’t have enough black options.
The Nyx Blonde is a great option!
I am very biased because my #1 choice is always Senna powders. I do love senna pencils and find UD comparable in quality 🙂
I will definitely let you know what I think of my Senna brow powder 🙂
It’s a nightmare finding products for red hair colors. If I do find the right shade, I don’t like the formula (Just For Redheads pencils are good, but too creamy for my oily skin). I like the formula of e.l.f. Eyebrow Kit’s powder and their Instant Lift Brow Pencil a lot, but the shades are limited. I really end up getting the best results with pressed powder eyeshadows, and just tailor the color to my red shade of the moment. When my roots are more grown out, I do better with warm browns. When roots are not too bad, I’ve used auburn, magenta, and plum shades. I still haven’t felt like I’ve found my Holy Grail brow product, though.
Brett Freeman actually made my favorite orange, auburn and reds when I had red / orange hair. For burgundy hair I actually used MAC Blackberry eyeshadow.
Thanks for the recommendations. I’ll check out the Brett Freedman website.
I completely relate to this post. I like the ABH Granite Brow Wiz a lot as well as the Granite Dipbrow. I just barely – and I mean BARELY – touch an angled brow brush straight down into the Dipbrow pot to avoid overdoing it. The pomade is much more cost-effective than the pencil, but it’s also trickier and takes more time to use. I also just bought the NYX eyebrow powder in Black/Gray. It’s super cheap and contains 2 powders (a cool-toned taupe and a black-brown), clear wax, a teeny spoolie and an itty bitty angled brush. I haven’t used the wax or the tools, but the powders are nice. I use an eye primer underneath to help with lasting power. Down with orange brows!!
ABH Granite is definitely the most cool-toned, darkest shade of the ABH line. I just wish there were more blacks. I think I’m going to start using dark purple eyeshadow for my brows again because I just am tired of having things go brown. My natural hair color is a very dark brown that people mistake for black, and I have my roots dyed blue-black currently, so it really irks me to have warm toned or brown brows.