Why does the best brow pencil in the world have the worst reviews?

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Anastasia Beverly Hills / Instagram

In the Year of Our Lord Beyonce 2017, we all want perfect eyebrows. I've spent a truly horrifying amount of time and money trying to coax my formerly overplucked, light-colored brows into socially acceptable fleekness.

And I have finally found it β€” but there's just one problem.

This is Anastasia Beverly Hills' Brow Wiz. It is, hands down, the best brow pencil in the world.

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Sephora

Brow Wiz ($21, Sephora) is perfect. It comes in a wide range of colors. It twists up, instead of requiring a messy sharpener. The tip is super-fine, which allows you to be incredibly precise β€” but the formula is also really firm, so there's no way you can screw up and accidentally unibrow yourself. Plus, there's a spoolie at the end for blending.

I love it so much, I use it every single day β€” and my brows are ~majestic~

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@helloalle / Instagram

It's a long-running joke that beauty editors never actually buy makeup, because they get everything sent to them for free β€” and this is true. But I buy this pencil whenever I run out, because it is THE BEST. I use shade Granite to darken and fill my somewhat sparse, naturally blonde eyebrows, and it never looks like I've overdone it (unless that's what I'm going for).

But there's a problem. For such an amazing eyebrow pencil, it has shockingly bad reviews β€” for one reason.

There are entire Reddit threads about it.

There's a massive comment chain on Beautylish about it.

Every other review on Sephora and Ulta mentions it.

Hell, I've experienced it myself β€” but I thought it only happened to me.

The spoolie breaks off. Like, ALL the time.

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Plateau Beauty / Instagram

Marissa, who blogs at Plateau Beauty, first called out this phenomenon β€” and let the thousands of snapped-spoolie sufferers know they're not alone.

When you're dropping $21 on a brow pencil only to have the end snap off on you, this is heartbreaking.

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Giphy

An extremely unscientific survey of the Revelist offices indicates that, out of the five people who use this pencil, four of us have experienced the spoolie snap.

And we're not alone.

"I liked this product except my spoolie broke completely off and the part where the spoolie went in is now cracked :(" β€” krystalrae, Sephora.

"I love how easy it was to apply… but after 3 weeks the brush end broke off." β€” Kate, Ulta.

"This was the first eyebrow pencil I used when I first started to fill in my eyebrows, and it's super easy to use and looks great! My only complaint is that it barely lasted me a few months, I wish there was more product, oh and my spooly broke off." β€” jdxn, Sephora.

"The only downside of this is that the cap fell off in my bag and the brush end snapped off so now I have to carry around the brow wiz and an extra brush." β€” Isabelle, Sephora.

"Has anyone else had theirs break? I have had two now where the spoolie has broken off shortly after getting it. Frustrating!" β€” Laura, Influenster.

So why does this keep happening?

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@maheen_sh / Instagram

While ABH didn't respond to my request for comment, I have a theory about The Case of the Snapping Spoolies.

To keep this pencil lightweight, it's made of hollow plastic, which seems to be thinner near the end where the spoolie attaches. Because this brow pencil sets quickly, people probably press much harder with the spoolie than they need to, trying to blend it out. This pressure + thinner plastic + plastic being brittle anyway = breakage.

The moral of the story? Apply less pressure to your brows (and your life) to avoid the Spoolie Snap, and blend on.

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Alle Connell / Revelist

Slightly breakable or not, I will buy Brow Wiz from now until the end of time. Plastic may occasionally crack and break, but perfect eyebrows are forever.

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