From pencils to brow powders to pomade - this year I think I have finally leveled up on my eyebrow routine.
I've heard so many raves about Anastasia Beverly Hills products specifically the Dipbrow, but as a frugal girl, finding out it costs about P1000+ pesos means I should forget it and stay and stick with what I have. (my L'oreal Brow Genius Powder Kit)
As a frequent Shopee PH app shopper, I saw that there were many fake ABH Dipbrows that costs only P100 and being curious, I bought one just for the sake of trying pomade on my brows.
The day I got the item, I admit I was amazed. Here are my photos:
A few days before I received this, I actually bought a Milani Stay Put Brow Color in Brunette. It's their version of Anastasia's Dipbrow. I got it also from Shopee at P400 and it was authentic - I'll write a separate review about that one too. Anyway a lot of people at Shopee who bought the "SG or Class A" version of the ABH dipbrow are raving about it. So I did let go of my P100 to try it out.
My first impression: It's oily. Okay, I can easily apply it on my brows and the pigmentation is alright but I have a very oily complexion too. I used it twice and I really wanted to love it, I even carried the little jar with me in my home office. I am an ESL tutor and I don't have air conditioning in my home office room so when its hot my face gets oilier and sadly this product doesn't stay put it gets oily like my face and it goes off easily when you rub it.
So I thought about buying the original version. After only using my fake ABH dipbrow twice, I decided to buy the real thing. The first problem I had was where do I buy an authentic one since there are a lot of fakes out there? The answer was Instagram! I stumbled upon BeautyJunkieManila. I forgot how but I think I used google and found them there. Anyway, I eagerly shelled out P1,270 (shipping fee included) and in 2 days I have my authentic ABH dipbrow! I was so excited!
I must say that when I got the product, I was captivated! The original is soooo far from the SG type/ fake ones. I do not intend to put down those who use the fake/Class A or SG ABH dipbrows but my advise is that if you wanted a real quality product, go for the authentic one! This article will also try to help people find out if what they bought online is fake. I mean, there are sellers out there who would CLAIM that what they sell is AUTHENTIC - so don't be fooled. I compared the original to the fake side by side:
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| The fake is on the left, right is the authentic one. The boxes are totally different - the fake one opens on top - the original one on the top side, the ABH logo on the cap of the original is smoothly printed whereas the logo on the fake one is quite rough. |
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| A closer look at the boxes - left one is fake, opens on top. Logo is bigger and bolder - after the DIPBROW it has a TM or trademark logo - the right is the authentic one, labels are very smooth and perfect looking, after DIPBROW it doesn't say TM but rather it has an R. |
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| Turning the boxes to the right will give you this: left one fake - labels manufacturer- the right is the original - labels ingredients. |
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| Both boxes show the same label at the back. Left - fake Right - authentic |
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| When you turn the box again, the fake ones (left) show the ingredients and the right one (original shows a warning message) |
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| Looking at the color label alone, you can definitely tell what's fake. |
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| The bottom of the box of the fake is empty - whereas the original shows the manufacturer and more importantly the CODE! B5GA printed in black ink do you see that? The fake ones doesn't have that. |
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| More photos: Look how smooth and the color is rose gold on the logo on the original one. Left fake - right - authentic |
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| This is the fake one - the bottle or jar is quite round on the side. |
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| The original one's jar is as straight as its cap. |
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| Jar label - fake (left) sticker is off center and not too black, has a code B4LA - right is the authentic one, the sticker is darker, not perfectly at the center but the code is B5GA - both pomades are dark brown shade - the code on the box matches the code on the jar's sticker label. Again, the fake one doesn't have a printed code on the box. |
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| The colors are slightly different - Left - fake / Right - authentic |
I have to admit that I was too excited to try my original ABH Dipbrow. This is a photo of my first attempt using it. Wow it feels heavenly! It glides very easily and its very pigmented. My brows look good. I now know why people were raving about this and I'm glad I have it now!
The only difficulty I have with the the authentic ABH Dipbrow is that you have to be very careful - applying too much on the brush will give you very strong/harsh looking brows - so you have to apply this with a light hand not unless if you wanted stronger looking eyebrows. The good thing is its so easy to blend it - if you have applied to much and its too dark, while its still wet you just have to comb your brows with a spoolie brush to even out the color.
