Many people don’t know this, but my Uber rating is (or was) closely tied to my self-esteem. Ever since the untimely merger/takeover in May forced all Singaporeans to #supportlocal, my self-esteem has been on a slow but steady rebound, with the cynical knowledge that Grab drivers and I have to look past each other’s ratings. This association between what my Uber rating was and my confidence level is, I imagine, similar to many people’s relationships with their brow makeup that day.

I’m no exception, unfortunately. After struggling with too many bad brow/self-esteem days, I spotted an Instagram friend with notoriously perfect brows (who is not an influencer) plug the Tom Ford Fiber Brow Gel. I was shaking. Could this be the product to fix me? I rushed out that weekend to try it.

By God, it was. Five swipes of the product so quickly filled in the depressing sparsity. That was the end of my then Tom-Ford-virgin brows, and I looked up from the saleslady’s only slightly homophobic eyes and saw a brave new world.

The beauty of the Fiber Brow Gel is that it takes, quite literally, 30 seconds of your five minute makeup routine. Combing its small, dense brush through your brows instantly fills in any sparse areas without clumping, whilst maintaining pliability – just in case you fuck it up (which I do, mostly while half-asleep in the morning). Without the need for outlining with a pencil, the Fiber Brow Gel subtly defines the edges, and you leave the house looking like you were born with the best eyebrow genes in the world. It finishes almost shockingly lifelike and unnoticeable, and 3 tubes later, I get the feeling that others wonder: Maybe she’s born with it? Maybe it’s...Tom Ford?

An Ode To is a series of stories celebrating the beauty products we love and the little personal relationships we have with them – be they new favourites or old standbys rediscovered.

Read another ode to Yves Saint Laurent's Touche Éclat.