Beauty NYX Thick It Stick It Taupe Vs Brunette Vs Espresso Compared
Taupe, Brunette, and Espresso are the three verified Thick It Stick It shades. Each suits different brow colors. This comparison helps you find your perfect match.
| Factor | NYX Professional Makeup Thick It Stick I | NYX Professional Makeup Thick It Stick I |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Taupe | Brunette |
| Suits | Blonde to light brown | Medium brown |
| Undertone | Cool neutral | Neutral |
| Popularity | Niche | Most popular |
| Typical price | Check price | Check price |
Our Verdict
Pick Taupe for blonde to light brown brows. Pick Brunette for medium brown brows. Pick Espresso for dark brown to black brows. All three share the same 16-hour formula.
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Not sold on either of these two? Here are more bestselling options worth considering.
Best for: Dark brown to black brows needing rich definition
NYX Professional Makeup Thick It Stick It Brow Gel, Espresso
- Rich espresso tint for dark brows
- Fibers add visible thickness
- Strong hold without crunchiness
Pros
- Perfect for dark brows
- Natural, not harsh
- Excellent hold
Cons
- Too dark for lighter brows
- Unforgiving of mistakes
- Small tube
Taupe vs Brunette vs Espresso: Matching Shade to Hair, Not Skin
Brow shade matching trips people up because the instinct is to match skin tone, but brows should match hair, and specifically the hair at the root, not dyed lengths. Taupe suits light to medium blonde brows and soft brown hair where a darker shade would look stamped on. Brunette is the middle ground for medium to dark brown hair, though note that NYX brow shades run slightly warm, so in direct sunlight Brunette can read a touch reddish on cool-toned hair. Espresso is the deepest of the three, made for dark brown to near-black brows, and it is the safest pick if your hair is cool-toned but dark, since its depth reads neutral rather than warm. The widely repeated rule holds here: choose one notch lighter than your actual brow hair for a softer everyday look, because brow mascara deposits more visible pigment than a pencil and going too dark makes the tinted part obvious fast. If you are between Taupe and Brunette, buy Taupe first, a brow gel that is slightly light can be deepened with a pencil underneath, but a gel that is too dark cannot be lightened. For the pencil side of that pairing, the Brow Wiz vs NYX Micro Brow comparison breaks down which fine-tip pencil to layer under each shade.
The Big Wand Problem: Application for Sparse Brows
The most common complaint about this formula has nothing to do with color: the attached spoolie is nearly full-size, and on sparse or thin brows it deposits product on the skin around the brow as well as the hairs. There are workarounds that actually work. First, wipe the wand on the tube rim before each brow to remove the excess, most of the mess comes from overloading. Second, do one brow at a time, because the formula dries down quickly and you want to clean mistakes while the product is still wet. Third, if your brows are very sparse, use a smaller spoolie from another product to apply, decanting a little onto the back of your hand first, which gives far more control than the stock wand. Work against the hair growth first to coat each strand, then smooth in the direction of growth to set the shape. The wet, fresh-tube feeling fades after a week or so of use as air gets into the tube, so do not judge the texture on day one. If the formula keeps landing on skin no matter what, that skin staining is partly by design, it fills gaps where no hair grows, which is exactly what sparse brows need.
Layering: Pencil for Shape, Gel for Fullness
Brow mascara alone gives fullness but not structure, which is why the pencil-plus-gel combination is the standard routine. The order matters: pencil first, gel second. Use the pencil to draw the shape, fill the tail, and create hair-like strokes at the sparse front, then run the Thick It Stick It through to tint the real hairs, add fiber-like thickness, and lock the pencil in place. Reversing the order smears the pencil strokes and muddies the color. On oily skin, even the best shade can slide by afternoon, so keep the pencil layer thin and let the gel do the holding, the waxes in the gel formula grip better than pencil wax alone. If your shade is almost right but slightly light, layering a gel one notch darker over a lighter pencil creates the dimension real brows have, they are never one flat color. A Taupe pencil under Brunette gel, for example, reads more natural than either product alone on medium-brown brows. Finish by running a clean spoolie through once to remove clumps before the formula sets, because once it dries, corrections require remover, not blending.
Making It Last and Taking It Off
For all-day wear, the enemy is oil, from skin and from skincare. If your moisturizer or sunscreen migrates into the brow area, the gel softens and the tint shifts, which is why reviewers on oily skin report the color looking muddy by evening. Blot the brow area with a tissue after skincare and before makeup, and keep heavy creams a centimeter away from the brow line. In heat or humidity, a light pass of translucent powder through the brows before the gel adds grip without visible buildup. Removal needs more than a makeup wipe, the film-forming polymers that make the gel water-resistant do not dissolve in micellar water alone. Press an oil cleanser or cleansing balm onto the brows for 20 seconds to break the film, then wipe outward along the hair growth, never scrub back and forth, which pulls hairs out. If you use concealer to carve a sharp lower edge after the gel, the NYX corrector guide covers which corrector shades clean up brow edges without leaving a visible line. For a head-to-head on the sibling format comparison, see the Thick It Stick It model comparison.