The Budget Babe's resident beauty junkie Kiki Bella goes to great lengths to test and review new Revlon Fantasy Lengths faux eyelashes. —BB



by Kiki Bella
There are certain beauty products that most people just never use (I already addressed my awareness of the eyebrow pencil in an earlier post). Another one of these items are faux lashes. Women really seem to be turned off by the idea of faux lashes, although in reality most models and actresses we see and so desperately want to emulate are sporting them. If you honestly think that those models/actresses have those lashes with just mascara you are dead wrong.

With that being said, faux lashes don't really seem all that practical in the "real" world. Putting them on and then keeping them there is not something your average busy beauty on the go wants to deal with. The number one question I get is "don't they fall off?"—and that is a legitimate concern. Nobody wants to be on a date and have a black spider-looking thing float off their face and land in their Pad Thai. Not exactly attractive. I have had pretty good luck with faux lashes over the years, but I myself limit their use to very special occasions, weddings, black tie events and the like.

For the sake of this review, however, I decided to up the ante. I originally was planning to wear a set of Revlon Fantasy Lengths Maximum Wear eyelashes in Blue Shadow to a wedding brunch, which I did, and they looked fantastic and lasted through the party. But all I really did was stand around and chit chat in nice air conditioning. I could probably just place them on my lids and they'd last through that. So, for the sake of my lovely ladies that like to go and dance their butt off on the weekends (or whenever, I'm not judging) my Bikram Yoga class later that day seemed like the ideal place for an extreme faux eyelash test.

The Budget Babe's beauty expert Kiki Bella finds the perfect tool to help you create perfect face-framing eyebrows. —BB





by Kiki Bella
There are a couple beauty items that just don't get used as often as others. We all know how mascara can make your eyes pop, or a great lip gloss can finish your face, but very few women I know use eyebrow pencils. I personally was turned on to them by a friend of mine many years ago who was naturally platinum blonde (lucky lady) and as a result felt the need to darker her brows. While I don't have the same problem, achieving perfect brow shape can be time consuming and unfortunately we can't control where nature puts the hairs (or doesn't, in my case). A great way to get a super polished look is to grab a great eyebrow pencil. A few feather-light strokes in the direction of natural growth will make your brows look expertly groomed. Once you start it will be hard to turn back, the difference is undeniable. Not only does an eyebrow pencil add a bit of color, but the waxy formula helps to hold brows in place, kind of like pomade.

I had a brow pencil that I really loved from Clinique, but when it ran out I decided that I just couldn't afford to splurge on an eyebrow pencil in the twenty dollar range again. Instead I headed over to Walgreens searching for a comparable product. It took a few tries, but I am happy to say I found something that in my mind is almost identical- both in shape (very thin automatic pencil) and color (the light blonde is identical to the Clinique light blonde). The Maybelline Define-a-Brow eyebrow pencil is a great pick up, and is way more affordable. It also has a little eyebrow brush at one end that I just love- and here's a great trick I learned, if you spray just a little hairspray on the tiny brush on the pencil and then brush your brows they will look groomed and stay put all day!


Find out more about Maybelline Define-A-Brow Eyebrow Pencils at Maybelline.com.