Its long lasting yes. It is waterproof and that is so important. However, this pomade is not OIL PROOF- so if you have an oily face like mine, you will realize that it still rubs off after 8 or more hours of wearing it.
What I do though is I pat my eyebrows with oil control sheets and I am okay.
Let me show you pictures of me at work using the authentic Dipbrow:
This photo was taken I guess on my 2nd time using the authentic ABH Dipbrow. As you can see, its too dark. I applied too much but it still looks great and even.
As for the fake version, I used it twice - here are the photos:
If you compare the photos, then you will notice that the original ABH Dipbrow creates more evenly carved, consistently pigmented eyebrows. What I can remember is this: The original is matte after settling on your skin and the fake one is quite oily - but it is pigmented.
So after about a month, I bought 2 more jars of the fake version - in Taupe and Soft Brown. I wanted to try if these colors suit me - I didn't want to shell out a lot for the original and find out I wasted my money because the colors look bad on me. And here's what I found out, the fake ones had COPIED the box of the authentic ones. Here are the photos:
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I was surprised when I received my orders - the boxes were almost the same!
The original one is on the left. |
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Bottom of the boxes...the two on the right are fakes - the labels are the same but they still do not have
a code printed on it like the original one
on the right - B5GA (for Dark Brown) |
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A closer look - do you see the code of the authentic one?
It's beside the 6M label - printed in black ink - B5GA. |
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Box 2 and 3 are fakes - the middle box's font is different.
The first box on the left is the authentic one. |
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You can't tell which is which by looking at this photo - but the original one
is the first one from the left - if you are holding the jar,
you will notice that the cap is so smooth - the logo's print is perfect
and the color is a bit rose gold compared to the fake ones. |
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| Jar label - the fakes are off center |
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The jar's prints are almost exactly the same -
the original is the first one from the left. |
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The untouched are the fake ones - Soft Brown and Taupe - the Taupe looks quite oily
. What I've noticed is that all the jars of the fake (3) I have - Dark Brown, Soft Brown and Taupe,
the white lining in the cap are all bubbled - the original one is flat.
Was that caused by the fumes emitted by the
chemicals from these pomade pots? |
Testing the fake ones: Soft Brown and Taupe:
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| Taupe Shade |
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| Soft Brown |
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| Using Soft Brown |
You will probably say that they all look pretty much the same so why shell out money for the original one?
Here are my thoughts:
1. The original is so smooth and glides easily - very pigmented. Its a breeze to shape/carve perfect eyebrows using it.
2. The fake one is also pigmented, but its oily. Sure you can still create nicely shaped brows using it, but you have to work on it - it always takes a bit longer to get the eyebrow shape I want to achieve because its oily and not that consistently pigmented.
3. Lasting power - the lasting power of the original one is great - but it still rubs off after about 8 hours or more especially if your face is too oily - the fake one is just okay - I have to retouch because it fades after a few hours.
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The SMELL - one way to know if what you bought is fake or not, the smell of the pomades. The original one DOES NOT HAVE ANY SCENT/ DOESN'T SMELL AT ALL. The fake ones smell BITTER, smells like some sort of chemical or like a crayon. (This is so far my observation from all the 4 jars I have including the authentic one)
That's about it so far - this blog about Anastasia DipBrow is way too long - but I hope it helps!
Again I am not promoting the fake or convincing you to buy the authentic ones - or telling you not to patronize the fake one, the choice is still up to you!
As of the moment, I can say I have only used the other 2 fakes I bought recently about 3x and after that I really feel that I didn't want to use them anymore. It's just hard to like them if you have the original one that actually works and gives you the best looking brows. Also I have bought an original Nyx Tame and Frame Pomade - the authentic one - and I also have my Milani Stay Put Brow Color which is also good. (I'll post a separate reviews for these two)
Like what most users of the authentic ABH Dipbrow said - there is no looking back once you have tried it. And it is true for me! I have not touched my L'oreal Brow Powder Genius Kit in months! This is a miracle product and girls like me who have sparse or close to none eyebrows are very very grateful for this!
At work today, I used Touch of Spice. So excited to try it! Here's a snapshot:
