Makeup Brand: Empro & Revew/Swatch/FOTD: Empro Triangular Eyebrow Pencils

I first noticed Empro, said to be "the only eye brows and lips specialist", locally Malaysian owned makeup brand when I was walking in Mega Mall one day end of last year. I also remembered seeing its eyebrow pencils in some SASA stores. But I didn't know that they actually had a stand-alone boutique. Actually, I thought Empro was a Korean brand!

Out of curiosity, I checked out the sizable stand-con-studio station to see what's selling. (Besides, anything to help my unruly brows would be a plus!)


The sales assistant gave me a couple of brochures to read about its services. These are what they do.


Ero Embroidery

Malaysia’s first of its kind trendy and most effective eyebrow embroidery methodology that gives you a natural yet vivid look.


Ebrow Embroidery

Embroidery of ebrow can add fullness, shape, symmetry & defined color tones to fair brows. Giving you more elegant, vivid and refined natural eyebrows.


Eliner Embroidery

Semi-permanent eyeliner can shape and define the eyes, either natural or dramatically.


Korean Eyelash Perming & Extension

Is a safe and effective way to keep your lashes curled and beautiful all the time.


Elips Embroidery

The second to none most effective painless silky smooth method of Tokyo lips that provides you a semi-permanent colourful natural lips with moisturizing effect. - Empro brochure

Apparently, there are more services than what's stated in the brochure.

Laser tattoo removal?

Me: (OK, what's all the gibberish about?) What's Ebrow?

SA: Oh it stands for eyebrow...

Me: What's Korean eyelash perming? Is it different from say, Japanese eyelash perming?

SA: Oh, it's a popular eyelash perming method in Korea so your lashes stay curled... I don't know about Japanese method. I am sure they have but this is very popular in Korea...

Me: (Grrr... Getting pushy and losing patience...) What's Elips? What's Tokyo Lips?

SA: E stands for Embroidery. Tokyo Lips is using embroidery to make your lips looking more coloured and smoother so you have less lines...

Me: (Licking my dry and chapped lips unconsciously...) I thought you said this was Malaysia owned? Do you have anything made locally?

SA: Er, no... But this is Malaysian owned. We just adopted these popular methods from overseas. But we do have a star patented eyebrow product called Triangular Eyebrow Pencils.

*The conversation was done between 1/2 English & 1/2 Cantonese which I have no clue whatsoever so it might be off somewhat!



So I checked its Triangular Eyebrow Pencils.... It read:



- Triangular tip with thick & thin lead.
- long lasting
- No re-sharpening.
- 100% natural ingredients.
- In 2 easy steps.
- 5 attractive shades for all styles.
- Each shades could draw up to 3 ton colours.
- Created by empro International Face Art specialist.
- Made in Korea (???)
- Available @ Watsons, SASA. empro



(OK, I think I'd pass it. I am not a person who will want all those services...) I thanked the SA and I left the store. Wow, perm my lashes? Over my dead body!!!






Then my kid sister-in-law showed me her lash extension few days later! (That girl is always trying out weird new stuff and experiments on herself! I've gotta talk to her soon!) I was speechless! What on earth???!!! She was so excited that she danced with her newly extended lashes in front of me . I had a close inspection and surprised to find them really natural. I asked all the normal questions - was it painful, how long would it last & etc. She said it's totally painless and it would last for 3 months or so depends on how you treat your lashes...


Now I was really intrigued! I wish I could have lashes as long and curly as what she had on. They just look like wearing natural looking false lashes. And sure enough, her lashes did last for a few months without needing mascara! Now that's something I need to consider about as I find applying mascara the most tedious and taxing part of my makeup routine and my lashes sometimes don't look right.


But I am a chicken-shit so I passed that once again...


Then another sister-in-law of mine came to return the Make Up For Ever Eye Brow Kit that I bought for her few months back. (She has almost unseen brows so I got my HG brow product for her to try.) She said it's better for me to keep it as it's of no use for her. (We are a close family and honest is our policy, but for better or for worse?)


She then told me that she's found a much better product called Empro Triangular Eyebrow Pencils. (What the hell???!!!) And she proudly showed me her pencil. She said she got this at a SASA store nearby and it's so easy to use. She said she has 2 little kids and the 3rd is on the way so there is no time for her to do her brows with 2 tiny brushes and a tube of brow cream. (Well, that's quite true though so I forgave her in my mind... :P)


She said, this Empro pencil, however, didn't need to be sharpened and so easy to use because it's triangular shaped! But she also mentioned there are only 5 colours and may not have a colour dark enough for my black brows. She suggested me trying it out in a store. (I was speechless! I know how busy and how clueless she is with makeup. Therefore, if a product works so well for her, it should do a trick or two for me too! I've gotta try out this product, no matter how!)


