Share: Tell us what you love and hate about Eyebrow Pencils!
my answer: I wish they weren’t quite as stiff–so many brow pencils seem like you have to tug a lot just to get some color out. I like that you can get a more precise line, though!
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
I find that a lot of them (at least for medium brown hair) tend to be too orange-leaning, so that tends to look less natural. I like how easy and quick they are to apply.
I feel like most of them are too warm/red-toned. It’s really difficult to find one that’s more on the neutral or cool side.
(That being said, I tend to use the one by Sephora, which’s not overly warm-toned, feels like the one by Anastasia, but costs a fraction of the price.)
I haven’t yet found the one that would be effortless and just magical on the brows! 😀 I am hoping the Hourglass one will be it!
I prefer a brow pencil. Precise and quick!
I prefer powder and gel over pencil, definitely. I feel that with an eyebrow pencil the result is less natural and more harsh.
Because I fell “victim” to the over-tweezing, skinny-brow epidemic of the mid-90s, I have to use a pencil to shape my brows, and have a base to start with. I then soften the look with a powder/eyeshadow, and the pencil also helps the product “stick”, adding length to the wear-time.
The most important reason I go with pencil is because I dye my hair black, and while my hair color looks quite natural, having dark brown or charcoal brows makes the dye-job look more obvious. UnlessI use a pencil, iit’s next to impossible to find a product in black. My HG pencil is WnW, costs $1, goes on quite easily, and because it isn’t very pigmented, doesn’t look too harsh. I have a friend who’s blonde, and she swears by the taupe, which would also work well for those with lighter brown hair.
Interestingly, I prefer stiffer eyebrow pencils because I feel like they give you more control and more natural looking brows. My biggest issue with brow pencils is that they are NEVER cool toned enough. Seriously, who wants to be walking around with chocolatey, warm eyebrows? It looks ridiculous when people have black or cool toned brown hair and then red brown eyebrows. I feel like most brands are guilty of this- they usually have 2 shades of eyebrow pencil- a light brown for blondes and then a warm dark brown for everyone else.
Like you i do love the recision. I start out with a pencil and fill in with gel.
I have been using Anatasia’s Brow Pencil. A little pricey but dead-on for color-match.
The only one I’ve ever used is MUFE brow pencil and I really love it. I just had so many problems with fallout and fading using powders, and I’m glad I switched.
I have had issues with pencils being too hard to the point in which I have lost brow hairs using them. The other issue is the color is either too warm/red/orange or too dark.
Like how precise a good pencil can be if it’s just the right color. It’s just too bad that you can’t cover gray hair with them.
I love how easy pencils like Brow Wiz can be to use, but I don’t love how quickly I end up going through them because it seems that there’s never a lot of product in the twist-up pencils.
I HATE how drugstores never have eyebrow pencils for those with black hair, which is so dumb considering there are so many more people with really dark brown or black hair. Personally I don’t really like using a brow pencil anyways, since my eyebrows are naturally pretty thick and I just want to fill in the ends. I can see how someone with sparse brow hairs would like them but I love brow powders way more.
You might want to try the NYC Eyebrow Pencil in Sable. It’s pretty dark, but not black, and it’s not warm. It’s under $1, so if you hate it, no harm done! 😛
I have mostly-there eyebrows that just need some definition towards the outer half… but I also have extremely fair skin and black eyebrows. So I only need a little definition but that definition has to be perfect. I had an awful time with powders and gels but get along perfectly my $1 essence brow pencil. It creates a natural look with barely ten seconds of effort and I’ve never had it smudge.
Rave: like that they are quick and easy to apply; pararticularly like those that also contain a brush or spoolie. I have a personal preference for the mechanical kind which you twist up instead of sharpening.
Rant: Stop with the warm toned mid to dark browns already. Sheesh There really isn’t that many people who have warm coloured brows; particularly brunettes. Most of us are taupey or ashy. Oh, invest in some payoff..its a good thing. Hate the really waxy variety of pencils when you have to press far too hard to get results..which you promptly wipe off because it looks so fake. Eyebrow pencils should be made for feathering strokes, not like crayola crayons.
i prefer pencils over anything else- they’re quick and easy and they always look the best imo. powder’s never looked right on me, especially since my eyebrow’s are so blonde it looks like i have none when i take my makeup off. until about a year ago i was subjecting myself to drugstore pencils that were waayyy too warm for my skin tone and hair (medium auburn brown for black hair? eep and i’m one of those people who like their eyebrows dark- at one point i was using a straight up black eye liner LOL) then i started using a grey one then lightly filling in with a brown. it looked better since it made it cooler, but not quite perfect. then i found mac’s eyebrow pencil and boom. stop. perfect. it was actually a cool brown that looked GOOD. then i started using the anastasia dipbrow and together, it is a wonderful combination. my eyebrows do not move lol on my lazy day’s though (aka most work mornings) i do use a nyx eyebrow pencil since i don’t have time to fuss with the dipbrow at 4:30 am :p
The only one I’ve been happy with is the one made by Anastasia. The brunette shade is the perfect match for my almost black brows. It’s a neutral deep brown and there’s no tugging and pulling.
