How to: Your Perfect Brows

In a previous post I already mentioned how important I think eyebrows are to achieving your perfect look.  I myself used to struggle all through high school and even through some of my college days with maintaining and perfecting my eyebrows so I thought I would share my tips and tricks with you on how to tame your brows and achieve the perfect look for you!  The reason I say 'for you' is because everyone's face shape is different which means the same eyebrow shape will NOT work for everyone. I really don't believe in eyebrow stencil kits as there truly is no universal shape that works for everyone. I'll share with you some of my tips and tricks for getting the perfect brows for YOU!

You'll need some tools for the trimming and grooming.  If you've never groomed your eyebrows before or they've gotten a bit unruly between waxes/tweezes, it can be a bit intimidating to tackle the brow situation, I know! Hairs are stemming from who knows where and poking out in every which way. Using my technique, you'll be able to tame the beasts. You'll need:

-liquid eyeliner 

-a white eye pencil 

-a spooly brush

-tweezers (my favorite are the Tweezerman brand!)

-manicure scissors

First things first: 

Use a straight object like an eyeliner or a pencil and line up that object vertically with your nostril and tear duct. Make a straight vertical line on the side of the object closer to the middle of your face. This line will show you where your eyebrow should begin!

Next, tilt your straight edge diagonally so it is lining up with your nostril and the bottom of your pupil. Draw a line or dot extending out from your straight edge. This is where your eyebrow's arch should be! 

Lastly, tilt your straight edge even further until its lining up with you nostril and the outside corner of your eye. Draw a line or dot through your eyebrow. This is where your eyebrow should end. 

For all of these steps, make sure you are looking straight forward!

This leaves you with a rough guide on the shape of your brow! From here, you can tweeze and scissor away stray hairs. If you are having trouble visualizing the full shape of your brows, a helpful trick is to use a white eyeliner and basically play connect the dots with the marking points you just made. You'll create negative space of where you want your eyebrow hairs to be. It'll look really sexy:

Just kidding. I know this is super bizarre but bear with me! I promise this method works! It is two minutes of looking a bit strange in exchange for PERFECT eyebrows. The trick with the white eyeliner is now you know what hairs you can pluck! Any hair that has a ROOT growing in the white section or beyond the white section you can pluck right out. If hairs are growing into the white section, don't pluck those because that will lead to super sparse brows! Instead, trim the hair with your nail scissors. 

A final great trick while you have this glamorous white eyeliner on your face is to use a spooly and brush the hair of your brows in an upward motion. Trim hairs that are creeping into the white section...that's the trick with using white is you'll be able to see even blonde hairs against the white background. Use the curved part of your manicure scissors and trim the hairs in a curved motion. Don't use flat scissors for this because it 'll look like your brows got a little army buzzcut!  Repeat brushing upward and trimming all the way until you get to the arch of your brow. You can leave the hairs on the tail of your brow longer because there are less hairs there!

Alright time to wipe that white stuff off and see what we're left with! 

Taa-daa!! So I have the shape that works for me, but I have some sparse brows that need some filling in to make them really look great.

There are a ton of great brow products out there that you can use to fill in your brows from pencils to gels to powders! It's all up to you depending on what you prefer as far as what you think looks best on you and what you find easy to use.  My favorite products are the MAC brow pencil in 'Lingering,' the Rimmel eyebrow pencil in 'Hazel,' and a MAC eyeshadow in the color 'Mystery.' Currently I've been enjoying using the Rimmel eyebrow pencil so that's what I'm using today:

One eyebrow done and one to go so you can see the difference using a pencil makes! When using any brow product you want to move along your brow using small, light strokes in the same direction that your hair is growing. This will create the most natural effect. Try and imagine the guide you created earlier with the black eyeliner and the white pencil and fill in your brows to your desire!

This next step is totally optional, but to obtain absolutely perfect eyebrows, you should set your brows with some type of brow product. This will keep any hairs from going wonky and jutting out in a random direction and it sets the product you put in them. I like the cult favorite Anastasia brow gel as well as the Maybelline Great Lash Clear mascara. Simply lightly brush the product through your brows in the same direction as hair growth. You can also spray some hairspray on a spooly brush and run that through your brows to keep the hairs in check!

And finally...voila!

You now should have some brows that you're pretty content with! Eyebrows are tricky business and they take some fussing with to get the result that you really like. There is no simple formula that a stencil can solve, and even old rules like 'if you have an angular face, make your brows round!' aren't necessarily true for everyone.
At the end of the day, its your face and your makeup creation and you can present yourself however you like best! Hopefully my tips and tricks help get you to where you want to be :)

xxSJ