Darker Brows Without the 1930s Drama: My Eyebrow Tint Shortlist

Egyptians darkened their lashes with kohl, a mix of ground galena and oil, and South Asian cultures used kajal, and both are early ancestors of everything on a brow shelf today. The 1930s version was a lot less charming. In 1933 the Cosmetic Manufacturing Co. of Los Angeles sold Lash Lure, an eyebrow and lash dye, and the scandal around it helped drive the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. I mention it because a modern eyebrow tint is a gel you brush on and wipe off at night, and I am glad of that.

Tinted gel is where I start. Benefit's Gimme Brow+ is the familiar one, a tinted volumizing gel that has been on plenty of bathroom shelves. Rare Beauty's Brow Harmony is a flexible lifting and laminating gel for the brushed-up look, and Kosas' Air Brow is tinted and volumizing. Milk Makeup's KUSH is a fiber gel, Anastasia Beverly Hills makes a flexible-hold tinted gel that reads more polished, and caliray's Come Hell Or High Brow is a tubing gel, built for 24 hours.

Brush up and out first, then across, then back into shape. Sweep more product at the tails, where hair is sparser, and leave the front lighter so brows look like your own. If you have never used one, start with a shade close to your hair and add a second coat only where you need it. Most people go too dark on the first try, so build slowly. Let the first coat dry before you decide, and step back from the mirror to judge the shape in normal light.

Some days ask more of a brow than a gel can give. Long outdoor lunches, a humid commute, a spin class at 7 a.m.: those are the days I switch to something built to withstand water and rubbing, and the swap takes no more time than the gel does.

Anastasia Beverly Hills' DIPBROW is a waterproof, smudge-proof pomade, a small pot that you take up with an angled brush. It is the most defined option here, so I keep it for evenings and weddings. Benefit's Precisely, My Brow Pencil is a waterproof micro-precision definer, with a fine tip, and Rare Beauty's Brow Harmony Precision Pencil is a similar idea with a slightly softer feel. Urban Decay's Brow Blade is the tidy two-in-one, with a pen tip on one end and a waterproof pencil on the other, so you can outline and fill without changing tools.

Draw the lines in short, feathered strokes that follow the direction of your own hair, and stop while it still looks a little underdone. It is far easier to add than to take away. Set everything with a clear or tinted gel afterward, and your brows will look much fuller than the pencil alone can manage. Waterproof formulas can be stubborn at night, so use an oil-based remover on a cotton pad and hold it on the brow for a few seconds before wiping.

If your brows have gaps, over-plucked patches or a sparse tail, a gel is not going to fill those on its own. A fine pencil is what you want, and the difference between a good one and a bad one is mostly how thin the tip is and how soft the color goes on.

Patrick Ta's Major Brow is a defining pencil, and ILIA's In Full Micro-Tip does what its name says, a tiny point for drawing single hairs. Kosas' Brow Pop is a dual-action filling and shaping pencil, easy for beginners. Charlotte Tilbury's Brow Cheat is refillable and hair-like, the one I would buy if I planned to use up every last millimeter. Hourglass' Arch Brow is a micro sculpting pencil that gives clean edges, and IT Cosmetics' Brow Power is a universal pencil.

What I would skip: going a full shade darker than your natural hair, and drawing a hard line along the bottom of the brow. A brow that is too dark or too sharp is the first thing anyone notices. Pick a shade that matches the lightest hairs, then build up in the sparse spots only. If you like a soft look, smudge the pencil with the spoolie right away, before it has a chance to set, and finish with a light brush of gel.

My routine takes about a minute. Brush the hairs up with a gel, fill any gaps with a pencil in short strokes, then brush the whole thing through once more so everything blends into a single shape.

Choose a pencil one shade lighter than you think you need, and a gel that matches or is slightly lighter than your hair. Wipe your brows clean at night with your normal makeup remover, and keep your spoolie clean too. A brow product that flakes or clumps is almost always a sign that there is too much of it, or that a dried-out tube is due to be replaced. I keep one gel for the bag and one at home, so I am never touching up with something half-dead. If your brows are thinning for no reason you can see, that is worth mentioning to a doctor. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Eyebrow Growth Serum Picks for Growing Out Your Brows and Cover Girl Makeup.