“Once I began doing eyebrows within the early ‘90s, I wished to repair my very own eyebrows as a result of [they were] pencil skinny,” says Anastasia Soare, founder and CEO of Anastasia Beverly Hills. “Then, there have been no merchandise for eyebrows; I used to combine aloe vera with Vaseline and a few eyeshadow to fill within the excellent form.”
So she got down to make the proper merchandise for each kind of forehead, created a patented brow-shaping methodology and, in doing so, grew to become a family identify. Now 25 years later, the model is celebrating its milestone with among the largest stars. Bringing Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Oprah and different trailblazing ladies collectively to toast Anastasia Beverly Hills’ anniversary earlier this week, the glamorous event highlighted how Soare launched brows into luxurious magnificence.
Whereas the model now has a full line of shade cosmetics, its forehead assortment stays its crown jewel. With over a dozen merchandise devoted to the artwork of excellent arches, there’s one thing for all forehead sorts, hair colours and pores and skin sorts as nicely (Soare notes that this impacts the best way you fill in your brows). From cult-favorite forehead pencils to newer launches, we examined 10 Anastasia Beverly Hills forehead merchandise to search out which of them actually measure up.
Whether or not you’re after an all-in-one forehead product or favor the management of a multi-step routine, Anastasia’s merchandise meet quite a lot of wants. They play nicely collectively, and loads of them carry out simply as nice on their very own, too. Our evaluate takes into consideration various make-up talent ranges, preferences for a extra pure forehead versus absolutely sculpted arches and when our personal outcomes differed from the overall consensus on top-rated merchandise.
5 editors participated within the testing, with quite a lot of hair colours (blonde, auburn and darkish brunette) and forehead sorts. From skinny and sparse to full and bushy to downright common (my brows are medium-full and medium-thick), we tried Anastasia’s hottest forehead merchandise to search out the common winners. Listed here are the outcomes.
Anastasia’s reply to the cleaning soap forehead pattern, this styling wax helps maintain brows up for a lifted, feathery impact. We beloved how pure it seemed on, and we discovered that it stored our brows in place all day with out flaking. It has a thick gel-like texture that may really feel a bit moist when making use of, however it then dries right into a waxy pomade. For some, this may really feel a bit heavy, however when you’re in search of a strong-holding product for cussed brows, it will assist maintain them in place. Two of the testers mentioned that this product was sufficient for his or her every day forehead look. «I am an enormous fan of a pure, lifted forehead, so I used it by itself and beloved the best way it seemed,» says social lead Stephanie Griffin, who defines her pure brows as skinny and sparse in the direction of the ends.
Forehead Freeze is certainly one of Soare’s personal private favorites, and he or she makes use of it as step one of her forehead routine, earlier than filling them in with any shade. I attempted this methodology and located that fluffing up my brows with Forehead Freeze and giving them a little bit of form earlier than making use of any forehead pencil or powder really made it simpler to see what areas of my brows wanted to be crammed in.
As a result of the product is available in a pot, you’ll want a spoolie to use it. Anastasia makes a useful Forehead Freeze Applicator — which options one flat finish to scoop out a little bit of the product, and a spoolie finish to really apply it to the brows — that we discovered important for clean utility. “It’s undoubtedly price it to make use of because it made the method fast and took seconds to use,” says social strategist Madison Yerke, who has medium-full, fantastic brows. Simply watch out to not overload the spoolie. “One mistake that individuals do is that they use just a little an excessive amount of,” Soare shares. “It’s going to be too cakey, an excessive amount of product and also you don’t get the very best outcome.” As an alternative, begin small and construct from there.
This retractable forehead pencil incorporates a triangular tip to make it simpler to stipulate and fill in brows. General, we favored the flexibleness that the triangular tip offers for utility, and having a retractable format is all the time handy in comparison with a standard pencil that requires sharpening. We additionally favored having the spoolie on the opposite finish of the pencil, which can be utilized for mixing and shaping.
