Control Freak Brow Gel

I love this brow gel and I'm surprised to see such mixed reviews. It has good hold without being overly crunchy. The price is reasonable at $6 and the packaging is nice. The brush is a little bit larger than I prefer but it works. I used to be faithful to the clear mascara from ELF but I prefer the packaging of the NYX and I feel like it lasts longer. I have also used the Anastasia of Beverly Hills brow gel, which is amazing but too expensive. I find the NYX brow gel to be comparable to both of these. I'm totally converted and I feel like I will stick with this brow gel from now on.

I tried using this many times, but it did absolutely nothing. My brows are thin so I have to build them up with NYX micro brow, but the hairs always fall downward in the opposite direction of the pencil. I needed something to keep the hairs in place; an this was no better then running a wet spoolie thru my brows. The tube and the wand are also ridiculously big for brow use.

Run. This make my brows look like I ran in the snow. In the end of the day there are white flakes over your brows.

I usually wear a tinted brow gel but recently, I've been feeling like my brows look quite heavy. I am not a lover of the overdrawn 'instagram' brow so always look for products to make my sparse brows look naturally full. This product does just that and works perfectly when I am having a good brow day. It isn't 'sticky' and doesn't make my brows feel tacky and heavy. The brush is HUGE which is a bit of a negative as it can be hard to work with - not just in terms of precision but also because it can collect product and go a bit 'gloopey'. That aside, I do like it and am yet to find an alternative I enjoy using as much.

I'm a big fan of the "Anastasia - clear brow gel" and for sure the NYX brow gel isn't a dupe for the Anastasia one. The "Control freak" sets the eyebrow hairs in place but it doesn't work on those hormonal days when my eyebrows are extremely unruly. The eyebrow hairs are quite soft after applying the Control Freak brow gel. The essence make me brow does the same thing with NYX brow gel but it's tinted. In other words, I haven't found a dupe for the Anastasia Clear Brow Gel and I haven't found an other brow gel that works as well as the Anastasia one but I have found many brow gels that are like the Control Freak by NYX in terms of the result they give including the Benefit clear brow gel.

My eyebrows look and feel like they have hairspray on them, but I don't really mind. It isn't prefect at keeping every eyebrow in place, though it's better than nothing. I would love for the wans to be a bit smaller. It also kinda smells like glue, so maybe it is? I don't know.

I am so surprised/disappointed that this is not rated more highly. I am super picky about anything to do with my brows. Not because I want to be difficult but because my eyebrows are not my best feature. In a way they are the nemesis to the rest of my face. My brows are unruly, do not want to stay where they are combed. They are not thick and gorgeous, they are thin with spaces and trail off early and each brow is different from the other in small but significant ways. I have really curly hair so maybe my brows got their ideas about going their own way from that but who knows or cares? I've been fighting to control my brows since I was 15. The last brow control product I loved was made by Shisedo and I used it, paying an outrageous amount of money, for years. Then one day they discontinued it and I've never seen it again. I looked today at Shisedo's web site today and they still haven't replaced it. I truly don't understand any large cosmetic company not seeing a need for this product. NYX Control freak brow gel is not as strong as Shisedo's was, but this is very good compared to what else is out there. I have tried at least 20 other brands of eyebrow control products, expensive to cheap, and nothing has worked well, until this product. Sometimes it takes 2 applications for this to set my brows completely in place but this is much better than other products that didn't succeed at all. With this gel I don't get that awful flakiness that some gels leave you with. I don't get shiny, unnatural looking brows just brows that stay where I combed them that last all day.

I bought this because Emily Noelle on youtube recommended it. I disagree with her recommendation. This is not a good product and I would not purchase it again. When I first opened it it seemed like no product would be on the brush when I pulled it out of the tube. Emily touted this product as not being goopy and having too much product on the wand... well, she's right about that. It almost seemed like nothing at all. Over time more product would be on the wand after I had used the product for around a month. It doesn't do a good job of holding brows in place. It also doesn't travel well. I packed this in my makeup bag and the makeup bag was surrounded by soft items (clothes) to protect all the makeup inside. This is the only product that broke. I also think in the future I will only buy brow gels in clear packaging. I don't like not being able to see inside the product. The gel eventually turned to a whitish color after only 2 months of use (and that's not using it every day as I don't wear makeup every day).

This is the first brow gel I have ever used, but I love it! It's really good quality and does exactly what I want it to do. I like the look of feathery brows and I can easily achieve it with this product. It doesn't leave any residue at all on my brows and it also doesn't make them hard like hairspray would. It also lasts perfectly all day long. The price is pretty good, even though a bit too high for just a brow gel, but I will definitely repurchase.

An absolute NO from me. It gets the job done (meaning it hold my brows in place) but I can't stand the fact that this flakes so much!! Save yourself the embarrassment of eyebrow "dandruff" in public.