Merit Beauty's New Product Gives Me Full, Natural-Looking Eyebrows Every Single Time I Use It

I've had little luck creating natural-looking brow strokes to fill in sparse areas and too many experiences with intense brow gels that look like I've painted them on. My brows are naturally thick but have several patchy spots that need a little help, and I have no interest in any kind of semi-permanent eyebrow techniques, whether that be microblading, microfeathering, or lamination. 

Aside from clear pomades to hold everything together, I typically steer clear of colored brow products. I'm very much a minimalist these days, so when I heard Merit was launching its Brow 1990 Gel Pencil and reformulated Brow 1980 Volumizing Pomade this week, I was excited to see how they would enhance my current routine.

"Brows have always been a fraught category," Merit's CMO, Aila Morin, tells Real Simple. "The idea of making an easy-to-use, impossible-to-mess-up brow routine was so appealing to us at Merit precisely because of the prevalence of brow anxiety. So, for years, we've been gathering feedback on Brow 1980 while working to perfect our new brow pencil, Brow 1990. The result is a simple two-step routine that will leave you with fuller, natural-looking brows."

Merit Brow 1990: Sheer Gel Eyebrow Pencil

The tinted mousse gives you a long-lasting look that stays put without a sticky residue or flaking for fluffy eyebrows thanks to conditioning ingredients like kaolin clay and vitamin B5. Both formulas come in four shades: taupe, light brown, dark brown, and brown black. You can buy either product separately for $24 apiece or the new Brow Duo for $44. 

Like the rest of Merit's line, I found these two products extremely user-friendly. According to Morin, the teeny gel pencil "features an ultra-fine 0.9-millimeter tip and a soft gel formula that provides sheer, buildable color. Instead of mimicking individual hairs, it creates soft shadows, resulting in a soft, full brow look that's also much easier to achieve." It’s also made with oleoactif, a plant-based active ingredient that helps promote hair growth.

Merit Brow 1980: Volumizing Brow Pomade

The original Brow 1980 Volumizing Mousse provided subtle pigment to help brows appear fuller without weighing them down, but it didn't have as much longevity as customers desired. After listening to feedback, Merit meticulously revised its popular Brow 1980 Pomade "with care to maintain everything that makes it special, while tweaking one key element we thought could be improved: hold," Morin continues. It also contains 1.8 times more product than its predecessor with the same price tag.

The pencil and mousse are incredibly lightweight without lacking in color payoff and are intuitive to use. The gel pencil glides over my skin, creating flawless strokes to fill in my patchy eyebrows for a microbladed design in seconds. I use the spoolie end to help everything look more blended before brushing on the brow pomade for a strong, perfectly molded look that effortlessly holds up against summer's humidity while still feeling soft. We've had some uncomfortably warm days here in Cincinnati, with temperatures around 90 degrees Fahrenheit and frequent cloudbursts that didn't help with the muggy conditions. I'm happy to report that my brows didn't budge at all even in the heat and humidity. These two have quickly become a daily necessity for both minimalist and full-glam days.

Streamline your makeup routine with Merit's new Brow 1990 Sheer Gel Eyebrow Pencil and Brow 1980 Volumizing Brow Pomade, which cost $24 each, or grab the Brow Duo for $44. Below are five other Merit products I can't live without.

Signature Lip

Flush Balm Blush

Bronze Balm

Solo Shadow

Great Skin Instant Glow Serum