My eyebrows (specifically my left one) are the one area on my face that has caused me the greatest insecurity after a childhood chicken pox scar left a permanent, sparse patch toward the tail end of my brow. Over the years, I’ve gone through great lengths to conceal this, trying everything from expensive microblading and microshading sessions to brow lamination kits and countless pomades, pencils and powders. I recently purchased this one $10 miraculously performing brow pen that I came across on TikTok, and it’s finally achieved what years of products could not.

Amazon

The L’Oréal Faux Brow pen is unlike pencils, gels or brow powders that kind of create just a generically filled-in look on brows, which works fine if you don’t have sparse brows or bald patches. Instead, the brow pen accurately mimics hair strokes, creating a very convincing effect that blends imperceptibly with your existing brow hairs — or creates a new brow altogether.

Individuals who have completely lost their brow hair, either through chemotherapy treatments, age or other conditions, have claimed to have been able to give themselves realistic-looking brows with the L’Oréal pen. In fact, the spokesperson for the Faux Brow campaign is Emmy Combs, a model with alopecia.

Part of what makes this product so effective at creating those hair-like strokes is the ultra-fine felt tip, which is two-pronged with slightly different widths on each tip. The reason for this is that, when you look at natural eyebrows, not all hairs are the same thickness, so it really adds to that organic-looking brow.

This two-pronged design also allows you to apply strokes in whichever direction you want, whether you’re brushing upwards to bulk up the front of the brow, or angling the pen vertically to add delicate strokes at the tail.

The application is also surprisingly more intuitive than you would think, and the pen really does allow for a controlled and precise use. It requires little to know pressure and the product glides on smoothly, so you never have to pass over a spot more than once.

“I have struggled with my eyebrows my whole life. More than half of the time getting ready was spent on my eyebrows, not anymore. I’m ready to walk out the door in 60 seconds,” one Amazon customer wrote in a review.

Tessa Flores/HuffPost

You also don’t have to set the finished product in any way. Once it goes on, the ink-like product dries down almost immediately and stays put. And when I say “stays put,” I mean it literally. I can rub harshly, spend hours sweating, I can even run my brows under water, and the delicate hair strokes remain intact, without any smudging or product bleeding into the surrounding skin.

“After a full day of working outside, I came in shocked to find that while all my other makeup had melted away, my brows remained,” one Amazon reviewer wrote, while another claimed the brow pen stayed on even through swimming.

I always take my makeup and sunscreen off at the end of the day with a cleansing balm, and the Faux Brow easily dissolves using that, or a regular facial cleanser.

This pen comes in eight realistic shades, including ashy browns, auburns, and a black shade, which I use to match my dyed black hair, and to me, it looks really natural.

I can go on and on about how much this little drugstore find boosted my confidence, however, you can read more from others below, who feel the same way, before snagging a pen for yourself.

Promising Amazon reviews:

“I’ve tried every brow pencil, brow tattoos, powders to fill in... nothing works like this product. It is super easy to apply and really looks the closest to realistic that I’ve found. My brows were already thin and post cancer they never returned. I finally feel like me when I look in the mirror with my ‘new’ brows. A couple of things- it is waterproof and will sort of stain your brows. Eye makeup remover does a great job in removing it all. Make sure you shake before you use it otherwise it’s a bit runny. I highly recommend this product!” —C&CinNC

“Best brow pencil on the market. I have struggled with my eyebrows my whole life. More than half of the time getting ready was spent on my eyebrows, not anymore. I’m ready to walk out the door in 60 seconds. Will never use any thing else. Truly looks like you have hair! So easy to use and looks amazing.” —Mark

“Oooooohhhhh yes girl. This stuff is amazing. I’ve been using a popular, more expensive brand for years that has both a fine tip ‘marker’ and a soft pencil type thing on the other end. I could never get thin or light enough lines to create the front of my brow to look natural (you know, the little hairs at the beginning of your brow that are supposed to that stand up.) For years I’ve just had a very stark brow that looked more like an elongated comma…Now that they’ve grown in, my brows look much better but still needed help. I saw this product on Chl0ebeans IG and am sooo glad I decided to try it. I still use the pencil end of my other branded eyebrow stuff to fill in the main body, but I use this for the beginning and tail of my brow. I can’t believe how much more balanced my face looks.I bought the light brunette and it’s a perfect neutral mid-brown. Be sure to shake it before use so it doesn’t come out red. It also lasts all day. I live in a super humid subtropical climate and it’s dead summer. Brutal, even. After a full day of working outside, I came in shocked to find that while all my other makeup had melted away, my brows remained. I scrub my face in the shower, so they don’t last through that. (Haven’t been swimming yet so I can’t speak on that.) And it’s half the price of my other stuff? 100% worth it in my opinion.” —amidstthealders (This review was edited for length. Read the entire review).

“This is by far the best eyebrow pen I’ve ever used and I’ve used all of them. The older I get the thinner my eyebrows get. I’ve used imethod and the benefit brown pen to name a couple. Don’t EVER buy benefit brow pen because they’re expensive and they dry out in a couple of days. Idc how much you clean the tip or shake it. Nope. Now, imethod comes close but this L’Oréal pen really does give the hairlike strokes and it stays on even through sweat and swimming. Ppl saying that it doesn’t give the hair like strokes, I don’t think they’re using the tip of it properly. It’s a learning curve for sure. You need a light steady hand to get the achieved result. It’s cheap enough to experiment with the colors and so you can play with it till you get it right. I use mine everyday literally so after a couple of weeks the tip has frayed a little. That’s expected with how much abuse I put it through lol. Just buy it!” —Jamie Pohl

Get it from Amazon for $9.97+ (available in eight shades).

Reviews for this post have been edited for length and/or clarity.