Between squeezing in brow appointments, filling in sparse spots with a pencil, and occasionally tinting them, I’ve spent more time thinking about my eyebrows than I’d like to admit. Time is money, and if there’s a way to shave a few minutes off my beauty routine, I’m taking it. “High maintenance to be low maintenance,” as the kids (people my age) say.
So when at-home brow tints started popping up all over social media, I was immediately intrigued. As someone who’s already obsessed with lip stains because they save me from reapplying liners and glosses after every bite of dinner, the idea of applying something once and not thinking about it again for days sounded like a dream. Think of this as a stain for your eyebrows.
Vogue’s Favorite Brow Tints:
Unlike getting your brows tinted at a salon, today’s at-home kits make the process surprisingly simple, with some formulas working in under a minute. And unlike brow gels that wash off at the end of the day, these formulas stain the hairs and, in some cases, the skin beneath them for results that can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks.
Celebrity makeup artist Amber Amos says more people are gravitating toward brow stains and dyes because they offer flexibility without commitment. “In this economy, it’s a more cost-effective option than more permanent treatments like microblading and requires much less maintenance than lamination,” she says. “Stains let you experiment without getting stuck with brows you hate for weeks, or even worse, months.” Celebrity makeup artist A. Love agrees, attributing the brow stain’s increased prominence to the enduring appeal of the effortless, “I woke up like this” aesthetic. Brow stains and dyes, they say, create a natural “my brows, but better” effect while lasting much longer than traditional brow gels or pomades.
That said, at-home tinting does come with a learning curve. “If you’re brow tinting at home, you can run the risk of making the tint too dark or uneven—but it usually fades pretty quickly,” says celebrity makeup artist Julianne Kaye. Fortunately, with the pro makeup artist tricks outlined below (and a good spoolie!), it’s pretty easy to master home-tinting skills for flawless arches. So, which tint to try first? Ahead, find Vogue-vetted brow tints—the same ones celebrity artists keep handy for when they need to raise a brow or two.
