How Is Eye Brow Gel Different From Mascara?

Kathie Lee’s question… I’ve been using Maybelline clear mascara to add shape and definition to my brows but my friend tells me I should be using a brow gel.  Is there was any difference between clear mascara that’s specifically designated for your lashes and clear eye brow gel?

The Right Brain responds:

They way we look at it, clear mascara and eye brow gel are pretty much the same thing.

How does eye brow gel work?

First of all, clear mascara is different than regular mascara. Regular mascara is wax based and is designed to thicken and color your lashes. Maybelline Clear Lash, on the other hand, consists of base of water and alcohol, thickened with a chemical called Carbomer, and a film forming agent called PVA (Polyvinyl alcohol) that gives your lashes some stiffness. This product is more like a hair gel than it is a mascara.

Now consider an eye brow gel like “Paula Dorf Perfect Eyes Brow Gel” or Eyebrowz Clear Eyebrow Gel. We’ll use the EyeBrowz product as an example because it doesn’t have a silly name like “Dorf.” The Eyebrowz formula is also water based and is thickened with Carbomer. But it doesn’t contain alcohol and it uses PVP as a film former instead of PVA. (That’s not a big difference.)

These formulas use pretty much the same ingredients so they should have a similar feel. (Without testing we can’t tell if one formula uses a higher level of the film formers so we can’t say for sure.) There’s no technical reason why you couldn’t use clear mascara on your eyebrows, but it really comes down to your personal taste. Why don’t you test it for yourself: use one product on one eye and the other product on the other. Write back and let The Beauty Brains know how the experiment works out!

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