My routine for thick luscious brows

Hi friends!

Let’s talk brows today. Now the truth is, I really don’t spend much time on them at all. They are the last bit of my face to get attention when I’m doing my makeup. Plus, I don’t really groom them beyond the odd brushing; I’ve only had them waxed once in my whole life for pete’s sake! I guess I just don’t have the patience for brows, nor do I feel mine need a whole lot of attention in the first place.

In their natural state, I’d say my brows are moderately thick and quite long. I’m lucky in that I don’t have to draw them on everyday, like some people feel they have to. I’m sure if my brows were more high maintenance, I’d feel very differently about the whole process and perhaps give them more TLC. But lately I’ve been taking just a bit more time to really amp them up (maybe 30 seconds to a minute more – not much). The result (to me) is really full-on brows that make me happy every time I look in the mirror. Now isn’t that what makeup is all about??

So I’d love to share my current routine for thick luscious brows with you! It’s still very easy and shouldn’t take you too long at all if you want to recreate it.

STEP ONE – ADD VOLUME AND COLOR!

I don’t fuss around with brow pencils, pomades or powder for the most part. For me it’s all about those volumizing brow gels! They do three things in one – 1) bulk up your brows (especially if they have fibers), 2) color them, and 3) groom them. (Remember, I told you I was lazy with my brows!) There are so many on the market now at different price points, so take pick your favorite. My absolute favorite from the drugstore – the L’Oreal Brow Stylist Plumper – doesn’t seem to be available in stores anymore weirdly. But thankfully it’s available online through L’Oreal direct or through Walmart. Phew!

If you’re willing to splash out a little more cash, perhaps consider the much-buzzed-about Boy Brow from Glossier. I’ve been using it since last year; I’m actually on my second tube of the shade Brown. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked it, but now I really enjoy using it. Just make sure you wipe off the excess product from the little brush before applying to your brows, otherwise you’ll have a mess. It’s got a really waxy formula that thickens the brows and helps to shape them (i.e. how brushed-up and groomed you want them to appear). The brush is pretty tiny but it’s the perfect size to just whizz through your brows.

(If you’re interested, I did a quick video last year detailing all the differences between Boy Brow and Gimme Brow from Benefit.)

 

So this is the first step in my routine – I apply a generous amount of Boy Brow in the shade Brown, from front to tip, to add both volume and color. Then I’ll sometimes run a clean spoolie brush, like the one pictured above from IT Cosmetics, very lightly through my brows to pick up any little blobs of product left in there from the brow gel.

STEP TWO – ADD SHAPE AND HOLD!

I dedicated an entire post to this little gem from Ardell earlier this year, and boy am I still in love it with it! It’s called the Brow Confidential Brow Duo and I’ve never encountered such a strong-hold brow gel like this one before. As I stated in that earlier post, this is actually a dual-ended product with powder fibers on one end and the clear brow gel on the other. I still don’t touch the powder side! It’s just wayyy too dark and intense for me, and I haven’t quite worked up the nerve to really go for it yet. But the clear gel is perfect and has the thinnest wand so you can get a really fine application of product.

So for step two, I apply a thin layer of the Ardell clear brow gel over top of the Boy Brow. Here is where I take the few extra seconds to really shape my brow hairs and decide how fluffy I want them to look that day. But usually when I take the time to do this 2-step process, I want them to look huge – I legit just brush all my hairs up to the heavens!

The only drawback of this process is the cross-contamination that inevitably occurs between the products; color seeps into the clear gel and gives it a brownish tint. Oh well, it doesn’t bother me too much but I thought it worth mentioning here.

 

THE FINAL RESULT

The combination of these two products gives me such amazingly thick luscious brows! And the effect lasts throughout the whole day – that’s how amazing the hold is on the Ardell product. I’d say the whole process takes me no more than 1.5 – 2 minutes in total.

What is your routine for thick brows? I’d love to know!

xo, Erica

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