I am a woman of a certain age—an age when overplucking our brows was The Thing to do. Think Gwen Stefani back in the mid-90s. I know… Mine never grew back, which is both a blessing and a curse – a blessing because I never have to get them threaded or waxed and a curse because I have about ten brow hairs to my name.
I’ve tried my fair share of brow products over the years, and when I saw that the Irish brand Brow Aid had launched a brow pen recently, I had to buy one. Kim O’Sullivan, the founder of Brow Aid, is a literal brow queen and I think every scaldy eyebrow in Ireland breathed a sigh of relief when she launched her brand in 2023. They knew things were going to be ok because Kim had our back. And our brows.
What is the Masterstroke Brow Trio?
The Masterstroke Brow Trio from Brow Aid is a stroke of genius. One end houses a sturdy brow brush, the middle opens up to reveal a retractable waterproof eye pencil, and the other end of the component has the micro brow pen.
I filmed a reel on Instagram showing how I use it, but I also wanted to include before-and-after photos in this blog post.
It comes in three shades, and after much deliberation, I bought shade 03 Graphite. This is the darkest shade, but it looked the most cool-toned of the three shades to me, and I knew I was going to use a light hand with it. Warm tones on my brows don’t suit me, so Graphite it was.
Masterstroke Brow Trio was love at first use for a few reasons. The brow brush does a great job of taming my few remaining brow hairs, while the retractable brow pencil has the perfect consistency for sketching out where I’d like my brows to be. This pencil has an almost oval shape, and I don’t have to press down too hard to get colour payoff.
The magic that is the brow pen completes the trio and once shaken, it gives the illusion that I have actual brow hairs!
How I use the Masterstroke Brow Trio
I start by brushing up my brow hairs which takes 0.5 seconds as I have hardly any.
Then, I use the retractable pencil to draw out the general shape of the brow I want. It has the perfect combination of creaminess and staying power. I find if a pencil is too dry, it’s hard to get it onto my skin in a natural-looking way. Too creamy, and it will slide off. But this stays put all day on me. After sketching out the shape, I colour it in slightly and then blend it with the brush again.
The next part is where the magic happens. After shaking the pen well, I work on adding the brow hairs. Because the brow pen has such a fine tip, I can get really tiny hairs that look super natural. I don’t like my brows looking too drawn on or perfect. Instead, I prefer the illusion of a fluffier brow, and the Masterstroke Brow Trio gives me that in spades.
I love that I barely touch the micro ink tip to my skin to get the colour payoff I want, and that’s with the darkest shade! The ink’s neutral tone matches my roots (my natural hair colour), so I really do think that the Masterstroke Brow Trio makes it look like I have actual brows!
And do you want to know the best part of this? I’m currently using this and two other brow products from different brands I bought to test out. And every time I come on Instagram stories with my makeup done and am wearing the Masterstroke Brow Trio, Kim messages me to tell me I look lovely, without knowing that I’ve used her product! I told you she knows her stuff!
