There are very few life struggles that come with being blonde. Stereotypes generally play in our favor—even the one about being dumb apparently just makes people more eager to help us out. In fact, the only issue I’ve ever experienced that’s directly related to being a natural dark blonde—with some not-quite-grown-out highlights—is how hard it is to find a brow pencil that works with my hair color.
The primary issue I run into is that Big Brow seems to have decided that all blondes want to use pencils with very warm undertones. I’ve been let down countless times by a product that looks light brown in the packaging but is straight up orange once I apply it. I’m sure there are some strawberry blondes out there who appreciate this option, but I’m personally looking for a neutral brow shade.
My other primary hurdle in my Goldilocksian quest is if brands have a blonde option it’s often too light for me, and their second lightest shade tends to go straight into brunette territory. I’m looking for a cool-to-neutral light taupe, and this hue is relatively rare (although things have gotten better since I first started filling in my eyebrows 20 years ago).
So, in a selfish act that could be passed off as beauty journalism, I called in every blonde eyebrow pencil I could get my hands on (36 in all) and tried a new one every day for about a month. My four requirements were thus:
- The pencil need to be a dark blonde shade without a hint of warmth.
- The formula needed to be creamy and saturated enough to go on smoothly and fill in my brows fully, especially the right one which is sparse thanks to some chicken pox-induced scaring.
- The tip needed to be thin enough to create natural-looking “hairstrokes.”
- The product had to include a spoolie. The biggest secret to good brows is to brush them into place, and any pencils that made me hunt down a separate tool to do so were all-but automatically disqualified.
Some, like the unnamed orange one in the left image below, were so bad I had to remove them immediately. Others were OK enough that I kept them on for a day, but ultimately didn’t do a good enough job of filling in my brows to earn a permanent spot on my makeup roster.
I audibly yelped when I applied this orange brow pencil.
Of the three dozen I tried, these were the seven best brow pencils for my dark blonde hair.
Bobbi Brown Precise Brow Pencil in Warm Blonde
First up on the list, proof that you can’t go by name alone when picking out a pencil that will work well for you. I never though a shade with the name “warm” in the name would make the cut, but I much preferred this to the other shade (Sandy Blonde) the brand sent. My brows look naturally fluffy and fully filled in with this thin pencil.
Benefit Precisely My Brow in shade 2.5