I like pencils. I think they run out a bit too quickly though. I’ve been using my Anastasia Dipbrow for quite a few months and there’s still plenty left. I was going through MAC brow pencils like every other month. Definitely adds up!
Pros: they’re quick and easy to apply, and also to touch up. Brow powder is too fiddly for me, and my brows are too sparse for pomade or gel to look natural.
Cons: way too many brunette shades are too warm, and make the brows look reddish or orange. I’m a big fan of MUFE’s dark taupe pencil, it’s a good neutral color (I’d love a more ashy dark brown in this formula though!).
Rant: color selection is very limited, especially if you have red hair (Just For Redheads has a few good ones, though). If you have dyed hair that is really wild-colored (blue, purple, pink) you can forget it.
Rave: They are pretty easy to use and fit easily in most makeup bags or purses.
I use Bellapierre Ginger Blonde brow powder first, then a little auburn pencil brow pencil to get a little dark red to match my hair color better.
I love brow pencils for their convenience and I have tried most of the eyebrow products on the market. My favorites as a pale and cool toned brunette are
– Anastasia pencil in Medium Ash
– Yves Saint Laurent pencil in Ash
– Catrice pencil in Don’t Let Me Brown
– Clinique superfine liner in Soft Brown
I like that they’re quick and easy to apply but I find that they’re often too warm-toned and don’t create a natural look
I have oily skin so my main gripe is that few eyebrow pencils are long-wearing and stay well enough on the skin.
I’m super into the one I use, Wet ‘n Wild Color Icon. It’s a brow pencil/liner, which must be why it’s not too stiff. It’s a little more creamy. It does make it a little easier for me to go outside the lines, but I usually just clean up a bit with concealer.
One thing that I find annoying about eyebrow pencils, though, is that it’s sometimes hard to find a match. I use the WnW Taupe pencil, which seems to be a perfect match. My hair is such a light brown that I probably couldn’t use the pencils for brunettes; I might have to use the blonde ones if I ever switch brands.
Has anyone ever tried the one by Suqqu in “Moss green”? Just curious about it. Thanks!
Yes! I love love love the SUQQU eyebrow liquid pens and have used them daily for years. I can fill in my brows with super fine lines where needed with full control and no tugging. Mostly I leave them there, but if I want a even stronger brow, I fill them in with some shadow afterwards and set them with a gel.
I remember Lisa Eldridge once said that she thought the “Moss Green” was a translation error, but I actually think it leans green. I have the pen in both Brown and Moss Green. My brows are pretty similar to Christine´s brows in colour I think, and the Moss Green comes closest to that. But for a softer look I get away with the Brown too, it´s actually the one I have used the most lately. Compared to the eyeshadow I use for my brows – MAC Brun – the Moss Green is a tad lighter and more greenish, but I believe they work very well together.
I recently visited the SUQQU counter in London and bought a bunch of stuff including a couple of their famous brushes. Plus put my name on the waiting list for their cheek brush… Crazy. The MUA raved about their “Balancing Eyebrow Kit”, and that is now on my wish list for the brow department 😉
Btw, forgot to mention that it is waterproof and stays perfect through rain, sweat – whatever – until you remove. What´s not to love!
Honestly, I cannot fathom buying an eyebrow pencil over $3. I used to use the UD Browbox in Brown Sugar but I fell out of love. I now use the NYC Eyebrow/Eyeliner Pencil in the color Sable and it’s the best product that I’ve ever used! It’s a very dark brown, softer than black and it doesn’t have a trace a red. Best of all, it’s under $1! It’s creamy enough but not so soft it’ll look gross. I use it with a gentle hand and my eyebrows look decent enough. Truth to be told, I just like to even out my brows and make them look similar. I HATE that fake, Instagram-ey Youtube-ey overly done brow.
I see in the comments that many people share my problem, which is that most of the ones within my shade range are too warm/orange/red. I see this a lot on blogs, vlogs, you name it, actually. Obviously they need to keep the shades they have, for the people who do need a warm undertone, but would it kill the companies to release a more cool toned one once in a while?! This is why I use eyeshadow – more variety…
On the plus side, I too liike the added precision, and that you can draw in little individual hairs if you need to fill a particualr gap more precisely/make up for overplucking.
My current ♥ is It Cosmetics Brow Power worn with Anastasia clear gel.
It’s easy to apply and last all day in these hot humid weather.