For the last year or so, the latest trend has been to grow out your eyebrows and then tame them back down. Being naturally “blessed” (or not) with thick brows that are somewhat unruly, I love this fad, but I also have to work pretty tediously to keep mine in check.
Even though it can be a bit of a struggle, the idea that your eyebrows frame your face is not a lie. They add interest, contrast and bring more attention to your eyes.
The first thing we need to consider is what brow shape works best, not only for your face, but for your original brow shape. Maybe you’re into a super arched brow, but your natural features simply don’t allow for that to work on you. I recommend going to a salon or a makeup artist you trust and asking them for advice catered for your style. A great first step is to have a consultation about shape, and then if you’re comfortable, waxing is first. It’s a great way to get the base of your brows down.
Here are my eyebrows a couple weeks after my last waxing, and you can see the hairs that are growing back out. Now is the time to pluck and trim the hair! The great thing about getting your brows waxed into a shape that works for you is that you can continue to use that as a baseline for where you need to tweeze and what needs to stay. The last thing you want is to over-pluck because then you’re stuck with tiny brows that add nothing for your face.
After you tweeze, trimming should be done about once a month or every couple of months to keep the hairs in check. If your brow hairs are too long, you run the risk of having that awkward patch of hair sticking straight up in the middle of the day.
That’s all it takes for the upkeep of your beautiful brows. Next, of course, is filling them in. There are many different products that you can use. If your brows are lacking hair, a very thin brow pencil of a similar color to your hair can be used to create the look of more hair (a great one is the Anastasia Brow Wiz). Then, you can use a brow gel to make your actual hairs stand out, and make sure that your entire brow looks real, not just the hairs.
I have the opposite problem. I have A LOT of hair. That being said, there are spaces in the hairs that are lacking depth, and they are also not as dark as I would prefer. However, I want to stress two things about filling in your brows:
Never, and I mean NEVER, use a powder or pencil that is darker than your actual brow color. It will be noticeable, and it will look ridiculous.Always use a cool-colored product instead of a warm-colored one. The only exception to this is if you are naturally redheaded. Yes, you heard me right – if you color your hair a warm brown, auburn or full-on red, do NOT use a warm-toned brow product.
I use a MAC eye shadow on an angled brush that I just bought from ELF for about $2. I start by filling in the top and bottom of the brow, and then fill it in. I leave the front for last, as you want that to be the softest part of the brow, even if you are going for a very strong look. After I fill that in, I add brow wax from Benefit’s Brow-zings in Medium to keep my brows in place throughout the day. Because of my abundance of hair, I need something to secure them, and I simply prefer wax over a gel, because it holds up better in heat.
If you have any questions about this post, tweet them to me at @ESUBulletin!