Unlike pomades, which work to deliver concentrated colour in the form of a cream, waxier balm formulas impart a far subtler type of tint than the cream-based brow products you may be familiar with. Brow balms primarily take care of texture, thickening and fluffing up your natural hairs to allow for a naturally full feathery finish.
As for Holm's balm of choice, her favourite formula comes housed in crayon form, taking up one end of a double-sided balm and pencil duo—or rather trio, if you count the attached spoolie top.
"[I like to build] really bold, fluffy, bushy eyebrows [like Gerber's] using a tinted balm and a spoolie to brush them out," Holm explains. "I don't like to go in with the pencil when I'm doing a fluffy look, [and] the difference is unreal when you work with a balm [instead]."
Fluff'N Brow 3-in-1 Brow Pencil and Balm, $35 by Velour Beauty.
Alternatively, if you're already completely satisfied with your own depth of colour and are solely looking to enhance texture rather than tint, a transparent brow-building balm will impart the fluffy finish sans colour.
Brow Silk Balm & Brush Kit by Iconic London, $49 at Adore Beauty
"I like to take my [spoolie] and work the hair in an upward direction, then I take this plant-based wax [balm] and really work that in [using] a back and forth [motion] to saturate the hairs," she shares of her application process when working with the crayon tip. "I love that it's [only lightly] tinted so I'm getting a little bit of colour [but I'm able to build up maximum fullness without overloading on pigment]."
"When you start getting into the tail end of the brow, take the tinted balm and really push it into the direction that you want the hair to lay," she advises. "For me I like to do it in an upward, outward direction. And if you do have trouble getting your hair to lay in that upward direction, the trick is to take a strong hold hairspray, spray it on the spoolie, and lift it [to take that angle]."
Superfine Strong Hairspray by Oribe, $63 at Adore Beauty
