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I love tinted brow gels. I think it’s one of the best makeup inventions since the blush, which is slightly weird for me to say so given that 1) I have thick full brows and 2) well, I’m kinda dissing blush here, which y’all know is my #1 makeup love. You see, even though I have thick full brows, I do have areas that are slightly more sparse than the rest and what better and more natural-looking way to fill those in than using a tinted brow gel?
The thing is, I only started using eyebrow makeup a couple of years ago. I’ve always had thick full brows and thought it was unnecessary of me to use an eyebrow pencil or gel because heck, it’s already so thick. When I met celebrity makeup artist Rae Morris two years ago, I picked up a few makeup tips from her and one of them was using an eyebrow pencil even on thick brows. You’re not meant to make them super thick but simply to define them further. It made a lot of sense to me because in between my brow wax appointments, my brow hairs grow in all sorts of directions and without a wax or gel to keep them in place, they look very messy.
When I discovered tinted brow gels, it was a hallelujah moment. Eyebrow pencils and waxes are good but I often find that they can make my brows look a little too defined and perfect if I get a tad overzealous with the pencil. Tinted gels, on the other hand, are perfect in filling in the sparse areas and giving the brows a natural and not overly-defined look. If you have fine and sparse eyebrows, using an eyebrow pencil can often make the eyebrows appear like drawn-on lines on the forehead if you don’t use light, feathery strokes. This is why I love tinted brow gels; they add volume and colour to the brows without making them look unnatural.
Today I’d like to do mini reviews of 4 tinted brow gels. Two are from the pharmacy and the other two are available at departmental stores. This will give you an overview of what they’re like and which ones are better in my opinion. You’ll notice that for this review, I did not photograph them on my brows but on my arm instead. As my brows are naturally thick, it will be difficult for you to see the difference these brow gels make on my eyebrows on camera (I tried photographing them but failed) but in real life, there’s a subtle but very real difference.
Let’s get started!
L’Oreal Brow Artist Plumper
Brush length: Approximately 1.3cm
Tint strength: Strong
Does it contain fibres to add volume? Yes
Shades: 2 shades – Blonde, Dark Brunette and Transparent
Price: AU$18.95
Availability: Selected pharmacies and supermarkets nationally.
Maybelline Brow Drama Sculpting Brow Mascara
Brush Length: Approximate 2.9cm. Diameter of the rounded section of the brush is approximately 1cm.
Tint strength: Strong
Does it contain fibres to add volume? No
Shades: 2 shades – Medium Brown and Dark Brown
Price: AU$12.95
Availibility: Selected pharmacies and supermarkets nationally.
Eyeko London Brow Gel
Brush Length: Approximately 1.4cm
Tint Strength: Weak
Does it contain fibres to add volume? No
Shades: One shade only
Price: AU$32.00
Availibility: Kit Cosmetics, Mecca Cosmetica, Mecca Maxima
Benefit Gimme Brow
Brush Length: Approximately 1cm
Tint Strength: Strong
Does it contain fibres to add volume? Yes
Shades: 2 shades – Light/Medium and Medium/Deep
Price: AU$32.00
Availability: Benefit counters and concept stores nationwide. Also available on AdoreBeauty.com.
I find the Maybelline Brow Drama’s brush very odd and, quite honestly, rather useless in filling in the brows. I’m not sure if the design of the brush is meant to be that the rounded brush is for the section above the inner corners of the eyes and the rest for the length of the brows. Whatever the reason is, this brush makes application difficult for those with thin brows because chances are, you will accidentally smudge your skin. As the tip of the brush is quite big and rounded, it’s easy to make mistakes especially if your brows are very thin at the ends. ‘Tis a pity that the brush is not ideal because the formula is good. It tames the brows, keeps the hairs in place and fills them in with the tint well.
I’ve reviewed Benefit’s Gimme Brow before so I’m not going to talk much about it here other than the fact that I think it’s the bomb. L’Oreal’s Brow Artist Plumper is very similar to Benefit’s Gimme Brow. L’Oreal’s brush is bigger than Benefit’s but you get pretty much the same results. They both contain fibres that add volume to thin and sparse brows and the tint strength is good.
Eyeko’s Brow Gel is good for people with naturally thick brows but want to fill in tiny sparse areas and keep the hairs in place. The tint is weak as you can see in the photo. The formula has good lasting power; my brows stayed in place without looking or feeling crusty at the end of the day. However, if you have very thin and sparse brows, the Eyeko Brow Gel wouldn’t do much for you.
All in all, my favourite is still Benefit’s Gimme Brow. The brush length is ideal for my brows, it’s so easy to use and the tiny tube means that it’s very travel-friendly. However, if you’re not keen to spend a lot of money on tinted brow gels, then I’d recommend L’Oreal’s Brow Artist Plumper as it produces the same results as the Gimme Brow.
