REVIEW: Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel

I have very fine, light brows, so I usually avoid tinted gels. In my experience, they either go patchy or full scouse. It's also difficult to find a color that won't read weirdly warm on me, for some reason. But I see so little written about Per-fekt's products that, when this brow gel popped up super cheap on Hautelook and looked great in the few Google swatches I could find, I took the plunge.

I paid less than $20 for both the Brow Perfection Gel and a small tube of their mascara because I got it on sale at Hautelook. The retail cost of this product is $22 for 0.15oz. The tube is similar in size to many mascaras, which makes it seem like a steal, but if you compare it to the amount of product in some other high-end tinted brow gels, you'll realize it's about par for the course. (As a side note, I find it interesting that Glossier Boy Brow gets a bad rap for being "a lot of money for too little product," yet if you do the math, it's par for the course for tinted brow gels.)

Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Brow Gel, $22 for 0.32oz

Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper, $26 for 0.14oz

Too Faced Brow Quickie, $22 for 0.17oz

Benefit Gimme Brow Volumizing Fiber Gel, $24 for 0.1oz

Glossier Boy Brow, $16 for 0.11oz

I got my tube in the shade Espresso because it seemed like the most logical choice for my hair color. I can tell you that it is, most likely, way too dark for me. However, looking at the limited shade range, I don't think I could've used the other two options, Champagne and Caramel, because they look very warm. Espresso may be a bit dark, but it's also very ashy. On the whole, I think this shade range should be a bit wider if Per-fekt wants to compete.

 Glossier Boy Brow on the left, Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel on the right

The brush for this brow gel made me a bit nervous at first; it's about the size of a standard mascara wand, only thinner. Compared to my mother's tube of Boy Brow, it looks gargantuan. That said, I found it very easy to control, probably because it's so thin.

Speaking of thin: the Brow Perfection Gel has a very watery texture. Hence, I didn't expect it to give me much color, just a bit of tint on the brows. The first time I tried it, I wiped off the brush once or twice, then went in.

These before-and-after photos are what my brows looked like after I used the Per-fekt brow gel, then went back in with a clean brow spoolie, because holy shit, does this thing drop a lot of product! And it's pigmented, too; it coats the brow hairs and paints the bare skin beneath. Normally I dislike this because, again, brow gels tend to look patchy on bare skin. But the Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel looks decently smooth and natural on my bare patches.

The next time I used this brow gel, I wiped off the brush a lot before going in. The above photo demonstrates the results: the color is off and I wouldn't call it perfect or natural, but it's certainly serviceable, and my brows definitely look fuller. As with most brow gels and tints, the Per-fekt product may be a bit better for people with naturally decent brows who just want to fill in small gaps. However, they'll still have to wipe off the brush to avoid looking like they took a Sharpie to their face.

While I like the general look of this product, especially for minimal makeup days, I'm not too impressed with its performance. It doesn't have much hold, so askew hairs are hard to cement in place. The staying power is iffy as well: it didn't fade or flake on me, but if I touched my brows, I could definitely smear it around.

It doesn't look too dark in this photo, but it seems to read a little blacker in real life.

As it stands, I think I'll finish up this tube, but I won't repurchase. Not only are the shade options all wrong for me, it doesn't have much hold and it's easily overdone. In the end, the Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel ended up being like every other tinted brow gel I've tried: not quite right for me, only recommended for a select group of people.

Rating: 3 out of 5

You can buy this product at Sephora.