Review: NYX Tinted Brow Mascara

NYX Tinted Brow Mascara

During Ulta's most recent 40% off sale, I picked up a few new brow items from NYX, including the new NYX Tinted Brow Mascara. This retails for $6.99 (0.22 fl oz) in-store and online at Ulta, and the NYX Cosmetics Website.


With brows being the main focus of every Instagram post, and commanding the attention of every beauty blogger, how does this one compare to the other brow gels on the market?


Let's get in to the review!


The NYX Tinted Brow Mascara comes in 5 shades; Blonde, Chocolate, Brunette, Espresso, and Black. As I have very dark brown hair but fair skin, I chose the shade Brunette.


Brunette is a medium neutral toned brown. If you have medium skin tone with dark brown hair, go for the shade Espresso. If you have a dark blonde or warm light brown hair color, go for Chocolate.


The Tinted Brow Mascara comes in a color coordinated plastic tube. It is about 2/3rd the size of a traditional mascara tube, perfect size for traveling or throwing into your purse for on the go.


The actual brush head is a small in size with the bristles in a spiral pattern, tapering in at the end so it's easy to control and get into small areas of the brow.

NYX Tinted Brow Mascara

Top: Laura Geller Lash Primer, Bottom: NYX Tinted Brow Mascara

The formula of this product is a surprisingly good. There's no false fibers or hairs to make it clumpy, and it's not too thick or thin where the product builds up on the brows or the mascara wand. It's perfect. Except for one thing, the smell. It smells like fermented old alcohol. It's a sweet disgusting smell that thankfully does not transfer or linger when you put it on your brows.


My brows are extremely difficult to work with, they tend to grow downwards and I have very sparse hair around the arch of my brows, so holding them up right and into place is a chore.


As far as holding brows into place, it's perfect. I didn't need to touch throughout the day or reapply. In comparison to other brow gels I have tried, such as the Essence and Palladio Brow Gels, this one tops the list.


I know some people will wonder, is it a dupe for the Benefit Gimme Brow? No, unfortunately it's not. The Gimme Brow has actual fibers in the gel which help make the brow look fuller, the NYX one does not. The brush head on the Gimme Brow is smaller than the NYX, however the NYX Brow Mascara has 5 shades to choose from, whereas the Benefit only has 2, and for me, the staying and holding power of the NYX is better than the Benefit.


I will say, if you have sparse brow hairs or brows that don't have a great shape to begin with, you'll need more than this product alone to make your brows perfect. I found than when I used this by itself, without filling in my brows with a pomade or pencil, my brows still needed something else to get the brow shape I needed.


For those of you with already full brows but just need to hold them in place, you'll love this.


Something to note. If you have stray hairs around your brows and don't pluck or maintain your brows on the regular, be careful because this will get onto those stray hairs and you'll need to wipe it off or pluck it.


Overall, if you're in the market for a paraben-free brow gel, which is surprisingly difficult to find, you'll love it! It's great for those of us who need to fill in and shape our brows with pencils/pomades, to use as a topper to hold the brow hairs in place, and it's great for those with already full brows who just need to keep those hairs in place. The only downside is the smell, and I wish they would make a transparent-clear shade.


NEED IT!
4.5/5