What’s The Difference? Maybelline Mechanical Brow Pencils

Everyone wants the look of defined eyebrows, but not everyone is willing to pay the $$ to buy brow pencils from the prestige brands. Today I am comparing two mechanical brow pencils from Maybelline; the Brow Precise and the Total Temptation Brow Definer. You can find these at the drugstore for about $8 each. Similar brow pencils from prestige brands run for more than twice as much!

First glance I have to say that the pink shade of the Total Temptation Brow Definer is a lot more eye-catching!

Considering that these are produced from the same manufacturer I expected the exterior packaging to be nearly identical, however the Total Temptation Brow Definer had a really great detail… a perforated back for convenience!

The application is the biggest difference between these two brow fillers. As you can see the Total Temptation has a kite shaped tip and the Brow Precise has a very fine tip. The spools on the opposite ends of the pencils are quite different as well. Total Temptation sports an almost orb-shaped spool whereas Brow Precise offers a long slender spool.

The technique to filling in your brows with a brow pencil is to lightly shade in the brow at the largest point and shade heavier at the tail. Follow with the spool end and brush through to create a more natural appearance.

I applied each of these pencils to the back of my hand using soft strokes like I would to create ‘hairs’ in my brows. The Total Temptation was awkward to use, I wasn’t sure how to position it in my hand to get the results that I was looking for (left.) Brow Precise was very simple, I found that I was able to draw a very natural looking brow with it (right.)

As far as longevity of wear I experienced faint smudging right away and my ‘brows’ washed off with soap and water. There is no reason that you should be touching your eyebrows after you have filled them in with any product, nor do you experience water around your eyebrows often so I don’t see either effect as much of a downfall. Although, I might not wear either to the pool.

Both of these pencils are offered in four colors including Blonde, Soft Brown, and Deep Brown. Total Temptation comes in the color Medium Brown as well, and Brow Precise comes in Auburn. I picked up the darkest shade in both pencils, Deep Brown.

The left swatch is Total Temptation, and the right is Brow Precise. You can see that although these pencils are in the same shade there is a variance in color. Brow Precise is significantly darker than Total Temptation!