Tuesday, November 17, 2015

REVIEW: Glossier Boy Brow


I am not the ideal Into the Gloss girl. I don't live in a city, I'm not an effortlessly chic beauty insider, and I was not wowed by most of the Byredo fragrance line. My Instagram has near zero photos of cool beach vacations or stylish outfits and is instead populated with awkward selfies, cat pictures, sloppy piles of makeup, and food glorious food. I own more than three lipsticks and will never be a size 2 again. I've accepted this. Different strokes for different folks and whatnot.

And for a while, I accepted that Glossier's products would not be My Thing, either, especially Boy Brow--because if you watch the commercial they created, every freaking model has decently full brows. I do not. I have some wisps above my eyes that pretend to be brow hairs, and that's about it. Stick me under a bright light and the outer half of my brows will outright disappear, almost like they're frightened little vampire brows who can't suffer the sun.

But somehow, some way, I got sucked in to it. Maybe it was the cute packaging. Maybe it was the YouTube raves. Maybe it was my desperate desire for a brow product that I could slap on in less than 3 minutes. Honestly, though? I think I just wanted to prove myself wrong. I wanted to prove that something designed for cool, full-browed, no-makeup-makeup beauties could work for me, too!

I proved nothing, my friends, except that my wimpy brows need pencil.

Let's start with the price and packaging. For $16, you get 3.12 grams of product in a cute, tiny, matte white tube. I actually like simple packaging like this, and because the tube is so small, it's great for tossing in your purse or traveling. The brush on this is also one of the tiniest I've ever seen on a brow gel, and I appreciate that--I have no idea why some brow gels insist on giving you the biggest, derpiest wands when our brows are kind of a small part of our face.


Despite the incredibly small size of the wand, I found it a smidge difficult to control the gel. The wand picks up a ton of product, so I have to wipe it off on the rim of the tube multiple times before applying. When applying Boy Brow, I often get small smudges of product on the skin above and below my brows, no matter how careful I am. It's easily removed with a fingertip, but it still annoys the shit out of me.

My biggest problem with this product is that it just doesn't work well on sparse brows. Now, if you see the photos above, you'll notice that the front half of my brows look okay: it looks fuller and well-groomed without looking overdone. This is partially because that part of my brow is slightly fuller to begin with, with coarser and more numerous hairs. But as soon as I get to my arches, where my brow hairs are finer and fewer, things get a bit rocky. The gel doesn't coat these thin hairs quite as well, and if it hits bare skin, it leaves flakes all over the place. Even after careful application, I'm left with brows that are slightly patchy.


I also tried sweeping a tiny amount of Boy Brow over brow pencil to see if I liked that look. This is slightly better--it adds a bit of texture to the look--but I have to use a very, very tiny amount. Otherwise, Boy Brow will pull off much of the pencil; even in the above photo, where I was as gentle with the gel as I could be, you'll see a few spots with less color on them.

I'll also note that I'm kind of "eh" about the shade range. I got the shade Brown, and while it isn't the warmest brow product I've ever tested, it's not as ashy as I'd like. I also think three shades (Blonde, Brown, Black) leaves a chunk of the population unrepresented, namely folks with white or gray hair who need a gray or taupe product.

Lastly, I had a real problem with this product yanking out my brow hairs. I'd apply it to my brows, pull the wand back, and notice several of my delicate hairs stuck in the product. This isn't the end-all, be-all, because my brow hairs are quite wimpy and are more easily yoinked than most people's. But it's still worth mentioning.

I do think Boy Brow will work well for people with moderately thick to very thick brows who like an effortless look and hate faffing about with pencil. The fact that it has a clear customer and some efficacy prompts me to rate it a 3 instead of a 2. But overall, I don't think it's worth the mad hype it's getting on YouTube and the blogosphere. It often flakes, sometimes applies patchy, is easily smeared despite the small wand, has a limited shade range, and doesn't have the hold of, say, the Anastasia brow gel. It will suit a certain market, but fine-browed folks like myself should give this a pass.

With all of this said, if you're interested in purchasing this product (or any others) from Glossier, feel free to use my affiliate links in this post--everybody with an account gets one, so this isn't a paid post, I swear. You'll get 20% off your order, I'll get $10 in credit, and who knows? Maybe they'll produce something I can actually use. If that's not your thang, just go to Glossier.com to get your products, no affiliation required.


RATING: 3 out of 5
Affiliate Link: Glossier

18 comments:

  1. Thanks for this review! I couldn't get Benefit Gimme Brow to work for exactly this reason. Pencils forever!

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    1. Ah, so I should skip that one, too? Yeah, I think I need to just give up on tinted brow gel.

