Playing With Japanese Drugstore Eyebrow Pencils: Canmake, Gracy, Media & Cezanne

Some of my most popular posts on this blog have been about eyebrows and that makes me proud, because this small little feature is near and dear to me. For some people, learning how to do eyebrows can totally transform the proportion of their face. I am one of those people. So, naturally, having an eyebrow pencil that is the right colour and texture is a must. I've lamented before about how Shiseido discontinued my holy grail Natural Eyebrow Pencil BR 704, and how I've been on an unsuccessful hunt to replace it. Unsuccessful, until now that is. 

Japan is home to some fantastic cosmetics and skin care, both ultra high end and cheap as chips. The two biggest cosmetics manufacturers in Japan – Shiseido and Kanebo – own a lot of brands, across all price points and many markets, and I thought it was very likely that some of the formulas would be shared across brands.

I'm lucky to work with some awesome ladies in Tokyo (fellas too, but this task would have been out of their league) and as they had a trip planned to my hometown, I asked if one of them would be willing to bring me some drugstore brow pencils. I described the Shiseido pencil I liked, provided product links and specified that the colour should suit blonde or red hair and the formula should be hard and dry. I gave my friend a budget of about 20€ and told her to pick however many different pencils it would cover, so that I could play around with different brands and formulas. She was more than happy to help and did an absolutely fantastic job at picking the colours!

The four pencils she brought me were from Canmake, Gracy, Cezanne and Media, each costing around 400¥, give or take. That's less than 4€ per pencil. What?? And spoiler alert, they're all great! I like and can use all four, but I do prefer ones more than others.

My least favourite pencil is by Media in BR. It is the darkest so I can only really wear it with third day hair, when it's darker due to being greasy. Likewise I can use it along with a different colour for more precise strokes and added depth. It's a firm but waxy formula, so sometimes the pigment can ball up into little flecks on the skin. Brushing the brows through a few times helps with this issue. Overall, it's still very usable, even though the colour and formula are not my favourite.

The Cezanne pencil in Olive Brown has a similar formula to the Media, being quite waxy, but it is softer and the colour suits me very well. In fact, the design of the pencil as a product is my favourite. I like that the outside of the pencil matches the colour that it actually is, I like the gold writing and that there's a black spiral brush on the other end. 

Just as a side comment, the brushes on the two pencils I tried, the Cezanne and Canmake, are very good! It's such a minor detail but I wanted to point out that the bristles on them are firm but soft, unlike my Dior brow pencil, where the bristles at the top are razor sharp and can cause pain, e.g. when I'm using the brush to flick off dried mascara off of my lids. I thought this would be my favourite of the lot, but for me the pencil is a bit too soft. Again, it's perfectly fine to use, in fact all the brow compliments I've received lately have been on days when I was wearing the Cezanne pencil, but because I have oilier skin, this waxy formula just doesn't feel as comfortable for me as a drier one. Also, because of its softness, it becomes blunt after one use, so you have to sharpen it more often. For most people though, I think this formula is the best of both worlds and they would be very happy with it!

My two favourite pencils are the Gracy in LB and Canmake in 02. Overall, because I like having a brush attached to the pencil, as a complete product I like Canmake the most, but my favourite pencil is the Gracy. In fact, it is a perfect dupe for the Shiseido BR704, which makes sense because they're made by the same company! I'm just blown away by the fact that my friend was able to find a copy of my beloved pencil, that's easily available (well, in Japan), and that's about 6 times cheaper!

The Canmake has a very cute, girly design and in terms of formula it is very similar to the Gracy. I'd say it isn't as dry but the hardness is comparable. The main difference is the colour – the Canmake is the lightest of all four and the most “orange”. At first I didn't like the colour on myself, I thought it was too light and didn't give me enough definition, but then I realized that even after having tried all four, I kept reaching for it the most. You may be wondering why I was reaching for the Canmake more than the Gracy if I liked the latter better, and the answer is just that – because I like the Gracy better and I want to save it. I know, it's silly.

Most of the writing on the pencils is in Japanese or was on the packaging, which I've gotten rid of, so I can't compare the amount of product in grams. I'm not sure if the pencils with the brushes had less product and were shorter (minus the brush) to begin with, or if they're the shortest now because I've used the Canmake and Cezanne the most. Either way, I think these pencils, whatever your preference in formula should be, are all fantastic products at a fantastic price! So if you're ever lucky enough to visit Japan or have someone bring a bag of makeup goodies back for you, definitely give these a try!

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