The Ordinary’s brand-new lash and brow serum has landed – and we got an early look

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The Ordinary is a brand renowned for affordable beauty and skincare buys with minimalist packaging and impressive results. A new haircare collection was added to the line-up earlier this year, and the shampoo, conditioner and scalp serum which landed in March received rave reviews.

They joined The Ordinary’s multi-peptide serum for hair density (£15.80, Theordinary.com), a scalp care buy that has racked up over 1.6 million searches on TikTok since its 2018 debut. As a product created to help thinning hair, people who saw thicker-looking locks after use began asking if it could be applied to lashes and brows too.

Responding to this social media feedback seems a smart move by The Ordinary, particularly in a market where some eyebrow and eyelash serums cost over £50.

Step forward, the newest product to join the collection, a multi-peptide lash and brow serum. It contains the same peptides to encourage hair growth as the hair density serum, and the formula is created for boosting thickness and adding nourishment.

We’re always keen to seek out budget alternatives, but will this one measure up to the hype and deliver tangible results? We’ve been sampling it for several weeks to find out.

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We tested the lash and brow serum over a three-month period, in the morning and at night as instructed. During this time, we kept a close eye on lash and brow growth, while also considering how easy the formula was to apply. One of our tester’s eyebrows is a bit patchier than the other, so we wanted to see if that uneven sparseness thickened up too. Here’s how it fared.

Rating: 8/10

In keeping with The Ordinary’s standard branding, the slimline 5ml white tube has a minimalist aesthetic. When twisting open the lid, we saw a wand with a very small brush tip, ideal for precision lash and brow application. The lightweight packaging is easy to stash in a drawer or make-up bag, and it’s recyclable too.

We ran the tiny brush (which is much like a liquid eyeliner applicator) over our eyebrows and lash line after cleansing skin. Our tester noticed it easily swept across each entire eyebrow offering full coverage, while providing precise reach on the lash line too.

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The brush doesn’t cause any excess mess, while the serum itself dried quickly after we applied a thin layer. Because of this, we could add on our eyebrow pencil and eye make-up almost straight away, without worrying about wet brows or smudged mascara. We also kept the serum on a nearby shelf, reminding us to consistently reapply it in the morning and at night every day.

Our tester has sensitive eyes and we’re happy to report the serum didn’t sting our easily irritated peepers. It is suitable for contact lens wearers too, because of the formula being mild and matching the eye area’s optimal pH level to minimise any potential irritation.

The serum includes active ingredients acetyl tetrapeptide-3 and biotinoyl tripeptide-1 – all you need to know about these is that they are said to increase density and thickness while nourishing brow hairs and eyelashes. They are also both in the aforementioned multi-peptide serum for hair density (£15.80, Theordinary.com).

Our tester has some sparser eyebrow patches thanks to an underactive thyroid and after a couple of months, we noticed an improvement in overall brow thickness. We have found we need less eyebrow pencil to fill in the hair gaps, so our morning routine has been much quicker too.

At the moment, the difference is probably most noticeable by our tester rather than there being an obviously bushier brow. But, given the fact this patchiness is something that bothers us and has improved, we are significantly impressed with the initial results.

As for our eyelashes, they feel softer and while it’s tricky to gauge their growth, mascara does make them look longer than it previously did.  Being more supple, they seem to hold the lift an eyelash curler creates far better now as well.

Read more: 27 best mascaras for every look

It’s worth knowing that the hair cycle of eyebrows and eyelashes is around three to four months, so it is still quite early days for a long-term change. Saying that, given the results after only a few months, we do hope to keep seeing further growth and thickness appear too.

The 5ml tube hasn’t run out yet either, meaning this £12 spend has lasted us at least three months.

The Ordinary’s new lash and brow serum fits seamlessly into our everyday cleansing and make-up routine, and we’ve been especially pleased with the precise brush and irritation-free formula.

Our tester saw some increased eyebrow hair growth where there has been stubborn patchiness, and we also noticed softer-feeling eyelashes. Given the affordable price point and initial results, we’ll definitely continue using it too.