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    2. I was going to say the same thing as Lyn, I had exactly the same issues with gimme brow (and you and I are disappearing eyebrow twins). Side note: Sorry if this was answered somewhere else but what lipstick are you wearing in your banner pic? I am obsessed!

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    3. The header image is MAC Lady Danger. :) I should probably put that on the side bar, huh?

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  2. ITG has become mostly a hate-read for me in the last year, thanks to the endless Glossier promotions and the "tee hee I don't wear makeup, why should I?" interviews with teenage celebrity spawn. I also have ~inside info~ that ITG isn't a great place to work. But I do still love the makeup editorials and the interviews with industry professionals, so I keep reading and try to leave comments that aren't *that* bitchy.

    I don't think the Glossier products are terribly revolutionary (a "priming moisturizer" with no SPF? a face mist I could buy at my local health-food store?), but Boy Brow tempted me because I DO have huge-ass dark brows and I'm looking for a product with just a little tint for the days when my clear brow gel isn't enough. I'll probably skip it, though, especially after reading your review. The name turns me off, too--"Boy Brow," really? Because boys have the best brows? Uh-huh.

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    1. Honestly, the fact that Glossier products pop up in almost every "Top Sheflie" and many of the Top Shelves has started to make me turn away. It's still good mindless filler content with pretty pictures, but I'm having a hard time trusting their posts with the endless product placement.

      I actually think you're one of the people this product could work for, though, since you do have thick brows!

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  3. Yeah, ITG certainly isn't what it used to be...Despite your legitimate lack of success with Boy Brow, I think it is a good product, and distinctively different from any other brow products out there. It does not have a consistency at all like Gimme Brow, and the colors have a chameleon quality that seem to cover a pretty wide range of skin tones. Auxiliary Beauty - with your awesome brows I would definitely give Boy Brow a try! I really enjoy both of your BOGO and AG blogs - so well-written! (well, one would hope so given your professional lives...)

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    1. I wouldn't say it's a BAD product, because it will work for people with thick-ish brows and it has a decent formula. Hence, I gave it a 3 instead of a 2. But I disagree with suggesting it's good just because it's different--that would be an appeal to novelty, not a real argument in its favor. I mean, the Benefit Push-Up liner is unique and I don't think that makes it good; the idea is cool, but it's less functional than it should be in practice. I also have to disagree about the colors. Yes, by nature of the formula, they have some flex, but I definitely felt this read a bit warm on me, and I'm really baffled by the lack of a gray or a taupe. I always try to admit that I'm biased, though, insofar as I think at least one super ashy shade is a necessity. Most people will probably find a shade.

      I'm glad you enjoyed the review and found it helpful!

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    2. Ugh - Benefit Push-Up LIner! The worst - lol! I didn't really intend to imply it, but I do think that the novelty of Boy Brow is in it's favor. With all the kinds of brow products out there- pencils, powders, gels - I hadn't really found my HG. I don't know that this is it, but the fact that the texture and consistency is so different makes it worth a try. I agree it does pull a bit warm (did you get brown? I have blonde) and in light of ITG's new obsession with Korean skincare, you would think they would have produced an ashier color. Are you sticking with the Shu Uemura?

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    3. If it's working for you, I'm absolutely thrilled. :)

      Yes, I got Brown. Hilariously, I find the Korean brow pencil selection really hard to navigate; their swatches are so confusing! I'll eventually get around to trying it, though. For now, I'm going to finish up the Brow Wiz and, yes, stick mostly to my Shu.

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    4. They're the worst! Their brown is always way too red and their black blends out to an unnatural grey and their ash brown is usually normal grey. Urgh. Hate brow products so much.

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  4. Thank you so much for this honest review! I had come across so many raves for this product and I decided to do one more search for reviews before I was to purchase. I have thin eyebrows and MUST use an eyebrow pencil. I really appreciate the pictures you posted because it allowed me to see how the product worked. Off to check out your blog! :-)

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  5. If anyone has bought this and still having problems, I have been able to make it work for my thin brows by first using a brow powder and setting it with the boy brow. I have to shape it up with a q-tip which is mildly annoying, but I find this routine is still faster than carefully building with a pomade or pencil. This process really gives me full, natural looking brows, and using an ashier powder shade helps with my color matching. I haven't decided if I'll repurchase, but I think I do like it.

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    1. I think it's just a lot of added steps for something that's supposed to be very quick and fuss-free. But I am really glad you've enjoyed it and have made it work for you! A lot of people can certainly get this product to work for them.

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  6. I have slightly fuller brows that just need a little filling in and mostly taming, but I'm also a redhead--they didn't just leave out people with gray/white hair, they left out those who need a warmer, more auburn shade in order to look natural!

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    1. I think this shade is pretty warm, but most redheads I know like a lighter color, sort of a mustard shade. The limited shade range is a real bummer. :/

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