Absolute HG brow material.
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I started off with this brow pencil in Stone Grey but later on bought Sound Black when I died my hair black. The SA recommended Grey because my hair was blondish-brown at the time. To be honest, I was afraid of going for black because I'm terrified of the drawn on/stamped on/drag queen brow look. I prefer my MU to look very natural. I really don't want sharp, crisp and obvious definition and that's why I was too scared of buying the black one. However, there was nothing to be scared about. Both Stone Grey and Sound Black provide extremely natural brows. I have sparse brows, especially towards the tail end. I find that this gives just the right amount of colour and it's impossible to over do this. It takes quite a few strokes of the pencil to build up colour so you can get the desired intensity level you want without suddenly ruining your brows by pressing too hard or whatever. My brows look SOOO natural yet fuller and I'm able to frame my face with this pencil. I manage to look 10x better with this product. I can now also fulfil my dreams of black hair, dark brows and red lips :D I was too afraid to fill in my brows before I got this pencil (even though I knew I desperately needed to) because I was just soooo afraid of them looking too out of place and obvious. This makes it a breeze, it's fool proof, even for brow novices like me.
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If you have a freshly cleansed face then this might take a little while to show up on your brows because the pencil works by reacting with the oils on the hair for colour pay off - according to the SA. I find it shows up a lot if you apply moisturiser on and around your brows. So if you've just washed your face, this may not show up on you for a while. It is not waxy so if you have long eyebrow hairs, either trim them or use clear mascara to keep them in place.
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I find the Japanese sharpening interesting. It is optional and I got it done at the Shu counter when I first bought the pencil in Stone Grey. It is shaped like a dagger - they cut off the point of the pencil and then shave off the sides so the pencil has flat sides and looks like a knife. You can go and get this re-done when needed at the Shu counter. When I purchased Sound Black, I asked for a pencil with standard sharpening. However, I think I prefer Japanese sharpening. It does waste product but to be honest with the length of the pencil, you can afford a little wastage. I find the Japanese sharpening more convenient when it comes to doing my brows. I can tell that this is going to last me an extremely long time. I have used my new black one about 5 times and the point is still very sharp. I am considering snapping a bit off the pencil to carry it around with me for touch ups. I can afford to do that because the pencil is very long.
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If you are looking for sharp, ultra defined brows, then this is not for you.

My last Shu brow pencil lasted me for four years before I accidentally lost it. I've tried other brands but this one gives the most natural brows. HG status!

Read the comments and went out to buy the pencil even though all the time I was thinking this is going to be really inconvenient, having to come back to the shop to get it sharpened and I wasn't sure about the shape of the tip of the pencil and that it didn't have a bristle brush at the other end like my old YSL pencil. But, i just tried it and OMG I'm in love with it. The colour acts as a filler and you can go over your brows as many times as you want to get the perfect shade without suddenly making it too dark! And the shape of the tip actually makes it easier to use!! I'm awful at doing my brows and it takes too long and I often have to redo it- but I manged to do this in half the time with its user friendly tip and it's pretty much idiot proof for people like me- my eyebrows look natural ^^ but full! Although the only thing I don't like is that it comes with a cheap plastic cap that seems too fragile in my industrial sized make up bag. I'm hoping it won't crack in there. But otherwise, definitely worth buying and the effort of trekking to the stores to get it sharpened!!!

AMAZING! i just got this the other day, but it is already my HG brow pencil.
Previously, i was using anastasia's brow wiz in medium ash, Shiseido's brow pencil in natural black, and clinique's superfine in medium ash (i think)... and i liked them all.... but sometimes the brown would like a little off. Still looks good, but, then i found shiseido's pencil in natural black, and i loved the color of that for my brows. the only thing was that sometimes it could look a little dark or harsher than i would like especially for day time...
then i decided to try this one, and it is really amazing. it gives me such a soft natural brow... i love it!! at first i was a bit skeptical, because it didn't show up when swatched on my hand... and since i have very sparse brows, i was afraid it wouldn't show up on the sparse areas... but it does amazingly.
love this. expensive, but definitely worth the money!

