I Can Never Be Bothered to Do My Brows, But the Viral Brow Trio Kit Made Me a Believer

• Value: 17/30
• Packaging: 18/20
• Easy of Use: 18/20
• Effectiveness: 19/20
• Longevity: 18/20

TOTAL: 90/100

When it comes to beauty, I’ll try almost any form of makeup once. Salves, highlighters, liquid blush, you name it (I regret to inform you that Rare Beauty’s Soft Pinch is not it). For all my experimentation, however, I’ve never really dabbled in the eyebrow department. My brows are pretty low maintenance in general. On the skinnier side, they don’t really grow all that fast, requiring little more than the occasional plucking to keep them groomed. I’ve more or less accepted that I’ll never be blessed with full, lush eye frames à la Brooke Shields, and I’m OK with that. Because honestly, for the sparsely haired gals like myself who do manage to fake it, it looks like it takes a whole lot more work than I’m willing to put in. … But that was until I spotted The Brow Trio Kit on Instagram.

The Brow Trio kit is a three-in-one system consisting of a waterproof pomade, a double-sided applicator with a sponge tip on side and a spoolie on the other and a set of 12 eyebrow stencils (four for a regular arch, four for a low arch and four for a high arch), all of which are neatly packaged in a little faux leatherette sleeve. It all comes together in an adorable bag, too.

I was sucked into this product by an ad when I saw first-hand what it could do. In the clip, a woman was using it in her car and I watched in amazement as she pulled out what looked like a little wand, held a stencil up to her brow, tapped the wand against the stencil a few times and pulled it off. Instantly, she had the kind of fluffy, perfectly groomed brows I had always admired on girls like Hailey Bieber. “What is this black magic?” I thought.

The premise is simple enough: After taking the company’s color match quiz to find your perfect shade of pomade (I’m a Medium Brown) and receiving your kit, you select a stencil from the included 12 that best matches your eyebrow shape. Line it up against your natural arch, keep it steady (the company recommends holding it in place with two fingers), dip the sponge side of the applicator into the pomade and tap tap tap it against the stencil.

Once you remove it, you can groom as needed with the spoolie side of the applicator brush, flip the stencil over and repeat the process on the other side.

Truthfully, I was a little apprehensive about trying this. Sure, it looked easy enough in the videos, but so does contouring, and, well, let’s just say I’m not that advanced. What if I wound up looking like Groucho Marx?

Once I bit the bullet, it was clear I had nothing to worry about, however: this system is pretty much foolproof, starting with the pomade shade. While I worried it might be too dark for my brows, the quiz didn’t lead me astray, matching me with a near dead-ringer for my own natural hair.

I choose the small high arch stencil in hopes of giving my face a miniature lift, lined it up with my brow (probably a little haphazardly, if we’re being completely honest) and started to tap the pomade into the stencil gap. While it appeared dark and heavy, and I began to fear my worst suspicions of becoming the vaudeville performer’s twin were about to come true, when I lifted the stencil away, I couldn’t believe my eyes. My brow looked natural, but “done”—fuller and more groomed than I’d ever seen it in my life. It also didn’t take over my face, with the color blending in seamlessly my own brows.

I eagerly flipped the stencil over and went to work on the other side. When I removed it, it looked...OK, but not as good as the first. This guy felt a little thicker, and maybe a bit lopsided, too. Still, it certainly didn’t make me gasp in horror or want to scrub the pomade off.

Since that first initial test, I have returned to the kit several times over, mixing up the stencils, my technique and the amount of pomade I press on. Some days are better than others, but it’s been largely consistent in that the first brow always looks great, with the second one looking decent—it’s a work in progress.

I love that the company nailed my color shade on the first try. I also loved the cute little bag it arrived in and the attention to detail inside—that stencil holder, though!).

More importantly, however, I was blown away by the fact that the company actually delivered on its product. The Instagram ad didn’t lie—it really was as easy as the model made it look, and it did transform my brows in a way I never would have thought possible, as I never would have spent the time to make them that way.

My application is not yet perfect, but I suspect it will improve with time, and even at its worst, it never looks bad or deters me from reaching for the kit the next day. It’s an easy step that I can add into my daily routine without missing a beat, and it makes my face look fresher for it.

The biggest grievance I have with this set is the applicator brush. While the company claims it’s fully washable, the waterproof pomade is so, well, waterproof, it’s pretty difficult to remove once it’s settled into the sponge-like tip. (The first time I tried, I actually took a chunk of it off.) The best solution I had at home for cleaning this was a Beautyblender cleansing pad, though I had to do it gently, lest risk ripping the sponge off the handle. As a result of all my abuse to it, I’ll likely need to replace the brush, which docked it a few points in value for me.

Next time, I’ll definitely be ordering it with the brand’s specially formulated cleanser ($15), which is designed to get rid of the pomade without compromising the integrity of the brush.

Apart from that, my only other gripe is that I’ve found it somewhat difficult to get complete symmetry between my two brows.  Every time I’ve used it, I’ve been utterly delighted with the first brow, and only lukewarm about the second, which somehow always seems to look a little more smudgey or slightly higher (or lower) than its mate.

In all fairness, this could be because a) my brows are somewhat unsymmetrical to begin with, and b) I’ve been desperately trying to force the high arch stencil on them, when in reality, my brows are probably better suited for the low arch one. In short? This may be in large part do to user error and improve with time (because, as we all know, practice makes perfect).

That being said, I did find a helpful video on the company’s Instagram page for lining the stencil up properly (the trick is to make an indentation on your nose bridge with the stencil and use it as your guide).  

This product does live up to its claims to give you Instagram-worthy brows in minutes. Actually, make that seconds. It’s fast, its easy and if you’re all about convenience when it comes to your brows, like I am, this is definitely for you. While I do wish it was a little more precise, that’s kind of the point—one-and-done brows in a hurry without thinking so much about them. It won’t give you the same precision you might see from microblading or even a good old-fashioned brow pencil (which Trio Beauty also conveniently sells), but it will make your brows look groomed, polished and give you a little more oomph in your step.

And really, couldn’t we all use a little more oomph?

The PureWow100 is a scale our editors use to vet new products and services, so you know what's worth the spend—and what's total hype. Learn more about our process here.