The very best new eyebrow product

I accidentally bought something at Target last month, and I love it.

This wasn't the typical accidental Target purchase, where you go in to buy shoelaces and leave $250 later with decorative objets d'art for which you have no planned use and three T-shirts that were on sale for $8 each.

No, I actually thought I had made my intended purchase until I got home and opened it and discovered I had bought entirely the wrong brow product.

The story of my eyebrows is long and overplucked.

I'm not sure why we as a society had such a problem with brows in the '90s, but the style was to tweeze them into teeny tiny submission.

Alas, mine never grew back.

In the early aughts, I filled in the sparse spots with a brown eye shadow that, photographic evidence unfortunately shows, was entirely too warm in tone.

I moved on to Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz ($21 at Sephora), an ultra-slim pencil in shades that more realistically match hair color. I used Brow Wiz for a long time, until makeup artist Marlena Stell mentioned on her YouTube channel that she thought the NYX Micro Brow Pencil ($10 at drugstores) was pretty much the same product.

I fill in my brows every day, and I go through a brow pencil about every six weeks or so. I'm no mathematician, but $10 is less than $21.

I bought the NYX version.

Brow Wiz comes in 10 shades to Micro Brow's eight, but if you can find a color match (I wore Brunette in Brow Wiz and Ash Brown in Micro Brow), it really is the same thing.

I've worn, loved, and recommended Micro Brow for several years now. And when I ran out last month, I went to Target to replace it.

What I brought home, though, was the NYX 3-in-1 Brow Pencil ($13 at drugstores).

I didn't discover my error until the next morning when I was doing my makeup and really needed a brow product, so I gave the 3-in-1 a try instead of returning it.

Friends, it is so good.

The 3-in-1 includes a brow pencil but also has a brow powder and brow gel. The result is dimensional and lifelike and lasts all day long.

I start with the pencil, using short, quick strokes to mimic hairs and to give them the shape I'd rather they had. Next I use the powder, which fills in those brow bald spots. The tinted gel holds everything in place until I wash it away.

I try a lot of makeup, but when I find something I like, I tend to make it a permanent part of my routine. My accidental purchase has me wondering about what other new products I should try.

Alison Smith is always open to product recommendations! Want to chat all things beauty? Email asmith@philly.com.