Budget Beauty Throw Down: Five under P600 eyebrow palettes battle it out!

A brow powder, I’d admit, is often not the most exciting makeup item in our collections. The fact that it’s always a staple in any makeup artist’s kit, however, should make you think twice about keeping one in your stash. It’s a versatile item that you can use dry for soft, natural-looking brows, or wet for stronger, more well-defined arches. When it comes to application, it’s easier to fill in gaps with a brow powder than a pencil because you can cover a larger area in just one stroke. Finally, it’s a nifty multitasker that you can use to contour your eyes, nose, cheeks, and even hairline without bulking up your travel makeup bag.

If you’ve never tried one before, I suggest picking up an affordable one to test and play with! Lucky for you, there are a lot of budget options to choose from, and we’re giving the lowdown on some of the best ones we’ve tried so far.

From left:: Celeteque Eye Brow Defining Kit in Deep Brown, Ever Bilena Eye Brow Kit, Essence Little Brow Monsters in 02 Little Miss Bold, Pink Sugar Honey I’m Good Eyebrow Kit in Sassy Brown, L’Oreal Colour Riche Eyeshadow in 839 Cupa Joe

Celeteque

Celeteque Eye Brow Defining Kit (P600 at the beauty section)

Available shades: Medium Brown and Dark Brown

This sleek Brow Kit contains brow powder, brow wax, and a dual-ended brush applicator. Used on their own, I find both pans lacking in pigment but layering them over each other helped me achieve softly-defined brows that last around four to five hours before they start to fade. The medium brown shade leans a bit too much on the warmer spectrum, and should be perfect for brunettes. While it’s a little up there in price, keep in mind that the whole line of Celeteque Dermo features skincare and makeup in one! Thus, this brow kit is infused with shea butter, argan oil, and vitamin E to nourish both the hair and skin in your eyebrow area.

Ever Bilena

Ever Bilena Brow Kit (P200 at the beauty section)

Only one shade available

This brow kit from a homegrown brand comes with three powder shades, one pan of clear wax, a mini tweezer, and an angled brush. For both quantity and quality, it’s definitely a brow kit that gives an extra bang on the buck! The inclusion of three different shades of brown also make it easy to customize your brow according to your hair and eye color, while the wax helps to set the brow hairs in place. No need to buy new products whenever you change hair color; you can just mix them up as needed! On a normal day, this would last six hours on me before it would start to fade.

L'oreal

L’Oreal Colour Riche in Cuppa Joe (P400 at the beauty section)

Strictly speaking, this is an eyeshadow quad but the three brown shades included could easily work for your brows! The pigmentation honestly doesn’t perform well as eyeshadow but I find that it lends the right amount of fool-proof pigmentation for shaping and defining my brows. The inclusion of a highlighter shade allows for a nice subtle lift under your arch if you want to amp up your brow game. Sadly though, this one fades the fastest at around just 3 to 4 hours.  

Pink Sugar

Pink Sugar Honey I’m Good Eyebrow Kit (P399 at SM Beauty)

Available shades: Perfect Taupe and Sassy Brown

This brow kit is the runaway winner when it comes to pigmentation and longevity! It lasts throughout the whole day with insignificant fading, thanks to the pigmented wax that it comes with. One caveat though: I find that all three powders from both shade options are leaning more towards the reddish browns so it might not work as well if you have ashy hair.

Essence

Essence Little Brow Monsters (P250~ at SM Beauty)

Available shades: 01 Little Miss Natural and 02 Little Miss Bold

The Essence Little Brow Monsters comes with two baked brow powders in brown and black, and one baked highlight shade. I would normally use the brown shade to fill in all the gaps, the black to emphasize my arch and draw on fake brow hair, and the white shimmer to highlight my brow bone and the inner corner of my eyes. On a normal day, this would last about 4 to 5 hours before beginning to fade.

Do you already own a powder brow kit? Which one do you recommend, and what would you like to try from this list?