As a blonde, I struggle with my barely visible brows. Even worse, I’m a blonde with very little brow hair at all. I don’t overpluck my brows (not even during the 90s when it was fashionable to do so) so it’s not that I got rid of them slowly over time. It’s just that I’ve really only got the first half of my eyebrow and no tail to speak of (pictures shortly!). So I’m always searching for something to use on my brows. Unfortunately, most of those options have been from highend brands (Anastasia) or harder to find brands in Canada (NYX). Sometimes you’re just searching for something cheap, and readily available, you know?
Maybelline‘s brand new BROW define + fill duo fits that bill on all accounts: it’s at the drugstore and it won’t break your bank (~$10 CAD). (As a note, mine also says BROWsatin on the side of the product, but that’s not written anywhere on the box.)
One end of the product has your typical brow pencil – it’s larger than the NYX or Anastasia counterparts, but it’s not enormous either. The other end has a foamy tip that picks up shadow from the cap. The intention is that you fill in your brow with the pencil and then follow it up with powder to set it.
Colour-wise, the Blonde shade I have actually matches my brows quite well. It leans a bit warm, so I think redheads could get away with wearing this shade as well. Despite the warm tones, it doesn’t make my brows look unnaturally orange, but I know some blonds prefer more of a grey cast to their products. Personally, I flip between the two without noticing much difference on myself.
Here’s me with nothing on my brows. You can see that I have about half of a normal brow, but that I’m lacking a tail.
Here’s my brow with the Maybelline define + fill duo pencil applied to my brow.
And finally, with the pencil and powder applied directly to my brow.
Final Thoughts
I feel the pencil part could do with being a tad smaller in diameter. I struggled to fill in the very end of my tail without making it look too blunt. I also think the foam tip of the powder applicator is too big and I couldn’t really use it to fill in the tail of my brow since I have next to no hairs there. However, I’m happy that something labelled for blondes actually works with my colouring! Often companies make products that are flat out too dark for us and make us look rather silly. I like that the pencil dispenses enough product to help build up my brows in a natural way without looking chunky. (The pencil also doesn’t feel as scratchy as the Anastasia Brow Wiz does to me.) The products wears all day and didn’t melt off my face, so total win there!
Those with fuller brows will likely benefit from this more than I can with my half brows. That being said, I do reach for this quite often as I really like the natural look it gives me and the colour tone is perfect.
This review features a press sample sent for consideration.
this is such a great match shade-wise! gives a really natural great brow look and nice that it’s so affordable 🙂
Affordable and easy to find, hard to beat that!
You and I are in the same boat! haha.. It’s tough finding brow products that can work in the sparse areas we’re supposed to have brow hair in 😉 I’ve been wondering about this product and like how the colour looks on you!
Hah! Everyone’s always saying how they plucked all their hairs out and I’m like… I just never had any!!
oh wow – it matches your brows perfectly! I love ABH Brow Wiz so much but the amount of product for the cost is hard to swallow constantly – and some days I just don’t feel like messing with dipbrow… I will have to check this out!
I go through the Brow Wiz very quickly unfortunately so it’s nice to be able to find a product that’s nowhere near that price point.
Totally agree with you on Dipbrow. I love it, but it’s a LOT of effort. Even more so since I have to guess every morning where the tail of my brow is supposed to be and a mistake with the dipbrow is a LOT more fatal!
This colour looks perfect for you! I don’t fill in my brows, it’s just something I never got into (yet). I do clean and triam them, but that’s it for now.
I don’t think that filling in brows is a necessary step for everyone. It’s certainly time consuming after all! But for people who already have loves brows, there’s just no point!
Cool! Have you tried MAC Omega shadow with a slanted brush? Great for lighter brows.
I have! I ran through a whole pot of it actually. It worked well, but there wasn’t enough texture to it. Since I have no tail to my brows, I needed something that would build up the area a bit more. Perfect colour match though!
Glad the colour worked so well for you! I agree- some blonde shades are off. The Maybelline Define a Brow in Dark Blonde was my go-to budget option- I may have to stock up on it if I can track it down, as this shade does look a touch too warm for my colouring!
Yeah, it’s definitely a bit warm, that’s for sure. I think they’re discontinuing that shade of Define a Brow, so snag it while you can!
I’ll be checking this out as soon as I’m out of brow wiz! I need a cheaper alternative!
I will say this can’t beat the tiny point of Brow Wiz. It’s a great product, but it just doesn’t have as fine of a point as Brow Wiz does.