Buying a Glossier product feels a lot like being initiated into a cult, if the cult wore lots of millennial pink and had eternally dewy skin and bushy-yet-feminine eyebrows. Soon, you’ll start marking your laptop, your phone case and any other hard surfaces with Glossier stickers, sharing conspiratory looks with other users every time you pull out your Balm Dot Com in public and feeling a magnetic pull that urges you to try every new Glossier product drop.
I was drawn in by the crystal-infused glow provided by Haloscope, and eventually decided to try out their renowned Boy Brow ($16) as part of a package deal. Given the product’s 4.5 stars and 2,500 reviews, I was hopeful that the brow shaper would give my naturally dark eyebrows some more definition, and fill in the areas that were sparse from overplucking during my early teenage years. The color selection is very limited, which I found helpful compared to Anastasia Beverly Hills’ ($18) overwhelming range of shades and undertones. I decided on brown, and eagerly awaited the arrival of my pink bubble wrap bag.
Upon its arrival, my first impression was how small the $16 tube was — roughly the size of my index finger. Unscrewing the silver cap revealed a tiny brow spoolie coated in a sheer brown wax.
I found that the shape of the spoolie made the product difficult to apply, as it was nearly impossible to angle it in a way that coated my brows in a flattering shape while avoiding the skin around my brows. The color was also difficult for me to deposit evenly, and it was clumpy in some areas and nonexistent in others. Tapering it to the tail end of my brow proved extremely difficult, and despite my many attempts I could not achieve the desired my-brows-but-better look.
Frustrated after viewing many Boy Brow Youtube tutorials, I ended up giving the product to my mom instead. I think it might be better suited to those with thin brow hairs, which are better able to pick up the product, instead of my brows, which have thick individual hairs with some sparse spots.
Recently, I bought Brow Flick ($18), a brow-detailing pen that allows you to draw on individual hair-like lines more suited towards sparse areas. I find Brow Flick flatters my arches more, and fills in lacking areas while still looking natural. When deciding between Glossier brow products, it’s important to take your unique brow shape and hair type into consideration instead of following the cult favorite.
Email Lauren Gruber at [email protected]
