Of all the ELF products I own, this is one of my top five favorites! I have this in Dark and it has worked well with all the shades of haircolor I've had since I first used this, from light ash blonde, reddish tones, all shades of brown, and now black. My natural haircolor is brownish black. The Dark kit has worked well even on my lighter brows (I lightened my brows with a facial hair bleaching kit when I had my lightest haircolors). The Dark kit in person looks more like the Medium kit on the website (note that swatches may appear differently on your screen depending on your computer/settings). The darker wax goes on smoother and blends better than others I've tried from other brands. It's buildable and it's easy to wipe away mistakes with your fingertip before it dries. Once it dries it's very long-lasting and doesn't smudge or settle into pores even through sweat or accidental rubbing. That's just the wax! The right amount of setting powder gives it a nice, soft, finished look. It helps to lighten the shade of the wax and adds to its lasting power. You can use it alone and it looks fine, but I can't vouch for its lasting power by itself. The brow powder itself is more pigmented, easier to pick up, and easier to apply than a MAC one I've had. Definitely buildable. Be careful not to apply too much or else it sort of looks weird for an everyday look... somewhere between looking too formal/made-up to looking like you don't even have any eyebrow hairs to begin with haha. This can probably be fixed by tapping some off, using a brow comb/brush, or maybe even a clear brow gel. You can probably pull off using more of the powder though if your style is more formal/made-up or if you have to be on camera. The trick to getting the most out of this duo is experimenting with the application. If I can get my brows to look great throughout all the haircolor shades I've gone through with just one duo, so can you! Just experiment with one side of this due at a time, then different amounts of both, try different stiffness angle brushes for the wax, different amounts of pressure, and different ways of applying each. To fill in sparse areas, smudge the wax in with the angle brush. To add some oomph to your brows, follow the growth of your hair with short, feathering strokes. Go ahead and even try on a slightly new brow shape - this looks natural with the right application. The dual-ended applicator it comes with is pretty good for the set. I normally don't need to reach out for any of my other brushes to get the job done well. Since it has to fit into this tiny compact, the applicator is short. You may even have a hard time seeing what you're doing if you don't learn how to hold it a certain way, but you can always opt to use a longer brush. The quality, however, is decent and saves space for on-the-go/travel. To compare the angle brush it comes with, it's a tiny bit softer than the full-sized ELF Small Angled Brush, which is softer than the MAC 208 angle brush. This might make it sound too soft to apply nicely, but it actually works pretty well. The powder brush is soft and fluffy - it picks up a LOT of powder. Just a light swipe over the powder should get you plenty of product for one brow. For those who have only used brow pencils, brow mascaras, or eye shadow to fill in their brows, this kit is not difficult to use, doesn't take much more time to apply, and is a worthwhile investment for a gorgeous, long-lasting outcome. There's a lot of product in this little guy, a decent dual-ended applicator, and a good sized mirror. It would be nice to see/get a mineral version of this from ELF ;) « less
I use this one in medium even though my eyebrows are dark brown. It gives me a natural but polished look.