My Brows on a Budget.... e.l.f. Brow Kit

I envy all of you ladies that have beautiful eyebrows. You know, the ones that are full, perfectly shaped, and require minimal maintenance. I used to have these brows back in the day. I can remember on my wedding day, my make-up artist telling me how beautiful my brows were. Oh, those were the days....

Fast forward eight years and my brows are now a MESS... A special shout out to my lovely friend who I like to refer to as "anxiety". Thanks to him, my brows are way over plucked and super sparse in areas. Not only do I pluck with a tweezer, but when I get super stressed I pull the hairs out with my fingers. I know, it's insane. So, because of this, eyebrow powder/pencils are my best friend. I never leave the house without filling in my brows. Even when I did have nice looking brows, I still used eyebrow powder to give me that polished look. It truly makes a difference!!

My go to eyebrow powders are Smashbox in Brunette and Anastasia in Brunette. If I had to choose between the two, Smashbox wins by a small margin. Both have lasting power, but Smashbox tends to stay the best in my city's outrageous humidity.

I was using the Anastasia powder (in Ebony this time) which tends to be dark on me, but that was a good thing because my hair WAS dark. But after getting my hair cut and colored for the New Year, my hair is now much lighter. I continued to wear the Anastasia powder for a few days, but I noticed something was off. I couldn't put my finger on it. At first I thought it was my new hair color that I didn't like, but then I realized my brows were way too dark for the new color. I needed to add some warmth to my brows.

Since it was the beginning of the year, and one of my resolutions was to spend less money, I decided to try a drugstore brand. While in Target a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that e.l.f. had a new brow kit for $3. Yes, only $3! Who can pass up a deal like that, and the colors matched what I was looking for. I had never tried e.l.f. brand cosmetics before, but figured I could stand to lose 3 bucks if it didn't work out.

The darker brown is the "gel" which is more of a wax. I use my Anastasia brow brush to apply the wax where my brows are sparse to even out the color. I also apply a small amount over my entire brow to help keep the hairs in place. Then I apply the lighter color to my entire brow to add a bit of warmth so they better match my hair color.

For $3, I would definitely recommend this product. The gel and powder were easy to apply. It lasts throughout the day. And most important, it does I what originally bought it for - to match the color of my brows to my hair.

If you've tried e.l.f. cosmetics, let me know your thoughts. Were you happy with the quality? What e.l.f. products do you use? Also, do you have any other recommendations for not too expensive brow products?