There’s no denying we saw some truly disastrous overplucked eyebrows during the 1990s and early 00s; before the best brow pomade was even a thing.
Fast-forward a decade or two, and full and thicker eyebrows have become all the rage, with special thanks to the likes of Cara Delevingne and her instantly recognisable power brows. As a result, it seems natural brows are here to stay.
However, if your natural brows are severely lacking – especially if you (like us!) were one of the overpluckers in your youth – before reaching for the heavy eyebrow pencil, we present to you brow pomade.
FURTHER READING: How to do eyebrows: Quick, easy ways to draw and fill in eyebrows like the pros
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£14 | Buy now
Why we love it: It’s no wonder that Boy Brow is Glossier’s bestselling product. The brand describes it as an “all-in-one brow fluffer, filler and shaper” and we couldn’t agree more with its versatility.
The tinted gel formula creates a thickness to the brow hairs, making the natural arch fuller.
Inspired by traditional hair pomade, Boy Brow gives brows a soft, flexible hold in one easy application, that doesn’t stiffen or flake. We love it, and we think you definitely will too.
If £14 is a little steep, we recently found a great cheap alternative from e.l.f for just £4.50. You can see this, as well as other UK makeup alternatives here.
Shade range: It comes in five different shades, black, brown, auburn, blonde and also clear.
FURTHER READING: Glossier UK: The best Glossier products from across its makeup and skincare range
Buy now from Glossier
£5 | Buy now
Why we love it: We love e.l.f products here at mamabella, not only because they are super affordable and of such great quality, but because the brand is committed to being cruelty-free and vegan.
You can read more about this in our e.l.f brand spotlight.
This Lock on Liner and Brow Cream is velvety-smooth and glides on to sculpt, shade and define brows. It can also double up as a natural eyeliner or eyeshadow! All for a fiver.
Shade range: This little pot can be found in three shades – medium brown, light brown and espresso. It comes out quite dark so we recommend buying the shade lighter than you want and building it up.
Buy now from e.l.f
£19 | Buy now
Why we love it: This super pigmented pomade is fantastic for definition, thickness and keeping those little flyaway hairs in place (or out of place, if that is what you’re looking for).
The creamy and soft formula is also very versatile for both a natural finish and can be built up for a fuller and bolder brow.
If you’re not sure what brow style suits you, Anastasia Beverly Hills recently released an app that uses AR to help you out. There’s also a great TikTok filter doing the rounds that lines up your brows based on your face shape.
Shade range: It’s available in 11 different shades, from blonde to caramel to black.
FURTHER READING: Anastasia Beverly Hills launches Brow App to help you learn how to draw eyebrows
Buy now from Cult Beauty£10 | Buy now
Why we love it: It’s no secret that we love NYX Professional Makeup – it’s one of our all-time favourite cheap makeup brands – and its Fill & Fluff Eyebrow Pomade Pencil ticks all our boxes.
It’s affordable, highly pigmented and has a smooth waxy texture that fills in sparse areas perfectly.
The product is dual-ended with an eyebrow pencil on one end, and a micro-paddle brush on the other.
This helps you to blend the product and fluff eyebrow hairs into place – achieving that thick and full brow, with just one product.
Shade range: This pencil comes in eight matte shades: auburn, blonde, ash brown, brunette, chocolate, espresso, taupe and black.
Buy now from NYX Professional Makeup
£9.99 | Buy now
Why we love it: Maybelline is a high-street favourite of ours, and the Tattoo Studio Brow Pomade is a must-have for achieving the perfect arch.
It’s long-lasting and highly pigmented and comes with an angled brush for precision, plus a spoolie to brush the hairs.
This makes for easy application and natural-looking brows. You can also use this for contour, or for eyeshadow!
Shade Range: It can be found in eight different shades, making it easy to colour match.
Buy now from Amazon
£15 | Buy now
Huda Beauty Why we love it: The size of this eyebrow pencil makes all the difference. Huda has designed her Bomb Browns pencil to mimic microblading and as a result, the tip is just 0.9mm. Slim enough to be a blade. As a result, this eyebrow pencil fills in gaps just like tiny hair strokes.
The pigment on the brow pencil is strong, it applies smoothly and despite it being a small point, the pencil doesn’t scratch the skin. In fact, it’s creamy enough to glide with ease. The spoolie on the other end of the pencil is then firm enough to lift stray brows to make sure that sparse areas look full.
Elsewhere, this pencil contains Vitamin E, castor oil and coconut oil. Huda wanted to create an eyebrow pencil that is easy to use to give the impression of fine-lined strokes just like microblading and this certainly does.
Shade range: It’s available in eight shades: from warm blonde, neutral blonde, caramel blonde, light brown, medium brown, rich brown, black-brown, and soft black
Buy now from Boots
Pomade is the secret to strong, natural-looking brows. The cream-based formula thickens, shapes and fills in brows with precision without leaving them looking too overdrawn and heavy.
Brow pomade allows you to completely transform the shape, shade and fullness of your brows and is perfect for those with sparse hairs looking for a quick fix which takes minimal effort but has maximum results. For those with a thicker brow, pomade can also help create a more powerful and dramatic look.
While filled-in brows with powder and pencils can look natural with some practice, brow pomade, on the other hand, is more foolproof because no drawing is required. If you’re in a hurry in the morning and looking for something a little different, we totally recommend investing.
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
