JUST BROWSING

It was my mother’s birthday the other day and I was thinking about all the beauty tricks I’ve learned from her over the years (and all the makeup I “borrowed” as a teenager and never returned). While neither of us wears a lot of makeup everyday, we each have our daily rituals. I don’t leave the house without mascara and she’s all about the brows.

One of the greatest tricks she’s passed my way is that for brunettes, a blond brow pencil or powder is the only way to go. I was skeptical at first, but then I thought of the brow pencils I had collecting dust because they always seemed to leave me looking like Eddie Munster. She handed me her Giorgio Armani pencil and my brows suddenly looked defined not colored in. Best of all, they didn’t look “done,” just a better version of the original.

A few days later, I was picking up my favorite Arcona scrub at Kalologie and came across Vanitymark Ultra-Brow Pencils. With the consistency of a pastel crayon (always use a brow pencil for the brows...harder eye pencils can pull hair), the pencils are fragrance-free, hypo-allergenic and made without animal testing. Created by makeup artist Brett Freedman, there are seven shades in the eyebrow line and he takes the guess work out of finding your shade by using celeb comparisons (so much better than a little circle of color on a cardboard package). If you’ve got Kate Walsh’s tones you’re AUBURNISTA, Leighton Meester or Angelina Jolie you’re MILK CHOCO. How easy is that? With my (naturally) light brown hair and yellow undertones, BLONDIE was my perfect match.

You can find Vanitymark available online and in stores nationwide.