I’m quite a fan of the micro pencil-style brow pencils that are out on the market, so it came as a bit of a shock to me when I realized that I hadn’t tried Benefit‘s version! Their Precisely, My Brow Pencil has been around for quite some time, and they’ve just recently (yesterday!) added a shade extension bringing their entire range of pencils up to 12 shades.
In terms of the actual product – Precisely, My Brow has the same dimensions as all the other micro tip eyebrow pencils out there, which is to say about the size of 7mm pencil nib. What’s different is that the Benefit packing is a lot more built up and I found it oddly fun to hold the Precisely, My Brow pencils. Weird thing to say, right? But there’s a weight to it that’s nice on the hand and both lids are fun (one has the pencil, the other end has the spoolie).
Benefit sent me these products, and were kind enough to send a variety of shades that would work for blondes. While shades 1 and 2 were part of the line up before, shades 2.5 and Grey are new to the range.
Upon swatching, I quickly realized that the Grey shade was not going to work for me. I had visions of a pale grey shade (similar to a dark taupe), but it’s more in line with an actual grey which will work out for people with hair that’s verging on black.
- Shade 1: Cool light blonde
- Shade 2: Warm golden blonde
- Shade 2.5: Neutral blonde
- Shade Grey: Cool grey
When I initially swatched the shades out I saw no discernible difference between shades 2 and 2.5. It was to the point where I had to reswatch them because I thought maybe I’d screwed up and swatched one of them twice. Turns out that while in a direct swatch they don’t look that different, on my brows they really do.
Shade 1 is a cool light blonde and is a good match for me in terms of it being quite similar to my actual hair colour. However, this is the kind of shade that I feel like goes on too lightly on my brows and doesn’t add enough dimension. And this is simply because I have very little brow hair and certainly no tail to my brow. If I had more brow hairs this would be the perfect shade for me, but as it stands I would have to use this with a deeper shade to add in some dimension.
Shade 2 is the warm golden blonde shade and when you see it in comparison to 2.5 (photo below) you can see that this definitely steers more warm than the more neutral 2.5. This shade is great at adding definition to my brows, but I do like something a little bit more neutral/cool in tone.
Which is where shade 2.5 comes in! 2.5 is the neutral blonde shade that’s just been added to the range and it’s a much better match for me than the other two shades. While I like the other colours and will definitely finish them all up, 2.5 is the “easier” colour to wear for me.
As for the Grey shade… it’s just simply too dark for me and I couldn’t bring myself to wear it because it’s just SO dark. If you’ve got blonde hair, I’d encourage you to skip the Grey shade and opt for whichever shade between 1 and 2.5 that would work best for you.
Final Thoughts
I’m happy to see the shade extension, because I can see how I would’ve not been quite as keen on shade 2 by itself. 2.5 is definitely what I prefer in an eyebrow pencil since it leans more neutral/cool than the other two with their more golden undertones.
In terms of application, I was massively impressed. I’ve mentioned before that the NYX Micro Brow is one of my favourite eyebrow pencils of life, but I have to point out that the NYX pencil is incredibly stiff and somewhat difficult to apply. Benefit‘s Precisely, My Brow applies like a dream. It’s not creamy, but it does glide on with an ease I wasn’t expecting out of a micro pencil. I also found the longevity to be excellent. I saw no difference in my brows by the end of a full work day and in fact they looked better than they normally do with my usual pencils.
The Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencils can be purchased on sephora.ca for $32 CAD or on sephora.com for $24 USD regularly… but they’re currently on sale for half off!
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.
