Before you reach for your tweezers, consider this CRITICAL advice: adhere to your natural eyebrow shape! Too often you see people with their eyebrows completely tweezed off and then drawn in (not a good look) or they've created an eyebrow shaped that looks completely unnatural. Your natural eyebrow shape should be your guideline when it comes to tweezing, waxing, or threading, as well as your blueprint for how you fill your eyebrows in with pencil or eyebrow powder. When you veer away from your natural brow shape, you run the risk of creating an eyebrow disaster so keep that in mind when you are getting them done or doing them yourself. Some people's eyebrows are naturally thicker than others, but that's okay. You can still get a beautiful eyebrow look if you stick to your natural shape and build around that.
The first step to eyebrow beauty is keeping them shaped and cleaned up. There are several methods you can use to do this. You can tweeze your brows, get them waxed, threaded, or cleaned up with an eyebrow razor. I prefer threading because it does not remove the top layer of your skin or pull and tug at the delicate skin around your eyes like waxing does. While it can be uncomfortable for a few minutes, the results are well worth the pinch! Waxing does the job as well, but it can do damage to the skin around your eyes in the long run and change the texture of your skin. Tweezing is a good option if you just want to clean up stray hairs, and razoring is also good but doesn't last as long because it doesn't pull the hair out from the roots. I am a huge proponent of threading and I encourage you to try it at least once. When you get your brows done, let the technician know you just want to clean up your brows and keep the natural shape. This is the best way to ensure that you keep the basic blueprint of your brows while shaping them well. Then, you can fill them in with pencil and powder later.
Once you get your eyebrows cleaned up through the method of your choice, it is time to fill them in. A great way to determine where your eyebrow should start is to hold a pencil vertically against the side of your noce and notice where the top of the pencil meets your brow. This is where your brow should begin. To determine where the arch of the brow should be, hold the pencil against your nostril and move it diagonally across the outer half of the iris of your eye. Notice where the top of the pencil meets your brow. This is the best place for the peak of your arch. The brow should be gently tapered from the peak of the arch to the end of the eyebrow. And finally, the end of the eyebrow can be determined by placing the pencil against your nostril and extending it diagonally to the outer corner of your eye. Where it meets the brow is the best place for your eyebrow to end. This is also where your taper should be the thinnest.
When I do my eyebrows I start by using an eyebrow brush to brush the hairs first upward and then in the direction of my natural brow shape. I then take an eyebrow pencil and lightly fill in any sparse areas, LIGHTLY drawing in any areas where i want definition, with short strokes. I then apply eyebrow powder with an angled eyebrow brush and pull the product through the brow from the innermost part of the brow through the tapered end. My final step is applying concealer below and above the eyebrow with a precision concealer brush to achieve a clean, sharp edge below and above the brow. When you apply concealer, make sure you use a buffing brush or rounded concealer brush to blend your concealer out. You do not want what appears to be a white line above and below your eyebrow! Blending is the key when applying concealer to "carve" and highlight your brows.
Here are some tips for doing your brows:
- Don't over tweeze. Overtweezing will cause you to lose your natural eyebrow shape and you will be more likely to draw your brows in and create a shape that looks unnatural and is not complementary.
- Avoid making boxy eyebrows. This is the eyebrow that looks very square and boxy. This is not a natural looking eyebrow.
- Use concealer to lightly blend into the inner most part of your eyebrow, especially if you use a darker eyebrow pencil. This makes a soft transition from your skin to the hair, in the innermost part of your brow rather than the harsh boxy inner brow look that looks like your eyebrow has been "stuck" on your face rather than hair that is a part of your face naturally.
- BLEND your concealer out! Concealer product applied under and above your brow for highlighting purposes should be well blended and seamlessly transition into your foundation. We should not see a line of demarcation between your concealer and the rest of your face.
- Use eyebrow pencil and powder that most closely matches your natural hair color, unless you are specifically going for an alternative look or want to lighten your brows.
