The Beauty Sleuth

A few days ago, The Makeup Show came to town. As it happens, my Gal Pal about town and talented artist in her own right, Ashleigh Ciucci of beauteousmaximus fame have made it our bi-annual tradition to endure the throngs of people attending this event (and when I tell you throngs, I really mean it—There was no amount of shimmy, shake n’slide that could get either one of us even close to a counter for a time, to see what was what! ) to scour the aisles looking to uncover those gems worth spending your cool greens on.

All the usual suspects were there, and while I didn’t see a whole lot of newly developed product this time around, I did see some fantastic additions to some of my favorite lines. Now I won’t go into what NARS Cosmetics had on offer as I recently wrote about the exciting goodies they have lined up for Fall 2013. See my recent post here: The Beauty Sleuth

I was interested in taking a closer look at Inglot Cosmetics. I have been following them for a few years and while outwardly the collection is impressive, I was never wowed with the lineup. Maybe it was too reminiscent of MAC or Make Up For Ever, from their early days or that it appeared the quality of the product wasn’t elevated enough for me, whatever the rationale, I never felt compelled to run out and stock my kit with Inglot. However, I had recently heard some interesting beauty chatter that had piqued my curiosity about the brands eyebrow waxes and powders, so prior to attending the show, I took a closer look at them online ( I found them on www.beautylish.com but strangely, they did not offer them on the Inglot site!) The range provided some eye dazzle with a brow creme and powder collection that topped out at 15. Inglot also produce their own exclusive empty palettes which makes building a customized collection easy. I liked what I saw online, and was totally prepared to forget my previous impression of the brand and forge ahead to see it in the flesh.

After finally jostling my way to the front of the counter, I was able to get a sample of the brow colors. First of all, I could tell right away by the surface sheen, that the wax was way too soft. What’s wrong with that you say? It’s simply— If the wax is not firm or dense enough, it will not hold the brows into place. Alas, droopy brow syndrome. You might think that setting with a powder will help but as the body warms the product, it has a tendency to move, so it’s not the best solution. A really good barometer for a great brow wax is that it should have a smooth, matte finish and be quite hard to finger touch, yet pliable enough when applied with a dedicated brow brush. ( Like my patented Wave Brow brush… ok I admit to touting my wares, however even if it wasn’t mine, I’d still be plugging it. It’s just that good!.)

By contrast, when I touched the pan of Inglot brow wax, it immediately melted on my finger and was extremely shiny. Additionally, the pigment was so transparent, it would take a lot of product to make an impression to the overall brow line, and would ultimately make them look unnatural and sticky. The powder versions were much better, with a wide range to choose from. I did like the fact that they had a texture, some almost having a sheen effect. One of my pet peeves with many brow shadows is that they can look flat and harsh because the formula is too matte. Inglot powder formula is not as pigmented and has a subtle texture that looks more natural on the brow area. At the end of the day, my silver lining parting thought is this: If you are looking for a decent powder formula in a variety of colors,that you can customize in a pretty palette Inglot has you covered but I would steer clear of the wax formula altogether.

Available at: www.beautylish.com