«I discovered it comes out rather more muted and dissipated so making strokes is not as exact — which is sweet for me as a beginner,» says senior life-style editor Rachel Lubitz. She appreciated the softer pigment for filling in her full, bushy brows and examined the shade Caramel. «This felt extra like a pastel crayon than a pencil, and I imply that in a great way,» she explains. «It got here out extra light so you might actually construct the colour and it was much less apparent what strokes I had made with it.»
We additionally examined the ultra-thin Forehead Wiz, which is a thin, precision-tip forehead pencil and one of many model’s top-rated merchandise at Sephora. Our testers had middling critiques, nevertheless, and famous that whereas the retractable, skinny tip was nice for filling in detailed strokes, it wasn’t as blendable because the Forehead Definer and utilized a bit darker total. For individuals who go for a sculpted forehead look on the every day, Forehead Wiz may very well be a worthy addition to your routine, but when it’s a five-minute-face type of day, Forehead Definer is by far the much less fussy choice.
A shock hit for all the testers, the Dipbrow Pomade was straightforward to use and delivered buildable shade that defines and shades the brows. Opinions editor Tobey Grumet Segal, who has medium-full brows with sparse ends and examined the product in Medium Brown, notes that the product offers a extra done-up impact: «I’d use this extra for going out within the evenings, not daytime,» she says.
Even so, every of the editors mentioned they’d attain for this over a forehead pencil, due to its user-friendly pigment (you may simply want an incredible eyeliner or slanted forehead brush readily available to use it).
“As a result of I had by no means used a pomade earlier than I assumed that it might come out as tremendous darkish, paint-like strokes within the worst approach potential, however this ended up being certainly one of my favorites,” says Lubitz, who examined the Caramel shade. “It comes out fairly gentle so you may construct up too, which is precisely what I would like. I’d really put on it alone, and if it nonetheless wanted some diffusing i’d return in with the Forehead Definer.” Griffin additionally thinks it makes an incredible pairing with the Forehead Freeze for a simple two-step forehead look.
Each of Anastasia’s pigmented forehead gels carried out nicely in our testing, so it is really as much as private desire and how much forehead look you like. «With these two instruments it is an all-in-one product: It brushes out your brows, fills them in with pigment and leaves them feeling and looking out fuller all on the identical time,» Lubitz says. She examined the Dipbrow Gel within the shade Caramel, and the Tinted Forehead Gel within the shade Brunette. Each offered first rate maintain and shade that did not flake or smudge as soon as set.
The Dipbrow Gel scored barely larger total resulting from its matte shade and stronger maintain. The Dipbrow Gel can also be out there in a broader shade vary that focuses on ash tones, whereas the Tinted Forehead Gel’s shades are extra warm-toned. The primary distinction between the 2 merchandise is that they’ve completely different applicators.
The Dipbrow Gel has a cone-shaped spoolie which you can simply brush all through your total forehead, even in the direction of the ends. On a number of events after I’ve been in a rush to get out the door, I’ve used the Darkish Brown Dipbrow Gel alone, rapidly brushing it forwards and backwards throughout my brows (belief me! this helps the pigment attain beneath the hairs too, so you may fully fill them in) earlier than shaping them in place.
For people who love a pure forehead look, Tinted Forehead Gel is a superb choice. It has a lighter maintain and tint that provides a full impact with out trying as dramatic because the Dipbrow Gel. The pigment seems to be a bit shimmery within the bottle, however as soon as it dries there is no noticeable shine or sparkle. I additionally observed that the Espresso shade I examined seems to be a bit lighter within the bottle, however it nonetheless goes on a deep brunette.
The Tinted Forehead Gel incorporates a straight spoolie that has longer bristles on one facet. The lengthy bristles will let you brush the pigment all through the brows, whereas the shorter ones make it simpler to focus on particular areas. «For the fuller components of my brows I used the longer brush facet, after which flipped it over to the shorter brush facet to get my sparser strands in the midst of my brows, which I really like to intensify,» Lubitz explains. In the meantime, I discovered that the shorter bristles gave me extra management total and I normally defaulted to utilizing that facet.
Yerke most popular the Tinted Forehead Gel within the shade Chocolate to the Dipbrow Gel in Darkish Brown, which she discovered smeared simply throughout utility. “[The Tinted Brow Gel] felt rather a lot lighter to put on and I felt prefer it blended smoother with my eyebrow form and texture than the Dipbrow Gel did,” Yerke shares.
