Navarretia pubescens is a hairy, glandular annual herb producing a reddish or brownish stem up to about 33 centimeters in maximum length.

The leaves are divided into many linear or needlelike lobes, sometimes clustered.

The upper leaves are hairy, the lower generally hairless.

The inflorescence is a cluster of many flowers surrounded by leaflike bracts and coated with downy or glandular hairs.

Each flower is just over a centimeter long and blue in color with a purplish throat.