What a difference a BROW makes. It's funny how your attitude to makeup changes as you grow older. Ten years ago, if you asked me what I considered as my one essential 'can't live without' makeup product, I would have said eyeliner. 

Partly because I was a huge moody emo goth who knew that eyeliner was as essential to a gig as a mosh pit but ALSO because I genuinely thought my eyes were the one thing that couldn't go without makeup. (Well, more so than the rest of my face - plenty of teenage angst those days!)


These days, it's still in the above cheek area but it's not my eyes that I feel the need to define, it's my brows. Despite having dark hair, I think they're practically invisible without brow makeup. I genuinely think I look like Uncle Fester without them. Case and point below. HIYA.





Perfecting your brow makeup technique isn't a complex skill to master but it does take a bit of practice and a few learnings. Biggest learning from me is about the COLOUR. 

As if it wasn't hard enough shaping the brow, you need to take colour into account. I never took brow colour seriously - I always just reached for the darkest - until I started changing my hair colour and realising that my brow colour needed to be adjusted too.

Err, Zoe, don't you have blue hair? Sorry to disappoint. I'm not talking about matching blue brows just yet. I'm talking about the tiny shade steps between darkest and second-darkest. Deep brown vs soft brown. What's the difference?Should we even give a shit about it?


The only way to show you is by demonstrating. Let's go.



So for today's blog post I'm using the new Sleek Brow Intensity sticks  - a double ended brow product with a liquid brow colour on one end and a highlighting crayon on the other.

The brow colour is a sort of waxy, liquid that you paint onto your brows with the spongy end. It also has a mascara spoolie brush which allows you to spread the gel through the brow hairs. Both are super necessary for natural looking, defined brows.

The gel texture fully dries in about 30 seconds and it won't budge afterwards, so you only have a short time to fix any mistakes or blend anything out. Great for oilier skin but be sure to use a light hand when applying if you want it to look natural.

It comes in 5 shades from light to black and today I'm showing the impact of the colour you use.

Sleek Brow Intensity in LIGHT

Sleek Brow Intensity in DARK

Sleek Brow Intensity in EXTRA DARK

When scrolling through these photos, you might not notice much of a difference. Mr FV said they all look exactly the same.

It's true, the shade differences are barely noticeable if I don't draw attention to it but take a look at them all side by side below. Which do you think looks best?



The lighter colours are less severe but add an unnatural warmth that make the brow look quite fake and drawn on. The darkest colour looks the most natural in tone although it needs a confident shape in order to wear it.

When applied thickly, the Brow Intensity is probably more suited for a night out where I have time to really shape the brow but there are ways to reduce the intensity.


What to do when your brows look a bit too strong

Blur and remove some of the colour by buffing with a clean fluffy brush, or lightly rub a cotton bud over your brows.

Use a powder rather than a liquid brow product. Powder gives a much softer look than gel. Eyebrow powder is also great for filling in gaps and creating shape, something like these new Rimmel Brow Shake Filling powder.

The only downside of powder is that it's not as accurate and can smudge during the day.





Ultimately, I think there's a brow product for every situation.


If you have fab brows like Cara Delevigne that don't need any colour, but just shaping - then try a brow mascara to direct hairs in the right direction.
If you have full, hairy brows that are a little bit gappy or just need a bit of extra definition then try powder.

If you have fine brows like me - in the daytime, I use a powder for the bulk shape and then tiny, featherlike strokes with an eyebrow pencil for extra definition.

If you want a powerful girlboss brow, then gel makeup provides a sharp, well defined shape that lasts longer than other eyebrow makeup. Perfect for a night of throwing embarrassing shapes out on the dancefloor.


Shopping list

Sleek Brow Intensity
Rimmel Brow Shake Filling Powder
Maybelline Master Sleek Brow Mascara
CLINIQUE Superfine Liner For Brows

In honour of my One Year Anniversary of Face Value Beauty Blog, I'm throwing a little giveaway for all the readers out there!

To enter it's easy - you just have to follow me and use the widget below to get you entries into the competition!

But what's the prize? ONLY EVERY AWESOME BRAND OUT THERE!!

Thats right, theres Soap& Glory, Benefit, Clinique, O.P.I, Sleep Rollers, Rimmel and a FILOFAX by Temperley!

When it comes to less is more, there is an unwritten code on how to get dressed. You either show your legs, or you show your chest - never both right? Well for me, it's the same for my makeup. I either play up my eyes, or play up a bright lip.

Enter the perfect colour!

This is the Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick by Kate Moss in 08.

Hi team, so today I thought I'd bring you something slightly different to the normal product and waaa chat.

Last week I went to Zoo Lates, a series of evening events held at London Zoo- basically over-18s going to the zoo plus booze, grown up fancy dress and lots of pictures striking a "fierce" pose.

Never one to shy away from fancy dress, my friends and I decided to fully embrace the challenge by going as a plethora of Noah's Ark creatures. I love fancy dress but most of all, I love face painting!

So, as you may be able to tell from above picture - I decided to go as a deer, and after uploading it to my Instagram I got lots of requests on how to do it. So I thought - give the people what they want - here's a little tutorial of how I got the look...