I Tried a $50 At-Home Brow Lamination Kit, and the Results Were Astonishing

Brow lamination—the process of straightening your brows so they look bigger and bushier—has been trending for a while now. And like the DIY wax strips and gel manicure kits that came before, it was only a matter of time before at-home brow lamination became possible. I'm a big fan of the laminated brow look, but if you have it done in-salon, it's not cheap (around $50-$100) and definitely a luxury. But because our brows are essentially right in the middle of our faces, I was wary to hop on the DIY brow lamination train (that, knowing my luck, was headed for Disaster-ville).

The thing is, lockdown has meant a lot of us have been at a loose end and I've seen a few of my favorite influencers attempt a lockdown lamination—every single one has been a success. And so, I decided to buy a kit. This Brow Lamination Kit from Quality Beauty Store (based in the UK but they ship worldwide) was around $50 and you get 10 treatments out of one kit. That works out at $5 per brow lamination, which is a bargain compared with in-salon prices—if it goes well. If not, I can chalk it up as a funny life experience.

What Is At-Home Brow Lamination?

At-home brow lamination involves using a kit with various creams and bonders so that your brows hairs are groomed upwards, giving them a bushier, fluffier effect.

Benefits of At-Home Brow Lamination

If you love the brow lamination look and can only afford DIY, then doing your brow lamination with an at-home kit makes for a much more affordable alternative. Below I'll walk you through the step-by-step process, as well as the tips and tricks I picked up along the way.

QBS Brow Lamination Kit $50.00

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The all-in-one kit contains sachets of lifting cream, neutralizing lotion, moisturizing serum, bonding serum, and combs.

What's interesting is that this kit can be used to straighten brows to create that Insta-brow look, but it can also be used to tame curly brow hairs, coax brow hairs that grow in different directions to lie flat, and can even help brows appear more even without the need for excessive reshaping.

What to Expect During At-Home Brow Lamination

The whole at-home brow lamination process is pretty easy to do. You start by setting the brows into place with the bonder—this has a glue-like effect coaxing and holding the brows into the desired shape.

Next, you apply a thin coat of the first lotion the Lifting Cream. This essentially sets the hair into its new shape. If you were to get brow lamination done by someone else, Saran wrap (or cling film, as we call it in the UK) is placed over the brows while the cream gets to work. This kit doesn't say you should do that, but I did anyway! I left the cream on for five minutes.

Once the time was up, I used a cotton pad to wipe away the bonder and lifting cream before applying lotion number two, the Neutralising Lotion to stop the lifting cream from working. I followed again with cling film and left on for a further five minutes.

After wiping this away, now's the time to tint and shape your brows if you want to.

Once that's done, I finished with a coat of lotion number 3, the Moisturising Serum.

Each of the lotions are packed with hair-boosting and conditioning ingredients, like hyaluronic acid, panthenol, aloe vera, and cocoa butter to ensure brows are left feeling soft and looking shiny and healthy.

Before/After

Brows Before

Brows After

All in all, I'm pretty impressed! The process was quick and easy, especially as I have had the treatment done professionally so I had an idea of what the process was and how my brows should look.

The Final Takeaway

One thing to note: the treatment I think makes brow hairs more susceptible to the tint, so if you're adding color to your brows and you're fair, leave the tint on for less time. If it's not dark enough, you can always go in for another round of tint.

In-salon you will definitely get a more refined finish, but with practice, I think each time you do it, the result will only get better.