With a group as sturdy as Anastasia’s, some merchandise are certain to outperform others. We discovered that the model’s forehead gels and shaping merchandise have been the celebs, whereas the filler merchandise, such because the Forehead Pen and Forehead Powder Duo, fell quick.
Every of the testers skilled finicky utility with the Forehead Pen — typically it might come out too gentle if not sufficient stress was used, however different occasions it might come out extraordinarily darkish and too pigmented to correctly mix. Wiping the applicator in between makes use of helped with consistency, however sustaining the product simply provides one other step. Moreover, the colour itself wasn’t as long-lasting because the forehead pencils we tried.
“It smudged tremendous simply and it was arduous to search out my eyebrow’s pure form,” Yerke says. “The pigment was too arduous and the feel was too moist. I’d say the pencil or gel could be longer lasting and permits for extra wiggle room when making errors. To not point out that the pen got here off tremendous simply. I’d advocate this provided that you’re in search of a critical, thick, darkish forehead.”
Alternatively, the Forehead Powder Duo allowed for a lot softer utility, however much less precision total. “Though it was buildable, it was arduous to get these natural-looking strokes with a powder system versus a pencil,” says Griffin. Moreover, we had blended emotions in regards to the two-tone pigment. Whereas it features a lighter and darker shade so you may create dimension on your forehead, not one of the testers felt assured sufficient with the product to attempt the ombré impact.
It’s price noting, nevertheless, that that is one other certainly one of Anastasia’s top-rated merchandise and loads of individuals have had success with it, whether or not making a gradient look or utilizing each colours concurrently to create the proper shade match for his or her brows. “The explanation why I’ve two colours in every is to customized mix,” Soare explains. “The inside a part of the eyebrow must be lighter, so you utilize the sunshine shade there, and from the best half in the direction of the top, you might use the darker shade.”
The final product that we didn’t love is the Professional Pencil, a concealer pencil that can be utilized to spotlight your forehead bone, clear up the define of your brows after filling them in or brighten darkish circles. The entire testers discovered it tough to mix, and the shade vary (it is available in three colours) didn’t go deep sufficient for darker pores and skin tones. We concluded that if you wish to spotlight your forehead look, it’s higher to achieve for an precise highlighter, and if you wish to conceal, a cream concealer will give a extra pure impact.
For a status magnificence model, Anastasia’s merchandise are user-friendly and pretty priced, particularly contemplating it invented the posh forehead class.
The closest comparability may be made with Profit Cosmetics, which is equally accessible at main retailers and likewise has a strong providing of common forehead merchandise (which our editors additionally love), however there are just a few spots the place it can save you a couple of dollars by choosing Anastasia and obtain comparable outcomes. For instance, Profit’s Gimme Forehead+ Tinted Volumizing Forehead Gel is $26, whereas Anastasia’s Dipbrow Gel is just $20. Each give just about the identical quantity of product and fill and form the brows with ease. The primary distinction is the applicator — Profit’s is a petite spoolie, whereas Anastasia’s is a bit elongated. I’m personally an Anastasia convert on this one.
Kimiko, Joey Healy and the just-launched KS&CO are different luxurious forehead manufacturers with gorgeous merchandise that our editors have tried and beloved, however they aren’t as available as Anastasia. And whereas Joey Healy has some merchandise comparable in efficiency and value, the others are significantly costlier as nicely.
Anastasia Beverly Hills has been making forehead merchandise for 25 years, so that you may be assured it is aware of what it’s doing. Its forehead stylers are high-quality, beginner-friendly and straightforward to search out (though sure merchandise have been liable to promoting out).
In researching for this story (learn: scouring the pages and pages of Sephora critiques), a sample popped up: reviewer after reviewer would be aware how they’ve been utilizing a hero Anastasia product, just like the Forehead Definer, for 3, 4, 5+ years — which makes it much more thrilling that a few of our top-performing merchandise in our testing have been among the newer releases, like Forehead Freeze. Both approach, it’s clear that after you’ve discovered an Anastasia product you like, you keep it up.