One thing lead to another, this brow pencil just slipped my mind as I had been tied up with other issues. Then one day, while I was waiting for my son's violin lesson, I spotted the famous Empro pencils in a Watsons store! I quickly went in the store and tried out all the pencils.


I picked up e5- natural grey as it's the closest shade I could get for my very black eyebrows. (Besides, it said it could draw up to 5 colour tones.)

Empro Triangular Eyebrow Pencils







Opened








Swatches of all shades

The natural grey didn't look very promising for my very dark brows but I got it for the sake of trying. I knew that pencil makeup and I weren't best friends but since this one didn't need to be sharpened, I wouldn't kill it by sharpening right?


(And it was having a 15% off some 39MYR++... And my sister-in-law said it's about 49MYR or something in SASA...) The price itself was another factor that prompted me to try it... *_*


PS: This pencil contains 0.09 oz. / 0.25 g. of product.


So I tested and tested and tested. Many moon and FOTDs later, I can finally talk about this product.


First, the brush couldn't keep my messy brows intact (as all other brow brushes I've tried so I was not very disappointed.) Second, the colour e5 natural grey didn't match with my black brows. (This was more a problem for me!) Here is one example. You can see the end of my brow looking grey instead of black. In real life, it was even lighter.

However, I have to admit that this is the easiest brow pencil that I have tried in my life. The triangular shape helps drawing the brows from thick brow to the fine tip on the end in one or two strokes. When I make a mistake, I can use a cotton swab to erase it and redo the part in a tick. And the colour is lasting too, though I don't think it's waterproof as I can remove it with water (aided by some rubbing).


The only drawback with this product for me is the colour-matching. It fail to produce the 5 colour tones by layering. I guess it's because of its hard texture? I am not sure as I am not an expert on brow pencils. What I do know is that even though it's more troublesome to use my HG Make Up For Ever Brow #3 , at least that dark brown cream works on my black brows so long as I smudge it properly but this Empro Eyebrow Pencil can't. What a shame!


having said that, I have to give Empro credit on the good quality brow brush although it can't tame my super unruly brows for long. It's still one of the better brow brush I have tried.

Though this product isn't right for me, I have seen great results on the ladies around me who use this pencil. But please keep in mind that they all have very thin and almost unseen brows (either by natural or manmade...) I am the only human soul endowing au natural brows walking around I think!!! I repeat again, I am a chicken-shit so I have no guts to have my brows trimmed as thin and precise as what's on most ladies! All I do is to pluck the messy weeds off between the brows and eyes. And I also trim off the ones that's too long. So, no, I am most definitely not the right person to test brow products. (I have used a few clear mascara to tame my brows in the past but have yet to find one that kept my straight, downcast brow hair sideways for long!)



My Verdict:


This is a cheap drugstore product that does its wonders provided you don't have tough unruly brows like mine and can find a colour match. It's certainly a worthwhile product as it's super easy to use and great for travelling since it has a built-in brush and there is no sharpening needed. You just twirl the pencil as you use it. My personal poor experiences with brow products have come one step upwards from no-brow-pencils-at-all to I-can-use-it! Besides, I have seen with my own eyes how great it works on many people. Therefore, this is a promising product in my opinion.


Unfortunately, this product is yet to be listed on SASA site. I surely hope it gets on that site soon so all of you brow pencil fans could have a go!


Now I am going off to have my brows trimmed (by myself again) while contemplating whether or not to have my lashes extended... Should I? Anyone?



Ingredients:

Related Post:

Review: Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eyebrow Corrector Brow Kit (#3)



Lastly, this is Connie, owner of Skin Deco's experience with Empro (Absolutely Loving My New Eyebrows). Please have a look at that post, if you are interested. She's got fabulous brows to show you unlike mine!



My Colouring:

MUFE Full Cover Extreme Camouflage Cream #4, Lift Concealer #3, Duo Mat Powder Foundation #202, Face & Body #20, High Definition Foundation #125, Liquid Lift Foundation #2, Clarins Instant Smooth Foundation #1.5, Pupa Professionals Triple Action Powder Foundation #02 (when tanned)

Light Asian skin (obvious brown spots on cheekbones, slightly dry & doesn't break out easily), dark brown eyes, jet black hair, medium pigmented lips.

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