Eyebrows are having a huge moment. Bushy, trimmed, dark, light—all styles are in right now. What’s amazing about this recent push for acceptance for all brows is that the range of in-style eyebrow looks allow anyone to primp their brows to whatever way fits for their face, not just what’s on-trend. However, despite the wide variety of brows nowadays, there’s one thing that all brow groomers have in common—they want their eyebrows to look amazing every day. As a self-diagnosed brow-obsesser, I’ve run the gamut in terms of styles: Harsh pomade brows, soft gel brows, and even untouched brows. Through my many trials and errors, I’ve discovered a few simple tricks that make my face-framers look (almost) perfect.
1. Find your shape.
Just like the key to any sturdy structure is a good foundation, the most important part of always having amazing brows is to find your shape. Because everyone’s face shape and style preference are different, this part is really up to you. I prefer my shape to be slightly arched and trimmed—but I know people who love a completely natural, untouched browline. Whatever your choice, either get them waxed, threaded, trimmed, (or don’t touch them) so that your shape is exactly how you want it to be—this will make perfect-for-your-face eyebrows easy and quick to achieve.
2. Brush the hair upwards.
No matter what style you’re going for with your brows, the ultimate tip is to brush them up before you start filling in. For this, I use the spooly on the end of my pencil, but you can also use clean mascara spoolies or small, metal combs. Starting from the front of my brows, I brush all the hairs up. This allows my brows to not only look like I put some effort into them, but also make them easier to fill in, as it will show how the hairs grows. Even if you’re going for a natural-look brow, brushing just makes it look like you’re deliberately trying to emphasize them (and not like you just accidentally filled them in somehow).
3. Outline the brows.
The trick here is to begin by lining the underside of the brows, and then lining the top. This creates the basic shape to follow. During this step, the key is to try to get them as similar as possible…however, the old saying still rings true—eyebrows are sisters, not twins. If you keep trying to even them up, eventually they’ll be at the top of your forehead! If that’s your style, keep on keeping on, but otherwise, try your best to make the two shapes even, but don’t stress if they’re not perfect. Even natural-brow girls don’t have two identically shaped eyebrows.
4. Fill them in.
Once you’ve got your shape mapped out, fill in your brows. This step is optional if you are blessed with naturally thick brows, but for those of us less eyebrow-endowed, filling them in is essential to making for amazing. Note: If you’re not careful during this step, you’ll end up with harsh eyebrows that look like you drew them on with a Sharpie. To get it right, there are two simple secrets to this step: The first is to fill your brows using short strokes in the natural direction of the brow hairs. The strokes mimic the hair and don’t mess up the way the brows normally lay. The second secret is to create an ombré brow—one that gradually gets darker the closer to the outer edge you get. This is achieved by starting to fill in your brows a bit back, going back in with only the slightest bit of product, and then adding color to the front of the brow with upward strokes that mimic the direction of the hairs. This allows the brows to follow the coloring they have naturally, allowing them to look less irregular than if you created a blunt edge.
5. Set with a gel.
The last step for any good brow is to go over them with eyebrow gel. There are so many different gels out there: clear, colored, cheap, expensive. Find whatever works for you and your eyebrow style and stick with it! For me, I use an eyebrow gel in brown because it not only holds my eyebrow hairs in place, it also adds more color and fills in any sparse areas I missed. As a bonus, I will also sometimes go back in with a darker shade to add more definition and to make the brows look a bit more natural—all depending on what look I’m feeling.
Of course, these are just the steps I follow. Your brows are all yours – style them however you’d like! Tag us on social media (@CFashionista) to show us how you style your brow game!
