Read the product review of Etude House’s Tint My Brows Gel and see why this product went viral.
My brows have never lived up to the Brooke Shields or Cara Delevingne standard of fluffy fullness or discerning shapeliness. It’s fine—growing up in the late 90s meant that everyone was plucking their brows into thin rounded arches that will probably take several peptide hair growth serums to get back now that a fuller look is in anyway (very thankful I was too wimpy to pluck my brows back then).
You could study the literal thousands of brow-defining tutorials on YouTube that incorporate no less than three products to create a realistic-looking set (not to mention a very steady hand and acute sense of symmetry). You could try investing in micro-needling, AKA brow tattoos, but those are super pricey and a real commitment. Or, you could give this temporary brow tattoo from Etude House a whirl.
The Etude House Tint My Brows Gel
This product is a pigmented stain that lightly tints the area where you apply it for an indefinite amount of time—if you’re familiar with henna, you might have a clue as to how this works. The packaging doesn’t let on as to how long this is supposed to last, but if you don’t scrub at it too much with your cleanser after applying it correctly, it should be up to 7 days. I gave it a try to see if it could fill in the non-descript “tails” of my brows that sort of just stop growing hair awkwardly so there’s never really a defined point.
How To Use
The formula is a thick goo that you brush on—easy-peasy. The packaging suggests that you trim any loose hair to start with a totally clean eyebrow area. Personally, I didn’t do this because I’m trying to make my brows appear fuller and filled-in, not the opposite, so it seemed a bit counterintuitive to give my brows a trim. It’s not a huge deal anyway.
I brushed on a thick layer in a shape I wanted my brows to be in, keeping close to the hairline edges. You should leave it on for at least two hours but the packaging says that you’ll get better results overnight. I applied mine in the morning and then let them marinate like that for about three hours until I needed to go someplace.
The fun part is actually removing the tint because it’s exactly like removing a peel-off mask. This is where that thick layer comes in crucially. If you keep it too thin, you won’t saturate the area enough and it’ll also be nearly impossible to grab and peel off in one piece. You’ll be picking at hairs as you go, which is a lot more painful than plucking. I had a relatively easy peel since I really globbed it on and my little brow tats slid right off.
The Results
I was super impressed at how subtly defined they were! Check it out. Judging from the opaque-looking layer of gel sitting on my face for hours, I was almost afraid that it would dye my skin too deeply and then I’d be stuck with these Groucho-looking angry brows. But nope — it’s actually quite subtle. I was also glad that the Gray Brown shade naturally blended in with my natural brow color (black) — the shade difference was just enough to give my brows a sort of multi-dimensional hue, but not anything too obvious.
Although the instructions recommend you to not apply any cleansing products on top of your brows for at least 24 hours, I washed my face as I normally do before going to bed that night, double-cleansing with an oil cleanser before using a slightly foaming cleanser. I didn’t concentrate on the brow area and the tint was actually all intact that first night. By the next night, there was some significant fading and they were nearly undetectable come the night after that. I’m betting that if I overnighted it, the tint would probably last a whole work week, granted it doesn’t get too vigorously oil-cleansed. If you’re someone who’s always hitting snooze far too many times, something like this tinted brow gel will save you at least a couple mornings of speedy makeup application.