This pencil is HG status for sure! I'm Asian, black hair, black brows, NC30. I've tried so many brow products and none hold a candle to this. I have this in Stone Grey and it's perfect for me. It's a charcoal grey color. Fills in and defines your brows but doesn't look like you have anything on. I probably could have gotten away w/the Seal Brown but the SG looks so natural. My brows but better! I ordered on-line at the Shu site and it came w/the standard pencil tip. I have heard that the sword shape is better but there is no where to get it cut into that shape and I don't dare attempt it myself. The pencil is expensive, but its' much longer length makes me believe it will last a very long time.

A M A Z I N G !!!!!!!!!!!! A miracle just happened to my eyebrows!!!!:-)

I'm NW20 and bought this in Japan, where I think there are perhaps more color options than are available in the States. I first bought walnut brown, no 7, but it was much too light for my Asian color -- I have undyed brown-black hair and dark eyebrows. I now have Stone Gray and it is perfect. I only add my BUY THIS NOW to the chorus of other reviews because this pencil is indeed so perfect (although the Suqqu eyebrow marker does intrigue me). My brows are darker at the center and the hairs are much more sparse from the middle to the end, so this pencil is perfect for evening out my brows. I tend to stroke it on in little strokes, starting at the arch, and blend it slightly with my finger (too lazy to use a brush, and besides, I have straight Asian eyebrow hairs that don't need to/can't be redirected). It is the best eyebrow pencil, hard to overdo and so so natural -- I've sharpened it once I used up the nice little shaved shape by the Shu Uemura salesperson, and it still applies perfectly. Still love after 3 years....

After reading all the positive reviews on MUA I had to try it out for myself.....
Wonderful product!
I'm oriental with black/dark brown hair and black brows; sparse at the ends.....
I tried Seal Brown and found the brown OK, cuz the brown is still visibly different from the colour of my brows if I want to be picky about it. I was looking for a better match that everyone is claiming to find and I found it using the stone gray pencil;
Ya, it's weird you won't see colour much trying this out on your hands, but it does apply once on the brows. Short gentle strokes, don't apply too much pressure or draw ur brows in really quick....This pencil is very 'dry' so it allows for the slow build up of colour, and lets u have more control. Any product including this one can give awful or unnatural results if you overdo any kind of application.
It's expensive, 30 bucks canadian, but if it's good it's worth it.

This is the only eyebrow pencil that has worked with my changing skintone and haircolor. Mind you, my color ranges from NC25-35 depending on how tan I get and my haircolor has gone from black to brown with mahogany hghtlights. This is absolutely perfect. It draws on a very natural looking brow. Great for everyday but I suggest layering on a dark brown eyeshadow ower this for a more defined night time look, btu otherwise this is the most natural, long-wearing eyebrow pencil ever especially for Asians. My only complaint would be that it only comes in one size. I wish they made a shorter travel size one!

I've never knew what to do with my eyebrows. Tried many different brands like Shiseido, Dior, Mac and Estee Lauder, but it always turns out too reddish brown or too fierce.
This was perfect though. I'm Asian and i bought this in seal brown as recommended by the makeup artiste and it was so natural! No matter how hard i seem to draw, it still looked natural and well groomed. A definite repurchase!

I absolutely love this product! It makes my brow look so natural. Even my mother is convinced with this product that she is also using it!
I always tend to overdraw my brows - making me look fierce and my brows looking fake. This is perfect for me as I am able to handle and draw the line without "overdrawing"! The color is gorgeous too - blends in perfectly with my medium brown hair. A lot of eyebrow pencils is either too light or too dark for me. This color is perfect. Both my mom and myself is using seal brown. The color stays on really long. I work for more than 12 hours a day, and when I come back home, my eyebrows still looks good! absolutely in love with this product!

