My One Product Brow Routine | Shu Uemura Hard Formula Hard 9 Eyebrow Pencil

Eyebrows are everything. They are the single most important step in my makeup routine - besides SPF, of course. 

I'm here today to tell you all about my holy grail brow product, my ride or die since I knew filling in your eyebrows was even a thing - which was sophomore year of college. Late, I know. Safe to say all my pictures before then (and after my initial craze that led me to tweeze them into oblivion) have been permanently destroyed. Introducing Shu Uemura's Hard Formula Hard 9 Eyebrow Pencil. Paired with my e.l.f Essentials Eyeliner Brush, and the rest is history.

Shu Uemura Hard Formula Hard 9 Eyebrow Pencil

$195 HKD at Shu Uemura

7 Shades (Hong Kong and Japan) | 4 Shades (USA)

Let's start off with the coolest aspect of this brow pencil - the shape. All the Shu Uemura eyebrow pencils comes pre-sharpened in the shape of a naginata - the traditional Japanese samurai sword. Hi-ya! The unique sword-shaped tip is incredibly handy to sculpt out and define the bottom and top parts of your brows with precision, and allows for drawing fine lines to mimic natural brows. Also, this brow pencil only works when interacting with the oils in your brow hairs, so you can try to swatch this on the back of your hand but you will fail. Genius!

Shu Uemura offers this pencil in two formulas - hard 9 and hard 6 - and I've always sworn by the former, since the latter is just a tad too soft for my taste that allows for a thicker, darker application. The firmness of the hard 9 formula is absolute perfection for giving you the most naturally defined eyebrows without ever looking too harsh or fake - like, sorry to all the Dipbrow fans out there, but that stuff scares me! However, I have noticed that when the pencil becomes blunt and loses its sword-shaped tip, it never applies as nicely and my eyebrows never look as good. My shade has always been 06 Acorn - the perfect brown with a hint of grey that perfectly complements my jet black hair as well as my previously colored chestnut brown mane.

Shu Uemura Hard Formula Hard 9 Eyebrow Pencil in 06 Acorn

All Shu Uemura stores offer sharpening services, so you always have the option to bring it by (or drop it off during peak hours) and have the staff carve out the desired naginata shape. Speaking from personal experience, I've always been slightly disappointed at how much shorter my pencil is when it is returned to me. I'm talking a good inch or two, which means money wasted! The staff's explanation was always that the lead inside was broken (either from me dropping it or knocking it around) which made it much more challenging to sharpen. Either way, I decided to finally try it myself and have now (somewhat) perfected the art of sharpening with a box cutter. Just look at how tiny my old brow pencil is - I've filed it down to a tiny nubbin!

Shu Uemura Hard Formula Hard 9 Eyebrow Pencil in 06 Acorn

After I've filled in my eyebrows to my satisfaction, my final step is to take my trusty e.l.f Essentials Eyeliner Brush (which is just $1USD!) and run it through my brows to soften and perfect my look. The brush is way too thick for its intended purpose - c'mon, e.l.f., how is this thin enough for eyeliner?! - but it's the perfect shape and density for a brow brush. And voila, brows on fleek!

I don't see myself straying from this brow routine anytime soon - you just gotta stick with what works! - but I would love to hear your eyebrow routines and the products you swear by to give you flawless, glorious eyebrows. Thanks for reading!