The Easiest Way to Fake Thicker, Fuller Brows at Home? One of These Top-Rated Tinting Kits (2025)

Wonderskin is beloved for their viral lip stain, so naturally the brand moved into the brow tint department. The formula is lightweight and buildable to whatever level of tint your heart desires, and lasts for up to two days. The slanted applicator makes it super easy to fill in hair-like strokes and create a full brow moment in a single minute—no mixing dyes needed.

• Shades: Three
• Formula: Liquid

One Cosmo editor says: "After a horrible waxing experience a few years ago, I've been left with uneven and sparse brows. This stain is ideal for anyone who wants either a fuller or darker brow, or both."—JASMINE HYMAN, ASSISTANT BEAUTY EDITOR

This long-wear brow gel lasts for up to a full day and is as hassle-free as it gets. It just won a 2025 Cosmo Holy Grail Award for being the best tinted brow gel thanks to its easy-to-use brush applicator and extensive shade range. And no matter your brow color, there's sure to be a shade that looks naturally blended into your brow hairs.

• Shades: Eight
• Formula: Gel

One Cosmo editor says: “With eight different options to choose from (including grey and auburn!), this is the biggest shade range I’ve seen for a tinted brow gel product. The spoolie is about the size of a pinkie nail and has a tapered tip, so it gives me more control when shaping and applying the product to narrower areas like the tails of my brows. The tint itself is extremely pigmented: After just one layer, my sparse areas were undetectable and my brows looked fuller and thicker.”—LAUREN GRUBER, ASSOCIATE COMMERCE EDITOR

This eyebrow tint kit from Ardell is an Amazon favorite for a reason: The color lasts for a full two weeks, and it takes just a few minutes to complete all three steps. Pro tip: For this kit (and really any eyebrow tinting kit), a little bit of Vaseline around the edges of your brows will prevent any staining on your skin—just make sure you don’t get it on your actual brow.

• Shades: Four
• Formula: Powder mix

What shoppers are saying: "This is one of the best products I've used! I got so sick of drawing in my eyebrows every day. This can be easily applied—just leave it on for 10 minutes and your eyebrows will look great."

This brow pen from Maybelline earns our number one drugstore pick because the applicator mimics the shape of tiny brow hairs, and the formula is as mess-free as it gets and doesn't require any downtime to let it set. The tint lasts up to 24 hours and comes in four different shades. Plus, it has more than 13,000 five-star reviews on Amazon.

• Shades: Four
• Formula: Liquid

What shoppers are saying: "I'm blonde so it's hard to get an eye pencil or pen that's light blonde. But this matches me perfectly. It goes on easily and stays on for a long time. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants natural looking brows."

This brow tint from Hally lasts for up to five days, and it doesn't require you to cosplay as a scientist creating a dye concoction in your bathroom. Plus, it's a clean beauty pick, so it's cruelty-free and doesn't contain ammonia, which we love.

• Shades: Three
• Formula: Liquid

One Cosmo editor says: "I used the black shade of this, and I have light brown brows so I knew it wouldn't match. But this actually just coated my brows and made them darker, instead of the tint being overly dramatic and harsh, which I really liked."—BETH GILLETTE, BEAUTY EDITOR

Looking for both tint and shape without the downtime or commitment? Try this wax-based formula with a spoolie, and comb it through your brows to give your lil hairs the structure and hold they need to not only stay in place (for up to 36 hours) but look darker and fuller too.

• Shades: Eight
• Formula: Wax

What shoppers are saying: "Love how creamy this formula is, and how well it glides on the skin, I struggle with my brows because they're very sparse on the ends from over plucking from when I was younger and I have a scar on one as well and this covers everything up beautifully!"

If you're looking for the crème de la crème of eyebrow tinting kits, may I suggest you check out this one from Brow Code? While it's $50, it's worth it in the long run because results are just as good as an in-office treatment. This fragrance-free formula is made with the gentlest ingredients to ensure it's safe to use on your thin eyebrow skin, and includes enough product for 12 separate tint sessions... The gitl math is mathing here, people.

