makeup

BROWS 101

photos: Justin Coit for thebeautydepartment.com post by amy nadine

We’ve gotten tons of requests for a brow tutorial– how to shape them, how to fill them in, how to elongate them, etc… This is so great because the correct brow shape can really lift the eye and slim the face.  First let me share my #1 rule: DO NOT OVER-PLUCK!!  Please!  There is nothing pretty about thin overly-tweezed brows.  Brows frame your eyes.  Cardinal sin #2: do not shape them into tadpoles with thin tails.  Cardinal sin #3: do not shave them or use a razor of any kind.  If you have committed any of those crimes, with no judgment from me, I hope you’ll reconsider and start growing them back in (and if they don’t grow, try using a lash-growth serum on them or even your dad’s hair-growth serum).  Then, follow these eight steps on how to get beautifully-shaped brows.

TOOLS

Spooly brush or disposable mascara wand, cuticle scissors, angled/slant tweezers, pointed tweezers, brow shadow (taupe for blondes, brown range for everyone else), stiff brow shadow brush, pencil (to line up the angles).

1. With a disposable mascara wand or spooly brush, brush the hairs upward to prepare for Step 2.

2. With a pair of scissors, trim any hairs that are longer than your brow shape.

3. With angled tweezers, pluck areas above and below the brows, grabbing a couple at a time.

4. With pointed tweezers, grab stubborn single hairs and shorter ones.

5. To determine where your brow should start, hold a pencil or make-up brush along one side of your nose.  Where it crosses the inner corner of your brow, that’s where it should begin.

6. Now angle the pencil across the iris; that’s where the arch should begin.

7. Angle it to the end of the outer corner of the eye; that’s where the brow should end.

8. With those angles and lengths in mind, fill in the brows using light, feathery strokes as if you were drawing individual hairs.

XO Amy Nadine