Review: Tarte Toolbox for Brows

I picked up this brow kit a few months ago during a Tarte sale. I'm always looking for new brow products, and this kit was intriguing. For $18, the Tarte Brow Toolbox contains the following:

-Brow Gel

-Brow Pencil

-Tweezers

-Brow Brush

-Brow Powder

-Brow Wax

-3 Brow Stencils

-Mirror

-How-to Instructions

Not a bad deal for all you need to get going on taming your brows. A lot of the products remind me of things that Anastasia sells, but it is a bit more affordable, and it comes in one little kit!

However, the "little" part of this kit might be a problem for some. The compact fits easily in one hand, so the tools inside, you can imagine, are equally as small. The pencil is almost pointless- it's miniscule! And I'm not sure if I have a way to sharpen it. The tweezers are also small, so if you have larger hands, you may not prefer such a small tool.

teeny eyebrow pencil

l to r: brow gel, tweezers, pencil, brush

However, the brow brush is pretty good- it's angled, and picks up the brow powder/wax easily. In the instructions, it says to dip the brush in the wax, and then in to the powder for better adherence. While it does make the powder last, it also makes the powder a bit gross.

wax and powder- as you can see it gets a little messy after a few uses

If you have really unruly brows, the brow gel is great for maintaining slick brows. I find that my brows don't require gel, so I don't use it, but it's there if I should ever need it!

And of course, the brow stencils. There is a fine arch, natural arch, and full arch stencil, though they don't look significantly different. I have not really used the stencils, because I am satisfied with my brow shape. However, if you are wanting to reshape your brows, you could use these stencils as a great guide! It does stink though that everything else fits perfectly into this kit EXCEPT for the stencils, which are most likely to get lost or ruined. Thus, I haven't thrown my box away so the stencils can stay with the rest of the kit.

stencils

brow tip sheet

Overall, I would say that if you want all your brow tools in one kit, this is a great idea. You may also want to experiment with new brow products, and so $18 is a fairly affordable way to sample a bunch of things. But, if you prefer pencils or other brow methods besides powder, then this kit is not for you. You definitely don't want this if you like pencils, because this pencil is worthless!

Tarte's the Toolbox is available at tartecosmetics.com and sephora.com.

What do you think? What are your favorite brow products?