Maybelline Tattoo Brow 36hr Pencil

The only Pros: very pigmented, the spoolie is great, definitely lasts all day without smudging. When I first used this product, of course the pencil point was sharp, and as I continued to it, it becomes more and more blunt.

Overall, I do not like this at all. The consistency is creamier, I prefer a more pomade/wax like texture. The pencil is also not fine enough to be able to fill in sparse areas of my eyebrows or line my eyebrow. The pencil is also too thick when blunt, so it is very difficult to work with even with a light hand.

When I fill in my eyebrows it is hard to control how much product goes on my eyebrow and even when I use the spoolie to blend, I still end up with uneven/ not properly filled in areas.

I wouldn’t use this again for my eyebrows but I don’t want to waste the product, so I might try using it as eyeliner.

Thank you to BR for the opportunity to trial this product – if I had paid for it myself I would have been really annoyed about wasting my money! This is probably my first ever negative review about a Maybelline product – it is my go to makeup brand, so I was very disappointed!

The product itself is okay. The colour was kind of off – I have very dark eyebrows so I selected "dark brown", but it is definitely looks black when you apply it. I hate to think what the "black brown" shade looks like on! The product does go on nicely, is highly pigmented and has excellent staying power. However, you only get this result for the first couple of applications because as soon as you need to sharpen it it is useless.

The packaging of this pencil states that it is sharpenable, but it is in a hard plastic casing and the product itself is very soft, so when you go to sharpen it, it crumbles/breaks, rendering it completely useless. If it weren't for the brush at the other end which I am sure will come in handy, I would have just thrown it out right there and then.

It's not often I place a review this negative, but I was really really unimpressed with the Maybelline Tattoo Brow 36hr pencil. The product is a small pencil with a spoolie brush on the other end. I trialled the soft brown colour. Firstly, the soft brown colour isn't soft brown at all. It's actually very dark and I found it too dark for my skin tone. I used the eyebrow pencil every day during the trial period (even though I didn't want to after the first try!). The pencil isn't very easy to use - it doesn't sharpen to a good tip so it's hard to do anything precise. I also find it really annoying and messy to have to sharpen the pencil constantly - it's far easier if the product winds up or you use a brush to apply. The pencil doesn't last for the day, let along for 36 hours as it claims. Maybe if I lay still and did absolutely nothing all day, it might last the day, but does anyone do that?! I didn't do anything particularly onerous, just went about daily life, but the pencil had mostly rubbed off mid way through the day leaving my brows looking patchy. All in all, I was super disappointed with this pencil and I'm really glad the review period is over so I can stop using it! I had really high hopes for this one - I thought that 36 hour wear would mean it lasted well but it absolutely doesn't. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone and will be sticking with Benefit brand for now until I find something better.

I found this was so pigmented and when drawing it would be quite uneven. It has a clay-like and soft consistency if that makes sense. Though once blended, it looked fine - and it was quite easy to blend with the attached spoolie. It's a good spoolie. There are many better brow pencils out there, IMO. I won't use this again as the darker shades were too warm-toned, also.

I was excited to try this after purchasing it in the Beauty Vault, and really liking the Maybelline Brow Precise pencil, however I wont be purchasing it again due to how tricky it is to sharpen. The formula of this product is really good, it lasts very well (needed a good wipe with micellar to remove it) and applies nice and smooth, however... I had no idea how to get to the remainder of the pencil! The packaging didnt give too much away and I initally thought it was a wind-up pencil (it isnt!) so some digging online informed me that it CAN be sharpened, however Maybelline recommends their purpose-made sharpener and most that you'll find at home in your stationery kit wont work. In the end it was just too much hassle.

It has a capped pencil at one end and the spoolie on the other. I got the dark brown and with my black hair, I initially thought it was too dark. It lives up to its name of being pigmented! You only need the smallest amount of product for it to leave pigment on your brows. It looked frighteningly dark, but with a couple brushes with the spoolie, it blended quite nicely. I would probably try medium brown next time though. I do find though it can be hard to control exactly how much pigment goes on your brows because the spoolie can over-blend and leave bits patchy. I also find it a hassle to need to sharpen it.

I think it gives a more powder brow finish, rather than individual hairs so it depends what look you go for.

In terms of smudge proof, I think it lives up to its name. For long, sweaty workouts, it only fades a little bit and I have very sparse brow hairs and sweat a lot! It does wash off easily at the end of the day though, which I like.

I trialled this product in light brown. It wet on reasonably well but I did find I needed to use the spoolie brush to blend the colour evenly. It lasted all day however I definitely needed to reapply/retouch each day. I really liked the colour on my brows. I am quite fair and I think it still gave a natural look. The cap on the pencil end didn't seem to fit perfectly so this is something I would only use at home (and not in my travel cosmetic bag). On the whole, I was impressed with this product.

I got a light brown which seemed to match my coloring well. The packaging didn't give me much in the way of order so I brushed my brows, applied creamy pencil and then brushed again to blend. This process worked for me. I found this lasted well on my brows (at least 1 - 2 days) but also it didn't come off easily with make up remover.

I did notice the pencil went down quicker than expected and couldn't seem to figure out how to sharpen/push up the pencil. After some research turns out you sharpen the tip with a pencil sharpener. I wasn't aware of this and it didn't say anything on the packaging.

Overall I am happy with the product, good coloring and easy to apply.

I tried the shade 260, dark brown. The colour is fairly close to my natural shade which was a good start.

The pencil has the traditional two ends. The product end and a spoolie end. The product tip reminds me of a small crayon as it's more rounded then pointed. It's consistency is creamy which made it easy to blend in but also hard to define or outline small areas of your brow. The pigment is strong so a light hand is needed. Once dried it is smudge proof and set without feeling heavy or waxy.

The Spoolie end is one of the best I have come across for a brow pencil. The bristles are thick and sturdy but still have some flexibility to blend the product in. It blended in nicely and left me with a bold brow. I'm not 100% convinced about the 36hour staying power but it does appear to have some water resistance when water lightly touched then. I managed to remove fairly easily with my normal cleanser.

Slightly annoying things I have discovered are firstly how fiddly it is to sharpen as it smooshes into the side of the sharper. Secondly the lid needs a really firm push to stay on.

It's definitely worth a try if you like to fill in your whole eyebrow or have thiner brows. I normally only touch up a few small gaps in my eyebrows so I normally reach for a product that has a finer tip like the Anastasia Brow Wizz. I found this product a little too difficult to just touch up gaps so I ended up applying to my whole eyebrow instead. I probably wouldn't repurchase only due to this.

I love Maybelline so I was delighted to try this product.

It comes under plastic on a cardboard backing with Maybelline branding. For some reason, there was a gold sticker stuck over the instructions.

The product itself has a hard wire brush on one end, which is ideal for a brisk strong brush that gets my unruly brows back in place. On the other end, is the pigmented product which looks like a felt pin with a fatter tip.

The product is easy to apply, though my complete lack of artistic skills is obvious. So easy to apply even if my application isn't prefect. It is too dark for my pale skin and leaves me with a surprised look, but that isn't due to any fault in the pencil.

What I love about it is that it is easy to apply, easy to remove (if you make a mistake), and lasts the 36 hours, so it does what says it will. Once applied, it looks exactly the same as my friend's tattooed brows, only darker. At around $22 it is also a good price.

I highly recommend it.