LATEST FASHION

I’m not sure about you, but I am here for the recent trend of having souped-up, feathered brows. Once upon a time, my brows were full and abundant and would have been perfectly suited to the fluffy trend. Like most, however, I massively over-plucked them in my teenage years. As a result, I have been attempting to nurture them back to their fullest selves ever since. While many of my pluck-happy friends turned to powders, pomades, and pencils to get some shape back, I have struggled for years to find a product that doesn’t make my super-dark brows look like they’ve been drawn on with stencils – until now, that is.

When brow-lamination treatments hit the big time last year, brow trends started to move away from all things big and bold and instead towards a softer, feathered look that proved incredibly low-maintenance. Simply brush them up and go. Overjoyed, I tossed all of my brow products to the side and got ready to embrace a new, laissez-faire approach to brow grooming. But it seems the world had other plans for our brows, and as salons shut their doors, we were forced to find at-home alternatives. While many invested in at-home lamination kits (I tried and failed), others set it their lockdown mission to find the ultimate product to achieve long-lasting, full, and fluffy brows with ease. Enter, the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze Shaping Wax ($23).

When Brow Freeze arrived on my desk last month, I must admit that I put it in a pile of new-in products without too much interest. New brow waxes have been popping up more and more frequently in a bid by brands to capitalize on the lamination trend, but all of the products I had tried proved fiddly, time-consuming, and messy. However, fast-forward a few weeks and I started spotting some of my closest beauty editor friends sporting what looked like freshly laminated brows on their Instagram feeds. After reaching out to countless beauty buffs in an attempt to unearth their brow hacks, it turned out they all had the same secret.

Before applying the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze.

Eventually, I dug out my own pot and gave it a go. Unlike other waxes and fixers, Brow Freeze doesn’t require water. Instead, you simply roll a spoolie into the product and work it into your brows from root to tip. Instantly, I was shocked at how strong it was. The looks I had seen on Instagram looked soft and natural, but it applies like some sort of magical brow superglue. As the strands started setting into place, I was expecting things to start going crispy and white (my experience with waxes has taught me this is what usually happens), but the moment never came.

After applying the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze.

At first glance, my brows looked so intensely voluminous and fluffy that I felt a little bit uncomfortable. It didn’t look like me in the mirror – my brows were simply too good. I panicked a little and assumed I wouldn’t be able to take things down once they were set, but again, I was wrong. Running the spoolie along the tops of my brows, I realized that, despite the hairs feeling like they were cemented down, they were still very manageable. In fact, the whole process only took about 30 seconds, and my brows looked the best they had in years. Since first giving it a whirl, not a day has gone by where I haven’t reached for Brow Freeze, even when I’m not wearing any other makeup. In hindsight, I’m embarrassed that I didn’t try it sooner.