Hi Tine, thanks for a great review and comparison of the products. I also love, love the Benefit Gimme Brow…but not the price! I have been a little sneaky, I finished it ages ago but I kept the tube and tiny brush to use with the Australis Tint a Brow, the brush is way to big and makes a huge mess. After reading this, I think I might give the L’Oreal a whirl.
HAHAHAHAH! That’s a great sneaky tactic and one I’ll be using too! I’m good with the other brow gel formulas, just not the brush. The Gimme Brow’s brush is awesome which is why I’ll be doing exactly what you did too. 😀
My kind of topic! I’m obsessed with anything related to brow.
Okay, I bought the Eyeko Brow Gel and honestly it’s pretty useless. It shouldn’t be named as brow gel because it’s definitely not a gel, more like water. The tint is soooooo light so yes, like you said it only suits people with thick brow that needed a bit definition or tint.
I bought ELF Eyebrow Treat & Tame a week ago. It’s way better than paying for Eyeko lol
Hurrah for good brows!
That’s what I thought as well about the Eyeko gel! It’s really light and watery! Can you imagine those with sparse or very thin brows using this? It’ll be like, hey where did it go?
Similar to you .. have thick brows and just recently started filling in my brows using SmashBox Brow tech (wax + powder) as this seems to look a bit better in photos. I’ve also tried Revlon Brow fantasy (pencil + gel) and I don’t really like the results. I do want to try another gel .. perhaps from Anastasia .. we’ll see .. the powder + wax seems to work the best so far.
Monica.
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A reader recommended the Smashbox Brow Tech to me too. I went to the stores to check it out but it was all sold out! Must be very popular for them to sell out like that. Have you tried the Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products? Heard they’re really good. We can’t easily get Anastasia products here so I haven’t been able to check them out yet.
Yes, I have the Anastasia Beauty Express kit in brunette. It has the brow plastic templates and they are fun to play with, but so not realistic. The kit has a wax pot, two shades of brow powder and a brow highligher (which is gorgeous) and a skin color matte powder. It’s nice, but I mostly grab the Smashbox Brow Tech in dark brown.
Monica.
MonicaP recently posted..Skinny jeans for a pear shape
Yeah I reckon I’ll do the same as well. I mean, I’d love to try out the kit given that Anastasia BH is so popular for brows but I’ll most likely just grab the eyebrow pencil/pen/gel on most days instead.
Tine you have to try MAC’s Prolongwear waterproof brow set, I liked it more that the gimme brow. The formulas are similar but in color MAC has six choices and Ebony brown it’s perfect for my tanned skin and dark hair.
You should take a look of it even when you don’t like MAC.
I’ll put it in my to-check-out list! Even if I have to brave MAC. 😛
Thanks for this post, I’m inexperienced when it comes to brow products and found this really helpful! As much as I want the Benefit Gimme Brow it’s so expensive so I think I’ll probably get the L’oreal Brow Artist! x
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My pleasure, Sabrina. Personally, I prefer Gimme Brow but only because the brush is smaller and works better on my brow. L’Oreal’s Brow Artist’s formula is good so what I do is, ahem here comes the dodginess: Once I’ve finished the Gimme Brow, I wash the brush and use it with the L’Oreal Brow Artist instead. 😛
Modelco’s More Brows is a great alternative for the Gimme Brow. I got one in my glossybox and been loving it.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll check it out as soon as I can. 🙂
To my shame I’ve only discovered gels today. Since I was erm….15 maybe 17, which was 20-odd years ago, I’ve used old almost empty and on drier side mascara for my eye brows. Doesn’t matter what make, I used a lot of sample sizes, and had no need to look any further. And also get my money worth of mascara 🙂
I just didn’t know someone reinvented the wheel out there haha
I’m medium blond and my skin is ‘yellow’ is which means it’s also medium blond sort of colour so even I struggle to find my brows and lashes LOL I need dark enough colour but not too dark just to look more natural and mascara always did a great job.
Nah no shame in it at all, Kate! I’m glad you’ve discovered them. Well, actually you’ve already discovered such a concept all those years ago, so it’s not so much a new discovery anyway! 😛 (And I just wanted to see how many times I could write the word “discover” in a comment 😛 )
I read your blog before I decided to buy Eyeko Brow Gel and you recommended the try either L’oreal or Benefits, so I went to Sephora, and did a swatch between Eyeko and Benefit and I bought Benefits Gimme Brow. I tried to look for L’oreal Brow Plumper but they do not sell it here. Bummer!
Anyway, I love Benefit Gimme Brow! I love how it naturally thicken my brows! Thank you so much!!!!