It's official, we are now a nation obsessed with our eyebrows. Good job beauty brands are keeping up with the latest brow-boosting technology, right?
Of all the things we lovingly tweak, spruce and boost, eyebrows have risen through the ranks to become our most coveted facial feature. But they’re not the easiest to get right, even for pro-makeup artists with years of experience.
Trying a pro treatment such as brow lamination, microblading or even the latest in micro shading or ombre brow artistry can be a worthwhile investment for more long-term results, but it’ll cost you (we’re talking upwards of £40 for results that last four-to-six weeks). If you're at a complete loss with how to tame your brows , paying for a pro re-shape can give you the starting point you need. Benefit brow bars, for example, offer a clever mapping service to find the perfect brow for your face, tweezing and waxing them into a shape you can then maintain going forward.
And if your budget doesn't allow for brow treatments, fear not. There are endless products available on the high street that'll do all the hard work for you. Whether your arches are sparse and overplucked, or overgrown and in need of taming, you don’t have to enrol in makeup school to get them looking top-notch.
Below is our definitive guide to the best brow enhancers and tamers on the market right now – and we’ve left no product-type untested: from eyebrow gels, glues and waxes, to pomades, pencils, pens and tints.
You (and your pretty brows) can thank us later…
Best brow wax gel: Refy Brow Sculpt, £16
If you follow influencers such as Molly-Mae Hague on Instagram, you’ve probably already seen the impressive results of this hard-working wax-gel. It comes out with a white tint, but don’t panic, it sets clear with no residue. The double-ended wand allows you to comb through and shape, or you can go for a full, brushed-up effect. With bristles that grab every hair (but doesn’t clog-up with dry formula after only a few weeks’ use), this is worth the extra spend.
MORE GLOSS: Watch the team try the REFY brow kit
Best brow thickening gel: Authored Brow Gel, £18
This creamy gel isn’t like other gels we’ve used before. It has a thicker, creamier texture, and seems to bulk sparse hairs as well as set them in place for the day. Available in a nice range of tints (clear, light brown, mid down and dark brown), it feels like a good stop-gap between the more traditional light gels and bulking fibre products, which can be a bit too much for some people.
Best brow glue: HD Brow Glue, £16
Many products claim to be a “brow glue,” but often their long-lasting hold doesn’t make it past your morning coffee. Well, it’s a good job the brand behind the in-demand HD BrowSculpt treatment (which involves lamination, tinting and mapping), decided to launch their own sticky styler. Gloopy enough to set brow hairs, but not clog the wand within days – this is the perfect combo of hair-grabbing bristles and no-messing that’s completely undetectable after application.
Best brow pen: NYX Professional Makeup Lift and Snatch Brow Tint Pen, £8.80
The key to a natural-looking fuller brow is to fill the gaps with hair strokes, not block colour. Sounds tricky, right? Not if you have the right product. Cue NYX’s super-fine-nibbed pen, which gives you microbladed brows with a few flicks of the wrist. With seven shades to choose from and no smudging after a long, busy day – we can’t believe they’re not charging more for it.
Best prow pomade: Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze, £24
A pomade (similar to a gel, but with a creamier, more flexible formula) can feel like new territory when you’ve always used mascara-like brow products, but this little pot hasn’t gained cult status for nothing. Just gather some of the clear wax-like formula onto your spoolie and run it through the length of the brow in upward motions, using some gentle force to get the hairs sitting flat and uniform. If you’re after a product that replicates that freshly-laminated look, you just met The One.
Best microfibre tinted brow gel: Benefit Gimme Brow, £21.68
Still the go-to brow tamer from a brand made famous by its brow bars, this tinted gel boasts tiny micro-fibres that cling to the hairs to add thickness while you shape. The tiny brush blesses even the most heavy-handed user with precision, and the ten-strong shade range (including grey) is split between warm and cool undertones, which makes finding a precise match even easier.
Best tinted brow wax: Glossier Boy Brow, £14
It does what it says on the tin; delivers the brushed-up, fluffy brows we all dream of. It also boasts pomade benefits, but in a handy tube with wand (if getting to grips with a spoolie fills you with fear). It’s really user-friendly – the flexible formula means there’s room for error and you’re left with no unsightly build up if you overdo it.