I am always happy to see more and more micro brow pencils being put out on the market. And I’m even happier when it’s a drugstore brand because it makes it far more accessible to everyone! The Maybelline Brow Precise Micro Pencil is here to elbow its way into the crowd of all the other brow pencils before it!

And it actually delivers right up front:

• The suggested retail price in USD in $2 cheaper than the NYX Micro Brow.
• It also contains 0.005 ounces of product compared to the NYX Micro Brow which has 0.003 ounces (as does the ABH Brow Wiz, but that’s nowhere near the same price point).
• And it’s got a spoolie on the other side (but I’d say that’s pretty expected now!).

AND, amazingly enough, Maybelline has actually labelled this “Blonde” and, FOR ONCE, it’s a shade that’s actually appropriate for blondes. (Everyone else seems to go with “Taupe” and then they can’t get blamed when it’s not a colour match for your mane of hair). I also find it’s a better colour match than their BrowSatin Define + Fill Duo which I reviewed over a year ago.

As you can see from the swatch, the colour is blissfully cooler than it is warm. Nothing matches blondes worse than a warm brow colour (unless you’re actually strawberry blonde!).

On the brows, this plays out like every other micro brow pencil: beautifully! It can shape my brow and give it the chunkiness that it’s otherwise missing. The Maybelline Brow Precise Micro Pencil applied a bit softer than the NYX Micro Brow and ABH Brow Wiz, but a bit more firm than the QUO Precision Brow Pencil (which is super soft).

The only downside I’ve noticed to this pencil is that the tip has broken off on me three times now. Just a very small amount, but it’d made me realize I need to use it a bit more softly. Aside from that, I love how it applies and I think the colour tone is perfect for my hair. I kind of wonder if I’m going to end up switching to this over the NYX Micro Brow. We’ll see once I’ve finished it how I feel, but if this one is definitely cheaper than the NYX one in Canada retailers then I don’t see why I wouldn’t change over!

The Maybelline Brow Precise Micro Pencil can be purchased on ulta.com for $7.99 USD.

The product featured in this review was sent to me for consideration.

If there’s one thing that Maybelline knows how to do exceptionally well, it’s lipstick. I have yet to encounter a lipstick in their squared off bullet packaging that I’ve not liked, and they’ve wowed me yet again with their Loaded Bolds collection.

The US release of the Loaded Bolds had a whopping 20 shades, but the Canadian release was pared down to 12 (sad face). So if there were a few shades that piqued your interest and you can’t find them here in Canada… you may want to take at some US sites and see if they ship to Canada.

The Loaded Bolds are hyper-pigmented lipsticks with a predominantly matte finish. What I mean by that is that they go on with a hint of a sheen, but that sheen does disappear after you’ve had the product on your lips for a while.

And thankfully, they’re a permanent product so you needn’t fear about them running out of stock forever!

I feel like a lot of the shades in this range could’ve fit under their Vivids umbrella, but the dark shades made it necessary to create another line. Of the three I tried, pigmentation was excellent on Midnight Merlot and Fiery  Fuchsia, but Violet Vixen was definitely a bit patchy.

Final Thoughts

Any mainstream makeup brand that wants to add bold, bright and radical colours (there’s a sapphire blue, white and black in this collection too!) is welcomed with wide open arms in my book. Overall, I found the formula on par with the rest of Maybelline‘s Colorsensational range. These had a touch of dryness to them, but that’s not unexpected with a formula that dries down matte. I found when the inner rim of my mouth felt dry, I’d just run a finger along the inside to melt the pigment – this worked wonders for me.

Since this isn’t the newest of releases, it’s entirely possible you’ve already checked out this line! Let me know your thoughts on it in the comments. 🙂

The products featured in this review were sent to me for consideration.