Once upon a time I was thirteen and participating in a modeling competition with my brother. My brother, Lucien, happened across a stunning woman who informed him that one should never over-pluck their brows, and that, as much as the media trends seem to point toward thin and well-groomed arches, one should stick with simply taming the few stray hairs and leaving the majority natural. Now, being the overly attentive and obsessed-with-making-me-his-glowing-sister-set-for-stardom, my brother ran to me and proclaimed that I should immediately dispense with tweezing my eyebrows because they were already becoming too thin. Naturally, I got annoyed at his constant beauty critiques and sauntered away.
Flash forward seven years and I pluck my eyebrows about 2-5 times a year. This is, in part, due to laziness, but mostly the desire to reach the caterpillic level — new word invention — of people like Cara Delevigne — of course — and Annie Kreighbaum, executive director at Glossier. My eyebrow hairs are pretty thin and not quite as full as I would like them to be; however, I’ve always hated filling them in. I don’t like the way it looks or feels — too pasty feeling and too stage-makeupy looking. So, when talk of eyebrow “mascara” began circulating, you can only imagine my intrigue and excitement. I sampled a few different kinds but wasn’t overly enthused by any of them. I had heard — or seen rather — a lot about Glossier, mostly through celebrity posts and very aesthetically pleasing ads. I was definitely intrigued, but being the type of instant gratification person that I am when it comes to makeup, I didn’t want to wait for shipping. Eventually, I couldn’t resist anymore, and I purchased Boy Brow in brown.
Packaging
Right off the bat, I was obsessed — laughing at the fact that I used an idiom that has baseball origins, I’ve never even been to a baseball game. I know what you’re thinking, “Is she even American?” My response, “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather be French.” But anyway…obsessed. The shipping box was beautiful, the interior a soft pink with tons of adorable stickers inside, and the pink, reusable bubble wrap bag has been put to almost as much use as the wonderous product within it. Everything was clean, sleek and glowed with the aesthetics of the millennial generation.
Product
I don’t think I’ve ever been so giddy about trying a new beauty product. I let the small white and silver tube fall out of its pink packaging and appraised it, not knowing that it was soon to become my most trusted friend. I swiped the spool across my eyebrows, combing and perfecting them like the videos on the Glossier website. The product went on seamlessly. Many of the other brow mascaras I’ve tried have been very dry, with a bit of a sandy consistency that makes my brows look almost dusty. Another issue has been color. I’m not sure what it is, but so many brow products just cannot seem to get their colors right. The browns are always too gray or too black or too red. Not sure what Glossier is doing that other brands don’t know about, but they got the color and consistency down pat. The brown gel blended in seamlessly with the tone of my brows and kept the hairs in place looking thick, groomed and fresh without a trace of dryness.
In Closing
So I think it’s pretty obvious how I feel about this product. I rarely wear makeup, and yet this little tube of glory makes a daily treck across my brows and lets me pretend that they are as full and iconic as I long for them to be. Please, just do your brows, face, outfit, and confidence a favor and purchase yourself some Boy Brow.*
Delphine Lazar 