For the longest time I've been wanting to try a brow gel. I don't have crazy or unruly brows, but I thought that a brow gel might make my brows look more polished. I was also thinking that this could be a product I could use on its own to just brush through my brows and move on to the next thing on a day that I'm in a hurry.
I ended up buying the Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel in Granite. The first thing I was hoping was that I chose the right shade and I definitely did. It doesn't have red undertones, which I was happy about because I find that to look really wrong on my face.
I haven't tried any other brow gels to compare it to, but I think this has a really good formula. It's not too thick or too thin, it keeps my brow hairs in place all day, but doesn't look unnatural. I find that it does help to polish my brows off but that I do have to be careful because it's easy for it to get messy. I generally keep a q-tip handy because I always have clean up to do after I apply this. For me, the brush is too long and too wide and I always end up with product on the skin around my brows, which I don't like.
As far as it being a stand alone product, I'd say it's so-so. Technically, I guess, it's not meant for this, so I can't judge it too hard for this, but it doesn't apply very well on its own. I've worn it alone, but it takes a little longer to get any shape to your brows so I'd definitely stick with the traditional way of shaping and filling in your brows first and then using this as a final step to seal it all in.
Overall, I think the product itself is really nice, but I'm not too impressed with the spoolie. I definitely want to try other Anastasia brow products in the future, though. Let me know your favorites!