Fab or flub?: Pixi goes for the gold with new eyebrow gel

Looking for a way to spice up your Valentine’s Day makeup? Consider going bold with your look and creating gold, glittery eyebrows.

Yes, you read that right. Gold, glittery eyebrows are a thing. The trend started in 2013 when legendary makeup artist Pat McGrath sent models down the runway at the 2014 Dior spring show with eyebrows layered in liquid gold pigment and glitter. Part Ziggy Stardust, part golden goddess, the gilded look was considered both dazzling and edgy.

Unfortunately, for us mere mortals, dazzling and edgy usually doesn’t translate well into our everyday lives. Which means if we want to try the trend, we need a more subtle way of doing so. Enter Pixi’s new Brow Brightener in Golden Glaze ($12, Target). Infused with a soft golden sheen, this light and shimmery eyebrow gel is designed to brighten and perfect the shape of eyebrows — creating a lifted, more awake look.

First impression

When you first see Pixi’s Brow Brightener, it is hard not to be intimidated by the product’s intense shimmer. In the tube, the brightener looks heavily pigmented and not like anything you’d expect to put on your eyebrows unless you were bound for Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Fortunately, the formula dries much more subtly than I’d expected.

One swipe on clean eyebrows left behind very light, almost undetectable specks of gold glitter. My eyebrows appeared lighter, too, only instead of a nice, golden color, they took on a grayish tint.

For a full comparison, I applied the brow brightener again after filling in my eyebrows with brow powder. This time around, the gold flecks from the brow brightener were slightly more noticeable.

Fab or flub?

Flub. In the end, Pixi’s Brow Brightener in Golden Glaze turned out to be just another flashy gimmick aimed at persuading makeup lovers to buy a product they really don’t need. Used either alone or on top of my regular eyebrow powder, the product did little to illuminate my eyebrows or enhance their look. The brow brightener is very subtle, even on eyebrows as dark and thick as mine. When I applied the product with a heavier hand, I still wasn’t pleased with the look — or the aforementioned weird, grayish tint.

For anyone still curious about the gold eyebrow trend, I suspect a loose gold pigment and regular eyebrow gel will produce better results.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Fab or flub?: Pixi goes for the gold with new eyebrow gel."