If you’ve always lamented your thin eyebrows in a world of luxuriant brows, Maybelline New York can understand. Ever since Cara Delevingne put them on the beauty map, we’ve been willing to try near anything to get neat full arches. After a social media storm, which swept up Bella Thorne, Madonna and Lena Dunham, microblading (or eyebrow embroidery as it likes to be called) has become the relative norm. Though, there are still people out there (me!) who are a little nervous about the idea of semipermanent eyebrow tattoos. To fill in (pun only half intended) the gap in the market Maybelline New York is launching a new at-home temporary brow tint pen that mimics the look of microblading.
Earlier, in April, a Youtuber called Tina Yong sung the praises of Maybelline New York’s new Tattoo Studio Brow Tint Pen. With a pronged slanted tip it can lightly stroke the brows to add fullness that looks like real hair. Unlike microblading it can be washed off (and won’t set you back more than a few pounds).
Yong drove her fans wild with a preview of the new tool. Though she did prove it doesn’t quite live up to its smudge-free hype, we’re still willing to give this new pen a chance, albeit with a little drying time worked in. However, as you can see when you skip to 5 minutes into the video, Yong's brows are noticeably fuller but without being dense or block-coloured as expected from other microblading-copying pens and pencils. Arguablly, it looks very natural.
Right now, it’s available for $8.99 (£7) in the US, so be prepared to pay for shipping. Nobody ever said happiness comes from free.