Catrice is not my favorite brand for eyebrow products. I love Soap & Glory and I favor the Essence brow gel, but that doesn’t mean that Catrice cannot do some good brow products. I do quite enjoy their brow filler, but new in their collection is the Brow Idol brow gel: a sportsproof mascara that should be waterproof and sweatproof. How does this brow gel match up against my favorite Essence Make Me Brow brow gel?
Catrice Brow Idol Brow Mascara 010 Medium Brown
You know, as always, that Catrice products are super affordable. This brow gel retails for €3.59 which is definitely a good price for a drugstore brow gel. It is available in just 2 shades: 010 Medium Brown and 020 Dark Brown. I bought the lighter shade of the two, but when I received it, I already knew the shade would be a bit off. So despite the shade not being perfect, it is much to warm for my taste, we are still going to see what this product does for my brows.
The Packaging
The brow gel has a slim packaging and comes with a small wand that ends with a traditional spoolie. The packaging is no fuss and really easy to use. It would be even better if you could see inside the tube so you can see how much product is left. But that is a tiny detail. I usually get rid of my brow gels before they run out anyway as they usually expire before I can use them up.
The Brow Gel
As you can see the shade of this brow gel is quite warm and the product itself looks to be quite wet. The spoolie is small enough, but it loaded with product and that combined with the wet texture of the product, makes this a brow gel that is a bit messy to use.
The Swatch
When you swatch the brow gel on the back of your hand you can see exactly what I mean with the undertone of this brow gel. It looks almost red. On my ashy toned brows, combined with my blonde hair, it is not the best match. The texture makes the product stick down quickly. While that makes the product last a long time, it also gives you very little to work with. It dries down and once it does you can no longer mold this product into the shape you like. The only way to remove it? With a waterproof makeup remover.
The Application
Remember what I said about this product being messy? This is what happens. At the top you can see my brows without any product. Below that is my brow with the product freshly applied. It certainly defines my brows and I like that effect, but it is also messy. It stains my skin and I can’t just rub it off. Not only that, it also makes my brows look a little too bushy and combined with the red tone of the product, it just looks a bit ridiculous. So without going in with a bit of remover, some more foundation to fix the makeup that was removed and a good, clean spoolie to brush through the brow gel to fix any mistakes, this is a bit of a nightmare to use.
The Conclusion
I really wanted to like the Catrice Brow Idol brow gel, but this is just not for me. The shade is off, but despite that, this is just too wet and messy to use. When I use this in my brows, it just takes too much time to correct the mess this makes. I have to brush my brows back into place, need to cleanup my brows and there is just so much staining. It also makes my brows look much too intense and ‘in your face’. After using this, my brows are just a bit too overwhelming and prominent. So I wouldn’t recommend this fully, unless you want to go for the caterpillar brow look.