Review: Maybelline Brow Drama

This is Maybelline's newest brow gel: Brow Drama in "soft brown." I hate to say I was not all that impressed with this product. I am always on the hunt for great brow products. Since I have blonde lashes & brows, I use mascara and brow tint daily. I typically use a brow wax or pomade on a liner or angled brush, and I set it with a tinted or clear gel. At the moment, I'm using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade. On an everyday basis I set this with the e.l.f. clear brow gel and when I want a bolder look, I use Benefit's gimme brow (see my thoughts on that here).

I love gimme brow, but it's a bit pricey so I'm searching for a cheaper alternative. Unfortunately, this definitely doesn't qualify as a dupe. It doesn't seem to have many fibers or if it does, they're not working to add thickness to my brows. It doesn't help keep my brows firmly in place and doesn't add much tint, either. I was most surprised by the brush shape. It looks like a regular mascara wand but then has a big round bulb on the end. This is really a bad shape for brows. It was much too large to tint my brows without getting onto the surrounding skin. When I try to apply this neatly, I end up not being able to get enough product onto my brows. The product may be ok when applied with a normal brush, but this brush really ruined it for me.

I won't be repurchasing this and my hunt for the perfect brow gel will have to continue. I would really love to find a drugstore brow gel that holds hairs in place and has fibers for added volume. If you have any suggestions, please leave them below so I can check them out! Until then, I'll stick with Benefit!

Benefit Gimme Brow Review

    

 I love this concept - a tinted brow gel with fibers to add thickness. I have very blonde brows so I'm always trying out new products to darken them, shape them, and keep them in place. I get my brows threaded to shape them, but I don't have much of an arch, so I use some type of gel or pencil to add some shape to them and no matter what I need a product to darken them. Even if my brows are dyed, I still like to fill them in at least slightly. It helps frame your face and your eyes especially. Benefit 'Gimme Brow' is a mascara-like product to help add thickness and volume to brows, while lightly tinting and holding them in place. It comes in a small tube (0.1 oz) with a tiny mascara brush inside. The range consists of 2 shades, light/medium and medium/deep. I use light/medium and it's the perfect light brown with ash tones. The formula itself is also very similar to mascara, with little fibers in it that are meant to attach to your brows to make them appear fuller. I have used this both on top of already filled in brows and alone, and I like it both ways, but for different reasons. On a "no makeup day" I sweep this onto my brows by itself for a little color and to keep them neat. It adds enough color to tint my brows without being a bold brow. On regular makeup days, I fill in my brows (I use the e.l.f. Studio Eyebrow Kit in medium) and then use the Gimme Brow as a setting gel and it adds some extra volume. I like the product for it's tint and it does keep my brows in place all day. Since I have lighter brows, I like anything that makes my brows appear darker and fuller. The only thing I don't like about Gimme Brow is that after a few weeks the product starts to build up on the end of the tube (at the opening) and gets dry and flakey. For some reason this is more of a problem with this than with any mascara I've ever used. 

     Gimme Brow typically goes for $22 and it has lasted me a couple months so far. Even though it has gotten dry on the opening of the tube, the consistency of the product inside hasn't changed. I think I will be able to continue using this tube for another month or two. I like the convenience of being able to swipe this on and I get a tint, additional thickness, and the hold that the gel provides all in one. I definitely think I'll repurchase this when it runs out. Once again, Benefit has made an excellent product!

*Note: The product claims to adhere to both skin and hair, however I don't agree. The tint will color your skin, but the fibers don't adhere to my skin. From my experience, the fibers only adhere to hair.

Here's where you can find Benefit Gimme Brow:
Benefit Cosmetics
Sephora
Ulta
Amazon (priced higher)