Um, yeah… I’ve been busy, okay?! Wunderbrow has been on my “to-review” list for at least 2ish years and I just hadn’t had to opportunity to try it out until last week when I found a Christmas set on sale at London Drugs. Yep. That was what bumped this up to the top of my list, the fact that I got all three pieces in a set for $34.99 when the retail value of the brow gel on it’s own is $34.99. What can I say? I’m a thrifty bish and love a good deal. I’m also maybe the world’s worst blogger because I spend my own money for gimmicky product reviews.
Full disclosure, I do have an advantage when it comes to the brow game because my brows were microbladed years ago and have held on to some of that pigment since then. As one of many people who over plucked in the early 2000’s I am all about this full brow Brooke Shields moment. When I finally started filling in my brows I definitely over filled them and couldn’t figure out how to apply brow products. I went full Silky Ganache and my brows looked like they were applied with Sharpie. Once I got my eyebrows microbladed I got to say “see ya” to brow makeup for over a year but recently the pigment has been fading and I started wearing brow makeup again. Because microblading is so costly I decided to not get my brows touched up.
Also, this isn’t really relevant to the review but I just want you all to know that one time a beautiful drag queen told me I had the nicest eyebrows she’s ever seen and it was the best compliment I ever received. I think about that a lot.
The Claim
The Products
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Like I said earlier, I bought this as a trio set for $34.99 from London Drugs in the shade black/brown. The trio came with the brow gel, a duel ended brush and a duel ended brow pencil and highlight. Because the trio was on sale it worked out to be comparable to drugstore prices however the gel on its own regular price is definitely more along the lines of Sephora pricing.
(I was going to review the brow pencil/highlight as well but it was obviously created with a different skin tone in mind. Upon swatching it I immediately realized it was too light however I did not want to give it a negative review just because it wasn’t suitable for my tone.)
The Application
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Instructions were easy enough to follow; start off with clean brows, use the spoolie end of the brush to brush eyebrow hairs into place, and then use the slanted side to apply the product in hairlike strokes. The packaging also says you can apply the product directly to your brows from the applicator however I don’t really see how this would work. The brush is dense and the bristles are quite long so I can’t imagine that there is much precision there. The brush that it came with was pretty thick and it was hard to make hairlike strokes with it. If you decide to try it out I would suggest you buy a finer tip slanted angle brush for more control.
The formula itself is very liquidy and applies easily with a brush. It did leave a bit of a harden gel effect on the hairs but I was satisfied with the result. For those of you with shaky hands, worry not! While the formula is semi permanent I found that oil based cleansers help break down the formula. The formula also applies very wet and takes a bit of time to set so you do have some time to remove any unwanted strokes if you move quickly.
The Check-In
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By the second day I was surprised to see that the pigmentation had held in there. It had definitely faded around the edges a bit, however it faded in a way that was even and didn’t leave my brows feeling patchy. It was definitely sweat proof and lasted through two spin classes despite the fact that I turned into a puddle during class.
By the third day the product was fading fast which is to be expected but again it wasn’t patchy. My brows still looked fuller than they naturally would on their own.
The Verdict
Overall I was impressed that Wunderbrow lived up to their hype. Like it promised it held up against smudges, water and did not transfer. I delved a little deeper to find out why that is and it’s due to an ingredient called trimethylsiloxysilicate, a silicon resin. It essentially forms a film that holds the pigment in place while being water resistant. Science y’all.
The lazy gal in me likes this product. The idea of just set it and forget it appeals to a part of my soul that just wants to roll out of bed and proceed with my day fuss free. My wallet also loves this product because you get a decent amount of product and you don’t need a whole lot to fill in your brows plus it’s so much cheaper than microblading.
I will say that one of the downsides is that the shade range is limited and I had a hard time finding a suitable colour. For my hair colour my options were black/brown or black. I opted not to pick the black because I was worried that it would be too dark however the black/brown is a bit warmer than I would have liked tbh.
I will continue to use it because I already have it but I don’t necessarily think this has reached holy grail makeup product status for me.