• Shades: Two
• Formula: Gel/lotion

One Cosmo editor says: "This tint kit saved me tons of moola because it ended up being as amazing as the pricey (and super long) brow appointments that I'd been going to for years."—SIENA GAGLIANO, FORMER ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Expect this peel-off brow gel—which you might remember from, like, all over social media a few years ago—to feel gooey and sticky as you paint it on your eyebrows and then harden over time. Leave it on from twenty minutes to an hour, depending on how dark you want your brows. The intense color of the tint looks intimidating, but trust me, you’ll be left with gently tinted eyebrows that need no extra brow products for several days (and check out this YouTuber's brow-tint demo if you need a visual).

• Shades: Four
• Formula: Gel

What shoppers are saying: "Love this stuff! Finally found something that doesn't sweat/wipe off during my 12-hour nursing shift! I use the brown color but am thinking of trying the dark brown on my next purchase. It lasts a long time and will require some type of makeup remover to get it off completely. It's easy to put on with the applicator wand it comes with, but I like to use an angled brush to be more precise... it's a great product and I'm super happy to have found it."

Let's first start with what these kits actually are—eyebrow tinting kits semi-permanently dye your eyebrows for up to a few days or a few weeks, depending on the kit, so you can skip the brow pencils and gels every day. You'll need to follow the instructions that come with your kit very carefully (since every kit is a little bit different), but generally, you'll paint the dye across your clean, dry eyebrow in the direction of your hair growth, covering any area you would normally cover with a brow gel or pencil.

Then, after letting the dye sit for anywhere from a minute to 30 minutes, depending on the instructions and how dark you want your brows, you'll either rinse your brows or peel off the hardened dye coating. Our advice? Start with letting the dye sit for the shortest amount of time, as advised on your kit, and see how dark they get. You can always apply it again for more color, but you can't exactly hit the rewind button once that dye is set.

Ensure it's safe for your eye area

When it comes to using any kind of dye, you want to make sure you’re getting the safest formula with the longest-lasting results—a tall order when every kit out there claims to be the very best. First things first: Make sure the kit is actually made for eyebrows. As in, don't think you can just sub in your at-home box dye because "hair is hair." Nope. As Malynda Vigliotti of Boom Boom Brow Bar in New York City has told Cosmopolitan, hair dye contains ammonia, which is dangerous for your eyes and the sensitive skin around them. Instead, eyebrow tinting kits tend to be made with natural, vegetable-based formulas.

And a reminder, despite all the eyebrow tinting kits claiming to be safe for your eye area, there is no specific DIY kit that the FDA deems safe as of 2025 due to potential risks such as eye damage, skin discoloration, and more seriously, blindness. If you'd rather go with a safer alternative, consider opting for a gel peel-off tint like the Maybelline Tinta Sopracciglia Tattoo Brow Peel-Off or a tinted brow gel like the Benefit Brow Pomade.

The fewer steps, the better

Instead of experimenting with a 12-piece tinting kit that makes you feel like a mad scientist, go for the low-stress kits that come with just a dye, an activator, and a few tools for application, or try the gel or liquid formulas that just require painting over your brows, letting them dry, and then gently peeling off the coating. Or, if you just want to test out some temporary one-day tints, go for a wash-off brow gel or colored brow wax.

Jasmine Hyman is the assistant beauty editor at Cosmopolitan where she writes about all the best beauty products and trends. For this story, she spent hours researching and vetting eyebrow tints to make sure they were safe and effective. She's also tested a dozens of longwear eyebrow tints and gels in her three years as an editor.

Siena Gagliano was previously the associate editor at Cosmopolitan who writes beauty and has four years of experience writing about beauty, fashion, and lifestyle news. She’s an authority in all makeup categories, but an expert when it comes to eyebrow tinting kits. She regularly tests and analyzes them on herself for efficacy, while working with the industry’s top makeup artists to assess new formulas and brands.