Every celebrity worth their salt has also said it, but I’m more than happy to go bare-faced with everything but my brows. A few strokes of pencil and a swipe of gel, and I instantly feel more polished. My brow soft-spot is as full as I can get away with a little strategic shaping and extra definition where needed, a look I feel that’s become quite synonymous with Glossier’s (annoyingly unavailable to Australians) Boy Brow.

I managed to get my hands on the stuff in 2017 when Colette was hosting a Glossier pop-up a few months before the iconic Parisian boutique closed. The shop was teeming with hordes of beauty-obsessed Parisians so I decided to cut my losses and seek out the one product I was most desperate to try from the range. Boy Brow was, unsurprisingly, my brow go-to until I’d eked every last bit of product out; a few strokes delivered the perfect dose of polish without looking like you had tried too hard.

Below, I’ve compiled some of the best products if you like your arches full and fluffy, but can’t get your mitts on Glossier’s cult product. These aren’t all dupes per se – there are more than just tinted brow gels here, for a start – but they all are brilliant at creating those groomed but natural looking brows I tend to favour.

To get brows looking optimal sans makeup

Full brows can be faked to a certain extent, but it certainly does help if you’re blessed of brow to begin with, which is where a dedicated brow care product can help. Eyebrow doyenne Amy Jean has created a daily brow mask, a clever product that helps nourish brows as well as encouraging growth. It contains castor oil, along with a host of other softening ingredients, which has long been touted as an old wives’ tale trick for helping boost hair growth but that in my experience really works: since using, I’ve been thrilled to notice that previously sparse patches have regrown baby hairs. I tend to use it as part of my evening skincare routine, but it also works wonders to keep brushed up brows in place during the day.

For a budget brow buy that performs like a premium product

I’m very particular when it comes to brow gels. So often they can skew too warm-toned, tinting my bronde-hued brows an unconvincing shade of red. Some are too pigmented and impart too much product, and one swipe will leave brows looking blocky with obvious, often crunchy-looking, texture. So I was seriously impressed by Revlon’s Colourstay Brow Fiber Filler, which met my exacting standards. At full-price it will set you back less than $25 – although, hint hint, it’s often far cheaper than that if you keep your eyes out for not infrequent pharmacy sales.

For filling in stubborn bare patches

You might be an exclusive gel user and associate pencils with overly defined, drawn on brows, but I urge you to reconsider and add a pencil to your brow toolkit. Whether you fell foul of nineties and noughties brow trends and over-plucked your brows, or, like me, could benefit from a touch more definition along the tail of the arch, a pencil can be used to very subtly add volume where a gel cannot by cheating extra hairs exactly where your brows need them. Brow Codes Imitation pencil and Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz are both perfect for this: each create deceptively realistic hair strokes thanks to their ultrafine tips.

A failsafe brow duo

Charlotte Tilbury has mastered the art of bottling her signature unapologetically glamorous style so we can try our hand at emulating her A-lister looks at home, and she continues this trajectory with her aptly named Supermodel Brow kits. Each come with a brow pencil, tinted gel, and clear gel that individually perform beautifully but as a complete system work satisfying well too. I’d gravitate towards this kit on days I’m after a more polished finish, but they can easily be reeled back for a more everyday look. The Legendary Brows gel has the teensiest wand I’ve ever used, which means you can add fullness exactly where you want it and not get tell-tale product onto the surrounding skin, which I find tends to happen with other gels with oversized heads.

Story by Tess de Vivie de Régie. Holding shot via Instagram @taylor_hill

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