3 Fantastic Brow Defining Products

A brilliant makeup artist at Barney’s New York gave me invaluable advice: instead of going hard on the eye makeup, try focusing on blush and brows that properly frame the eye.

“Like glasses” she said as she dabbed a shimmering pink powder on my cheekbones and artfully cajoled the topmost arch of my brow into a well defined angle with a taupe-y bow pencil.

At the time, as a devotee of the 50’s liquid black eyeliner and chromatic eyeshadow look, I was incredulous. But the effect was both subtle and powerful. I looked less tired, and somehow more “me.” Or at least the me I aspire to look like.

18 years on, I still lean on that wisdom. You could cover the entire length of your brown, but start with just the top angle of the arch–lightly tracing it–and go from there. Pencil, brow mascara, potted creams, there’s a plethora of formulations to accomplish this. Here’s what I’ve found and liked:

• Plume Nourish & Define Brow Pomade [Shown above] - available in really believable shades, and builds up nicely. The angled brush is pretty fantastic, and the creamy formula is a cinch to apply. Definitely my favorite of the pot formulas I’ve tried. The caveat here is that it doesn’t set, so don’t go rubbing your eyebrows and take caution if you’re prone to oiliness or live in hot and humid environment.

• Kimiko Brow Pencil - I love that it’s retractable; meaning one less pencil to sharpen. The colors are perfectly calibrated to various realistic hues (think dirty dish water, you want it to have some gray to it). The pencils are exceptionally fine, and dry enough to stick throughout an August day. Just draw little lines, mimicking the direction of your brow hairs. Voila, fuller brows.

• Saie Brow Butter - the most natural out of the three, and arguably the most easy to apply. I’ve tried just about every clean brow mascara launched to date, and this is by far my favorite. Each stroke of this tiny want coaxes out the prettiest Olsen-twin-esque brows, and the fluffy definition lasts all day. What I love most about it is how soft the formula is, it doesn’t dry to a stiff, almost hairsprayed lacquer like so many other formulas. This somehow stays pliable, but with nary a smudge. My only grumble is that I went though my tube in a few short weeks. It’s pretty damn good.

Jane Iredale Bitty Brow Kit

When I worked for Benefit Cosmetics, I could never keep their Brow-zing! eyebrow palettes in stock. Why? Because whenever I did a client's makeup, I always used one of their wax based brow pigments. Even if the client wasn't in the market for a brow product, had no interest in plucking their full set of pre-Cara Delevingne brows, or had tweezed what nature gave them into oblivion and were marred with a permanent expression of surprise or anger, they almost always would ask me what I did.

It was simple, I just dipped an angle brush into the taupe-y shaded wax and lightly buff it along the highest point of the arch, sometimes working down to the tail. I learned this trick from Meredith, an incredible makeup artist at Barney's New York. She believed defining the arch and adding a swirl of blush to the cheeks is fool proof way to bring out the eyes. Instead of rimming them with a dark smokey liner, she thought this a balanced and less obvious way of framing the eyes.

Sadly, I've yet to find a perfectly neutral colored brow wax in the clean beauty industry. But this Jane Iredale kit comes pretty close, one only needs to blend a bit of the wax and powder on the same brush. It's believable looking, no one would guess you've got anything on. And if you're on the fence about which color, go with the ashy blonde shade. Any dark haired brunettes like myself, better stick with the brunette shade, photographed below: