little white truths

This is the second one of these travel-sized Anastasia Clear Brow Gels that I've used: I received them both via Bellabox and while this gel is a product that I'm happy to use and own, it's not one I would buy because I reckon it's too expensive for what it is.


Anastasia claims/product details:

• A clear gel fortified with botanical hair conditioners and essential oils to keep unruly brows in place all day without flaking
• Key ingredients include water (to add moisture) and hyaluronic adic (to smooth and tone skin)
• Botanical and essential oils oxygenate, regenerate and re-hydrate the skin and brow hair, helping the hair grow stronger; they're also absorbed into the dermal and sub dermal skin cells to kill bacteria
• To use: stroke gently upward and outward to achieve the most flattering shape
• Available in the Bellabox shop
• RRP $39 AUD for 7.93g

Verdict

As mentioned above, this is a nice little brow gel but I'm not prepared to pay $40 for something like this.

While I've been known to fork out that amount of money for a decent eyeshadow, brow gels to me aren't something that warrant that kind of outlay - but of course it's all personal preference and I'm sure there are those who would prefer to pay more for a brow gel because they feel they get something extra from it.

Anyhoo. As for the product, it's a clear gel that applies well and dries quickly, keeping your brows in place all day. It does leave your brows looking a little shiny and feeling a bit hard and crisp to the touch, but that doesn't bother me and it's what I would expect from a product like this. In any event, the effect is natural-looking and of course the benefit of clear gels is that they suit all brow colours.

On that, I generally prefer coloured brow gels because the good ones have a gap-filling function as well as a setting one, meaning I only need to use one brow product instead of a pencil or powder and a gel, which suits me because I'm lazy. But of course that's not a comment on the quality of the product, just a note on personal preference.

I should also note that this clear gel becomes not so clear pretty quickly because the wand picks up any colour you've added to your brows, so it starts to look cloudy almost immediately. You could avoid that by wiping the wand each time before dipping it back in the tube, but what a waste of an already expensive product.

On the product claims, yes this keeps my unruly brows in place all day without flaking. I have absolutely no idea if the product 'oxygenates, regenerates and re-hydrates the skin and brow hair, helping the hair grow stronger' because the skin/hair around that area is normal (unlike the rest of my face and my actual hair, both of which tend towards dryness) and my brows are thick anyway: indeed, they're too strong and thick and I spend half my life plucking them.

I'm not kidding. I have to pluck them every day or I'd have a hairier face than the dog.

I also can't tell if the product does anything in terms of adding moisture to the skin or smoothing and toning it: I mean, that skin is underneath my brows so I can't really see or feel it anyway.

In sum, this is a decent brow gel that does the job well, but I can pick up something from the pharmacy that performs the same function for a fraction of the price, so I wouldn't buy it.