I just HAD to get this product!!!! since it had so many great reviews, i knew this was gong to be my HG eyebrow pencil. I am BIG and i mean BIG on perfect brows! this product was wayyy toooo harddd!!!! like other users, i tried to see how it looked on the back of my hand and i literally almost cut myself trying to get the product to come on. when i finally decided to see how it looked on my brow, it applied horribly! my brows arent of full shape so i like to draw outside of my brow hairline to get that arch i want. they def went lying when they said that it only adheres to you brow hair bc if your like me and like to draw a little bit outside the box- you can just forget it!!! i think this pencil is perfect for beginners because it def wont smudge!! i was using it at first to just fill in the middle of my brows, but then i lost it! :(

I have very ashy light brown hair, the kind that was blonde in youth and changed after puberty, and I've always highlighted it blonde. My brows are thin and sparse, so I need to pencil them in. Pencils like MAC Fling or Dior Ash or Anastasia Medium Ash worked great with the warmer gold of my highlights. Recently, though, I decided to return to my natural ashy color, which is so cool it's almost a cross between gunmetal grey and olive drab. It's not a color anyone would choose to dye her hair, but it complements my olive skin like nothing else. My taupe pencils look far too warm for it. Enter SU Hard 9 Stone Grey (or is it Gray?). OMG, this is the color I need to wear for the rest of my life. I've called other colors holy grails b/c they matched my highlights, but this color matches my natural hair, my skin, my tone, everything. It's my holiest of eyebrow grails. If you apply moisturizer and/or sunscreen over your brow area, it WILL show up on bare skin (that bit about it only being released by your brow hairs' oils is a bit overblown), but it's never too saturated or overdone. I can see it working for both fair-haired and dark-haired people, because if you have dark hair it mimics the shadow cast by a thicker brow, which is the illusion you want to create; if you have lighter hair, it fills in sparse areas while looking entirely natural. The only people who might want to steer clear are redheads. If, on the other hand, you have ashy tones and have wondered if there's any pencil on the market, save a good old Dixon Ticonderoga #2, that would match your brows, please try this one. You can find it at the Shu Uemura site.

It's quite suitable for beginner. Cuz it's easy to control. It has many choices. I bought hard 9 acom 06. The color is really natural and beautiful.

Superb eyebrow pencil. Seal Brown Hard Formula suits my asian eye brows best. Very natural dark black brown colour. Although it's quite a hassle to bring it down to the counter to shave it into the ultra sharp 'dagger' edge, it's well worth the trouble because it fills in my eye brows so naturally. I also have Acorn, which is a little more brownish as compared with Seal Brown, which has more black undertones. It doesn't draw very well on our hands because of the lack of skin oils but it should be fine on one's face since it tends to be oilier, except really really dry skin. Also, although it's quite an expensive pencil but it lasts for ages and hence is really worth every cent. Lasts a whole day without any need for re-drawing. I highly recommend this product. It's the only one I use and the only one I'll ever use.

I cannot live without this product - seal brown - perfect. LOVE IT !

Finally, my search for the perfect brow pencil has ended. This pencil rocks!!! I have this in seal brown and it makes my eyebrows look perfect but so natural. I'm asian with blackish/dark brown hair and seal brown doesn't look red on me at all. I can't believe how great my eyebrows look, and it's so easy to apply, the colour just kind of melts in.
I can't believe I didn't find this sooner. HG HG HG!!!

I have literally tried EVER brow product on the market, as long as it had good reviews. Pencils, gels, shadows, markers, EVERYTHING. High end, low end, not even meant for brows. I was constantly left disappointed. At one point in my brow quest, I found a pencil that left me semi-satisfied, mostly because the color was so perfect (not so much the application and staying power). That was Maybelline's twin brows in charcoal grey. Of course it was discontinued...but I found them on Ebay and was happy again. Enter Shu Umera's Hard Formula H9 brow pencil in Stone Gray (which I ordered from beauty.com I believe)....OMG HG HG HG HG!! Never again have I looked for even something I think might be better because I know there will never be another brow product to perform better. The color is PERFECT....not too much green, orange, red, etc. but PERFECT. The staying power is phenomonal and unprecendented. Ease of application, perfect perfect perfect. I love this so much I may just order a lifetime amount and freeze them so I never have to worry about discontinuation. And that wouldn't take so many cause these pencils last forever, even with daily use.

FYI: Shu Uemura is packing up its beauty products and leaving the United States! L’Oreal says it’s pulling Shu from America to concentrate on larger brands in its portfolio. The products will still be available online but no longer in the stores. i went to Neimans, Barney's and nordstroms and they were all sold out of this and said they were pulling the line probably by july 2010.

i Absolutely love this brow pencil, i have many different brands of powders and pencils but have always found the colour too harsh and artificial. This one gives the most natural result and is so easy to apply. Love it! totally recommend.