The 8 Best Brow Pens Will Replace Your Microblading Appointments

My aesthetician turned me on to brow genius Kristie Streicher's brow pen, which must mean she really loves me—using this baby has considerably slowed down my need for tint appointments. The magic here lies in the pen's sheerness, which prohibits that fake, painted-on look you can get with too much pigment. It also includes biotin to support healthy hair and red clover extract to help prevent hair loss and stimulate growth.

"I always wanted to create a product that mimicked the appearance of actual natural brow hair, which is quite soft and sheer," Streicher says. "In line with my Nurtured Brow philosophy, the formula is designed to give you the soft and natural looking brow you've always wanted, while the ingredients nurture and support healthy hair growth."

Pros: Flexible tip; Skin-loving ingredients

Cons: Minimal color selection

Customer Review: None available

From Anastasia Soare (impressive) repertoire comes a hardworking brow pen with a specially-designed brush tip that won’t clog or skip. Instead, it keeps its shape while remaining flexible enough for easy application. "I love it for creating realistic hair-like strokes," Soare says. "Whether you have areas of sparseness, minimal brow hair, or just want to create added depth and dimension, Brow Pen acts like an artist pen to deliver the thinnest strokes of hair yet, resulting in fuller, natural-looking brows."

Pros: Superfine tip for hair-like strokes; Fan-favorite; Long-lasting

Cons: None found

Customer Review: "I tried it and it's amazing! I've used many brow pens in the past, but I usually sweat them off (big no-no) or they turn blue/green on me as the day goes on. That hasn't happened with this one thankfully!! Highly recommend, and it looks super natural. I usually go for the medium brown/dark brown color in Anastasia brow products, but I went with ebony this time and I'm glad I did. So maybe go a few shades darker to get a super nice fluffy brow! It looks insanely natural btw. For reference, I have half of my eyebrows shaved off, and you cant even tell!" — Sephora

With a pen on one side and waterproof pencil on the other, this product was created to meet all of your filling-in-your-brows needs at once. "Urban Decay's Brow Blade is great because it is two-sided," Badro agrees. "One side has a brow pen and the other a waterproof pencil. Use the pen to mimic thin, hair-like strokes. It's also resistant to sweating, smudging, and fading!" The dual-sided product is available in nine shades for your as-close-to-natural-as-possible brow hair mimicking pleasure.

Pros: Dual-sided; Available in a variety of shades

Cons: Pen and pencil are slightly different colors, which some people don't love

Customer Review: "I got the shade Dark Drapes which is the perfect shade for my skin tone. The felt tip on this is so pointy and pigmented that it allows me to get the perfect hair-like strokes on my brows. I love a natural brow look and this helps me achieve that so easily. Then I use the pencil side to fill. I also love that I can throw this in any purse!!" — Sephora

West Barn Co. has the honor of creating Braha's favorite pen to date. What makes it an essential in her kit? "It comes in four cooler-toned shades that are undetectable and long-lasting both on skin and in the applicator," she shares. Just make sure you don’t press too hard during your application, as it can ruin the integrity of the pen’s tip. 

Pros: Easy to use; Pigmented

Cons: None

Customer Review: "I recently got The Brow Pen, I couldn’t have been more impressed. It’s so simple to use. I have very fine brow hair and it mimics my hair perfectly to make them look fuller and more defined. Absolutely love the texture of the pen too because it blends seamlessly with the hair. Highly recommend for filling in your brows. Definitely my new go-to brow product!" — Look Fantastic

A good brow pen plus a clear brow gel equals everything you need for picture-perfect brows. Maybelline's Build-A-Brow 2-In-1 pen includes both, with fans raving about its easy-to-use felt tip and sealing gel helping your (faux, but who would ever know) brows stay all day. And perhaps most importantly? It's also waterproof, sweat-resistant, and smudge-resistant for up to 24 hours.

Pros: Waterproof; Sweat-resistant

Cons: None found

Customer Review: "I love this product. It's super easy to use to make individual brush strokes with the tip and then the gel seals everything in place all day. I wasn't expecting it to be a liquid product, I was expecting a pencil, but I think this is even better and the tip stays sharp to make the fine lines!" — Ulta

Makeup legend Kevyn Aucoin was responsible for some truly memorable '90s makeup trends and even more iconic brows (see: Cindy Crawford). Today, his genius lives on through his namesake brand. The True Feather Brow Marker Gel Duo is a dual-sided product that features both a marker tip and clear gel to help shape, define, and set brows. It's everything you could ever want or need.

Pros: Skin-loving ingredients; Long-lasting

Cons: None found

Customer Review: "I love this brow pen and will be repurchasing. I have very light brown brows and this is the first product I've ever used that has truly buildable color that stays. I ordered the brunette and it goes on very light so you can build it to exactly the shade of brown you need. It's easy to use and the gel is also great. It holds my brows in place all day. Very impressed with this purchase!" — Dermstore

Braha also loves NYX's Lift & Snatch pen, featuring a waterproof and smudge-proof formula. "They also have a more extensive shade range and are budget friendly," the makeup artist says. This pen comes in a whopping ten color options and is heralded for its ability to create natural-looking hair strokes at a fraction of the price of some other options.

Pros: Affordable; Easy to use; Waterproof

Cons: Some report their pen drying out quickly

Customer Review: "This is the first eyebrow pen that I've ever used. Normally I just go straight in with a pencil. I have very fine and sparse eyebrows. For the longest time I thought that eyebrow pens were for those who had naturally fuller brows, but needed to fill a bald patch, or just sculpt them slightly. But with this I'm able to get perfect hair-like strokes that give me brows that have been mistaken for microblading! I've had people ask me who did my brows for me, and how much it cost. They are always so surprised when I tell them that it's a simple brow pen. I've had no issue with bleeding, leaking, drying out, staining, irritation, nothing! Honestly, this works like a high end product, but at drugstore prices." — Ulta

MAC chose a different approach when it came time to create their two-in-one brow pen, deciding to add a powder to one end of the product. To apply, use the liquid liner to fill and define with hair-like strokes before adding the powder to shape and gently set your brows into place.

Pros: Easy to apply; Sweat- and humidity-resistant

Cons: Some customers report fading

Customer Review: "I switched to this product from brow powders and pomades and let me just say—this is a game changer. First, I love the brush end. It's an incredible tool and it lets me fill in the perfect brow while still allowing me to customize the brow to my look of the day. The product is pigmented but buildable, so if I fill in my brows but want certain spots to be darker I can fill in as needed to build in the spots. Second, the powder end is amazing for the chunky parts of the brow (it is a thick applicator, so not great for brow tails, but I think this is on purpose because the powder is much more pigmented than the brush). This really helps define and set the liquid makeup after I fill in my brows with the liquid brush applicator. Again, I don't know why more people don't know about this or why other brands haven't picked up on this amazing tool because I'm never going back to powder only for my brows!!!" — Ulta